Lotus Knows that the community rocks! Impressive Stats!

Lotus knows that we couldn’t have done the IdeaJam without you!

I’ve been itching to talk about the recent Lotus Knows IdeaJam but had to wait for the confirmed traffic reports.

Thank you so much for your help last week in making the IdeaJam a success!  We continued to get active participation on the jam all the way until it closed on Saturday morning. In fact, we continued to receive loads of traffic ‘after’ the jam.

Here are the final statistics:
950+ new ideas
2,200+ comments
20,000+ votes
166,000+ page views (Google is telling me higher! 175K+)

We had an overwhelming response and we really appreciate your ability to help drive these discussions throughout the three day jam.

Community also loved the active participation of Lotus executive team in the social media as well. Many of you pinged me about it, some of you even blogged/tweeted about it, for example, Alex Kassabov wrote on his blog.

But amongst all these things, what stands out the most, at least for me, is Lotus’ leadership willingness to listen.  We, at PSC, have preached the mantra of “It’s all in the way we listen” for years.  So when a company is actively listening, I notice.

I loved it when Sean Poulley, VP in charge of LotusLive, commented on my blog in response to a post on LotusLive and got engaged in a conversation. I didn’t love it because I got the attention.  I loved it because it was great to see a VP at IBM engage in a discussion on a simple blog — something not commonly seen in the past.

Let’s continue the momentum!

As a follow up to the Jam we are planning some follow-on activities with the Lotus community leading up to the launch in September.  I’ll post the details around the Video blitz as soon as the sites get active. (Tonight or Tomorrow Morning (8/27/2009).

On another note, On Thursday, August 27, Alistair Rennie and Kevin Cavanaugh will be guests on the “Taking Notes Podcast” with Bruce Elgort and Julian Robichaux.  They will talk about the IdeaJam, Lotus Knows campaign, Smarter Planet and upcoming Lotus products.

On August 27th, be sure to check out podcast on iTunes here or www.takingnotespodcast.com.

Lotus Knows that the “Cool” kids need Lotus too!

One of my contributions along with the facilatation of the IdeaJam is to drive focus of our community towards the Gen Y, also known as The Millennial Generation. This market segment will be leading tomorrow’s future and we certainly need to capture their attention.

This generation gave birth to Google. They gave birth to Facebook. Heck, some of them made millions in few short years based on their conceptions. They grew up with technology all around them. They can type faster on a cellphone than on a keyboard! This is no longer about growing up with Lotus Notes and being used to it. It is about shifting attention away from <insert popular web service> to the Lotus Portfolio.

I am very proud to state that we have software in our portfolio which caters to the ‘Facebook’ generation – in a business setting. It goes beyond Super Pokes and Celeb quizes. It allows them to share, contribute and collaborate with their peers in a productive environment. The challenge will be to shift attention away from ‘fun’ to ‘business’ while keeping their attention. As they grow up, they are looking for a professional outlook and IBM provides that.

I have contributed this idea in our current IdeaJam. The ideajam is at its peak right now and if you haven’t checked it out, I urge you to check it out! It lasts till Saturday 8AM.