MassTLC Unconference Blog

The Virtual Unconference

2010-10-15T16:44:00.015-04:00

The Virtual Unconference is a online system designed to parallel the physical conference based around crowd sourced takeaways and user submitted content (Did you know about it?).

Update: Check out a curated session

@ScottKirsner 42 Ways to generate Buzz or
Learn what it's like to drive a Ferrari,
See the latest Curated Content (or via sidebar Filter Posts by Type).
Flickr group photos (also available via individual sessions when tagged)

It's a two part system: The Official blog (this one) contains Virtual Sessions and General Unconference topics that automatically capture session tweets and can be updated with content curated from the Uncut User Submissions blog. Use the Session Wall to navigate/find/browse the session and submit content.

Visit each post for extras, like real-time tweets and submitted content links during the unconference, archived tweets after and a disqus comment block to continue the discussion. Disqussions describes some of the goals and details subscription options for comments on a session by session basis or for the entire unconference.

You can read about the "Mega System" on Bill Warner's Blog and learn more about Chris Myles' Next Steps Labs .

Unconference Highlights/Takeaways

2010-10-14T23:50:00.001-04:00

Use this section/hashtag (#MassTLCHighlights) to share your overall highlights/takeaways from the unconference in general.

Please use the appropriate Virtual Session (see the Wall) for session specific highlights.

AP (Unconferences)

Photo by @danb
...
Unconferences are a great way to get people to mingle. The lack of a preset agenda creates a natural icebreaker, with people asking each other which sessions they plan to attend. That anyone could be headed to anyone else’s session, or even their own, implies that everyone has an idea worth sharing. So there’s a kind of democratic ideal that’s embedded in the unconference format. Plus, the sheer unpredictability of the day is exciting.
...

via alexpatriquin.com

More Gushing Over the MassTLC unConference

It’s two days later and my reaction is still “Wow” (well, actually “Kakow!”) This was the single best professional event I’ve ever attended and that was the prevailing opinion of the other attendees with whom I chatted.

via matthewbellantoni.com

Innovation f Rules « Practically Bleeding Edge

Ever attended an unconference? I experienced my first last week, the MassTLC (@MassTLC) Innovation Unconference (http://bit.ly/cp1Xzb), and have been debriefing with the best innovators I know. My big take away from the conference was that innovation arises at the intersection of wild passionate entrepreneurship and well structured, measured business management.

via tarneman.wordpress.com

10 Takeaways from MassTLC’s UnConference

Overwhelming. Inspiring. Thought-provoking. These are all words that apply to the spectacle that was yesterday’s Mass Technology Leadership Council’s Innovation 2010 “unConference,” held at the World Trade Center Boston and organized by entrepreneur and investor Bill Warner, Matrix Partners’ Antonio Rodriguez, and MassTLC’s Tom Hopcroft. And one more word, ridiculous—that’s what it feels like to try to sum it all up in one post.

via xconomy.com

Archived Tweets

Unconference Experts

2010-10-14T23:46:00.003-04:00

See what Mike Morris learned during his expert one-on-ones.
MassTLC Unconference - Duh...it's about Customer Development

It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned or hoped (the story doesn't end there though...read on). I think I had this vision that my idea (http://openprompt.com) would be validated and well received. That's not exactly what happened. There were two experts in particular who made an impression on me and have had an immediate impact on the way I'm going to continue building OpenPrompt (OpenPrompt the company/brand, not just the software).

via mikeymo.squarespace.com

100+ experts volunteered to have three private sessions with sponsored entrepreneurs.

That's a lot of meetings.. surely something valuable was learned.. share it here and broadcast your thanks to the experts.

Drive a Ferrari at MassTLC

2010-10-14T23:36:00.000-04:00

Wonder what it was like?

With Josh (Babson MBA 2008) behind the wheel and Chris (Olin College 2012) riding shotgun, we decided to drive all the way from the World Trade Center in the Boston seaport to Babson/Olin to show it off to our friends. Along the way, we realized more and more that the Ferrari ride was actually a lot like entrepreneurship. Maybe this is just a cheap excuse to relive the excitement of tooling down the Mass Pike at 95 MPH, but maybe it’s to show Bill Warner that we actually held an unConference session in the car. Josh and Chris present:
10 Ways Driving Someone Else’s Ferrari Is Like Being An Entrepreneur

via ohmanwords.tumblr.com

Three winners were picked. Two drive for an hour. The third takes the Ferrari home for the night.

More details here

MassTLCHV1 | Opening/Agenda Session

2010-10-14T10:20:00.000-04:00

Opening/Agenda Session
Bill Warner, Tom Hopcroft, Antonio Rodriguez

From the Windows via @chrismyles4

Principles of Open Space

Whoever comes are the right people.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
Whenever it starts is the right time
Whenever it is over it is over

Law of Two Feet - Responsibility & Motion

If you are not learning or contributing it is your responsibility to respectfully find some place that you are.

Passion & Responsibility - Be Prepared to be Surprised

Pre-Party Photos Start Rolling In

2010-10-14T00:00:00.006-04:00

It's great to see a "Mega-System" finally get put to use.. and work! We've design a system that will allow you to tag and submit content related to a particular session (even the pre-party events had an Id) . Not only are we re-capturing the tweets associated with each session, we also allow users to submit content (photos, video, audio, notes etc) which are tagged and shared (follow @MassTLun) so that they can be curated into virtual sessions.. enabling the discussion to continue even after the unconference (learn more). We even capture link backs.. so if you are writing a blog post about a particular session, please link to the virtual session (in this blog) and we'll tie your post back to it. If you have some non-session specific content or summary blogs to link, please use one of these Unconference categories.We would also like to capture who attended each session, so please use the Sign via Twitter (or disqus comments).

Some photos are auto-post to flickr which you can also be viewed via the wibiya toolbar on the bottom of the page.

Unconference Connect

2010-10-13T23:45:00.006-04:00

Did you make any significant connections during the unconference? Let us know.. and help spread the word about the value of the unconference and help build the community for next time.

Unconference Feedback

2010-10-13T23:40:00.005-04:00

Have any general feedback about the unconference, we are listening!!

What worked? What didn't?

Tweet from here or start a conversation in the comments below.

Disqussions

2010-10-13T23:24:00.004-04:00

Latest discussion info Powered by Disqus (hence Disqussions)

Goals

Our goal is to crowd source the key session highlights, takeaways and keep the energy, discussion and community going/growing after the conference in addition to curating the key messages and user submitted content for each session back into the Virtual Session Blogs (this site).

Update: Check out a curated session (@ScottKirsner 42 Ways to generate Buzz). Join the discussion thread and disqus will even tweet your comments.

Disqus (see below) will allow us to track the most popular sessions and contributors (via comments) while the Sidebar stats will allow us to track popular sessions based on page views. Please use Disqus' threading feature, bold HTML tags for highlights and don't forget to Like your favorite comments/takeaways to help surface the most valuable takeaways and snippets.

Subscribe to Discussions

Latest Discussion feed (entire site)
You can also subscribe to each sessions discussion thread individually by visiting the session page and selecting Subscribe by email or Subscribe by RSS within the comment block.

Highlighted Session Discussions

MassTLCB1

2010-10-13T00:57:00.003-04:00

Session description to follow.

Content will be curated from archived session tweets, along with comments below and content submitted to MassTLC Uncut (via Tags)

Session specific options are available via Session Extras below.

MassTLCC1

2010-10-13T00:49:00.001-04:00

MassTLCD1 | Broadband Disruption

2010-10-13T00:48:00.009-04:00

From @brough

News/Links

Ad Hoc Fixed Wireless Networks--Should Carriers Be Afraid? | NetworkWorld.com Community

A 'Freemium' approach to radically improving broadband Internet in America," was the topic of a session at last week's popular MassTLC (Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council) Innovation 2010 unConference in Boston. Driven by curiosity, Rebecca attended the session led by Brough Turner, founder of a newly minted startup called netBlazr (no relation to the Telebit NetBlazer of yore). NetBlazr is a wireless ISP with a grand vision to bootstrap a wireless alternative to today's ISP lineup of telcos, cable companies, and line-of-site wireless providers. Using inexpensive Wi-Fi technology NetBlazr plans to rely on business customers to build ubiquitous, cooperative networks in densely populated urban areas.

via networkworld.com

MassTLCE1

2010-10-13T00:48:00.003-04:00

MassTLCF1

2010-10-13T00:48:00.001-04:00

MassTLCJ1 | Execution Tips

2010-10-13T00:47:00.012-04:00

From @iandsmith

MassTLCH1 | The Future of Telemedicine

2010-10-13T00:47:00.009-04:00

From Raphael Cariou. Twitter: @realityfrontier

What helps in building up a telemedecine solution?

· A sales team needs to employ the services of a medical doctor as doctors are trusting doctors.
· The solution provider needs to get involved as closely as possible to medical trials.

What are the key contributing factors for the adoption of a telemedecine solution?

· Facilitate the relationship between doctor and patients.

· Move data collected remotely where it belongs.

What are the barriers to adoption?

· Cost of entry for following up with some categories of patients such as diabetics, obese, etc.

· Cost of putting a solution together as it involves the participation of medical practitioners and technology providers. Seen from the medical team standpoint, it often costs less to work with college students.

· Reticence of medical professionals to adopting new technology as it is perceived as getting in the way of caring for patients.

How to get into the telepresence market?

· Understanding the re-imbursement mechanism is a key factor as it drives the incentive for medical practices.

· A solution provider would have to build a model of a medical practice cash flow that would account for the new technology cost.

· Identifying the right buyer is critical and may require some consolidation. An individual doctor may not buy in.

· Understanding the end-to-end care scenario is also critical. The reason why a black box is useful for home healthcare is that nurses are working on a prospective pay where additional visits are not paid for.

What are the key metrics?

· Improving the quality of care

· Reducing the cost of care

What are examples of technology that best fits telemedecine?

· SMS is preferred as there are not that many Smartphones in use.

· It does not need to be real-time for some fields, such as dermatology.

· Any technology that helps in submitting measures for bonuses in the field of evidence-based medicine.

· Help in collecting enough data to define a norm for a particular scenario, and in identifying when there is a variation from the norm.

· Note: HIE is orchestrating the anonymous collection of data.

What is evidence-based medicine measured on?

· Primarily focused on processes rather than medical data

· Currently more used to compare performances of medical practices

· There is no mechanism currently that would be close to a consumer report

MassTLCG1 |The Idea SuperCollider

2010-10-13T00:47:00.007-04:00

The Idea SuperCollider - Where MindMapping Meets Social Networking
B.Zimmer/ E. Peters

Brainstorming has evolved into powerful mindmapping tools that allow real time collaboration over the net. Really useful stuff, but we think it is only the beginning

For many of us, the process of bouncing ideas back and forth is an important part of our social interaction. This idea bouncing has been around for centuries. 17th century coffee houses were the catalyst for ideas as well as a social meeting ground. I suspect examples go back to antiquity.

It is still important today, we are constantly collecting ideas facts and stitching them up later into different conclusions In fact, the unConference is a good example of a similar activity.

In a more modern example, an English mathematician (Timothy Gowers) posted a challenge to the readers of his blog to develop an more elegant proof of a theorem. The process took 6 weeks and was the result of many people building on each others comments until ideas gelled into a solution. A collaborative effort

This was done with nothing more than a stream of comments to a blog.

We have realized social mindmapping is not constrained by the bounds of brainstorming or blogs, it needs some of the properties of both along withcollective intelligence and other techniques.

So we have decided to build a social application to support collaborating on ideas and we have named it the Idea Supercollider. Our goal is to augment the creative process supporting discussions, capturing results and providing a forum for continued work across geographies and timezones.

We will start with something simple, and make it available. We will augment it over time to incorporating what we learn.

We are here today to enlist your help develop our ideas. We have put a lot of thought into the design, but we don’t want to start with that, we want to hear from you. Tell us;

How you might use it?
What does it need to do?
What should it integrate with?

MassTLCL1

2010-10-13T00:46:00.003-04:00

MassTLCM1

2010-10-13T00:46:00.001-04:00

MassTLCO1 | Does your product provide VALUE?

2010-10-13T00:45:00.008-04:00

Everybody has a Value Problem

(photo by La Capoise Galerie)

At the MTLC Innovation Unconference last week, I proposed the topic: "Does your product provide VALUE? (and how to find out)." This was a variation of sessions I've done in the past. Once again I was impressed at the level of interest. About a dozen individuals sought out a distant conference room during the first session at the World Trade Center to discuss this topic. As before, the hour quickly flew by -- we could have easily spent another hour or two. I felt badly that I didn't really deliver on my promise of sharing some best practices (see below).

via blog.leveragepoint.com

MassTLCN1

2010-10-13T00:45:00.004-04:00

MassTLCP1

2010-10-13T00:45:00.001-04:00

MassTLCQ1

2010-10-13T00:44:00.003-04:00

MassTLCR1

2010-10-13T00:44:00.001-04:00

MassTLCS1

2010-10-13T00:43:00.006-04:00