Digital Landfill

The End of an Era – and the Beginning of Another…

The Info360 event taking place from March 21 – 24 in Washington, DC will be the final “AIIM” Show to bear the AIIM name.  This is the culminating activity of an evolutionary course we began 10 years ago when we sold the event (known as the AIIM International Exposition and Conference) to Advanstar/Questex.  It also marks the successful transition to the Info360 name for the event, a transition initiated by Questex 3 years ago.

Our action at that time was based on the belief that: a) large scale horizontal trade shows were changing rapidly; and b) so too was our industry.  We believe that the past decade has borne out the foresight of AIIM and our Board of Directors from that decision a decade ago.

When we sold the Show, our objective was to create a revitalized association with 4 key functions:  1) networking for peer-to-peer engagement; 2) small scale vertically and geographically niched events, both in-person and virtual; 3) market research centered on the experience of users with content, document, and records management technologies; and 4) a standardized curriculum and structure for industry training.

The success of this strategy is reflected in a few data points:

Networking -- We now have 72,200 basic members and 5,300 professional members, up significantly over 2009. This is the first year since we sold the AIIM Show  (when professional membership was embedded in Conference attendance) that we have topped 5,000 professional members.  Our professional members are represented by 34 local chapters that, in 2010 hosted a cumulative total of 160 local events.

Niched Events -- Our Content Management Seminar Series (often called “the Roadshow”) continues to set the standard for effective local events in both the US (run by AIIM) and in the UK (run by a partner organization, Revolution). This multi-city series generated a total of 5,841 registrations in 2010; it is  a major source of “new blood” into the user membership. We also host virtual events every week (37 total in 2010), in both North America and in Europe.  In 2010 these webinars yielded over 20,000 registrants; a new record.

User Focused Research -- Our Industry Research program published 11 titles in 2010, including 5 in the popular Industry Watch series. This information, provided at no cost to end users, is underwritten through sponsorships. There were 10,139 downloads of our Industry Watch reports in 2010, and the research was featured in a long list of industry press reports and presentations. We convened a major industry initiative in 2010 headed by market strategist and best-selling author Geoffrey Moore focused on defining the role of content management in the emerging world of Systems of Engagement.

Training -- In the training arena, we passed the 17,000-student mark in 2010. Over 42% of our training business is now on-line, reflecting the migration of professional development to the web. 3,200 students took 4,511 courses in 2010 alone.  In 2010 we launched our 7th core training competency, focused on the role of SharePoint in an ECM strategy, and just this month launched an 8^th course focused on Capture.

This success sets the stage for a number of new initiatives we will be launching this year.  Here is just a partial sample…

1. We will shortly be announcing a new industry task force headed by Andrew McAfee (the father of the term “Enterprise 2.0”).
2. We will release an 8-step roadmap outlining how to implement a social business strategy: 1) quickly; 2) responsibly; and 3) in the context of core business processes.
3. We are launching two Product Evaluation Guides focused on Capture Software and Enterprise 2.0 technologies.
4. A new virtual conference on September 8 will feature Andrew McAfee, Gartner Analyst Debra Logan, and Cluetrain Manifesto author David Weinberger.

We will continue to be involved in the Info360 event, but in a different role.  As an association sponsor (along with other associations) – and more particularly as an organization with a long and rich history associated with the NMA and AIIM and now Info360 event -- we will hope for its continued success.