Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson

As promised last week, I’ve got the dates for my next two Fruitful Seminars in September. The third seminar is still up for grabs, so go and vote now!

The Email Problem and How To Solve It
Wednesday 3rd September 2008

As we move towards a knowledge-based economy, email is becoming an unavoidable part of business life. But not only do some people have to deal with hundreds of emails a day, many of them unnecessary, the ‘always on’ culture of the Blackberry means they can never escape their inbox.

Reducing people’s dependence on email is easier said than done, however. Arbitrary rules like ‘No Email Days’ or tight inbox limits just add to people’s stress and don’t reduce the amount of email people send. This is because the problem with email is psychological, not technical, so such solutions treat only the symptoms and not the cause.

Social media expert Suw Charman-Anderson will take a look what’s at the root of the email problem, and how it can be solved using social tools. During the day you will hear an alternative view of email and will be able to discuss the issues you face in your own company. By the end of the seminar you will have a thorough understanding of the behavioural problems related to email and a clear set of next steps to take.

Who should come?

• CXO executives
• IT executives
• Managers
• Team leaders
• Decision makers
• Social media practitioners
• Social media vendors

Or anyone in situations similar to these:

• You are responsible for managing email infrastructure and have problems such as over-full inboxes or unnecessary file duplication across accounts.
• You have observed poor ‘email health’ amongst team members, perhaps including obsessive email checking coupled with delays in processing email.
• You are concerned about unhealthy patterns of email use across your business and related inefficient use of IT resources.
• You are an executive or manager who just can’t cope with all your email, much of which is a waste of your time, and you want a better way to work.

Making Social Tools Ubiquitous
Wednesday 10th September 2008

You may have heard that social tools - such as wikis, blogs, social bookmarking and social networking - can help you improve business communications, increase collaboration and nurture innovation. And with open source tools, you can pilot projects easily and cheaply. But what do you do if people won’t use them? And how do you grow from a pilot to company-wide use?

Social media expert Suw Charman-Anderson will take a practical look at the adoption of social tools within your business. During the day you will create a scalable and practical social media adoption strategy and discuss your own specific issues with the group. By the end of the seminar you will have a clear set of next steps to apply to your own collaborative tools project.

Who should come?

• CXO executives
• managers
• team leaders
• decision makers
• social media practitioners
• social media vendors

Or anyone in situations similar to these:

• You have already installed some social tools for internal communications and collaboration, but aren’t getting the take-up you had hoped for.
• You have successfully completed a pilot and want to roll-out to the rest of the company.
• You want to start using social tools and need a strategy for fostering adoption.
• You sell social software or services and want to understand how your clients can foster adoption of your tool.

If you want to be kept up to date with Fruitful Seminar news and discussion, then please do join our Google Group. And don’t forget to sign up to Lloyd Davis’ social media masterclass on 16 July!