The Value of a Social Network

 

Last night I made a presentation at an event sponsored by the Social Commerce Exchange. It's not a project management group, but it is a network of people who share ideas, network and try to learn how to better leverage social media to accomplish the goals of their very diverse organizations. Not unlike the #pmot or #pmchat communities I enjoy interacting with about project management topics, I think there's value looking outside of the PM community to get fresh ideas and learn new techniques. Because I'm an advocate of leveraging social media best practice within the project management process generally, learning what others are doing to communicate with their audiences is very informative.

Outside of project management, are there other communities you visit or forums you frequent? I'm a big believer of utilizing techniques and approaches from other industries that are successful (but possibly untried in ours), to increase productivity, improve collaboration and help individual team members maximize their contributions.

Attending events like the Social Commerce Exchange is part of what I do to improve my EVE ratio. Events like this often happen after work, I don't get paid to be there, but I think it's an important investment in my career. What are you doing to improve you skills and move the needle on your EVE ratio?