NewWOW's ninth symposium took place June 27 through 30, 2010 in Chicago. It focused on how social media enables new ways of working. The previous symposium--on the future of work in year 2020--made it clear that social media is already enabling better and different types of collaboration and is even beginning to take the place of the "water cooler" to bind dispersed workers.

Johnson Controls, a global leader in automotive experience, building efficiency and power solutions, has joined the NewWOW network.

Tracing its roots back to 1885, the company has grown to include 130,000 employees worldwide. Its Global WorkPlace Solutions group, with more than 15,000 people, manages over 1.5billion square feet of corporate real estate in over 75 countries.

New Ways of Working sent the results of its 2009 Alternative Workplace Survey to the participating companies in early March 2010.

More than 100 organizations participated globally in the benchmarking study, representing about 4.5 million employees. The study compares differences between this year's and last year's results, the impact of the current economy on workplace provisioning, and the role of executive leadership in the development and implementation of alternative workplace strategies. It also discusses how "veteran" companies compare to those just beginning to implement and how companies compare by region and industry.

New Ways of Working Network is delighted to welcome Microsoft as an Enterprise Member of our Network. Katherine Randolph, Director-Unified Communications, is our primary contact but we expect to see several members of the Microsoft team participating in our community. The company employs 91,000 people around the world.

New Ways of Working welcomes a new corporate member: Knoll, Inc. Headquartered in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, Knoll is well known for its workplace and residential furnishing designs.

Our winter 2010 symposium will be held February 15th through 18th in Santa Clara, California. Thanks to the gracious hospitality of Applied Materials, the symposium will be held at their Santa Clara Site.

NewWOW is pleased to announce our newest member organization: The Business Innovation Consulting Group (BICG). BICG is a global strategic consulting company with headquarters in Madrid and offices in Barcelona, Stuttgart, and Buenos Aires.
Their services cover a range of disciplines and industries. Principal offerings include New Ways of Working, Urban Development and Urban Clusters.