At the end of ILUG2007, we announced
ILUG2008.  It was noticed at the closing session of this year’s ILUG,
we did not announce ILUG2009.  Many people came up to me after the
closing and asked why not.  Luckily, Coatsie was there to answer for
me (the polite version was "go away").

The truth of the matter was that we
just did not know if we could or would do it again.  Although the
week was great fun for all of us, the run up (trust me, 4 months) was hard
work, which we had to work around demanding day jobs.  By the end,
we were all jaded, and the scale of the planning took its toll.

So, what happens now?  Well, we
don’t know.  This is not a blog post to have people say how great
we are etc, we are just being honest and answering the question (side note:
 Before anyone checks, yes I registered ILUG2009.org just in case
someone tried to steal it for gain).

Instead of sticking to "never again",
we are trying to find out what are the major issues in preventing us from
repeating the event.  Now we have a venue that can scale, it may be
easier next year then it was this year, but we still need to look at all
these details.

• The investment in time in people management
  was a huge undertaking.  We think that a revamp of the application
  into a "self managed" mode would assist greatly.

• The risk of running this event on our
  pockets is huge.  We aim to cover costs but what if this didn’t happen
  next year?  We have to take this into consideration.  Sponsors
  cannot be expected to keep on returning.  On a side note, people didn’t
  seem to understand that charging for the event makes it more difficult
  to manage, as we have to then manage even more finance, which in turn takes
  time.  Also, we then have a responsibility to the delegates as opposed
  to just the sponsors (don’t get us wrong… we love the delegates, but
  we don’t owe them anything!).

• We are not trained at this.. at. all.
   

There are other details (which we will
not go into publicly), and the team has a list and are currently discussing
criteria for running this event again. In conclusion, we are trying to
make up our mind on this still, and will come to an answer when we are
ready, but if you have thoughts or suggestions, feel free to comment here.
 The evaluations were great for us as feedback, but if you are so
inclined, comment here on what do you think this event means to you, as
a delegate, sponsor or speaker.  What does it mean to your job, or
even the community you choose to be involved in.  

We are looking forward to seeing what
you say.

Taken from the online evaluations at
ILUG2008 of sessions, here are the top 10 speaker sessions:

And the top 10 sponsor sessions:

Update:  Any speakers
or sponsors that want all feedback for their session, please just drop
me an email directly.  The old speakers/sponsors email accounts for
ILUG are not being monitored anymore.

Some other pieces of feedback:

"’As far as human achievements
go, I think this comes in a close third, after the invention of the wheel
and then the Internet.  Another fantastic job by all concerned and
I hope there are many more to come.

I am struggling to think of anything
that was missing, cheerleaders?"

”Well, you have already heard about
the wifi not being open on port 1352.

Very well organized, and a good venue.

Thank you, again!"

"’Group hugs next year?"

"’can be described with three words

fun, fun fun.

At this day i was really wondering where
Paul gets his energy from. He must have some sort of hidden battery implanted
somewhere."

"One very small thing that was
not that good, was the lunch (only sandwiches all days). But the whole
conference was free so I have absolutely no problem with that."

There were many other comments, the
vast majority of which were positive and understanding.  Our thanks
to you all.  Some of the negatives that we knew about already:

Lunch could of been better (catering
is WAY expensive)

Port 1352 (we know we know)

Bar closed early

Venue was not as easy to navigate as
last  year (we were just too big for last years venue).

The ILUG2008 presentations are now available
for public download from here.
 I’m well aware that not all the presentations that were at the event
are represented here, but considering these excellent speakers did do this
all for free, I cannot really go with a gun to their back to force em to
give me the files now, can I…. ;).

Olaf and BCC designed a desktop for
ILUG attendees.  Another example of how the sponsors got into the
spirit of the event.

Update: – if you want it… click
on the image above.

For the people that attended, you have
received an email with a link to the eval site and a few requests.  Please
take the time to complete them.  That’s all we asked of you for the
3 days.  Those that fill out the evals also gets a link to the presentations
(not all of them) during the event.

IMG_3143

Originally uploaded by Julian Woodward

I forgot the last slide was still on the screen – but it kinda suited the closing session..

Everyone needs a dream.  I have
one… McDonagh stole it.

My dream is to win the lottery a week
before Lotusphere, then in my final session (in hopefully a big room to
about 2000 people) say the following line (slightly rearranged).

Fother

Mucking

Kock

Cnocker  (this is taken from a
film I have liked for many years)

He knew this.  MdDonagh also knows
that at ILUG, bad language by presenters is permitted and often encouraged…
so he waited until I am in the room on his session… then.. says it during
his presentation.

He stole my moment… I wept.

Tom Duff is a nice, quiet guy… rarely
drinks and barely sleeps.  But, Mr Hyde crept out this week.  Last
Saturday night, the lad drank approx 6 pints of beer and a bottle of Sake
with me, before going to Vodka.   And no hangover the next morning.


Instant legend….

Well, its all over.  I left on
Saturday morning after saying my goodbyes to the geeks going on a bus tour.
 I would of joined you, but at that stage I was not functioning correctly.
 To use Warren’s expression, I’m broken and feeling pains everywhere
from a solid 3 months of prep and 1 week of zero sleep, running about,
presenting, meeting, drinking, late nights, early mornings and trying to
make sure all went well.  Back in my home in Belfast now, awaiting
the return of Bill, Matt and Warren tomorrow as they spend the night here,
before taking the van back to Edinburgh by ferry.

Reflecting on ILUG is tough, as there
is so much to mention this time, I know I will leave something/someone
out, but I want to write while its all still in my head.   So here
goes.

The place

The venue and staff of the venue bent
over backwards to assist us in any way they could.  It is not open
long, and there were a few teething problems (I know I know…. WLAN port
blocking on 1352 etc) but they were so honest and helpful to deal with,
we just cannot fault them at all.  Venue organisers staying with us
until the early hours for testing… and still there the next morning to
work with us – simply outstanding and they have our sincere thanks.  The
sponsor area was built for us by a company called Cetek.
 Again, another example of excellent service… a company that worked
with us, helped and gave advice and THEN worked with the sponsors to make
sure they were happy.  I would strongly recommend them for any event
in future – as a company that gets things done, with experience and understanding
of requirements.

The sponsors

If it was not for the likes of IBM,
RIM and all the other sponsors, the event would not of happened.  I
was very  honest about that during the event, and "guilted"
the delegates into giving the sponsors some of their time.  I did
feel sorry for the poor lads when we tried "speed sponsoring"
and they had to give a sales pitch approx 16 times in a row.   But
they seemed to like it.

The speakers

First of all, a very special shout out
goes to Nick Shelness, for arriving at our little event against very opposing
circumstances, and he will have our eternal gratitude for that.  On
top of that, he sessions were very interesting to all that attended, and
sparked thought and discussion for the rest of the event – i.e. the perfect
guest speaker.  Alan Lepofsky just blew us away with his keynote,
showing technology that was coming along in the work stream from Lotus…
and pushing what he would be allowed to show us to the limit.  IBM/Lotus
need to be applauded for actively looking at everything that is coming
out in these 2.0/2.5 days… even if some of it doesn’t blossom.  Some
of the delegates did come back to me with negative comments on questions
raised by one delegate at the end however. saying that "picking"
on Alan quoting Lotus marketing blurb etc regarding connections just did
not fit in with the event at all, and I am inclined to agree.  

After that, you have the likes of Mary
Beth Raven, showing us 8.5 in an honest and frank manner… and she just
simply blew the people away with the technology and honesty, again fitting
the event perfectly.  Ed managed to get to Dublin for just a lightening
visit, as he wanted to see the event and contribute, on a very demanding
schedule…  I don’t think the bloke has slept in two weeks.  Thank
you Ed.

All the other speakers came from far
and near to present, from seasoned pro’s like Miller (thanks for the new
image of me Chris… I can see that being used by others a lot!), Gab,
Rocky and many others to newbies like Ben Poole and Eileen Fitzgerald.
 They all changed their speaking style for ILUG, and let their hair
down, which is exactly what I wanted.  Rob Novak issued vouchers for
Guinness to all attendees of his session, still apologising for offering
Heineken at his very first ILUG, 3 years ago.  Many many more speakers
where there, and I’m yet to hear a negative about a session given.

The delegates

24 countries… all talking to each
other and socialising… then engaging with the speakers for the sessions…
lots of smiles and banter – perfect.   No suits allowed.. perfect.
 A few fluffy killers… but the oul rabbit expected it.  Special
shout to Steve mcDonagh for becoming an overnight sensation and trying
to conduct a pagan ritual at 2am to a *cough* constructed alter to absolve
Francie of her travel karma.

The organisers

It is hard to know what to say about
the team that is behind ILUG.  Delegates said that it ran very smoothly…
and that is a testament to them.  Eileen Fitzgerald, Warren Elsmore,
Matt White, Bill Buchan, Duffbert, Rob Novak, Julian and Kitty… and Coatsie
worked their arses off to ensure  all went well.  Kerr offered
to help out once… poor lad did not realise that "once" would
last for the whole event.  Everyone had specific tasks to complete…
and they all were completed, with a lot of fun going on at the same time.
 No egos permitted….. just getting the job done.

What did you think?

As announced at the closing, the delegates
will get an email to evaluation page by next weekend.. and then get the
link to the sessions the speakers have mailed me (I cannot force the speakers
to send me sessions… so if I don’t have it… you get a refund on ILUG
delegate ticket).  But if you have any good, bad (I know about the
WiFi) and ugly statements, feel free to post them here.  And if you
see any of the organisers, speakers or sponsors during the rest of this
year – buy them a drink… they deserved it.

Thank you all

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

…. please add the tag ILUG2008 to
them and post to Flickr.  If you do not have a Flickr pro account,
send the photos to me and I will upload them for you.  If you are
using a different photo site, just send me the link and I will link to
them.