Intranet events in June - lots happening!

IBF 24 - the intranet event of the year
IBF 24 is getting geared up and ready to run with the first 24-hour round the global Intranet event.

Hosted by the Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF), an intranet and portal benchmarking group of leading global organisations, this innovative 24 hour online event is focussed exclusively on intranet innovation.

Paul Miller, IBF Chairman and CEO, says:

“We’ll be taking delegates live ‘behind the firewall’ at a dozen of the world’s most advanced intranets, corporate portals and information workplaces including those at Google, Microsoft, the BBC, IBM, Nokia, BT, Nissan, IKEA, SAP, Sara Lee and America Electric Power. In most instances, this will be the first time that these innovative intranets have been opened up to ‘outsiders’ and delegates will be able to join live Q&A sessions where they can interact directly with the teams responsible for building and managing those pioneering intranets."

Paul answered my questions about event several weeks ago. Why IBF 24 and What are the challenges?
I'll be attending part of IBF 24 myself, and hope to get back to you later with my impressions. One things that's clear to me: intranet managers need to share as much as possible, and ways of doing this without travelling will bring a lot of value to everyone.
The big question is, will the interaction between the speakers and the participants work well online? Stay tuned...
Bravo to IBF for giving it a try. More later on this.
(Paid participation only: £300/ US$600/ €385/ AUST$655. You can register on the web site.)

Meeting with peers,  face-to-face
In the meantime, there is another intranet event in the second part of June which may interest those of you based in Europe.
J.Boye (head-quartered in Denmark) is organising a new networking group focused on intranets and portals. The initial session will take place on June 26th in Vienna.
This is part of their international networking group programme. I participated in a different group this spring in Vienna and found the intranet managers to be very well qualified and informed, and participated in a lot of thought-provoking discussions with them.
The groups are still small but that is normal for the kick-off year.
Membership is 3800 euros for the year, and covers participation for 3 people in your organisation.  (You can participate in the upcoming event in Vienna in an exploratory capacity to see if this type of group meets your needs.) Details and contacts here.