What’s Up? Part 1 - Our Latest Watch This Space Podcast

This time around, Chris Fine and I had each attended industry events in January, so we talked about those highlights – and there were many. Chris spends a lot of time at events related to the digital workplace – especially from the corporate real estate sector angle – and I’m immersed more in the world of collaboration technologies. There’s some interesting overlap, and coming from the Project Voice event (more on that later), I was filtering things through the lens of consumer technology companies like Amazon and Samsung. Watch This Space indeed.

As usual, JAA subscribers get to hear our takeaways - right now, in this newsletter. Otherwise, I’ll be posting the podcast publicly on my website in a couple of weeks, so non-subscribers will have to wait a bit.
If you haven’t checked our earlier podcasts, you can do that from the podcast archive on my website. This archive will keep updating as the latest podcast is added, so now from one place, you can access all the most recent podcasts.
Recent podcasts have also featured AI-driven transcripts that complement the audio replay link. This feature comes courtesy of Otter.ai, and I hope you like it. Otter transcribes in real-time, and I should also note that this transcription feature only comes with the newsletter. The publicly-shared posts of our podcasts are audio-only, and for some, that will be enough. But really, wouldn’t you rather be a subscriber?
Speaking of Watch This Space, I’ve been working on new design elements to better brand our podcasts, and you’ll be seeing some of that next month.
We’re also finally moving towards upgrading our approach to production, with the main payoff being to push these podcasts out to the major platforms like iTunes. Finally!

**Latest Watch this Space Podcast & Transcript, February 2020**

Drivers for the Digital Workspace, and Cool Voice Innovation from Chattanooga

What’s Up? Part 2 – More Highlights and Insights from January

Conference roundup – last month was more about planning upcoming events than traveling to them, but I did attend one – Project Voice in Chattanooga, TN. Lots to talk about, and I was busy, moderating two panels and performing three different sets of music with the SIPtones. I did a video podcast with the event organizer Bradley Metrock, and aside from my blog posts and tweets, there are a few links in this newsletter for more in-depth coverage.
One of the new initiatives to help raise my profile launched last month – Advisory Cloud – and I’ll soon be adding a link to that in the Professional Community section of my website. Advisory Cloud is built on the expert network model and seems geared more to short-form paid consultation, akin to giving out legal advice while on the clock. This can actually be a very cost-effective form of consulting, so if you’ve got a hit list of questions you need on-the-spot insights about, I’m just a few clicks away. In the spirit of starting a new decade, we’ll see how it goes – not just as a new channel for new business, but also to reach a broader audience for JAA.
Work-wise, a few January highlights:
- The UK-based UC Summit 2020 virtual event launched on January 20, and is open for 90 days – I was on the AI Powered Communications panel, and if you get a chance to see it, please let me know your impressions
- Podcasts – in addition to recording this month’s edition of Watch This Space, I recorded a few others that have since been posted, and links to all are on my blog:
  - 2020 outlook with BCStrategies
  - This Week in Voice with Bradley Metrock and two SIPtones members
  - a preview for my Enterprise Connect talk for No Jitter’s On Air series
- I also recorded two podcasts last month that haven’t aired yet (but will very soon):
  - a guest on a No Jitter podcast for one of their sponsors
  - a guest profile of me for the next edition of the Witz End podcast(from PR firm Witz Communications) – which was very fun, including some game show quizzes and impromptu piano playing
- I ghost-wrote a four-part blog series for a contact center vendor on 2020 trends, and more posts are in the works
January writing spotlight – my pick would be my recap post about Project Voice on BCStrategies – The Future is in Chattanooga.
Here’s my Writing Roundup post for January – it’s a monthly digest of my thought leadership across various channels, including Toolbox.com, Tech Target, No Jitter and BC Strategies.
There were three media citings for January.
Here are the social media highlights for last month. Since these stats change every day, the metrics are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use Twitter and LinkedIn, and here are some approximate tallies for January:
- For LinkedIn – I shared 30 posts, and overall, they registered 19,963 views. That’s up a tad from last month. My top LinkedIn post registered 1,908 views, and 4 posts had 1,000+ views.
- For Twitter - there were 36,400 impressions, which is up over 70% from January. Also had 217 profile visits, 61 mentions, 43 tweets, and 4 new followers – all are up markedly from last month – happy to see that.
- My “top tweet” was a shout-out for Voxbone’s new e-book, for which I was a contributor - it had 3,201 impressions. Overall, 8 tweets had 1,000+ impressions.
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a new tab on my website – My Music. This has been in the works for a while, and showcases my fun side, mainly from playing keyboards and guitar with the SIPtones. I’ve posted a few video clips and photos from recent performances – and I have others if you want to see more. Our most recent shows were in Chicago in November, and Chattanooga last month – clips are coming for those soon.

What's Coming? JAA Outlook for February

2020 is already busy for conferences, but no changes of note from last month. As always, details for each event will be shared on my blog, along with the Event Calendar listing on my website. I’ve already turned down a few events invites due to timing conflicts, and that’s bound to happen when there’s so much going on.
- Avaya Engage, February 3-4, Phoenix, AZ
- Cisco Collaboration/Contact Center Summit – February 5-6, San Jose, CA
- ITExpo/Future of Work, February 11-14, Ft. Lauderdale, FL – am the FoW event chair and will be speaking and moderating
- Channel Partners 2020, March 9-12, Las Vegas, NV - moderating
- Enterprise Connect, March 30-April 2, Orlando, FL – speaking twice
- Avaya Influencers Analyst Event, April 15-16, location TBD
- Talkdesk Opentalk 2020– April 22-23, San Francisco, CA
- Metaswitch Forum, May 11, Las Vegas, NV - speaking
- UCExpo, May 12-14, London, UK – speaking and moderating
- Twilio SIGNAL, May 20-21, San Francisco, CA
- 8x8 Analyst Event, May 26-28, location TBD
For two upcoming conferences – Channel Partners and Enterprise Connect - being a speaker, I can offer registration discounts; $400 for Enterprise Connect – details here – and various breaks for Channel Partners – details here
For the upcoming Enterprise Connect event, I’m also serving as a judge for their Best Of awards – this involves assessing 50 entries, narrowing that down to the top six, and from there, the winners will be announced during Day 2 of the event. I did this for two other awards programs last year, so the routine has become fairly familiar.
I continue to have a steady and varied mix of projects in the works, including two white papers, case studies, guest blog posts, insight briefs, and qualitative research about UCaaS offerings. As an update to this ongoing mix (mostly with existing clients), I’ve since added four new projects, three of which are with new clients, so the work never gets dull.

Hey Did You Know?

Speaking about speaking, aside from letting you know where I’ll be doing that, the notices here can help save money for subscribers. You can do that with one of the badges below, so I hope you can use it. I don’t have a badge to add here for Channel Partners, but the link provided earlier for that event provides savings for that event.

That’s All for Now

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Not sure about your strategic priorities for 2020? Need to enhance your lead-generation with independent thought leadership? Thinking about having a speaker for your next customer event? These are a few examples of what I do, and your inquiries are welcome any time.