SCIP09 :: Program

Education Sessions                        Workshops                          Schedule

The Best of CI Programming SCIP's 2009 Annual International Conference provides relevant and timely programming through five unique tracks. Here are SCIP09's offerings. Five Tracks CI Offense/Defense Professional Effectiveness Critical Skills Innovation in CI   Active Dialog CI Offense/Defense In competitive intelligence sometimes you're the hunter and other times you are the hunted. What are those techniques that CI professionals can use to explore and evaluate growth opportunities: new products, new geographic markets and new business models? The old rules do not always apply! Topics in this track include: Methods to identify and evaluate blue ocean opportunities How to conduct CI in new cultural and legal environments Competitor employee blogging Information security is generally recognized as a business risk, and the focus is often on the technical issues around information security. What contribution can CI professionals make to the human side of the issue? Some topics for this track include: What are the warning signs of an inside leak? Legal and ethical examinations of "plumbing" to stop leaks Training colleagues to identify elicitation and social engineering The relationship of CI and IT security CI advice for Public Relations Professional Effectiveness Whether we're practitioners or vendors, being a good CI researcher and analyst is rarely sufficient in and of itself to guarantee career success. We must be able to muster management, communications and other skills to win the client or gain that coveted seat at the senior executive table. This track aims to deliver value to both segments. Topics include:   For practitioners: Management of resources, employees and priorities Effective communication of competitive intelligence products Engaging internal information resources such as sales or product management Finding and keeping executive champions Maximizing the ROI for your CI budget Measuring the value CI delivers to the organization to justify your continued existence Career development and hiring for CI excellence For vendors: Starting a CI consultancy Marketing and selling professional CI services Setting and exceeding customer expectations Critical Skills There is a set of tools and skills that every good CI professional should have: primary and secondary research, basic analytical frameworks and product delivery. This track is geared particularly towards the "Beginner" CI professional looking to learn the basics and the "Intermediate" professional eager to brush up their skills or add new details to practiced methods. Relevant topics include: Secondary research methods, including library and Internet research Primary research methods such as source identification and interview techniques Capturing intelligence at trade shows and industry events Basic and advanced analytical techniques such as SWOT and scenario analysis Standard competitive intelligence products including industry landscapes and competitor profiles Analyzing competitor's annual reports and financial filings War games and competitive simulations Innovation in CI This is a completely new track for the SCIP conference. Returning attendees have indicated that they want to be exposed to new ideas, and this track is intended to provide new methods and practices typically deployed by "advanced" CI practitioners. Academics and researchers continue to push at the boundaries of competitive intelligence to identify new methods, tools and analytical frameworks that can add value to the practice of competitive intelligence. This is the track for researchers to continue to push those boundaries as well as explore the topics of competitve intelligence in academia and how the practice can be applied in promoting undergraduate and graduate curriculums. Some topics in this track include: Advanced techniques in Competitive Financial and Technical Intelligence (CFI / CTI) Application of CI to strategic frameworks such as the 7S or RVG What's new and interesting in management consulting and what does it mean for CI Advanced applications of topics in game theory, economics or analytics to CI Active Dialog A number of topics in competitive intelligence generate considerable differences of opinion. On a number of dimensions, the practice of CI appears to be at a crossroads. Moderators of Active Dialog sessions engage their audience in a semi-structured session to capture the diversity of opinions about the topic.  The goal of an effective Active Dialog is not to necessarily reach a conclusion about the topic, but rather capture the broad strokes of the community opinions. Past topics have included: Techniques for evaluating external intelligence partners/vendors Wargaming & Scenario Analysis Low-cost collection options Engaging senior leaders as intelligence contributors *All session presentations will be one-hour in duration. Optional Half- and Full-Day Workshops Workshops are a great way to immerse yourself in CI before the conference, held April 21 or 22. Fees and additional information are available on the registration form. The KIT User-Needs Identification Process: Understanding and Using It! Using Competitive Intelligence to Predict Your Competitors’ Pricing Actions Implementing a Counter-Intelligence Program: Playing Zone Defense From Implication to Implementation: Executing on Strategic Intelligence Insights Positioning Competitive Intelligence to Executives    CI 101 How to Set-Up a CI World Class Function Effective and Efficient Human Intelligence Collection (with a Clear Conscience) The Holy Grail: A True Framework for Measures of Effectiveness (MOE) and The Path to the Executive Suite – the 8 P’s to Power We're updating our information all the time. Keep an eye on this page for details on dates, times, and presenters!