Category Archives: IBM Champion

IBM Champion Program – Honor to be included again

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Yesterday, IBM announced the 2016 IBM Champions for IBM Social Business. I was honored to be included in that list again. It’s very humbling to be included in a list of such talented people that I admire and who I consider friends. It’s great to see the 63 other returning Champions, plus 39 new IBM Champions! I’m especially proud to see my brothers Devin Olson (aka Spanky) and Steve McDonagh included in that list! (I’m predicting an ‘IBM Champion’ Collaboration Beer in our future.)

Congratulations to all of my fellow Champions! To see the list, click here:
Announcing the IBM Champion Class of 2016 for IBM Social Business!

 

Final Reminder – Nominations for IBM Champion ends the end of October

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IBM Champion Program

This is your final reminder to nominate all of those people who have been active, have assisted you and have been key ‘players’ in the IBM Social Business community.

I was asked by someone if you could nominate more than one person. ABSOLUTELY! If you feel that more than one person should be selected, then by all means nominate them!

I have been honored to be an IBM Champion for the past two years! I’ve taken my recognition as an ‘innovative thought leader’ seriously and have tried to push myself to assist whenever I could and speak out whenever it was necessary. To be among the ‘best of the best’ in our industry is something that I would not trade for anything in the world, and I now consider many of these people my very good friends and ‘family’.

Get your nominations in TODAY (or at least by October 31st): https://ibm.biz/NominateChamps

Thank you to all of you for your support of the IBM Champion Program! Thank you also to the Program Managers (cat herders) of this program! We give you grief, but it’s because we really love you! Think of us as that kid in grade school that beats you up, but really has a crush on you…

2015 Class of IBM Champions for ICS have been announced… so humbled and honored!

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After the evening, night and morning that I had, I was surprised by a text message by my brother, Devin Olson:

Congratulations Champ!
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/ibmchampion/entry/announcing_the_2015_class_of_ibm_champions_for_ics?lang=en

Needless to say (but saying anyway), I am SO HUMBLED and HONORED to have been selected as a 2015 IBM Champion for ICS! Last year was a complete whirlwind of energy, excitement, and knowledge sharing. I thought that I would be ‘one and done’, and I was okay with that! With this honor, I will not only continue to ‘learn and share’, ‘collaborate and teach’ and ‘exchange knowledge and ideas’ to the community at large.

One way I’m hoping to do this is by bringing back and enhancing a user group here in Michigan! There have been a couple of them over the years, including my ‘home’ UG, Detroit Notes Professionals, but they have really been in need of some attention. In 2015, they will get that attention… at least from me!

Congratulations also go out to my friends and fellow IBM Champions, and welcome to the new IBM Champions selected for 2015!!! See you all at IBM ConnectED 2015! (The rest of you are coming, right? If not, you should… register HERE!)

Thank you to Amanda Bauman (IBM Champion Program Manager) and Oliver Heinz (ICS Community Manager) for all of their hard work in 2014. Let the fun (and hard work) continue in 2015!

Reminder: Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for ICS are due by 17 September at 5PM EST (Tomorrow)

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Just a quick reminder to everyone that the nominations (and self-nominations) are all due by 5PM EST tomorrow, September 17th, 2014. You were going to nomination someone, right? Of course you were, so go do it NOW!

Get more details in my earlier blog post: Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for ICS are now open!

Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for ICS are now open!

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IBMchampion-250x65As usual, I’m late to post this (seriously, do some of you people work?), but IBM has opened nominations for the 2015 IBM Champions for IBM Collaboration Solutions. What is the IBM Champions program? Per the IBM Champion homepage,

The IBM Champion program recognizes innovative thought leaders in the technical community — and rewards these contributors by amplifying their voice and increasing their sphere of influence. An IBM Champion is an IT professional, business leader, developer, or educator who influences and mentors others to help them make best use of IBM software, solutions, and services.

IBM Champions are not employees of IBM.

I have been HONORED to be an IBM Champion for ICS for this past year. The things that I do for the ICS community are the same things I would have done if I had not been an IBM Champion, and I tried to the best of my ability to live up to the designation.

Current IBM Champions have to be nominated again each year… we are not ‘grandfathered’ in. If you think someone should continue to be an IBM Champion, you have to nominate them again! Don’t assume someone else is going to do it.

If you feel like you have been helped by someone in the ICS community, honor them by nominating them! Just click here to get started: https://ibm.biz/NominateChamps – You do not have to fill in every field. Just fill in what you can and hit submit. It may not seem like much, but to those of us that get nominated, it means a lot! (By the way, you can also nominate yourself!)

Click here and here for more information.  Again, click here to nominate someone: https://ibm.biz/NominateChamps

Nominations for the 2015 IBM Champion program will be accepted through 5 PM Eastern on Wednesday, September 17th, 2014. Go nominate someone TODAY!!!