Former White House Aide and Acclaimed Author Opens Global First and Takes Delegates Live 'Behind the Firewall' at Google, Nokia, the BBC and Nissanl

London, UK (PRWEB) May 5, 2008 -- Internationally acclaimed business author and former presidential speechwriter and White House aide, Dan Pink, will be making the key note presentation at IBF 24, the inaugural and unique global online event from the Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF at www.ibforum.com and www.ibf24.com).

Dan Pink is the best-selling author of a trio of provocative books on the changing world of work and an acknowledged expert on employee-management relations. Commenting on his role at IBF 24, Dan said: "without doubt the future of employee and internal team communications is irrevocably linked to how companies communicate with their people and an effective intranet will be the cornerstone of this function. I'm delighted to be associated with the IBF and am looking forward enormously to the 18th June."

On 18th June, over 1000 delegates from all four corners of the globe - and from the comfort of their own desk, office, home or wherever - will attend one or more sessions throughout the 24 hours at IBF 24: the world's first major corporate event on the web.

Paul Miller, IBF Chairman and CEO, said: "We're going live 'behind the firewall' for the first time at a dozen of the world's most advanced intranets, corporate portals and information workplaces including those at Google, Microsoft, the BBC, IBM, Nokia, BT, Nissan, IKEA, SAP, Sara Lee and America Electric Power. In most instances, this will be the first time that these innovative intranets have been opened up to 'outsiders' and delegates will be able to join live Q&A sessions where they can interact directly with the teams responsible for building and managing those pioneering intranets.

"Additionally," Miller continued, "internationally acclaimed industry leaders and senior executives from the likes of Microsoft, Google and IBM will make keynote presentations and lead panel sessions and master classes looking at a multitude of pertinent topics such as Enterprise 2.0, usability, communication, governance and the financial value of intranets."

"A further, especially topical area we will be looking at is the concept of social networking and how it can effectively be utilised in a corporate environment," continued Miller. "This is an issue taxing senior management in many of the world's leading businesses. Nissan is one company at the forefront in this area and the executive responsible bringing social networking to tens of thousands of its workers, including those on the factory floor, will be sharing his experiences with our delegates. Nissan's large-scale and innovative social networking site allows users to set up online profiles, blogs, communities and discussion groups, share information and gives employees a way to avoid bureaucratic channels and create new partnerships."

Established in 2002, the IBF is the world's foremost intranet and portal benchmarking group and is acknowledged to have established industry standards for intranet and portal performance. Members include BP, Nokia, HSBC, ExxonMobil, BBC, Unilever, Sara Lee, Shell and Reuters.

Dan Pink's newest work is The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need, the first business book for a western audience in the Japanese comic format known as manga. Before that, he wrote A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, a long-running New York Times and BusinessWeek bestseller that has been translated into 16 languages. His first book was Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working For Yourself, which Publishers Weekly says "has become a cornerstone of employee-management relations."

Dan's articles on business and technology appear in many publications, including the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Wired, where he is a contributing editor. He has provided analysis of business trends on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NPR and other networks in the US and abroad. He also lectures to corporations, associations and universities around the world on economic transformation and the new workplace.

A free agent himself, Dan held his last real job in the White House, where he served from 1995 to 1997 as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore. He also worked as an aide to U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich and in other positions in politics and government.

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