I chuckled at the Catalyst Conference when Mike Neuenschwander spoke of Steve Ballmer joining the ranks of the "Identarati" when he shared the stage with Scott McNealy to jointly announce a breakthrough in product interoperability.

After Googling "Identarati" and finding the only entry to be my blog, I pinged Mike to get his insight into this new word.

Mike responded, "I think I claimed the identarati were those of us who make our living in the identity industry--in other words, those of us who are forced (or compelled) to get this stuff. I've thrown the term around BG for a while. Dan Blum named his blog after this term, although spelled slightly differently: identerati.blogspot.com."

I really like the word. It has a bit of style and panache for this crazy industry laden with all too much technical jargon.

It made me wonder, however -- how does one qualify to bear such an exalted title? Maybe to qualify for lower-case identarati status, one must just work in the industry. But to attain the lofty status of upper-case Identarati, or the Identarati Elite, perhaps there are other qualifications.

One might qualify by leading a company that produces a major Identity Conference - like Jamie Lewis.

Or speaking at such a conference (John Loiacono, Nick Nikols, ...)

Or participating in a panel discussion (Sara Gates, Bob Blakley, ...) Scroll down to see Sara's bio.

Or leading a company that produces Identity products (Scott McNealy, Dick Hardt, ...)

Or leading a major Identity Management deployment (Phil Blank, Jarrod Jasper, ...) Sorry guys, I couldn't find your bios.

Or authoring an industry newsletter (Dave Kearns, ...)

Or a blog (Pat Patterson, The Identity Woman, Timothy Grayson, ...)

Or defining Identity Laws (Kim Cameron)

Or discussing Identity Flaws (Mike Neuenschwander)

Or sharing a stage with Scott McNealy (Steve Ballmer)

But I'd like to propose that to be really classified with the Identarati Elite, one must be listed on the Wizard of IdM's LinkedIn contact list, which reads like a virtual who's who of the Identity Industry. Thanks, Don Bowen, for making it all possible.

p.s. I haven't even met all these people - but I once shared a stage with Steve Ballmer!

Tag: Identity