Number of IBM ConnectED press releases: Zero

by Volker Weber

This is going to be a very weird story. I promise.

If you wonder why there is so little press coverage of IBM ConnectED, there is a simple reason: there were zero press releases.

What happened in years past? In the run-up to the conference, there would be an analyst briefing, under NDA, where IBM would discuss what is coming up. This gives analysts lead time to prepare quotes. Then, after the Opening General Session, there would be a press conference. IBM would hand out press releases in a thin folder, management would summarize the announcements and take questions from press and analysts. For a few years, there was an additional blogger briefing, where IBM could say a few things more, because bloggers don't know the protocol of what constitutes an announcement. IBM would prepare collateral like fact sheets, photos, screenshots. Sometimes only after you asked for it. In the evening there would be a reception with senior management where you could talk background in a less formal way.

What happened this year? No analyst briefing, no press conference, no press releases, no collateral. There was a reception, but management did not show up. Zero. OK, one, but he invited himself and he was from the CIO office. Instead of the press conference, there was a "round table", again with no written material, neither on paper nor online. When I asked about fact sheets, I was told I could hand in whatever I write and it would be fact checked.

Here are a few resources to check:

I did not come up empty handed. Here is a single product announcement. I also got a link to some Verse screenshots that we already used in November. And then finally, I received this (6.9 MB PNG). No source, but I assume it's an internal newsletter.

Did I promise too much? Weird, isn't it? I can only speculate on why this happened.

Visiting ConnectED was not useless, far from it. I had great briefings with Jeff Schick, Kramer Reeves, Luis Benitez, Scott Souder, Ed Brill. So I did learn the things I needed to know.

Comments

Which kinda explains why they would not fly over any other members of the German press...

Thomas Cloer, 2015-01-31

OK Volker, you are our only hope, tell us what going on..

Adam Osborne, 2015-02-02

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