Proof that Lotusphere is more then just technical sessions. Last year, Tom Duff took the liberty of taking Bill and I apart, live, on stage, proving that we did not always practice what we preach. With IBM’s blessing, I posted to be viewed.


Enjoy, and yes.. it was both funny and horrible at the same time.

Ok.. made me laugh

BE Systems and Symantec are holding
a joint webinar on using the enterprise vault tool to archive Lotus Domino
mail files.  It’s worth a watch if you are losing massive amounts
of disk space to mail files.  Click on the image for more information.

Update: No it’s not me in the
photo!

I went to the wrong URL on the infocenter
site today.  Click on the image to try it.  I get the feeling
they had a hard time setting it up!

Of technical content I see from the community.
 Many of the bloggers are also speaking, hence prepping their sessions
at the moment.  Blogging time is minimal.  If you have never
spoken at Sphere before, or you are a seasoned speaker, you will know that
the 4 weeks or so we have to get our slides submitted are *tough*.  Its
the biggest event of the year, with a very tough audience (although the
admin conferences are also tough audiences) and you want to "get it
right".

So, while I am either 8, 12, or 15 hours
ahead of many of the speakers at the moment, its still funny to watch.
 

After Dec 5th, there will a jump in
technical posts as bloggers publish stuff they just learned while researching.

Coming up to Christmas, things die down
again (for obvious reasons… drinking/family/santa/whatever).

After New Year – it just goes nuts….

Few days before Sphere – all quiet again
(with exception to the "I am travelling " posts)

Then… from Day 1 of ‘Sphere, data
overload for about a month.

I best get back to prepping a session.
 I have 30 minutes at lunch.. I can get more slides done then…

Just to address the questions I have received
by email.

• SNT sessions are the replacement for
  the hands on sessions

• They will be 2 hours long
• You do not need to have a laptop with
  you

• If you can have the slide deck in front
  of you during the session, it may be useful for you to take notes, but
  not really required

• This is a classroom lesson style session
  - you will be taught a full "how to" during the session.  It
  is a step-by-step, picture-by-picture lesson.  You WILL know how to
  set this up when you leave.

• The session will begin with a list of
  exactly the instructor has installed and how it is configured (i.e. server
  build/type).  If it starts with any sample code, this will be available
  for download.

You will like it.  Hell, I’m going
to attend a load of these sessions.

I arrived here in Manila on Tuesday, after
a fairly grueling trip.  Managed to spend all of 12 hours in my home,
before heading out again to the Philippines.  24 hours later, I arrived.
 Work commenced on Wednesday, and jet lag was kicking hard.  Found
myself wide awake in the mornings and by 3pm starting to doze at work.
 The people I am working here with are friendly, smart, enthusiastic
and keen to improve.  So that’s a bonus in itself.  Its been
work every day since, either on site, working on Lotusphere sessions, or
helping on the SNT track, or even the "day job" stuff that is
occurring in the opposing timezone.  Its Sunday now, and wanted to
pen out some thoughts so far.

• Qatar Airlines is fantastic.  I
  never flew with them before, but IMO they beat Emirates on service (and
  that’s tough).

• I landed on time and baggage arrived.
   Francie.. thanks for not looking up.

• I am tall here!  Yep.. its a first.
• TV and Radio.. Westlife and Boyzone.
   On behalf of my country… I’m sorry.  

• Landed – through emigration, collect
  luggage, outside.  15 minutes.  Class.

• Hotel is nice – wired internet access
  only – Enter Apple Airport Express!

• Weather report – you gotta window?  OPEN
  IT.  Its hot… although the locals say its getting cool.

• Pollution and smog is very obvious.
   I reckon a lot of the smog issues are to do with the weather.  But
  for the first few days all I could taste was petrol emissions in my mouth.
   Many of the locals wear facemasks.

• Flying east long haul is far worse then
  flying west.  If I had time, I would of given myself a few days to
  adjust before working.  Next time, I will.

• The hotels and stores in Manila define
  customer service for me.  They are all pleasant and friendly, but
  also leave you alone.  If call them you will get a welcoming smile
  and help.  Take Starbucks for example.  There is one in the building
  where I work.  By day 2 they knew my name, my order and had it started
  for me before I asked for it.  All the staff pop up their head to
  say hello to you.  But not in an intrusive "i wish they would
  fecking leave me alone" way.. Its just them being pleasant.

• Taxi cabs here are scams.  Order
  one from the hotel if you can.  Although you are not talking a lot
  of money in any case, I hate being ripped off – and they make no apologies
  for it.  The service from those guys reminded me of taxis in Morocco
  and Tunisia.  Not good at all.

• Driving cars in Manila can be equated
  to a sport.  Its not driving… Its tactical, aggressive insanity.
   Tie into that congestion that beats Dublin (and thats REALLY saying
  something) by a long mile.

• If you are a pedestrian crossing the
  road.  Best wishes.  I learned very quickly to watch the locals…
  get them between me and the oncoming instanity-lane-changing-at-will-traffic-lights-are-ignored
  cars.  When they moved.. I moved.

• There is a huge contrast in wealth here.
   Richness is next door to hopeless poverty.  Yesterday, I went
  to Manila bay and saw kids fishing.  I went over to see what they
  were netting… it was rubbish.  Sifting through it to find useful
  stuff.  Seeing that got to me.  Stuff like that usually gets
  to me though. There is also a feeling that I would not be too safe there
  aswell.  Maybe I am wrong on that.

• There is also a huge contrast in devout
  religious belief and a thriving prostitution industry.  I couldn’t
  count the amount of times I have been offered "company".  That
  being said, its all done in a non-aggressive manner.

• Billboard advertising over here is huge
  business!  I will try to take snaps but my favorite so far was "life
  is better with hair".

• You can see an evolving middle-class
  though.  Considering the global climate, the city is growing and IT
  services are in strong demand.  This is a city on the move. Beside
  me are two shopping malls.  Very American and full all the time.

I’m hoping to have some time to see
a few of the islands, or an area outside of the city before I go.  
Will blog more as I go along….

Made me laugh..

With the conference all week, I never got
to mention that some of my Lotusphere sessions were accepted.  At
Lotusphere I will be presenting:

• Adminblast 2009.
  An updated version of  last year’s session.  Expect lots of new
  tips and tricks.  Also, if you have suggestions for tips… mail them
  to me.

• The 11 commandments
  A new session with Bill
  Buchan.  "Paul and Bill
  - the worst practices guys – crank it to 11. They think that all domino
  administrators and developers should have a simple set of rules. Rules
  which mean that environments are easily ran and ran well. Come to this
  session and be prepared to be challenged on just how little it takes to
  run a tight ship. And laugh at our not-for-Prophets as they argue who is
  the best. Administrator or Developer?"

• Clustering
  WIth Kathleen
  McGivney.  In this session
  we cover what you need to know to have a good clustering environment

• Traveler setup "live"
  With Warren
  Elsmore.   In this session,
  Warren and I will setup Lotus Traveler live on stage, while discussing
  the advantages and disadvantages of the product, Blackberry, Windows mobile
  devices, iPhone and anything else that crops up.  

• Show and Tell Session.  Getting
  ahead of the curve with 8.5 with idvault, roaming and DAOS
  With Gab
  Davis.  In this two hour
  long teaching session.  We will go through, in horrible detail, how
  to implement DAOS, ID Vault and the new File level roaming with 8.5.  When
  you leave, you WILL be able to set all of this up on your own, and we will
  have detailed handouts to boot.

With all these lined up, its going to
be a busy month to get the sessions up to speed and submitted.  I
see lots of other sessions that interest me aswell, and congratulations
to the speakers that got accepted.  As I assisted in track management
of the SNT track, I will say that all track managers have a HORRIBLE job.
 Massive amount of abstracts.. very few comparative slots… trying
to cover many bases.  Give them some slack… it takes a lot of work.

On Monday, I have some *harsh* connections
to make my flights to Manila.   1hr 30mins to make it from T1 to T3
in Heathrow, for example.  This is not going to be pretty.  I
would also like my luggage to make this flight…. and arrive with me in
the Philippines.  Francie – please lock  yourself in a darkened
room all weekend and Monday/Tuesday.  Don’t look up.  Steve,
please re-do whatever pagan spell you tried last time to exorcise the travel
demons from Francie, and in turn, helping us lot travel safer…..