Let's Get this Party Started!
Shortly before I left for five days of Elliott Masie's Learning 2006 and then a couple of days off to pursue my elusive goal of finishing the two-story tree house I am building for my daughter, I asked a question on the Mindjet Blog about what an online Mindjet community might look like. I asked it because while I think we at Mindjet have done a good job of starting and maintaining a company blog. That is exactly half right.
Now we need to get better at actually using this new technology to build real a community of people interested (for whatever reason or reasons) in Mindjet. As MavenMapper contributor Brett Bumeter wrote in the above Mindjet Blog thread:
"If this [an online Mindjet community] is going to be a success, then Mindjet must talk with the users, trainers and developers. If that occurs, it doesn’t really matter where it happens or what technical setup is used. The substance is the dialogue, and the technical features just increase the flow of ideas."
I really like Brett's comment not only because it has the advantage of being true. But also because even though I work for a technology company, I struggle with technology and tend to agree that while lipstick is nice, what is more salient is whether it has been applied to a pig, or to something what we might traditionally call "attractive" (thoughI'm suer I am not alone in finding our porcine co-inhabinants charming in their own special way). But we are lucky nonetheless to have people like Michael Scherotter, Vivek Vishist and Tom Blossom around here to surprise, amaze --and help--us with their technical wizardry. I am more about plain speaking: A little less glamorous, perhaps--but equally useful, I hope.
To whit! The goal of Hobart Mindjet Blog II will be to see if we can open up a dialog with you. We want to know what you like or love about MindManager. What do you like about being a Mindjet customer? What drives you crazy? What would you like to see in the next generation of Mindjet products? What improvements would you like to see in the current ones? How can we "delight" you? Who would you like to talk with at Mindjet--and what would you like to talk about with them? More than 1000 of you have joined the Mindjet Labs? Why did you join? What are you looking for? Are you finding what you need?
As we move forward, we would like to create a place where MindManager users--and people with all of the interests (and more) listed above--can get together and trade thoughts, ideas, best practices, tips, stories: where you can post photos, maps, audio clips, video; and join user forums (we've already go some started so check them out and let us know what other ones we should start). But mostly it will be a place to talk, to ask questions (in either direction) and to work together to see if we can all help each other find ever new and ever more creative, interesting, effective and...dare I say it...FUN ways to work together.
Thanks, and hope to talk to you soon.
Hobie