Every year, we have the opportunity and the pleasure of reviewing the numerous advocacy activities submitted by Champions, Rising Champions, and aspiring advocates across the IBM technology community. Nothing is more exciting than to see the submissions AND the impact made by our passionate experts and technology thought-leaders.
But here’s the thing: The people creating the most impact are not always the ones doing a volume of activity. Those often making the greatest impact are the ones who understand how advocacy is evaluated, report their activities with clarity, and focus on how they are creating meaningful value for the IBM technology community.
As we move toward our upcoming Champion evaluation season, it’s really important for us to share a few important reminders that can help to ensure your advocacy efforts and activities truly receive the recognition they deserve.
Here’s the TLDR version, with the expanded version below. 😀
1. Please report your activities clearly and individually.
2. Understand what it means to reach IBM Influencer.
3. Yes, you can use AI as your thinking partner, AND NO, please do not use it to do your advocacy for you.
4. The public IBM Champions community is for sharing advocacy stories, tips, and other related content; if you want to engage around products, that belongs in the product-specific topic group.
5. Longer form content isn’t always better if it’s posted without guidance or tips.
Here’s the full scoop….
1. Please report your activities clearly and individually
We've written about this before, but it's important enough to repeat. One activity equals one reporting entry. Let’s be clear; the activity reporting form allows you to submit up to three (3) activities per form. So, when you log in, first make sure you have your IBM Champion ID. It was a number given to you either when you became a Champion or a Rising Champion. Our system needs to match your activity with your unique ID [please do not go and create a new ID if you are not 'new' to the program.... email us first if you can't find your IBM Champion Program ID].
Now….when you report, (yes I'm repeating myself) you have the choice of submitting between 1-3 unique activities. If you wrote three blogs, submit three separate entries in the form with the details per blog we need. If you gave two conference presentations and appeared on a podcast, submit three separate entries in the form - do not combine it all into one entry/activity. If you run out of room on the form (i.e., you have four, five, or six, or more entries), you will have to submit another form, and so on.
Why does this matter? Because activities are reviewed, categorized, and evaluated individually. Combining multiple activities into a single entry makes it harder to understand your contributions, can slow evaluations, and may make it difficult to give each activity the attention it deserves.
Here is additional guidance when reporting. Always:
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Choose the right category! Don’t interpret. If it was a LinkedIn Post, it’s not a blog. If it’s Speaking at a conference, it’s not a LinkedIn Post. If you don't know what it is, choose Other.
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Try to give a clear (but not lengthy) description of your activity. Remember, we need to understand. If it doesn’t make sense, or is unclear, the activity may get declined.
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Give date of the activity. If you can’t remember, then give an approximate date. And remember: only activities done in this calendar year will be evaluated. Please do not submit activity from 1, 2, 3, or 10 years ago – our system will filter it out.
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Try your best to submit relevant links or evidence. If there is no link or we can’t access it, then be clear in your description. Also give us context about the audience, impact, or outcome.
Simply put: If an activity is important enough to receive recognition, it's important enough to get its own entry.
2. Understand what it means to reach IBM Influencer
One of the most common questions we receive is: "How many activities do I need to become an Influencer?". And the answer surprises people.
There isn't a published activity count for Influencer. That is intentional. Influencer is designed to recognize advocates who demonstrate:
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Sustained leadership and a visible impact on communities and/or IBM
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Consistent participation over time
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Deep IBM-related expertise
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A strong mix of both core and extended activities
Most importantly, Influencer is not simply the next badge after Advocate. It is the point where advocacy begins to look less like participation and more like leadership. Influencers are often the people others turn to for guidance, learning, mentorship, and perspective. They build trust through consistency, not through a single major event or burst of activity.
The Influencer designation is also considered Champion evaluation-ready, not Champion guaranteed. Progression to Champion remains competitive and based on demonstrated impact over time.
3. Yes, you can use AI as your thinking partner, AND NO, please do not use it to do your advocacy for you.
Many advocates today use AI tools to help brainstorm topics, improve grammar, translate, organize ideas, or overcome writer's block. And while that’s perfectly reasonable, we are looking for authentic content that demonstrates advocacy. Using AI to synthesize ideas is one thing, but trying to pass off long blog posts with little ‘human-ness’ is quite another.
The most successful advocates share personal experiences, lessons learned, opinions grounded in real-world use, original content, and stories that help others. Those things cannot be generated by prompts alone.
Increasingly, when content has been produced almost entirely by AI it has become easier to spot. Sometimes, even when you didn’t use AI to write it, but it is longer - and maybe longer but without a specific set of instructions - folks will think it’s AI and ignore. While AI can produce great content that may be technically correct, but it may lack real experiences, shared insights, deeper context, or even a recognizable voice.
Remember this: Advocacy is built on trust and shared experience. People follow content produced by advocates, not because they want to read or hear generic content, but because they learn something valuable that another real person experienced.
So yes, use AI as a tool. And then use your own expertise as the differentiator. Successful advocates are able to balance both, and make it work well.
4. The public IBM Champions community is for sharing advocacy stories, tips, and other related content; if you want to engage on PRODUCTS, it should happen in the product topic group.
The IBM Champions public community exists for a specific purpose: To support, discuss, and encourage advocacy. It is not intended to be a repository for lengthy technical tutorials, product documentation, or vendor-style marketing content.
If your content is primarily a deep technical discussion about a product feature, implementation pattern, or technology architecture, there are usually more appropriate IBM communities, technical forums, developer channels, user groups, or publication platforms where that content will have greater relevance and reach.
When posting in the Champions community, consider these questions and then share it!
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How did advocacy help you? What did you learn from an advocacy experience?
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What advice would you give a new advocate?
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What challenges or successes have you experienced as a community leader?
These are the kinds of conversations that help other Champions and Rising Champions. Imagine... someone might try blogging for the first time because of an experience you shared. Or they’ve been pining away at whether or not to start a podcast, and you might be the one who encourages them to get started!
Advocacy communities flourish when members share experiences, insights, and lessons learned. BTW: That's what we're trying to build together.
5. Longer form content isn’t always better if it’s posted without guidance or tips.
Yes, it’s not lost on us that this post is nearly 1500 words 🙂 but that’s why we also have the TLDR section at the top! (Libby will hide her head a bit here, as sometimes she often likes to write MORE and clearly so do I, 😉 but….). Blogs that are too long without a specific technical tip, architectural point, or any guidance can be viewed as marketing or AI slop. What does that mean? The content isn’t necessarily effective or engaging. If you need to post long-form content, consider breaking it up into ‘episodes’. Who doesn’t like a good episode with a cliff-hanger as you anticipate the next one?
Final Thoughts
Whether you're a new Rising Champion, an experienced Champion, or someone hoping to advance to the next level, remember that successful advocacy is not about maximizing activity counts.
It's about contributing consistently, reporting clearly, sharing authentically, leading with trust, and most of all, helping others succeed. And yes, badges matter because they represent meaningful advocacy, not just completed tasks. As the program continues to evolve, we hope to attract advocates who contribute with intention, authenticity, and impact. That goal has never changed.
Thank you for everything you do to strengthen the IBM technology community. We appreciate every blogger, user group volunteer, podcaster, presenter, session mentor, event organizer, and discussion leader that helps others learn and grow.
Keep advocating. Keep sharing. Keep leading. 💙
/kd
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