Tech Forward:

Robin Matza of Deloitte mentions that working virtually allows your schedule to be more organized. She cautions not to lose the “conversation in the hallway” when you are in the office–especially as a leader. She also just noted that Deloitte has launched/is launching “D Street”–basically Deloitte’s internal version of Facebook. She mentioned that she is working with a project manager whom she has never met and was able to develop a deeper level of rapport with the PM once she saw her picture on Facebook.

Sheila Stanziale of PepsiCo agreed that working virtually should not replace appropriate context and engaging with the political structure within companies.

Judy Spires mentioned that her company asked the staff what they wanted more of and what they wanted less of. Invariably everyone said less e-mail and fewer meetings. And the answer to the “more” question? More communication! Say what?! To which Spires suggests that you ask yourself, “How effective am I?”

The biggest benefit for PepsiCo? Speed of communication. Stanziale mentioned that leaders today get disproportionate credit for face time–she thinks this is just the way things are trending with the growing virtual world.

She also thinks that its virtual strategy has not given PepsiCo a competitive edge, but adoption of virtual tools has kept it competitive.

A big pro for Deloitte is that it has increased its talent pool–especially working with teams in India.

Shon lobbed a dunk to Spires when she asked about people who have a tendency to get caught up in their own world. Stanziale mentioned that a person would not be able to survive in Pepsico’s culture if he or she maintained a digital silo.

Tom Furphy just mentioned that he regularly gets 800 e-mails a day. He started the e-mail overload conversation by saying: “E-mail is out of control.”

Thus began the talk about e-mail and digital overload.

Spires mentioned that one thing she’s learned about working virtually is to respect your team’s privacy. She realized that when she replies to e-mail on the weekend, many team members feel the need to respond back when they hear the e-mail “ding.” She encourages members of her team to think about their responses first and reply later. She also mentioned that she is sending less and less e-mail now.

Spires suggests that you learn the communication styles of your team members so you can make sure they receive information in the way they need it. Do your team members need one-on-one communication? Or do they prefer to get cut and dry e-mail so they can get back to work?

Candace Corlett, new co-chair, is at the podium now. She’s asked some good questions, such as:

How do you get face time? How do you make an impression? How do you find a mentor when you’re working in a virtual environment?

They just introduced panelists Tom Furphy, VP of consumables & AmazonFresh, Amazon.com; Robin Matza, director and Northeast Women’s initiative leader, Deloitte & Touche; Judy Spires, president, Acme Market; and Sheila Stanziale, VP, small format, PepsiCo.

It’s a top-notch roundup, and they’re already cracking jokes and giving serious inside scoops on how their companies are using virtual tools to cut costs and compete in an increasingly virtual world.

Judy Spires just shared that Acme Markets is using video conferencing, and its online grocery delivery service is making it easier for moms to get their vittles in a timely manner without having to leave Junior at home. Spires also just revealed that Acme Markets is going to institute a “no e-mail day” at Acme to make sure people continue to pick up the phone and connect with each other.

Sheila Stanziale of PepsiCo offers some cogent advice: Before you get started in your day-to-day job, make sure you meet key people in person. Take the time to do this. Don’t meet the people for whom you work and stakeholders in the “halo conference room.”

Tom Furphy from Amazon.com mentioned that Amazon does not use video conferencing but rather relies on teleconferencing for the bulk of its virtual needs. He says Amazon finds video conferencing technology too clunky and formal.

I just got a photo op of and an interview with Black Enterprise’s Shon Gables. I’ll be posting the photos via Flickr and the audio interview soon.

She shared some information about what Black Enterprise is up to in terms of leading the pack in an increasingly virtual world. I didn’t realize how diversified it is as an organization–it’s grown since I was on the cover in January 2001.

And, yes, Shon is just as smart in person as she appears on TV. Someone might be writing her content for the show (although she might write it herself, I don’t know) . . . even still, she’s the real deal, folks.

I’m going to be introduced in a minute, so I have to dash. I’ll be back . . .

Well, I arrived safely here in Los Angeles to speak at the Executing Social Media conference tomorrow. I could have done without the toddler who screamed all the way from Kansas to Los Angeles, though. Someone should have told her that’s not the kind of social media we mean.

I read on Peter Shankman’s Twitter feed that he’s arrived here, as well. If you don’t know who Peter Shankman is, find out by subscribing to his Help A Reporter Out (HARO) service. It’s real, legitimate, free leads for media coverage. My company has received some great coverage by responding to some of the queries that come through his mailing list–and no, it’s not just tech stuff.

I took a nice walk around Old Town Pasadena today and I really like it. I can live here, but lately I’ve been saying that a lot about everyplace but New York. Hmmm . . . maybe there’s a small change brewing?

Pasadena is great, relaxed and the peeps are really friendly. You can wear flip-flops in just about every fancy restaurant. I collect art and I try to pick up pieces from my travels, so I asked a few local Pasadenans what Pasadena is famous for and they all said the Rose Parade. Soooooo . . . since I missed that, I’ll take a few pictures of the gorgeous architecture and leave it at that. Maybe I’ll have a fewshots framed.

Anyway . . . the conference starts tomorrow. I’ll try to do some live blogging, but I have a session to lead and a roundtable to orchestrate, so I’ll do what I can to keep you informed of what’s going on here.

Stay tuned…

Business travelers (and I’m one of them) have to worry about a plethora of things when flying to a meeting or to make a presentation… Did I remember hard copies of the presentation? Did I bring the projector? Are our ideas strong enough? Do we have time to rehearse? Am I going to make my flight?

The folks at Projector123.com make our lives, travels and presentations easier.

They rent LCD projectors online and will send the projector via next-business-day delivery by FedEx to any location in the United States. Whoo hoo!

All the projectors they stock are simple to use, capable of HD quality, and they’re sent with a little step-by-step guide to the set-up process. And just in case you get caught in a bind, a 24-hour support line provides immediate technical assistance.

Finally, a service that makes sense and, if they can deliver on their promises,that’s  even better!

I’ll get back to the answers to the question from Part 2 in a moment.

Right now, Greg Spragg, executive vice president of merchandise for Sam’s Club is addressing the women. I kinda’ like his style . . . right away he poked fun at the fact that he’s one of the only men in the room.

He just shared a story about Martha’s Place, a restaurant in Montgomery, Alabama. Turns out some of the people who started Sam’s Club gave Martha a two-story building to use–for free as long as she needed it–as the location for her restaurant. Today, Martha’s Place is nationally known and is a “must-do” for anyone who visits the Mongomery area. Hey, if it’s good enough for Angela Bassett, Whoopie Goldberg and Walter Matthau . . . I might want to check that out.

I never thought I’d say it, but “Good on ya, Sam’s Club!”

Leaders of small businesses are more hands-on and more involved in the daily operations of their businesses; many take on IT in addition to their other responsibilities, according to CDW’s Small Business Driver’s Seat Report released today. The study also identified some significant differences in technology strategy, experience and plans among women-owned small businesses.

The study found that 69 percent of executives of women-owned companies with five to 18 employees are “totally involved” in IT decisions, and 50 percent of executives of women-owned companies with 50 to 99 employees are “totally involved” in IT decisions.

Additional findings indicate that women-owned companies adopt core technologies in line with other businesses, but lag slightly in hiring dedicated IT professionals and adopting data warehouse/business intelligence tools.

For a complete copy of the CDW Small Business Driver’s Seat Report, please visit www.cdw.com/driversseat

People are overloaded and completely innundated with e-mail. I’m one of those people, and I’m getting to the point where I’m seeking out solutions to the madness.

One of the things I’m trying is a new product called Email Center Pro, from the good folks at Palo Alto Software.

They say it’s supposed to be great for companies that have multiple e-mail accounts to check, but I’m finding that it’s great for any super-busy person.

It lets you delegate e-mail, add notes to each e-mail and do other stuff that you’ve always wanted to be able to do with e-mail. The interface is easy to use, so the learning curve is looooow.

If you want to try it with me for 90 days for free, I’ve only got 30 invites. First come, first served. Click here to try it. The form should automatically add “LenaMedia” in the promo code section.

Drop back to comment and let me know what you think…

You Need to Be A Little Crazy to have a conversation with Barry Moltz, but that’s a good thing.

People who are as creative and inventive as Moltz break molds and don’t follow conventional thinking. I like-y. As my mentor-in-my-head, Roy Williams, would put it, “Barry is my brand of crazy.”

After thoroughly enjoying his keynote–complete with Nerf ball blaster and the permission to be a bit of a slacker (thanks, Barry!)–I cornered Moltz at the Small Business Technology Summit and spoke with him about his latest book, Bounce! Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success.

Check it out…

I’m not sure what’s going on in your company, but we’re growing every day.

When I founded xynoMedia, my intention was to build a completely virtual company with low overhead and enough flexiblity so that our team can enjoy their lives and get work done. I wanted our company to benefit from the input of global citizens, which is why we have teams working all over the world.

We have administrative assistance in Australia, development teams in the States and in South America, and writers in Canada.

If you want to build this kind of an orgnization, you need some sort of secure online collaboration tool. Something like CatalystWeb’s product CatalystOffice.

At the Small Business Technology Summit, I asked Bob Mathew every single hard question I could come up with based on how my team uses our online collaboration tool, and I was mucho impressed (it’s not that easy to impress a New Yorker).

Listen for yourself…

Right now, CatalystWeb only works with Firefox…but, you’re using that as your default browser anyway, right?

While I attended the Small Business Technology Summit in February, I had the opportunity to have a Tech Forward Convo with Jennifer Walzer of Backup My Info (BUMI).

Jennifer’s company offers a much-needed service to businesses–you already know how I feel about proper backups, and Jennifer offered some really critical information about new legislation involving the use of Social Security numbers online…along with a tip about BUMI’s new service, Qwipit, to help businesses bypass such challenges. Can you say, $250,000 fine?

Take a listen…