I am making a swing through Europe the week of 10-18 July, which should be real fun (at least for me, if not for Europeans).

In Amsterdam, I am presenting 9pm-10:30pm 9am-11am on 14 July. Please contact George Witteveen for location information and registration.

"Social Tools: Your Network is Smarter Than You"

In 1999, I introduced the term "social tools" to represent a new sort of software, one that would change the way businesses and individuals work and play. But this change would not come as the byproduct of its operation.

"No, this generation of software is intentional, designed from the start to guide human behavior into new paths and patterns, to counter prevailing ways of interaction. I call these social tools: software intended to shape culture." (Message, August 1999)

Many sorts of software are social (or are becoming socialized), and these have many characteristics in common -- they are focused on social networks, they help us communicate, collaborate, and coordinate better -- but most importantly, they are based on community. And in communities we see the best examples of swarm intelligence, where decisions, inspiration, and knowledge can emerge from the interactions of individuals in ways that prove the axiom: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

How does swarm intelligence work? How can this be practically applied in today's distributed, virtual teams? What relevance does this have to you, and your company's next marketing program, product development cycle, or website design? Learn how to use today's social tools to tap the latent intelligence of your networks of friends, colleagues, and partners.