Our May episode took us to Boston and New York, where I recounted takeaways from Extreme Networks’ analyst event, and Chris did the same for Jeff Pulver’s VON reboot. Framing those highlights was a broader discussion about where AI is taking us, and what the new generation of tech entrepreneurs is bringing to a space where events like VON played a formative role. I also provided a reality check about how tech is driving today’s fan experience, and it has very little to do with watching the ballgame.

For those of you who don’t subscribe to our podcast directly from a commercial platform – you can access it any time here on the new Watch This Space website. Otherwise, the easiest platforms and sources to find WTS are Apple Podcasts, Google Chrome/Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast, iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music. Believe it or not, we’re also getting found on LinkedIn, Safari, and Alexa-enabled devices. For a more extensive replay archive, you can access all of our podcasts here on my JAA website.

What’s Up? Part 2 – JAA Highlights from April

While the Watch This Space podcast is the main form of original content for this newsletter, Part 2 here is a digest of JAA activities from the previous month, including my other forms of original content, along with my social media stats. More detail and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog or posted on the website.

Industry conferences – just one for April:
- Extreme Networks, 2023 Influencer Summit, April 4-5, Boston
Guest blog posts – two for last month:
- The Year of AI: Impacts on UCaaS and CCaaS, RingCentral Blog
- POTS Replacement: More Complex Than You Might Think, No Jitter
Podcast – Enterprise Connect Takeaways, Telecom Reseller Podcast
Webinars – busy month, with four:
- CCSC – State of Play in the Contact Center
- NICE – AI Building Blocks for Delivering Exceptional CX, with John Willcutts
- SCTC – Fireside Chat #144 – Enterprise Connect Takeaways (replays only for SCTC members)
- SCTC – Fireside Chat #146 – AI – Why All the Buzz?
Video segments – four more here as well:
- NICE – LinkedIn Live – How AI Has Changed the CX Landscape
- ZKast – Enterprise Connect Review, with Zeus Kerravala
- Big UC News – Microsoft Teams, Enterprise Connect Announcements
- UCX USA – How to Keep Your Customers and Employees Happy in 2023

Writing Roundup for April – summarized here - it’s a monthly digest of my thought leadership across various channels, including Tech Target, No Jitter, Channel Futures, Contact Center Pipeline and BC Strategies
Media citings – just one citation last month
Social media highlights - since these stats change every day, the metrics are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use Twitter and LinkedIn, and here are some approximate tallies for April:
- For LinkedIn – I had 28,350 views and 27 posts – third month running with 25k+ views
- My top LinkedIn post registered 1,586 views, and overall, 8 posts had 1,000+ views, and 16 had 600+ views
- For Twitter – there were 3,300 impressions, 678 profile visits, 63 mentions, 21 tweets and 6 fewer followers – gotta take the good with the bad, and being a light month for using this app, the metrics show it
- My “top tweet” was about a ChatGPT webinar with NICE, with 712 impressions

What's Coming? JAA Outlook for May

Only one industry event at the moment for May:

Five9 Analyst Summit, May 8-10, Porto, Portugal

Active work to keep watch for:

Recording two podcast segments for a contact center vendor about Generative AI
Three guest posts coming – one about AI, one about Generative AI, and one for the contact center space
News posts coming both for No Jitter and TechTarget
Ongoing series of ghost-written posts for a contact center vendor
Two white papers that should publish this month – one in the contact center space, and one for mobility
Future of Work Expo 2024 – next February seems far away, but am already in planning mode – if interested in speaking on a panel or helping develop a topic for us to explore, please get in touch