I’m at Ross Dawson’s Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum in Sydney today. We’re just one and a bit sessions in and there are already some very interesting and exciting things being said. We’ve got some very smart presenters including Euan Semple and Andrew McAfee (both presenting via Skype video).
There are also a bunch of smart 2.0 folks here - Jasmin Tragas, Des Walsh, James Dellow, Mick Liubinskas, Jodie Miners, Phil Morle and others - hopefully we can sway some opinion.
I’m Twittering some highlights live and taking part on the Tangler forum (embedded below) as we go along in the day.


Ouch! Wrong URL for wonderwebby! Try just wonderwebby.com for the latest :-)
Fixed!
Mate, I am a consultant
Having big corporates and gov as your audience does kinda shape your message. However, while this means you spend a lot of time talking about things like benefits realisation (ick) and competitive differentation, it doesn’t mean that you’re not thinking about bottom up empowerment. It’s Toyota’s old trick with quality circles and bottom up innovation — let the users drive what they need to get the job done and ITs job is ensure that they have the right tools — it’s just that I’m spending a lot of time packaging this to make if easy for big enterprise to swallow.
I’m very interested in lunch in SYD/MEL/CBR to swap ideas, if you’re interested.
Peter, I have a consulting background too. I totally got where you were coming from.
I believe that with the introduction of E2.0 and Web 2.0 tools into business, we have the opportunity to really shake up the consulting model as we both implement solutions and do the complex groundwork in terms of cultural change that is needed to support these implementations.
As consultants, I think we need to be messing with the minds of senior management, getting them to let go of the reins, empower users explicitly and bottom-up, get them to realise that middle management is often a block to organisational progress and that staid, grey-suited senior management who still regard their organisational value in terms of protected silos are dinosaurs.
The world has changed, we understand that, and we need to get our clients understanding it as well. It’s exactly what acidlabs as a business is about.
And yes, I’d love to catch up for lunch. I intended to come and introduce myself today and didn’t get the chance. Networking time was more than a little tight today for everyone - one of the few less good points about the day.