Defrag Blog

Previously, I looked at the first morning of Defrag — a broad set of topics that zero in on culture and innovation.

Coming out of Lunch on Day 1, we have Dion Hinchcliffe addressing the Future of Social Analytics. This is a topic that’s near and dear to me, since Defrag attendees have been requesting more on analytics for two years (unfortunately, there hasn’t been more to give). In talking with Dion, I think we’re finally gonna get a look into the burgeoning social media analytics market — and specifically, how the lines between that and traditional business intelligence are now blurring. I. Can’t. Wait.

After that, we move into breakouts across three tracks: two that are organized by me, and one that is organized by the Enterprise Irregulars (yea! so glad they’re coming).

The first hour of breakouts explores Apps, Marketplaces and Platforms (the broad idea that a) things like email have become a platform; and b) the rise of the enterprise app marketplace is happening), Analytics and BI (specifically, the topic of measuring influence and collaborative analytics), and the rise of Social Platforms (in the EI track).

The second hour of breakouts digs into Harnessing the Intelligence of the Crowd (both for predicting the future, and using the crowd to make decisions), Visualizations and Big Data (how to build big data systems for visualizations on a shoestring budget and what the web of spam is looking like today), and an EI discussion about Moving to the Cloud.

The last raft of afternoon breakouts attacks Social Email, Linked Data and Search, Semantics and Activity Streams, Moving Social Networking beyond Blogs and Tweets, and How Go-to-Market Strategies are impacted by Platform Shifts.

The day’s content ends as we reconvene to hear Jeff Ma talk about Business Lessons from the World of Blackjack. If you don’t know Jeff’s work, you’re gonna love this one. He was the inspiration for the movie, “21″ (the guy who took Vegas for MILLIONS counting cards and using statistical analysis), and is the author of the the new book, “The House Advantage.” Apply statistics to business; make the right decision even when it doesn’t “feel” right; rinse, repeat.

Finally, calm your brain down at our evening reception (complete with open bar and appetizers), and then retire to the hotel bar for some intimate networking with your fellow defraggers.

You will be stimulated. You will be tired. You will be thinking, “there’s a whole second day to go?”

Join us.