Pretty version of the LIFE SCIENCES 2010 transcript

I know, I know, it took us longer to create the PDF of the transcript from our LIFE SCIENCES 2010 event than it has taken us to create a 3-D virtual environment in ProtoSphere ... but here it is at long last!!! This transcript officially caps off our coverage of the event. Feel free to download, read, save, and share it.

It's packed with a lot of great information about improving knowledge transfer, speeding collaborative decision-making, and creating high-performance workplaces in life sciences. You'll get thoughts from moderator Erica Driver, ThinkBalm industry analyst, plus all the panelists, which included:

* Thomas Kaney, M.B.A., M.H.A., M.S.; Change Management Lead, Mandala Partners International (formerly Sr. VP, Human Resources and Strategic Planning, GlaxoSmithKline)

* Melanie W. Kittrell, Ph.D.; Executive Director, Global Customer Strategy and Channels, Knowledge Management and Innovation, Merck

* Dr. Tony O'Driscoll, Professor of the Practice, Duke University Fuqua School of Business, and co-author of the new book, “Learning in 3D”

* Sam Batterman, Business Intelligence Evangelist, Pharmaceutical/Life Science, Microsoft (formerly U.S. Sales Force project leader for CRM/SFA at Merck)

* And me

For all of our coverage of the event, including the video, podcast, photos, and more, hit our LS2010 label.

ProtoSphere 1.4 Feature Peek: Media Carousels for collaborating on SharePoint documents

I created a new feature peek video describing how to configure the SharePoint Media Carousel within ProtoSphere. The Media Carousel lets you bring documents from SharePoint into ProtoSphere, where teams can edit and collaborate on them. Give the video a view to see it in action.



By the way, this might look familiar to you if you happened to be at the Defense GameTech Users' Conference last week. ThinkBalm's Sam and Erica Driver talked about ProtoSphere's Media Carousels in their presentation on immersive environments.

LIFE SCIENCES 2010: The transcript

If you thought we squeezed all the audio/visuals out of our LS2010 event from January, well, think again. We had a bit more water left in the sponge: The transcript of our panel discussion.

As you might imagine, proofeading a 90-minute transcript (30 pages!) takes some time. But we wanted to make sure there weren't any typos and our transcriber got everything down accurately. Nothing has been altered beyond correcting typos.

Here's the LS2010 transcript as a Word doc. We're also prettying it up in a nice PDF, and will have that for you on the blog in the next day or so. If you want to listen to the podcast or watch the video, you know what to do. (Hit the links!!!)

Seven questions with ThinkBalm analyst Erica Driver on latest report

You might have heard that analyst firm ThinkBalm published a new report last week, "The Enterprise Immersive Software Decision-Making Guide." It's a use-case-based guide covering how to select immersive Internet platforms and tools.

ThinkBalm's Erica and Sam Driver also feature many vendors in their report, including ProtonMedia. Erica was kind enough to participate in an e-mail Q&A with us about their report, findings, lessons learned, and what's next for ThinkBalm. Read on below.

LIFE SCIENCES 2010 event officially announced

We popped a press release on the wire to alert local media about our LIFE SCIENCES 2010: The Global Collaboration Imperative event at Microsoft's Malvern, Pa., campus. Thought I'd post it here as well. If you're a member of the media and would like a complementary press pass, please contact our PR guy, Matt McLoughlin.

LIFE SCIENCES 2010 event: Panelists announced, few seats remain

Last week we told you that ThinkBalm analyst Erica Driver will be keynoting and moderating our LIFE SCIENCES 2010: The Global Collaboration Imperative event at Microsoft's Malvern, Pa., campus next Tuesday. Today I bring you the panelists. They are:

E. Melanie W. Kittrell, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Global Customer Strategy and Channels
Knowledge Management and Innovation
Merck and Co., Inc.

Dr. Tony O'Driscoll
Professor of the Practice
Duke University Fuqua School of Business
and author of the new book, "Learning in 3D"

Thomas K. Kaney, MBA, MHA, MS
Change Management Lead
Mandala Partners International
Formerly Sr. VP, Human Resources and Strategic Planning, GlaxoSmithKline

Sam Batterman
Business Intelligence Evangelist
Pharmaceutical/Life Science
Microsoft Corporation
Formerly U.S. Sales Force project leader for CRM/SFA at Merck

I'll also be sitting on the panel.

The event will open with a presentation by Erica, followed by a roundtable discussion with the panelists. Then Dr. O'Driscoll will present. After that, we'll turn the microphone over to you for a live Q&A session. By then everyone will be hungry, and lunch will be served.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, JUST A FEW SEATS REMAIN. So RESERVE YOUR SPOT before someone else swipes it.

I hope to see you there!

ThinkBalm analyst Erica Driver to moderate LIFE SCIENCES 2010: The Global Collaboration Imperative

We promised to keep you in the loop about the panelists and special guests who'll be featured at our LIFE SCIENCES 2010: The Global Collaboration Imperative event with Microsoft on Jan. 19. Here's our first big surprise. Our panel moderator will be Erica Driver, Principal of ThinkBalm. Recently rated one of the top 100 analysts by Technobabble, Erica is one of America's most sought-after speakers on the immersive Internet.

Erica has been in the IT sector for 15 years. She's a former principal analyst from Forrester Research, where she launched the company’s Web3D coverage as part of her enterprise collaboration research. Before joining Forrester, she was a Director at Giga Information Group (now part of Forrester) and an analyst at Hurwitz Group (now Hurwitz and Associates). She began her career in IT as a system administrator and Lotus Notes developer.

If Forterra Systems and Metaplace have sparked a virtual world industry shakeout, the question is: Who's next?

So, unless you've been living in a virtual cave (and given our audience, that's actually a possibility), you probably heard the rumor this week that Forterra Systems laid off 60 percent of its staff, put its assets up for sale, and is shutting down.

A day after ThinkBalm analyst Erica Driver broke the rumor on Twitter, Metaplace announced it was closing its doors. Driver has since verified that Forterra Systems has, indeed, conducted a massive layoff.

Forterra burned through tens of millions in venture capital, yet could not achieve critical mass. Ditto Metaplace, which also burned through millions before folding.

What in the virtual world is going on? Industry observers, including ThinkBalm's Driver, agree: The virtual world industry shakeout has begun. Driver tweeted, "I expect to see more shakeup in this emerging market in 2010-2011."

Crossing the Chasm, One Implementation at a Time: Sam and Erica Driver's keynote from 3D TLC 2009

3D TLC 2009 was just about a couple of months ago, but the information presented is no less relevant. We're digging through our video footage from the show, and we grabbed the keynote presentation by ThinkBalm's Sam and Erica Driver. They discuss barriers to adopting immersive Internet technologies, share their research on the value these technologies hold for the enterprise, and present their recommendations for overcoming barriers to adoption.

Part 1:

Crossing the Chasm, One Implementation at a Time: Part 1/2 @ Yahoo! Video

Part 2:

Crossing the Chasm, One Implementation at a Time: Part 2/2 @ Yahoo! Video

Transcript of Ron Burns' interview with ThinkBalm's Erica Driver

If you missed anything Erica Driver talked about in her interview with Ron at 3D TLC, you can catch the transcript here.

Ron Burns goes one on one with ThinkBalm's Erica Driver

Although Ron and Erica Driver could talk shop for hours (and have -- exhibit A being at one of the lunch tables at 3D TLC ;)), I caught a snippet of their conversations from the show in the video below. Ron and Erica sync up on the latest research out of ThinkBalm, "Crossing the Chasm, One Implementation at a Time," which she and Sam presented during their keynote earlier that day.



(P.S. -- Like I said before with Ron's presentation video, I didn't realize the blog link was displaying throughout the whole video. Didn't mean to have that in your face the whole time! :P Our future videos will just display it for a few seconds ...)

Ron Burns demos ProtoSphere's SharePoint integration during 3D TLC address

Now that we're back at our desks in our humble East Coast home, we're going through all of the footage and content we gathered from the 3D TLC Conference in San Jose, and rolling it out on the blog. ProtonMedia's big splash at the show was unveiling ProtoSphere's new SharePoint integration capabilities. So the first item we're posting is that very moment recorded on video.

Below is Ron Burns' presentation at the show, which followed Erica and Sam Drivers' keynote (video of that to come). He covered the state of 3-D virtual worlds technology, and what needs to happen to increase enterprise uptake. That includes SharePoint, and, well, I'll let Ron and his honorary guest, Craig Lieboff (Technology Strategist at Microsoft) take it away.

@ Yahoo! Video

(P.S. -- I didn't realize the blog link was displaying throughout the whole video. Didn't mean to have that in your face the whole time! :P Our future videos will just display it for a few seconds ...)

ProtoSphere now integrated with Microsoft SharePoint

A few hours ago, Erica and Sam Driver, Principals of ThinkBalm, wrapped up their presentation here at 3D TLC, where they talked about the biggest barriers preventing immersive environments from reaching early majority adoption. Some of the challenges they cited included security issues, lack of proven metrics and benefits from real case studies, and lack of integration with mainstream enterprise platforms. While Sam and Erica provided recommendations for overcoming these barriers, it was still a rather grim picture of the state of 3-D virtual world technology.

But then Ron stepped up to the mic for his presentation, and announced ProtonMedia's big news: ProtoSphere now integrates with Microsoft SharePoint. This is the first time SharePoint services and content have been combined with a 3-D virtual collaboration platform.

Although no one knew the details of Sam and Erica's presentation, Ron's news turned out to be a fitting, and uplifting, follow up. The ProtoSphere-SharePoint integration addresses one of Sam and Erica's major adoption barriers.

The audience was all ears, and it felt like a collective feeling of relief and hope washed over the room. But if you weren't there, I video taped the entire session, and I'll be posting on the blog shortly. We'll also have demos of the ProtoSphere-SharePoint technology coming out soon too.

Just after Ron's presentation, we issued a press release announcing the SharePoint integration. It's pasted below, where you can read more about how the two platforms work together and the value it can bring to the enterprise.

And now, it's on to the show floor to talk to some attendees!