Lotusphere 2007 Wrap up
Category
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.
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.
- 
Comments
Posted by Paul Mooney At 00:03:46 On 02/02/2007 | - Website - |
oh please. :P you practically gave your minibar away. and then proceeded to give someone else's away.
and this is why you have friends.
Posted by Genelle At 00:01:38 On 02/02/2007 | - Website - |
with your comment about the favourite session you made my day, my week, my month
Now, there is an almost impossible task for you.... spell my lastname correctly. Boccadoro, not Boccardo
I know, is really hard for a non-Italian to spell it, and I end up being Boccardo 90% of the times. I have many badges I collected at events with the wrong spelling.... speaking of which I recall the most unfortunate accident ever happened to me: at an internal Lotus event I ended up being Roberta Boccadoro. I almost killed someone for that
RoB
Posted by Roberto Boccadoro At 09:10:13 On 30/01/2007 | - Website - |
And I am usually so careful!! Sorry Roberta
Posted by Paul Mooney At 14:15:56 On 31/01/2007 | - Website - |
Erik.
Posted by Erik Ashby At 22:22:19 On 29/01/2007 | - Website - |