I was once sitting in on a senior presentation where a large very (self) important management consultancy were pitching their Knowledge Management solution to a very large media company. The presenter was asked by one of the directors - "What is knowledge management?", to which the presenter stared him in the face and answered in all seriousness - "Knowledge management, ...  is the management of knowledge!"

If you want a text-box definition, I suggest you start at wikipedia -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management  but if you want a more simple straight-forward  explanation, I suggest you think about what it is that makes your company different from your competitors, then think about how you would protect this advantage, and how you would leverage this difference/advantage against your competitors, or use it to win more business?  Can you even identify this advantage?

To be blunt, knowledge is power is the old saying, and it's no different in business. Sometimes this knowledge is held in people's heads, a problem not only confined to small family run businesses - whereby the founder still retains all the information, the contacts, the personal relationships. Sometimes this advantage is held by a group of outstanding sales-people, sometimes it is knowledge associated with a process, or a service or a patent.  This is the sort of knowledge you need to manage.

It may be as simple as getting everybody to securely share their contact lists, or making sure all processes are documented; all computer files are backed up securely. One easy way to decide what you need to "manage" is to consider what would happen in a disaster - if a key person were to leave or die, or if the office was flattened by a cyclone or your computer destroyed by a power surge.  Yes - disaster planning is a form of knowledge management, and probably a very good place to start your thinking.

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The generations are getting closer together and more diversified than previously. I know a number of Baby Boomers who simply don't understand that they are not employing a replica of their own generation. The latest employable generation or what are referred to in Don Tapscotts book Wikinomics as the Net Generation are never going to be the same as the managers employing them and frankly don't want to be. They want fun and excitement in the workplace and with that they bring a whole lot of social and business networking skills. Haven't the Baby Boomers always said it's who you know and not what you know, well believe you me this generation have that taped. While their parents spent hours wasted, watching a square box with mindless soaps and advertising this generation are communicating and boy do they have a zillion ways of doing that.

 I'm interested to hear you take on this?

After a somewhat dramatic meeting on the Great Barrier Reef,

Woman near drowns and has blogging discussion with rescuer,

Luke was constantly in my demands to my husband when dh visited the Kleinhardt office, "Say hello to Luke and tell him I'd love to talk more about blogging any time. Tell he and his wife to come to dinner." DH (darling heart, not d#ck head!) is like the typical North Queensland business person, a little scared of blogging, and I'm not sure that the invitations were ever passed on.

How cool that Luke and I are now working collaboratively on business blogging in our home town of Cairns.

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What with so many terms out there which simply seam to be rehashed by the software industry every few years but tend to mean the same thing it was refreshing to see the concept of Cloud computing cleared up here

http://neotactics.com/blog/technology/short-sighted-about-cloud-computing/

 I cant say anymore its all here - enjoy

You just cant force them they either exist or they don't. Members either swarm or they leave. They are either interested and participative or they are NOT.

So what is it that glues these communities together?

I cant help but feel it's a similar essence  which makes a group of colleagues go to the pub after work together. They had the opportunity to go straight home but didn't why?

Join us for an informal Cairns Bloggers meet at Imaginif (30 James Street, North Cairns) on Saturday evening, 26 July 2008.

• Family oriented for a casual BYO nibbles and drinks BBQ  (yes, you can bring the partner and the children).

• Starting 5pm ... until you’ve all had enough of each other.

• Imaginif will do the meats, salads, and sauces.

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There are a few people now blogging in Cairns. Interestingly, the majority of bloggers in Cairns appear to blog as an extension of their business platform. Go Cairns Business Bloggers!

Get to know your fellow Cairns bloggers. Visit them, link to them, leave a comment and create good blog karma between the growing blog network in our local area.

Cairns Bloggers

• Andrew Griffiths
• Balloon with Hot Air
• Berry Baby
• Big Little Sister
• Birdwing Therapies
• Cairns Action for Sustainable Transport
• Cairns Blog.net
• Cairns Unlimited
• Have camera will travel
• Imaginif Child Protection became Serious Business
• Jean Burman (artist)
• Kaj Haffenden
• Knowledge Solutions
• Nicky Jurd
• nunyaa
• Psych Matters
• Spasmodic Dysphonia
• SWAGS CAIRNS
• Tropical Passions

Over at Imaginif, I facilitate a fortnightly Blog Carnival: Carnival of Australia and Blog On Cairns.  I invite you all to join us.  Submit a single blog post here: BlogCarnival submission form.

What with Amazon being the largest online retailer in the world.....Walmart watch out! There is a wonderful little money spinner for the entrepreneurial business wanting to start up online. Amazon share tons of software to help administer your shop and give you the ability to sell their products through them for a commission.

We are looking for other ways that the web has created positive Affiliate Sales programs to help the smaller organizations make there way on the net.

My name is Megan Bayliss, director of Imaginif, and I am a blogaholic. I blog daily - in secret and in the open. I blog because I like it and because the more I do it, the more fulfilled my addiction to business blogging becomes. Most importantly though, I blog because it grows my business, my reach and my credibility. I blog as an extension of my business acumen.

Blogging is today an essential business tool. Can your business afford to be without one? Are you willing to be left behind as other business capture a very affordable marketing tool that has the potential to take their branding and business international? I'm not.

I have been blogging now for almost three years. I have been a paid blogger, a business blogger, a service blogger and I manage the blogs of some other Cairns businesses. I have learnt a few essential pieces of knowledge along my bloggy way and I am always happy to share with those prepared to learn.

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We are witnessing how a wealth of collaborative online groups is making massive head way in the fields of Science, Software development. I wanted to have as may people consider why these forums are working and what benefit the individuals involved are getting from this.

I know the co founder of Wikipedia when asked about its success replied "it works because it just does."