The Bluewave Technology Group, responding to client demand,

is running a technology briefing in London on the 17th November.

This has been driven by increased interest from our clients on the

following topics relating specifically to Lotus Domino.

Join well known industry speakers, Paul Mooney and Warren

Elsmore to get their take on the topics all Domino customers are

discussing.

Details here.  Register here.

The LAC was held under a shroud of “agreement” last week.  There were no threats on non-disclosure, just a simple request that we were courteous enough to  not reveal anything that we were asked not to, and if not asked to, simply to apply common sense.  It is a credit to everyone at the event that the only revelations posted were fake (and quite funny).  However, without giving away any state secrets I can give my thoughts on the vibe.

Yes, the word “social” was said a lot.  Yes, it was cloudy.  But as opposed to the OGS at Lotusphere (you all remember the panels, don’t you…) this time they attempted to validate and provide substance to the direction, offering reason, structure and proposed plans for the future.  They will have a lot to talk about, and demo at Lotusphere.

Oh, one big reveal.  The next Lotusphere OGS will have learned from the last.

Sitting the bar of the Maritem hotel, Gelsenkirchen.  Tomorrow involves a rental car to Weize Airport, flying to Edinburgh to collect my motorbike, riding to Stranraer to catch the late night ferry to Belfast, then riding home.  Anyone want to take bets on all that working out?  Tip:  Ryanair are involved.

Kudos to Chris Miller et al for all their hard work and hospitality.  Even to the point of brining me to the airport this morning.  And as ever it is great to meet everyone and engage in discussion/food/beer.

The Bluewave/Teamstudio Traveler workshop was on for the full day yesterday, and delegates seemed to enjoy the content.   The mobile technology is a very hot topic, and discussion on the market is as interesting as the technology itself.

Well done all.. shall hopefully see you again soon.

See you all there.

While en route to Las Vegas, I had mentioned on twitter that I was looking for a new headset for my desk.

By pure coincidence and with great generosity, the organisers of Paclug has a Plantronics Voyager Pro kit for me when I arrived.  Very much appreciated, thank you.  I shall give it a test run and blog about it later.  Additionally, the first  IBM Collaboration Solutions (i.e. Lotus) Champions were announced.  I was fortunate enough to be on that list.  It is a veritable who’s who of contributors to the technology and “community”.  The vast majority of them contribute a lot more than I.   I was also happy to not recognise everyone on it.

As said before, Las Vegas is not an ideal place for a smaller conference, as there are way too many distractions.   Aside from that, the Planet Hollywood venue is excellent.  After that, we went on vacation.  Some thoughts:

• Vegas for vacation is great for a few days.  I wouldn’t stay any longer.
• Cirque du Soleil “Love” was amazing, and visually exhausting.
• There are certain things you have to do in Vegas when single, other things when married.  Enough said
• I am not (or ever will be) a fan of Garth Brooks, but a guy that can sing solo with only a guitar for 2 1/2 hours deserves respect.  Everyone else went nuts, so I guess he was great.
• Grand Canyon.  The only place I have ever been that is visually bigger than I could ever guess.
• It’s a long drive from Vegas to San Francisco.
• Highway One is stunning, so are many of the places on the route.
• San Francisco is hands down, the friendliest place in the USA I have ever been to.
• San Francisco is also living, breathing advertisement for Apple.
• Boston is fantastic.  I heartily recommend the duck tour and going to a redsox game.
• 4th July fireworks are big.  Very big.

• Domino as a web server
• DAOS
• Traveler
• BES clustering

I’m sure I will see some of the PacLUG attendees lurking around too!  The Admin conference is much more technical than Lotusphere, and has very little to do with marketing.  As much as I am not looking forward to the commute, I know it will be great.

After an all-too-brief stay in Larvik, I am back in an airport waiting for a Ryanair flight to London to meet customers tomorrow.  The team at LSBG put together a fine event, and should be very proud of themselves.  The hotel is fantastic, and it is hard to beat such stunning scenery.  A relaxed atmosphere, magician, good fun (and beer) with Ron Sebastian made for a great night.  This morning I presented the adminblast session and a session devoted to clustering recommendations.  Good questions, good conversations.    A return visit must be planned, with an extended stay.