Lotusphere 2007 Wrap up
My word what a week. Many other
bloggers have put up their thoughts, so I will do a "me too"
post!
In a sentence – Lotusphere is an shot
in the arm on enthusiasm and energy that lasts for many months, and should
be required attendance for every admin weenie and code monkey.
The message
The Lotus message came across loud and
clear over the last week. It was code and delivery focused, but not
like the past. Code and delivery was focussed on the user experience,
and by the mid year point, the Hannover client should be making many waves
in the business world. My personal thought on this would be to ensure
it comes out "when ready" instead of on time. I don’t mind
waiting a few extra months if needs be, Lotus have shown incredible advancement
in the Hannover product, and I don’t want them to jump the gun. The
pace of development in Lotusland is just outstanding. QuickR (i.e.
nextgen of Quickplace) really took the crowd by storm – I knew there was
a new version of Quickplace coming out, but this really put the product
on the competitive ground with Sharepoint. Connections being
enterprise level social networking really got me thinking. I really
hope this product in some form works out. In older days, Discovery
Server was a pet product of mine. I loved it (strange I know). The
problem was the taxonomy modification or "tagging" of data. This
attacks the problem at a different level, allowing for the creation of
a taxonomy by the users for the users. The best part is that adding
and refining the taxonomy will become a part of everyone’s’ daily life.
A simple solution… to a complicated issue.
The event
Was huge…. fast paced and deep. Lotus
were down to business for the get go… with a "code talks" perspective.
I loved it. It felt different to years of past. In 2005
and 2006 it was a hopeful message being given to everyone. This year,
it was a "we have delivered" approach. Cocky (as I said
before), and cocky works!. From daily and nightly activity there
was so much going on, Lotus could of had this event run over 2 weeks. Of
course, that would of killed most of us.
The sessions
New ideas (Speedgeeking) went down a
storm, and new speakers got rave reviews. I didn’t speak to anyone
once that complained about a session. Not one.
Speaking at the event
This year, I was running around like
a madman. Speaking a few times at Lotusphere is a tiring process.
For those that have never done it (and want to) let me tell you that
track managers are great assistance and sources of encouragement, but you
better know your session and know it well. There is little tolerance
for "winging it" at Lotusphere (and rightly so). My favourite
session was not Worst Practices, but was the Websphere Portal/Domino lab
session I gave with Kathleen and Roberto Boccardo. I could see Notes
admin people getting it… and that was great. The clustering presentation
with Kathleen was well received (even if she did slag my height!) and then
of course worst practices with Bill, was as ever informative, involving
and entertaining. Bill is a natural speaker and can give out information
in a way that nobody else can. Speedgeeking was the most fun, but
took away what was left of my voice. That is a keeper for the next
few years.
The bloggers
The blogging community were well respected
at Lotusphere (considering we are all just a handful of geeks… sorry
guys.. but we are 
).
Being permitted to have a Q&A session
with Mike Rhodin and Co. after the press conference was impressive, although
new to most of us. I decided to keep my mouth shut at the event
until I figured out how it works. I imagine next year, we will be
more interactive. People coming up to me and saying they read my
site was humbling and rewarding. At Gurupalooza (where I really wanted
to keep my mouth shut as my voice was gone at that stage) being asked about
the MS Application Analyser and being quoted as a reference for it made
a lot of late nights last year worthwhile. This year, many of the
bloggers were speaking or running around and we definitely had less time
to write, but it seems that they are all making up for lost time now.
The people
Lotusphere is all about the people.
I made many business contacts and spoke with some incredibly smart
people. As for social activities, every January I have the pleasure
to meet some of the smartest people I know, and they are great fun. There
are just too many to mention this year, but many of them drank a hell of
a lot of Sake with me. Others of course, raided my minibar. Then
there is the one man show himself, Bill. Just wouldn’t be the same
without him there.
