Ed Brill

I have been so busy getting ready for Lotusphere 2012 that I have not been blogging much about it! That changes now, starting with this post, an upcoming entry on our Social Insights blog, and announcements in the coming days.

At Lotusphere 2011, our friends at GBS (GROUP Business Software) teamed with IBM to bus in a group of students from University of South Florida and other colleges to participate in a special college day. It was great to have this participation from a set of future leaders, and there were many calls to "do it again" at Lotusphere 2012.

Well, they're back, and they're better than ever.

At Lotusphere 2012, IBM and GBS are teaming up to bring in 750 students from the University of Florida, University of Miami, University of Central Florida, and University of South Florida to the event. This year, the students will participate in several activities, including the Lotusphere opening session, a visit to the product showcase, breakout sessions, and labs. However, there are two new items on their agenda for this year.

The first is a panel discussion...yes, I know, a panel discussion. This one isn't scripted and is mostly designed for Q&A. The participants include IBM VP Bob McDonald, Ascendant Technology CEO Sam Fatigato, Colgate-Palmolive's Mitch Cohen, Professor Larry Gee of San Jose State University [I'll have more to say about him in a few days], and GBS's Adam Lazarus. Adam was one of the students at Lotusphere 2011, and now he works for GBS. Very cool.

The second posits the question, are there more like Adam out there? The last item on the agenda for the students at Lotusphere 2012 is the "Future Social Business Leaders Career Fair". My colleague Dwight Morse says:

One item that the students are keen to take part in is The Future Social Business Leaders Career Fair.  This will be a time for attending companies to meet students as potential employees with the knowledge that the students have like interests.  The Career Fair will be from 3:30-4:30 at the Yacht & Beach Club, on Monday, January 16th.  Each company will be able to sit down with students, at a table.  

A conference pass is not needed to participate in the Career Fair, and there is no additional charge for having the opportunity to meet with the students.

Space at the Career Fair is limited, so if you/your company are interested in participating, please contact Dwight at morsed@us.ibm.com.

Registration for GBS College/Lotusphere is already at capacity, so all that remains is for us all to welcome these Floridian students in just over a week.