THE VIRTUAL VOYEUR

Attendance recommended. Participation a must.

I’m not there and I should be.

Time is money and I don’t have enough of either.

So what’s the answer? One of the nation’s top conferences has figured that out.

EDUCAUSE, the premier IT conference for the education industry, is in full swing this week with over 400 educational sessions and seminars, over 270 exhibitors like us, and a host of other interactive and networking opportunities. If you’re not there already you still have a chance to participate… virtually. And the EDUCAUSE Virtual Annual Conference has been cited by the industry’s leading publication as one of the top 15 most innovative in the country.

There are a number of reasons based on our industry, our audience and some great insights into innovation, why you should make the effort. Besides, you can cherry pick some of the best presentations with the most relevance to identity access management without the huge investment normally required.

There are at least 10 great sessions you should check out relating key security issues in higher education, including one of the more intriguing: “Bring You Own Credential: Providing Access to Campus Services with Social Identities (Google, Yahoo, Twitter)”

The 8:00 to 9:30AM PST General Session featuring Sir Ken Robinson in “Leading a Culture of Innovation” should prove to be a must see for anyone interested in implementing successful change in their organization. Sir Robinson is an internationally acclaimed expert on innovation and author of Finding Your Element, The Element, and Out Of Our Minds who has worked with some of the world’s leading creative organizations in corporate, educational, and cultural fields. In this session, he plans to identify three myths about innovation that hold many organizations back, and the basic practices that drive the most innovative organizations ahead of the pack. He will also present a three-tiered strategy to generate “systemic innovation” across the whole organization. It’s well worth your time, but if you miss it, be sure to check out his interview during the TED conference on “How Schools Kill Creativity” which is still one of the highest viewed presentations in conference history.

It’s an intriguing presentation and as I watched this afternoon I thought of writing my own presentation, “How Analysts Kill Creativity”. I was flabbergasted on an industry analyst call this morning when I was told, “I’m only interested if my customers are interested”. What?? I would venture to guess that much of the innovation in our industry has not been based solely on giving the customer what they want but rather determining what they need and delighting them with a product they had never imagined but now can’t live without. Isn’t that how Apple succeeded? In this case, as it turns out, both criteria were being met by the product change. I just don’t understand that thinking and I don’t see why a leading analyst in this industry would limit the scope of his advice to clients. Go figure.

But I digress. Clearly, this year’s EDUCAUSE conference is a must for anyone involved in the higher education field. Fortunately, they have been innovative enough to provide us all with a way to be a part of it whether we are there in person or not. And while a few of us will be attending in person, I guarantee that those of us virtual voyeurs will be getting a lot out of it as well. If you’re at the show stop by and see us at booth #1379.

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