Before I get too far down the path, what is an IBM Champion? To quote IBM:
The IBM Champions program recognizes these innovative thought leaders in the technical community and rewards their contributions by amplifying their voices and increasing their sphere of influence. IBM Champions are enthusiasts and advocates: IT professionals, business leaders, developers, executives, educators, and influencers who support and mentor others to help them get the most out of IBM software, solutions, and services.
Your advocacy can be based on any IBM software, solution, and/or service. Below is a graphic of many but not all of the possible areas of interest:
My status as champion is based solely on my work with IBM Maximo. IBM Champions, however, come from virtually all of these different areas and from around the world. Some even work in multiple areas so it is really up to you.
Again, from IBM, the IBM Champions program selects nominees who have:
As part of the full program, there is also the ‘Rising Champions’ program that recognizes individuals on their way to becoming a champion. What you will find here are instructions on how to proceed in becoming a champion and submitting your activities for consideration throughout the year. Since you are probably doing some of this anyway, it will be nice to get a little credit for your time and effort.
The ‘Rising Champions’ page provides the most detail in terms of the path to each badge level (Contributor, Advocate, and Influencer) as well as spelling out requirements such as “IBM Contributor: Submit two (2) acts of advocacy the individual has completed within the last 12 months (according to the recognized program activities and beyond the scope of their role)“.
Ready? Ok, let’s get started.
Lastly, what happens if you decide to do this, and you want to reference things you did earlier in the year, but can’t remember them all? It is said that once posted on the internet, it never goes away. This is an advantage. Many forums have historical records available for you, and here are a few:
Follow me on Linked-in as I will be posting a video on this soon.
IBM makes a site available for you to submit your acts of advocacy at https://ibm.biz/champ-report. Here you will find the list of areas/categories to consider for your activities:
So, as you can see there is a lot of opportunity to get involved, but how? What to do? The answer is, that you may well be doing it already including but not limited to:
