What’s Up? Part 1- Our Latest Watch This Space Podcast

October marks the start of the busy season for technology events, and we provided a preview of what’s coming, namely Jeff Pulver’s new-and-improved VON event, Verint Engage, British Telecom’s Focus analyst event, the UC Expo in London, and NICE’s analyst event in Zambia. Ahead of that we introduced changes coming to the podcast, both for updating the format, and two new channels where WTS can be found – TMCnet, and EM360. On the tech news front, we discussed the implications of Amazon’s new mandate for full-time back to the office – definitely a Watch This Space topic.

NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – as mentioned above, we’ve added two new channels for broader distribution. Aside from listening to us talk about, here’s the gist for the updates:
- For EM360, a dedicated website has been created, and hosts the 10 most recent episode. You can read more about this, along with all the related links in this blog post of mine.
- For TMC and Future of Work Expo, TMC is now a media sponsor for the podcast. This does not impact our content or topics in any way, but since the podcast is about the future of work, we’ll talk more about the sponsorship in the context of my Future of Work Expo. There’s a natural tie-in here, as the podcast is another way to support the Expo. In return, the podcast is now in regular banner rotation on three of their sites: TMCnet, our Future of Work Expo website, and their Future of Work Newssite. If you visit any of these sites on a regular basis, sooner or later, you will see banners for Watch This Space podcast, where all those clicks link directly to our WTS website.
ALSO NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – but less recent - we’ve now added an additional mail-out for newsletter subscribers, specifically about the podcast. In case you don’t check it out now, it will provide more detail about the episode to encourage you to give it a listen then. Watch for that in about a week’s time!
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 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 our podcasts here on my JAA website.

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

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 last month, including my other forms of original content, along with my social media stats. Detail and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog, or posted on my website.

Industry events –
- Sprinklr, Source24, NYC, Sept. 9-11 (unfortunately, I had to cancel last-minute)
- Verint Engage24, Orlando, FL, Sept. 23-25

Video segments – recorded and published:
- IoT Marketing – short excerpt from my fireside chat session with Tiffani Neilson about AI evolving role in the enterprise
- Nutun – guest on their Global Experience podcast
- Parallel Universe – guest on Glenn Goldberg’s podcast – need I say more?
- EM360 podcast on the AI in the contact center
- Verint – Blue Room guest interview on LinkedIn about AI and CX
Video segment – recorded, but not yet published:
- Big UC News, recorded Sept. 26
White paper – new paper for NICE on digital self-service is published now
Awards Judging – am back for the 2024 Talkdesk CX Innovators Awards - entries have closed now, and the judging process is now underway
Writing roundup for September – just one post - here on my blog
Media citings – three during September – you can review them here
Social media highlights - since these stats change every day, they are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use LinkedIn – I’ve stopped using Twitter/X for some time – so, here are my approximate tallies for LinkedIn during September:
- I had 14,832 views and 30 posts – very similar to August’s numbers
- My top LinkedIn post registered 1,832 views
- Overall, 7 posts had 500+ views

What's Coming? JAA Outlook for October

I have three in-person events for October:
- British Telecom Focus 2024, London, Oct. 1
- UC Expo, London, Oct. 2-3
- NICE Analyst Summit, Livingstone, Zambia, Oct. 21-24
Active work to keep watch for:
- Watch for commentary about a new market research study I just finished with a vendor in the customer service space
- Just finished another white paper for a leading CCaaS vendor about how AI can be used to elevate CX
- For my Future of Work Expo event – running next Feb. 11-13 - here’s the latest e-blast outlining what’s on for the events, and Call for Speakers for anyone interested in being on a panel or to propose a new topic
- Continued guest posts coming – some with my byline and some without – will post about these as they are published
- New projects are in play with several vendors, both current and new clients

Hey, Did You Know?

… the time comes for all of us, and it came far too soon for Alan Percy. I can count one, maybe two hands for the people I’ve worked with in this space from the beginning, who I’m still close to. Alan was definitely one of them, and at this point, it’s as much about friendship as being peers in the world of tech.
Sadly, he had very recently retired, and was ready for the next chapter, but this wasn’t the plan. My partner, Sara and I, spent time with Alan and his family last December, when we drove down from Toronto to see my Patriots play his Bills. They were gracious hosts, and Alan gave us the down-home tour of where the locals go in Buffalo.
More on Alan’s story here, and am sharing a nice photo of us after eating at the legendary Schawbl’s during our Bills trip. They don’t make eateries like this any more, they don’t make ‘em like Alan any more. RIP, sir.