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Deploying IBM Blockchain on IBM Bluemix - IBM Connect 2017


At IBM Connect 2017 I presented the above session of Deploying IBM Blockchain on IBM Bluemix as a Customer. I was happy to see so many interested in this topic.  I also have a video that was complied walking through the steps coming.
Deploying Blockchain on IBM Bluemix as a customer
Explore the benefits of IBM Blockchain for decentralized and trusted controls. Decentralized and trusted processing of real-time transactions can speed up your business processes! Learn how to deploy both test and production Blockchain environments on IBM Bluemix. Walk through the business needs for the evolving Blockchain technology from the customer perspective. View validations in progress and the health of your peers in the chaincode

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    On Wednesday, March 1st, 2017   by Chris Miller        

Gurupalooza replay from IBM Connect 2017


I had the pleasure of participating again in Gurupalooza at IBM Connect 2017 . I managed to capture the entire thing on Facebook Live. Here is the replay.  You will find tons of Connect 2017 content on the IdoNotes Network page on Facebook.
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    On Monday, February 27th, 2017   by Chris Miller        

IBM Business Partner sessions at Connect 2017

IBM Connect 2017 is a week away and while Business Partner Day is not there anymore, there is an agenda for IBM Business Partners still.
  • The general session for partners is Tuesday. Look for strategy and 2017 plans here
  • IBM Tools and Incentives - on Wednesday you can find out where to look and what incentives are new
  • Plan your 2017 strategy with IBM is also on Wednesday
  • Taking on Microsoft Office 365 with IBM solutions is tapped for Wednesday (against my session I see)
  • Making money in the Cloud is also Wednesday.
  • Enhanced Partnerworld is also on Wednesday
So if you want a non tech track and a lot of BP content then Wednesday is the day.  The IBM Event app has it all and I will have a video coming on that shortly
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    On Wednesday, February 15th, 2017   by Chris Miller        

For those missing Lotusphere or IBM Connect right now, years of pictures

Morning walk view
So many of us are used to heading to Orlando, FL for Lotusphere aka IBM Connect. As that has moved months and cities, here are years of pictures to look back on
Yes there will be the normal new group for 2017 for everyone to join and share photos.
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    On Thursday, January 19th, 2017   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2017 - my session information

I was excited to see I am speaking at IBM Connect 2017 in San Francisco.  Catch me on Feb 22 at 10am PST on the second floor of Moscone West, room 2020 (this may change as we get closer).
Image:IBM Connect 2017 - my session information
This content overall will be a new and positive change for the IBM Connect event. Look for a track on your standard ICS technologies, with the added bonus of learning new skills and seeing new ideas to spark some interest in your future plans with IBM.
Deploying Blockchain on IBM Bluemix as a customer
Explore the benefits of IBM Blockchain for decentralized and trusted controls. Decentralized and trusted processing of real-time transactions can speed up your business processes! Learn how to deploy both test and production Blockchain environments on IBM Bluemix. Walk through the business needs for the evolving Blockchain technology from the customer perspective. View validations in progress and the health of your peers in the chaincode

This is totally out of the normal sphere of content but shows how far and fast we adopt and implement new technologies. I will not look too deep into how Bluemix provisions, but more on Blockchain technology deployment  and where it can take us in the future.
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    On Tuesday, January 10th, 2017   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2017 registration is open

IBM Connect 2017 registration has been opened up and this proves to be a whole new conference. The conference also moved to San Francisco and to the end of February (instead of late January).
IBM Connect 2017
Pricing has a slew of rates and levels which adds to the confusion of when and what you should register for.  I say this because I see they are trying to draw some people in for partial time and the EXPO without them having to buy a full conference pass.  There is also a middle level that tosses in the keynotes, Lightning Talks (on the EXPO floor I bet) and more. Then the full badge has pricing set with early bird and one day full passes.  Whew!

Discover Connect is the cheapest at $89, with Experience Connect at $995, One Day passes at $895 and full badges starting at $1695 without alumni discounts.

See the IBM Connect 2017 registration page for more details on packages and to get registered.

A special thing to note is that you must have an IBM Id to even register for the conference.
IBM Connect registration
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    On Monday, December 5th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 - Logging Wars session slides


I had the pleasure of presenting Logging Wars: A Cross Product Tech Clash Between Experts with Ben Menesi, of Ytria, at IBM Connect 2016.  He did an amazing job making slides for us from all our conversations. Thanks to every that attended or has reached out looking for the slides.

Do not forget that all the slides are in the  IBM Connect sessions database  with over 200 since 2013 publicly available for your review and searching.
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    On Thursday, February 11th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

60+ in 60 - Admin Tips Power Hour session slides from IBM Connect 2016


Above is the content for my 60+ in 60 - Admin Tips Power Hour session from IBM Connect 2016.
With a guaranteed minimum of 60 administration tips in 60 minutes you will walk out with a list of items to immediately help you tune your collaboration environment. Covering IBM Domino, Sametime, Connections, Traveler and more will have you eager to get back and implement some of the ideas. We will take best practices from the my SocialBizUg Admin Tips newsletter, customer case stories and other best practices. Have no fear, we will move faster that you can write so everything will be available for you to download. This is an ode to the hundreds of tips brought to you by the letters M and G (Mooney and Gab) over the years.

Make sure you visit the IBM Connect sessions database  for content going back to 2013. Now about 200 entries large.
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    On Wednesday, February 10th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect sessions database for 2016

We have begun adding sessions and content to the annual IBM Connect sessions database here at IdoNotes.  With content going back to 2013 there is almost 200 total sessions, slides, demos and videos.
IBM ConnectED Sessions database



There is a tag cloud for easy sorting and on the right a breakdown by track for more sorting options. Full text searches are also available for digging into specific abstract content. So head over to the IBM Connect sessions database  to find the slides you were missing or want to see and thank the authors!

All content is owned by the authors and is only embedded and not served directly from IdoNotes.  It is only a portal to find the publicly shared content.

For sponsors, if you wish to advertise in the database please get in touch as it will get considerable traffic as new content is added.
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    On Tuesday, February 9th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 slides are starting to appear online

Session slides from IBM Connect 2016 are beginning to appear in the IBM Event Connect site and on public blogs / SlideShare.
IBM Connect 2016 logo
Each year I bring all of the publicly shared slides that can be embedded or linked into the IBM Connect Sessions Database. They are sorted by track/topic and it is full texted indexed for quick searching to find just what you need.

As you can see this is what the uploads look like in the IBM Event Connect portal for IBM Connect 2016.  
IBM Connect 2016 slide downloads
Note that they use the hidden session ID that no one really shared this year. Previously we would use BP101 (for example) and it showed the track.  Now they are a giant glob of numbers that presenters didn't really tag their content with on titles or online. So once these are made available fully for download we will have to find a way to match and sort them

There is plenty more information to come on IBM Connect 2016. Make sure you subscribe to the blog, the newsletter (see the sidebar), iTunes and the YouTube channel to keep up. Heck even Twitter, the Facebook network and Instagram.
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    On Thursday, February 4th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 OGS and day 1 review - IdoNotes Episode 145


IBM kicked off IBM Connect 2016 in Orlando, FL. I summarize the Opening General Session and more for you.
IBM Connect 2016 logo
The IBM Connect 2016 episode covers the following:  Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2016 OGS and day 1 review - IdoNotes Episode 145" »
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    On Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Go now has IBM Connect 2016 available

IBM GO, the digital conference extension, now has IBM Connect 2016 listed. I like to think I had something to do with that from my IBM Connect 2016 preview post and video.
IBM Go for IBM Connect 2016
Sign up is free to access whatever content they will stream and allow you to replay. You will have to fill out a sign up form which then sends a verification email message.  Hilariously the welcome message has links to upcoming content...  from October 2015.  Sigh...
Continue Reading here" IBM Go now has IBM Connect 2016 available" »
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    On Friday, January 22nd, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 free certification exam vouchers

IBM is bringing back free certification exam vouchers for IBM Connect 2016. Now IBM had issues last year over this initiative and I presume that is all ironed out for IBM Connect 2016
IBM Connect 2016 banner
According to an article on the IBM Software Services for Collaboration blog at IBM.com they state the following:
we're offering customers and business partners a voucher for a FREE ICS certification exam.  The voucher allows you to complete an ICS certification exam within about 6 months of your return from the conference

There are a few reuirements like it expires on July 31, 2016 and one voucher per attendee.  Vouchers will be sent via email to the address you registered for the conference.  This is different than last year where you had to hunt it down on short notice and most people entirely missed it.

Look at the previous IdoNotes articles on free exam vouchers at IBM Connect and Lotusphere.
Keep up with all of my IBM Connect posts
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    On Monday, January 11th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 OGS is 2 1/2 hours long

For those headed to IBM Connect 2016 prepare yourself for the Opening General Session that shows up as 2 1/2 hours long with a 45 minute break in the middle.
IBM Connect 2016 OGS schedule
The normal time runs much like the first session listed above at an hour and half.  But this extra hour with no sessions and a break seems rather confusing. I am guessing we all leave the main conference hall for 45 minutes and then file back in for another large session.  Here is what is supposed to be included in each session slot.   Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2016 OGS is 2 1/2 hours long" »
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    On Wednesday, January 6th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 Technical Labs

IBM has provided some information on the IBM Connect 2016 Technical Labs. These labs have varied over the years and there is three this year.
IBM Connect 2016 logo
You can view the full details right here at the conference site but here is a summary of each:
Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2016 Technical Labs" »
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    On Monday, November 30th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 preview video - Lotusphere Podcasts


IBM has tons of scattered information on IBM Connect 2016 in Orlando, FL. I try and summarize a lot of it in one place for you.
IBM Connect 2016 logo
Here is a rundown of the show notes
  • First of all we have a new location for IBM Connect 2016 at the Hilton Orlando.  We are no longer at the Dolphin & Swan area (video link)
  • Things to do and eat around the new conference center location    (video link)
    Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2016 preview video - Lotusphere Podcasts" »
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      On Thursday, November 12th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

Miss your free exam voucher at IBM ConnectED 2015?

If you were an attendee of IBM ConnectED 2015 then you may recall my blog post about the free exam/test voucher for customers and partners for ICS related products. This kind of fell apart while there.

Due to some communication issues they did not have the vouchers on site at IBM ConnectED. IBM took remediation steps quickly (awesome move and kudos to Kristin) but you had to read a tiny posting on the event page about going to the Expertise Zone.  Most of us saw this when we got back from IBM ConenctED 2015 and went to download session slides and even do session evaluations.

Now since then, it seems IBM offered it (as of Feb 23rd) to anyone that commented on a thread in the IBM Event Connect site.  However, that offer was only good till end of day Feb 24th!!!  One day to comment and no way to know that thread has been posted.
 Diane Morneau  | Feb 23, 2015  
Hi everyone.
We sent confirmation emails last Friday to those who did drop by the Expertise Zone to get a free certification voucher. Thank you for your visit. The tickets were offered as a courtesy to the visitors of the Expertise Zone. We are glad to see that this is appreciated more than branded merchandise items.
Understanding there was some confusion about this opportunity, we are prepared to send a voucher number for an ICS certification exam to the ConnectED 2015 attendees who post a comment in here before the end of Feb 24 and who did not already take advantage of the offer.
Thank you.

Continue Reading here" Miss your free exam voucher at IBM ConnectED 2015?" »
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    On Friday, February 27th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 Business Partner session replays online

IBM has released audio and presentation files from Business Partner day at IBM ConnectED 2015. They are available via PartnerWorld with login only.
This year at IBM ConnectED 2015, we hosted a track of sessions exclusively for our IBM Business Partners. We shared the vision and strategy for 2015. This track included a special Business Partner kickoff featuring Channelcorp’s Bruce Stuart as the keynote speaker. Bruce provided executive education on how Business Partners can successfully transition their businesses to a recurring revenue model in the cloud.

In addition to the kickoff session, we hosted five additional sessions covering everything from how to make money selling cloud, marketing best practices, incentives and lead passing, as well as two standing room only sessions: BP105: Successfully Selling Against the Competition and BP106: IBM Verse Business Partner Enablement.

You can log in with your IBM PartnerWorld credentials to get the content right here

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    On Monday, February 23rd, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 slides now available to the public

IBM has made the IBM ConnectED 2015 slides available to the public via SocialBIzUG (free registration required). These are the slides found from the IBM ConnectED site. You can still see all the speaker shared ones in the IBM Connect/Lotusphere/IBM ConnectED database.
SocialBIzUG for the IBM ConnectED slides
We’re happy to announce that SocialBizUG.org members can now download presentations from ConnectED 2015! Visit our ConnectED 2015 community and click the Download presentations link next to the track names to start downloading your session files today.

Make sure you thank all the awesome speakers for their hard work.
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    On Friday, February 13th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED and Lotusphere slides database updated for 2015

I am happy to announce for IBM ConnectED 2015 (aka Lotusphere) the sessions database now has over 30 slidesets from presenters for 2015.  All are sorted by time and/or track. Searching is also available on the upper right.
IBM ConnectED Sessions database

Continue Reading here" IBM ConnectED and Lotusphere slides database updated for 2015" »
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    On Wednesday, February 11th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 overall conference and session evaluation forms online

IBM has not communicated well that IBM ConnectED 2015 overall conference evaluation and individual session evaluation forms are online to be filled out.
IBM ConnectED 2015 Event Conenct survey
The homepage of IBM ConnectED 2015 now has a link on the right (note the arrows) to take the overall conference survey. You will need to have an IBM Event Connect account for IBM ConnectED to submit the survey.  There are numerous sliders, questions and freeform text boxes looking for your input. PLease go and fill that out.  there is no free t-shirt or other giveaway as in past years, but they want to hear your thoughts.

Next up is the individual session surveys and these mean a lot to the presenters. Continue Reading here" IBM ConnectED 2015 overall conference and session evaluation forms online" »
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    On Monday, February 9th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 slides for BP207 - Considerations for the Cloud


At IBM ConnectED 2015 I had the pleasure to present BP207 - Considerations for the Cloud. Here are the slides presented in that session. Also see the unofficial IBM Connect and Lotusphere sessions database below.
Are you considering a move to the cloud? Where do you start? One of the most important questions you will need to consider is around access and performance. Start your path by gaining insight into actual bandwidth usage for users in the cloud with examples and things to consider. Explore options for designing easy connectivity to the cloud for your organization and users. Take away numerous sample diagrams of deployment and network options and learn the right questions to ask any cloud provider around security, redundancy and more.


While we wait patiently for IBM to publish or move the slides to SocialBizUG, see the database that is already growing for 2015 with over 70 sessions  for 2013 and almost 75 for 2014 in  the IBM Connect slides database
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    On Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 OGS and week in review video - Lotusphere Podcasts


A whirlwind IBM ConnectED 2015 tour in under ten minutes. From the Opening General Session and onward. More of a peek instead of a full summary that needs to be written.
  • IBM Verse was everywhere
  • IBM Verse has a freemium model
  • Digital Experience is a new way to work if you know what it is
  • IBM Lotus Domino barely made a dent of a mention in the OGS
  • The OGS went by quick
  • Non-IBM speakers are delivering some high quality sessions (I have only seen two IBM sessions)
  • The welcome party was not as it was
  • The vendor floor was not as it was
  • IBM Verse was everywhere again

See the video for more. Also catch up on the live blogging replay of the OGS on LotusphereLive from Carl and myself.

As for the week itself..
- a look at the annual backpack
- the Lotusphere cookie and #pretzelcookiegate
- IBM Verse again
- IBM Connections 5 sneak peek
- the vendor floor changes
- and tons more

The IBM Connect / Lotusphere sessions database is already filling with content. Make sure you visit that regularly as content gets added


See the video for the whole story and make sure you subscribe to the IdoNotes podcasts and Spiked Studio channels on YouTube
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    On Monday, February 2nd, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM Announces IBM ConnectED 2016 dates - sometime next year

At the IBM ConnectED 2015 Closing General Session someone from marketing stated that IBM ConnectED would be back for 2016 at some date and location. They would let us know in coming months.

I know this does not define the exact date or location as we are used to hearing, but they have it in their minds. A mental roadmap as it were. I think this year proved the event can survive and provide good technical information. The smaller size did nothing to deter the community beng as close as it always is.

More info when I get it and look for a summary show and blog post coming.
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    On Wednesday, January 28th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 Live will be launched!

IBM has confirmed (so far) there is no livestream of the IBM Connect 2015 Opening General Session (OGS) so Carl Tyler and myself need to launch IBM ConnectED 2015 Live again.
IBM Connect Live


This is our seventh year of providing you our commentary on everything going on in the OGS along with live pictures as we find them.

You can access the live commentary for 2015 right here and even on your mobile devices
Continue Reading here" IBM ConnectED 2015 Live will be launched!" »
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    On Friday, January 23rd, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 Opening General Session - what to expect

With IBM ConnectED 2015 just days away we are receiving tons of emails with information. This bit was included about the Opening General Session on Monday morning
ConnectED 2015 Opening General Session
IBM ConnectED-A New Way to Engage

Engagement is about people-building relationships and getting work done, simply and intelligently in ways never imagined. Learn how IBM is the only company who can harness the powerful combination of leading enterprise social and digital experience software, analytics and mobile technologies-all delivered on the cloud-to help you get work done, reduce information overload, stress and distraction and be a better more visible teammate. Speakers include IBM leaders Jeff Schick, Gary Dolsen, and their leadership teams demonstrating several of our new technologies like IBM Verse and Digital Experience on Cloud. They will be joined by several clients, speaking to their experience with IBM Verse, IBM Connections and IBM Digital Experience and featured guest speaker Philippe Petit, universal poet laureate of the high wire artist, world renowned for walking the high wire between the rooftops of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
IBM ConnectED 2015

Personally I hope for lots of LIVE demos of all the technologies. The Opening General Session is 90 minutes long giving plenty of time to cover it all.  The above also hints at customer stories individually or as a panel. We have seen the OGS transform over the years from technically heavy with tons of demos to all marketing for the analysts and press.

With this being promoted as a technical event I hope we see the earlier and skip lots of the marketing.  Anyone else?
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    On Wednesday, January 21st, 2015   by Chris Miller        

The Totally Unofficial Totally Unsupported IBM ConnectED Session Database

Each year wonderful partners, developers and community build an unoffical IBM Connect and Lotusphere sessions database. 2015 is no exception for IBM ConnectED!!
Unofficial IBM ConnectED Session Database

As you can see the data is sorted numerous ways and includes an action to add sessions you want to attend right to your Notes calendar (after you give the proper ECL rights).  You can also update this database via replication thanks to the Turtle Partnership and their pubic server.
Get your hands on the database today right here.
A HUGE amount of thanks to the following people who did the work to get this IBM Notes Database back online for 2015: 

Rob Novak: AJAX Parts 
Karl Henry Martinson: JSON Parts 
Vitor Pereira: Imports, using the above and killer instinct on finding the data 
Giuseppe Grasso: Mobile and XPages 
Andreas Imnitzer: Compatibility and Set-up 2014 
Giulio Campobassi: Mobilite integration 
Gab Davies/Turtle: Thanks for the Server! 

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    On Tuesday, January 20th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 site launches | IdoNotes Episode 142


IBM has launched the website for IBM ConnectED 2015 and Lotusphere at a new URL of IBMEventConnect.com/ConnectED. I dig into the new site capabilities and ask the annual question of when will this site just go away again?

We have talked before about IBM opening and closing down annual sites and each time we take a step ahead it seems we fall right back. Here are some posts over the years
See the video for the whole story and make sure you subscribe to the IdoNotes podcasts and Spiked Studio channels on YouTube
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    On Thursday, January 15th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM announces the Chalktalks for IBM ConnectED 2015

IBM has announced the Chalktalks (formerly Birds of a Feather) for IBM ConnectED 2015. They will take place Tuesday morning/evening and Wednesday morning.
For Tuesday January 27, 2015 you can expect
7:00am - 7:45am
Chalk101 Bring Your Application to the Next Level with Open Source Software from OpenNTF – Christian Guedeman, WebGate Consulting AG / OpenNTF  SW 1-2
Chalk103 My Company Can't Become a Social Business Because… – Louis Richardson, IBM  SW 3-4
Chalk303 IBM Digitial Experience and IBM Analytics: Concepts, Integration and Best Practices – James Ryan, IBM  SW 7-10
Chalk105 The Future of Software Is Not One-Size-Fits-All: Possible Applications of Watson + Cognea + Cloud – Laura Rodriguez, IBM  SW Mockingbird
Chalk203 From Soup to Sandwich: Making MVC Java Classes and Front-end Development Work for You – Eric McCormack, The Boldt Company  SW Parrot 2
 
6:15PM - 7:15PM
Chalk102 OpenNTF Domino API: The Community API – Paul Withers, Intec Systems, LTD  SW 1-2
Chalk104 Make Love, Not War - Domino Coexistence with Microsoft Active Directory (& other LDAP) – Olaf Boemer, BCC  SW 3-4
Chalk403 Personal Privacy Paradigm – Bill Malchisky Jr., Effective Software Solutions, LLC  SW 7-10
Chalk302 Using SAML to Integrate WebSphere Portal and Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) – Marvin Parkinson, Sirius Computer Solutions  SW Mockingbird
Chalk202 App Dev Trends and Directions: A Conversation with the Inventors of XPages – Philippe Riand, Trilog Group  SW Toucan
Chalk401 Changing Behavior, One Tiny Habit at a Time – Sasha Beerendonk, Silverside  SW Parrot 2

For Wednesday January 28, 2015 you can expect
7:15am - 8:15am
Chalk201 IBM Domino Application Development – P. Janzen, IBM  SW 1-2
Chalk204 IBM Connections Developers – Joe Russo, IBM  SW 3-4
Chalk402 Stimulate, Reward and Coach All Your Employees to Advance Adoption of Connections – Marion Vrielink, Saxion  SW 7-10
Chalk301 Enterprise Networks – What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You – Wes Morgan, IBM  Swan Toucan
Chalk406 IBM Event Connect – From Concept to Production and Beyond – Brad Schauf, IBM   SW Parrot 2
Chalk404 Tips from the Trenches – Real-World Application Modernization – Andrew Barickman, PSC Group    DL  S. Hemisphere 1
Chalk405 XPages and Java: Share Your Experience – Bernd Hort, assono GmbH  DL S. Hemisphere 2
Chalk107  Empower and Align Your Social Organisation – Kevin  Zellmer, HootSuite  SW 5-6

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    On Wednesday, January 14th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 photo group is live on Flickr

The annual group photo pool on Flickr is live for IBM ConnectED 2015. Please join in with the hundreds of members over the years and share your experiences while there.

You can join the IBM ConnectED 2015 group on Flickr right here.

**Previous years**
IBM Connect 2014 group on Flickr
IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2012 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2011 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2010 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2009 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2008 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2007 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2006 group on Flickr
Lotusphere 2005 group on Flickr
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    On Tuesday, January 13th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 Business Value Assessments

IBM is offering Business Value Assessments at IBM ConnectED 2015 for free to customers.
The BVA Consultations are a 1-hour session offered to customers where IBM Executive Consultants will work with them to explore and discuss business issues related to their Digital and Social Business initiatives. This forum provides the opportunity for customers to begin framing the business benefits, to learn about the BVA process and to identify possible next steps that will help them gain stakeholder's support. During the session we will discuss our approach to help customers rapidly develop:
A Strategy and Roadmap for their Digital and Social Business Initiative
A customized vision and demo of what the experience might look like for their users
A financial business case to support moving forward

You can register for your assessment right here. They are offered Jan 26-28 between 8-5pm EST.
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    On Friday, January 9th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

No certification testing at IBM ConnectED 2015 - but free testing vouchers available

With the changes coming for IBM ConnectED 2015 you can add in no certification testing while there. However, IBM will be handing out one free test voucher to each customer and partner attendee.
IBM ConnectED 2015


Each voucher will enable the holder to take one IBM Collaboration Solutions exam at any Pearson Vue testing center and will be valid for only six (6) months from the close of the conference. Details on how to obtain your voucher will be found in conference materials or in the News section of the ICS Certification page closer to the date of the conference.

To determine which certification exams you may take with your voucher, check out the ICS Certification page.


NOTE: If you are a registered attendee and did not get the notice on how to pick up your vouchers, please log into IBM Event Connect and read this thread and contribute.

Sounds like a great chance for you to see more sessions to gain the skills to take the tests later. Come say hi at either of my IBM ConnectED 2015 sessions
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    On Thursday, January 8th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM Verse exclusive BP Enablement Session at IBM ConnectED 2015 announced

IBM has announced an exclusive Business Partner enablement session for IBM ConnectED 2015 that is not on the agenda. Hopefully we will see and get plenty of deep tech info outside of some marketing buzz. You must be a business partner to attend it seems.
IBM ConnectED 2015




According to the information (session details are non-NDA in case anyone wants to raise a flag) are as follows..  Continue Reading here" IBM Verse exclusive BP Enablement Session at IBM ConnectED 2015 announced" »
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    On Wednesday, January 7th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

My IBM ConnectED 2015 sessions

I am happy to have two sessions at what is called IBM ConnectED 2015.   (yes the ED are capitalized). Below are the direct links, details and more. I hope to see you there.
IBM ConnectED 2015


Considerations for the Cloud
- Are you considering a move to the cloud? Where do you start? One of the most important questions you will need to consider is around access and performance. Start your path by gaining insight into actual bandwidth usage for users in the cloud with examples and things to consider. Explore options for designing easy connectivity to the cloud for your organization and users. Take away numerous sample diagrams of deployment and network options and learn the right questions to ask any cloud provider around security, redundancy and more.
Tuesday January 27th  2:30-3:30 in Dolphin Southern Hemisphere 2
https://www-950.ibm.com/events/global/ibmced/agenda/preview.html?sessionid=-BP207


IBM Sametime Deployment Do's and Don'ts: Tips, Tricks, Perils and Pitfalls
- Deploying a full IBM Sametime environment requires forethought, planning and a straightforward "building block" approach. Join Wes Morgan and IBM Champion Chris Miller, two of the community's most experienced IBM Sametime deployment engineers for an hour of recommendations, "lessons learned", hints and helps to prepare you for smooth sailing with your Sametime design and deployment. From IBM Websphere to Muxes and IBM DB2 to SSO, you'll get a little bit of everything in this session.
Sunday January 25th 1-2pm   Swan Mockingbird 1-2    co presenting with Wes Morgan of IBM
https://www-950.ibm.com/events/global/ibmced/agenda/preview.html?sessionid=-MAS204
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    On Tuesday, January 6th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM announces keynote speaker at IBM ConnectED 2015 BP Day

IBM has announced the keynote speaker as Bruce Stuart of Channelcorp for IBM ConnectED 2015 Business Partner Day,
IBM ConnectED 2015

We are pleased to announce that Bruce Stuart, President and co-founder of Channelcorp, will be our special keynote speaker for the Business Partner kickoff on Tuesday, January 27. Please plan to join, as Bruce will provide world class executive education on how to successfully transition current business models to better leverage cloud, SaaS and service, including how to make your transformation investments succeed

I have looked at the website for ChannelCorp and it appears they consult to help companies drive more channel growth. If you are a business partner remember it is usually a checkbox you needed to make to get the right access to the day events.
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    On Monday, January 5th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 - my sessions and the agenda announced

I am happy to be back presenting at Lotusphere aka IBM Connect aka IBM ConnecED 2015, This time I am honored to partner with Wes Morgan for Sametime Deployment Do's & Don'ts and my own Considerations for the Cloud..
IBM ConnectED 2015

In each of these sessions I hope to bring you a unique perspective on decisions you will make while deploying your solutions and how to avoid the common mistakes.  Also we look at mistakes that come to haunt you after you have begun roll-outs. I sit in a unique position at Connectria in seeing so many varied deployments both in the cloud and on your own site.

Take a look at the agenda via the Session Preview Tool to get one of the remaining seats for IBM ConnecED 2015. You can get the current pricing at the registration page.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, December 16th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 conference tracks

IBM has placed the ConnectED 2015 tracks online for the January 25-28, 2015 event replacing IBM Connect/Lotusphere. Gone are BOFs and Show and Tell but a new tracks take theirs place.
IBM ConnectED 2015 tracks
IBM has introduced Chalktalk Sessions in track seven to replace BOFs. This means a more interactive and open communication approach to the early morning/late evening sessions.  Also new is "Beyond the Everyday" which gets itself in quotes and seems to place the Show and Tell track.

The rest seem to be pretty close to the same. See more and register early for IBM ConnectED 2015.
    for this posting

    On Monday, September 15th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Great Geek Challenge 2014 replay from IBM Connect 2014


The Great Geek Challenge took place once again at IBM Connect 2014 due to the hard word of Gabriella Davis, Tim Davis and the team. Watch the replay here.

Special thanks to Nerd Girls and all the sponsors that allow this to happen each year.  It is a great FREE event that bends your mind and fills your belly.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, April 8th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Watch Warren Elsmore get electrocuted at IBM Connect 2014


While editing the Great Geek Challenge video from IBM Connect 2014 I came across a clip that was too good not to share.  Yes, the LEGO master himself, Warren Elsmore, gets a jolt during a game.
    for this posting

    On Monday, April 7th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Follow up: Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again?


I wrote Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again? about a week ago. While the discussion thread here was limited, LinkedIn took off. Here are some excerpts and links.
IBM Sametime to IBM Connections Chat


I made the same discussion thread inside of a couple LinkedIn groups and the feedback has been terrific. Some of the threads are generating some good conversation. Starting with the ICS Lotus Software Professionals group:             Continue Reading here" Follow up: Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again?" »
    for this posting

    On Thursday, March 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

The IBM Connect 2014 slides database now with video and 70 sessions

Thanks to IBM we have added some audio/video to the IBM Connect slides database. For the 2014 event we are up to 70 sessions (and the 2013 sessions are in there too). Keep in mind all of this is publicly posted content that is embedded. We have posted nothing (*cough* someone complained *cough) so that all content is owned and attributed to the person that posted it inside the  IBM Connect and Lotusphere slides database.
IBM Connect & Lotusphere slides database

Continue Reading here" The IBM Connect 2014 slides database now with video and 70 sessions" »
    for this posting

    On Monday, March 24th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again?

At IBM Connect 2014 we watched, well tried to catch, the announcement from Jeff Schick that IBM was changing the IBM Sametime name to IBM Connections Chat and IBM Connections Meetings. Is this a repeat mistake from years ago?

First let me look at how fast the announcement was made. I barely had time to pic up my trusty camera to capture the moment. It was on the screen and gone so fast you can see the words changing
IBM Sametime to IBM Connections Chat



Here are my thoughts on why the IBM Sametime name change is a mistake (again)    Continue Reading here" Is renaming Sametime a mistake? Again?" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, March 19th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

What Makes IBM Connect great each year? (from SocialBizUG)

For the February Sys Admin Tips newsletter on SocialBizUG I made a posting about What Makes IBM Connect great each year.

Image:What Makes IBM Connect great each year? (from SocialBizUG)
Photo courtesy of John Roling (Greyhawk68)  See entire IBM Connect 2014 Flickr photo pool
I have counted mentally and also the number of hanging badges in my office and keep coming up with 18 different Lotusphere/IBM Connect events I have attended. It always surprises me to come back with the number 18 now.  Eighteen years is a significant amount of time at any conference. The last 15 have been here at Connectria. But why do I keep going back?

Everyone has their own opinions of why they attend, from technology to business to the people.   Read the entire article right here on SocialBizUG

Tell me why you keep going back.  I want to know.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 19th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 slides and videos database now over 60 sessions inside

With IBM Connect 2014 slides not posted on the official sites yet we are ahead of the curve offering over 55 slidedecks and videos embedded for your viewing in the slides database. Search, explore by track or browse by tag.
IBM Connect & Lotusphere slides database



Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2014 slides and videos database now over 60 sessions inside" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 12th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 and AllianceTech for evaluations

Once again IBM chose AllianceTech for the evaluation system of IBM Connect 2014. They have been using AllianceTech for years for all the collection of attendee evaluations and RFID data.


IBM Connect 2014 and AllianceTech




As my post earlier alluded to, I have been having issues again. So today an email came reminding me to fill out evaluations. I saw they included an email address connectsupport@alliancetech.com which I proceeded to email with all my information. Here it went wrong again  Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2014 and AllianceTech for evaluations" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 5th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 I just want to give feedback and you won’t let me

Once again the annual IBM Connect evaluation (and speaker reports) is broken. For IBM Connect 2014 it seems you cannot add sessions it didn't see you enter nor see reports as co-speakers.

IBM Connect 2014 session evaluation

I won't go into previous year issues, but this year once again used RFID. Unfortunately it does not always catch you entering a room. So how do I add sessions? Not even my own are showing as me entering. No link exists to look up sessions and add evals.

Another problem I really have here..  Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2014 I just want to give feedback and you won't let me" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 5th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 slides for BP303 Empowering ICS Communities for SocialBizUG with IBM Connections


I had the pleasure of presenting at IBM Connect 2014 with Celia Hamilton (SocialBizUG), Mike Smith (Turtle Partnership), and Mark Myers (LDC) on Empowering ICS Communities for SocialBizUG with IBM Connections. session BP303
Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2014 slides for BP303 Empowering ICS Communities for SocialBizUG with IBM Connections" »
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 4th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect and Lotusphere slides database updated for 2014

We launched the IBM Connect and Lotusphere slides and video database last year.  It is already updating for 2014 with a dozen embedded slidesets.  This is all due to the awesomeness of the speakers.
IBM Connect & Lotusphere slides database


Continue Reading here" IBM Connect and Lotusphere slides database updated for 2014" »
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 4th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM messaging roadmap from IBM Connect 2014 - what’s missing

IBM announced the IBM Messaging Roadmap at IBM Connect 2014 and here is what was included. Also, here is the major piece I noticed missing.
IBM Messaging Roadmap from IBM Connect 2014
image courtesy of Per Henrik Lausten during IBM Connect


If we study the IBM Messaging Roadmap image above, updated January 26 2014, we see updates to the IBM Notes 9.0.1 client. More than one fixpack and release schedule actually taking place now, July and November 2014. With a maintenance release, to include the IBM Mail Next coming in early 2015.

We also see enhancements to the browser plug-in and IBM SmartCloud Notes. But there is one thing missing from this chart.
Continue Reading here" IBM messaging roadmap from IBM Connect 2014 - what's missing" »
    for this posting

    On Monday, February 3rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

new Mars Rover images shown at IBM Connect 2014

www.flickr.com
IdoNotes' items tagged with marsrover More of IdoNotes' stuff tagged with marsrover

At IBM Connect 2014 we had the pleasure to see Dave Lavery, NASA, show us Mars Rover images never shown to the public yet. Above are what was shown on the screen as he walked us through the history of the project and numerous humorous stories. They had just completed stitching them together after hours of download from the Mars Rover.
    for this posting

    On Saturday, February 1st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Mail Next announced at IBM Connect 2014 - what I know

IBM announced IBM Mail Next at IBM Connect 2014. This is a new proposed inbox interface  via the web for working with Domino based email that aims to helps prioritize and balance tasks.
IBM Mail Next sample UI
This is a sample screenshot of IBM Mail Next shown around different sessions at IBM Connect. As you can see this is an entirely new interface to the look and feel of your email. A few key things to consider:
  • Domino back end (not Websphere as some thought)
  • HTML5
  • Apache search engine
  • New web interface (as suggested but not close to final)
Continue Reading here" IBM Mail Next announced at IBM Connect 2014 - what I know" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 29th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 - Innovation Lab experience

I always take time for the Innovation Lab at IBM Connect and this was no different for 2014. However this year I was highly disappointed. The amazing talent and work they do astounds me. The staff was courteous, brilliant and still had things to show.

However, this year it seems they were forced into only working on talent, expert, skills or voice of people from social media. They lab was split into three distinct areas.
  • Social Business Innovation Sprints
  • Smarter Workforce
  • Visual Analytics
While they are doing cool graphs and heuristics, that is not the only place I want innovation. For example, last year I found some amazing tablet calendaring work. Slide scheduling times, easy tap to set appointments, great use of tablet space for group calendaring. I had hoped this would make it into actual offerings.  It is gone.
Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2014 - Innovation Lab experience" »
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 28th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 OGS and day 1 recap - Lotusphere Podcasts


I recap IBM Connect 2014 day one activities and the Opening General Session (OGS) in this Lotusphere Podcast video. We dig into the backpack, the badge attendees wear and how the opening party went. From there it is all about the OGS:
  • IBM Mail
  • Sametime getting renamed
  • lack of demos
  • tons of customer stories with no demos
  • Snuch in announcements
  • Alcatraz the product

You can also catch the replay of our OGS commentary on LotusphereLive, just select 2014 from the archives.

See the video for the whole story and make sure you subscribe to the IdoNotes podcasts and Spiked Studio channels on YouTube,
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Goodbye IBM Sametime, we loved your name

At IBM Connect 2014 opening session minutes ago, we watched Jeff Schick announce the new IBM Connections Meetings and IBM Connections Chat. This ends an era of Sametime
IBM Sametime 9 logo

This doesn't mean much to you about the current path of enhancements. What it does mean is that a long term and known name is being changed. They did this one before when they renamed Sametime to Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing. That failed and one year later it was back.

I do not see this name ever going back to IBM Sametime. The path of consolidating is clear. Welcome IBM Connections Chat and Meetings.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect Live 2014 starts at 8am EST

Do not forget that Lotusphere Live (IBM Connect Live will be open again to live blogging the entire Opening General Session for 2014. Live stream, commentary, Flickr and more.
IBM Connect Live


Carl Tyler and myself are backat 8am EST to live blogging opinions of the OGS at IBM Connect and Lotusphere./  We include live Twitter streams based on the hashtag as well as Flick and YouTube integration

Why not join the thousands of unique visitors we get each and every year that join us for watching the Opening General Session? You may also utilize the iPhone interface here.

Also make sure you visit Carl Tyler's blog and Epilio as a way to say thanks for all the work over the years on this database

Also subscribe to Instagram, Flickr and YouTube for all my pictures and videos.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

My serious privacy concern with #ibmconnect 2014 online

IBM launched IBM Connect 2014 online weeks ago. The modifications to IBM Connections have raised a privacy concern. Here is my summary.

IBM Connect online status updates

We have a video coming, but the IBM Connect 2014 online system allows you to follow anyone on the system. the person being followed does not have any ability or control to block this ability. Then, by default, they publish every session you add to your schedule. Imagine you are not wanting competitors to see what sessions you are attending. Or worse, you have a stalker or other safety concern.

I did not ask them to publish my personal agenda, I did not ask you to share it to others without my knowledge and i certainly want the ability to block or hide that data. None of these exist.

This would be another huge reason not to use this to build my agenda in that system. Anyone else see an issue with privacy controls and this?
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 26th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM to launch IBMSocialytics cloud based on SIFT at Connect 2014

IBM  will be announcing and launching IBMSocialytics cloud at IBM Connect 2014 in Orlando, FL possibly based on SIFT, the Social Insight and Fusion toolkit.

IBM Socialytics cloud

The IBMSocialystics web URL (registered in Jul 2013) shows the above image tonight but redirects to YourInterlnet (registered in Sep 2012 by Global Technology Solutions) which seems to be a Portal based product

A search on IBM Socialytics turned up this from the Sponsor Showcase at IBM Connect 2014
Socialytics = Social Business + Big Data + Advanced Social Analytics  
Booth # SB-2

Socialytics provides a broad range of enterprise social business services to transform your organization. It improves customer intimacy, competitive intelligence and real time operational insights. What’s your social business strategy

So I did some checking into where SIFT fit into the architecture. I found this blurb from 2013 and this presentation
The SIFT application is built on IBM cross brand software. It borrows the best technologies from IBM's SW Portfolio (ICS, ECM and WebSphere) to deliver new and innovative "Big Social Data Analytics" capabilities to our customers. The SIFT application provides four powerful enterprise social business services as one integrated solution. These services include: 1) Big Social Data Collection Services 2) Social Network Monitoring Services 3) Big Social Data Analytics Services (ICA) 4) Enterprise Social Networking Services. This web based, cloud application is the only solution on the market that delivers all four of these social business services in an integrated social business software platform. We trump the competition

So my thought is that this will be a cloud based offering by IBM for enterprises and mid-sized companies to try and read social data and provide analytics services.  Based on the components listed that are  involved, I do not think anyone would have the skills to run this in house anyway.
    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 25th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin at IBM Connect 2014 - what’s different

IdoCheckin, the ability to check in using location service, will be back to IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2014 with a few changes
IdoCheckin logo

Walt Disney World has once again taken it upon themselves to not want individual meeting rooms listed for IdoCheckin for most of the Dolphin Convention Center.  They have merged out the following into one giant cess pool of check-ins called Dolphin Convention Center:
  • Northern Hemisphere A-C
  • Northern Hemisphere D
  • Northern Hemisphere E
  • Southern Hemisphere I
  • Southern Hemisphere II
  • Southern Hemisphere III
  • Southern Hemisphere IV-V
  • Atlantic Hall
  • Pacific Hall
  • Asia rooms
  • Europe rooms
  • Oceanic rooms
  • Americas

Many of the smaller venues still exist like restaurants and (thank goodness) the Dolphin lobby fountain remained in tact.  I am debating recreating them like usual or just letting us wander around aimlessly looking for friends because they don't understand the place is too big to not have smaller rooms to check into while there to locate people.

Feel free to tweet WaltDisneyWorld and let them know they screwed up location services for  #ibmconnect and #idocheckin again this year.  Ugh.

Make sure to follow me on here, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook for updates and photos. Apparently Foursquare will not help.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 23rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announces Jay Baer as host of IBM Connect 2014

IBM has announced, via a Facebook page, that Jay Baer will join Craig Hayman, the new IBM General Manager, as a host of IBM Connect 2014.

Photo: Announcing:  Best-selling author and social influencer Jay Baer (@jaybaer) to host  #IBMConnect! How cool is that?

Jay Baer is an author and constant speaker (over 75 times a year he says) on marketing and hype-free social media.  You can get his newest book Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help Not Hype on Amazon by clicking the link.

Make sure to follow me on here, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook for updates and photos.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 23rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 Business Partner Event Guide

IBM has released the IBM Connect 2014 Business Partner Guide that lists the schedule for Business Development day sessions at IBM Connect 2014. It is attached to this posting for download.
IBM Connect 2014



Make sure to follow me on here, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook for updates and photos.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect and Lotusphere annual Flickr group

Each year the community starts an IBM Connect and Lotusphere group on Flickr to bring all the photos together from the event. The 2014 year is no different. with IBM Connect 2014 group on Flickr.
Flickr logo


You simply join the group and share your photos from your uploads.  You still have total ownership, rights and controls. It is just a place to aggregate photos from some of the talented photographers in the community like Warren, Andy D, Volker and others.

Here are some past ones to give you an idea
Make sure to follow me on here, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook for updates and photos.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect Live and Lotusphere Live back for 2014

We are happy to announce Lotusphere Live (IBM Connect Live if you want to be practical) is back for live blogging the entire Opening General Session for 2014. Live stream, commentary, Flickr and more.
IBM Connect Live


Carl Tyler and myself are back for year number 7 offering our live blogging opinions of the OGS at IBM Connect and Lotusphere./  We include live Twitter streams based on the hashtag as well as Flick and YouTube integration

Capabilities:
  • Live commentary from myself and Carl about the OGS
  • The live stream of the OGS is embedded in the upper left to watch at the same time
  • We grab photos from Flickr as it goes (thinking Instagram too is tagged right)
  • We added Instagram for the #ibmconnect hashtag
  • We also have the Twitter stream on the hashtag running
  • You can replay any of the past years!!
  • This whole thing is Domino.  Yeah, Domino.
Continue Reading here" IBM Connect Live and Lotusphere Live back for 2014" »
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 21st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Dolphindor - the adventure at IBM Connect 2014

Welcome to the Dolphindor quest, where adventure awaits you at every turn, during IBM Connect 2014. This is a card base game developed by Gab Davis, Kathy Brown, Julian Robichaux and myself for fun while at IBM Connect.

Journey to Dolphindor

Look for one of the four of us to get your hands on your own card deck to start the Journey to Dolphindor. This is a quest to do some fun tings while at the event. Some will be easy to complete, while others may take effort or even taking someone along to take the picture to verify you completed it.  Yes you must have a picture to verify you complete a quest. We made sure a camera can be used at any quest locations..

Please join and like our Facebook page for Dolphindor and to see the game cards that will be in use.
Also visit the Dolphindor website for rules and updates!

Disclaimers:
Any and all resemblance to any other games or conferences or meetings or companies is entirely coincidental.  This game/quest is in no way affiliated with the following: IBM, IBM Connect, any IBM employee, IBM subsidiaries, IBM affiliates, IBM Business Partners, our employers, any company, our bosses, your boss, Disney, Disney properties, Disney employees, or anything/anyone else.  This was the strange and wonderful invention of four fun and possibly deranged people.
You participate in this game at your own risk.  We are not responsible for your actions.
The cards, name, images, and all related items belong to us.  Images on the cards used with owner’s permission. No stealing, bitchez

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 21st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 agenda at a glance sheet

IBM has sent over an IBM Connect 2014 agenda at a glance that covers the keynotes and other major events of importance.
IBM Connect 2014 agenda at a glance
This includes the Business Partner Day speaker and parties, Opening General Session band, keynote speakers, Tuesday night party and Closing General Session speaker.  Attached is your own copy if you want it.   Connect2014agendaataGlance_01.14.14.jpg


Make sure you follow the IdoNotes and Lotusphere playlists for all the videos from IBM Connect 2014.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 16th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 one day pass for $99 - Florida residents only

IBM has announced that for  IBM Connect 2014 there is one day passes for Florida residents available for $99. If you wanted full access on either Monday or Tuesday and live in Florida, then this pass is for you.

IBM Connect 2014 Florida discount
I am not sure how they are verifying location, but if you live in Florida make it happen for IBM Connect 2014
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 15th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announces Geoffrey Moore, guest speaker, for Business Partner Day at IBM Connect 2014

IBM has announced the guest speaker for Business Partner Day at IBM Connect 2014. IBM welcomes author Geoffrey Moore.
We are excited to have Geoffrey Moore as our guest speaker for Business Partner Day at IBM Connect 2014 on Sunday, January 26. Moore is an American organizational theorist, management consultant, and author of six books for business leaders in the high-tech sector, including Crossing the Chasm, The Gorilla Game, and his latest, Escape Velocity.
Escape Velocity by Geoffrey Moore

It seems to be an interesting topic he will present. The abstract is as follows:
Please join Geoffrey Moore as he discusses how companies can build the escape velocity necessary to move beyond the successes and failures of the past. He shares a hierarchy model through which companies can examine and build power, and he examines how product teams can best work to differentiate their company, neutralize the competition, and optimize products and offers.

Read more from author  Geoffrey Moore if you will not be able to attend Business Partner Day at IBM Connect 2014.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 14th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Connect 2014 - how to turn off those darn notifications


When IBM launched the portal for IBM Connect 2014 they have the default notifications in IBM Connections set to notify you often. Here is how to change that.

In my video above I introduced the Connect 2014 website for attendees to you.  I also showed how IBM Connections was hidden behind the scenes. If you want to turn off all the notifications they automatically enabled, or just adjust when you are notified, here is the direct link and a screenshot.

IBM Connect 2014 notification settings
So feel free to reduce, reset or modify the settings at https://connections.connect2014.com/news/

Make sure you follow the IdoNotes and Lotusphere playlists for all the videos from IBM Connect 2014.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 13th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 says goodbye to the outdoor Sunday night reception

www.flickr.com
IdoNotes' items tagged with outdoorparty More of IdoNotes' random outdor Lotusphere party pictures
We have seen the decline of the Sunday night reception at Lotusphere and IBM Connect over the years. From long lines that made you wait 45 minutes and huge tents, to no tents at all, removing the TVs showing football games on the beach and adding girls floating in bubbles on the water (don't ask). The current site is showing that the entire Sunday evening will be in the vendor floor.

I predicted it was coming with the blog post  for the 2013 event - IBM changes Sunday night reception and more at IBM Connect.  While the Sunday night event started in the sponsor showcase it then moved outside.

This year it seems we will not see the outdoor event at all.  According to the IBM Connect 2014 conference site the following has been posted:
Image:IBM Connect 2014 says goodbye to the outdoor Sunday night reception
For those of you new to IBM Connect and Lotusphere, find one of the long time attendees.  Ask about Sunday night and watch the grin come to their faces.

What is your best Sunday night reception memory? Leave it in the comments below.

NOTE
as of half hour after this posting. I am being told the official website may be incorrect (with two weeks to go) and they are triple confirming that there is some outdoor time.

NOTE 2 as of 45 min later I am now told the solutions floor is 6:30-8pm and the outdoor party is now 7:30-9:30pm.  So still a reduction in time form years past but it will be there.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 13th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 site launches | IdoNotes Episode 140


IBM has launched the website for IBM Connect 2014 and Lotusphere at a new URL of Connect2014.com. I dig into the new site capabilities, why they chose the URL, and ask the question of will this site just go away again?

We have talked before about IBM opening and closing down annual sites and each time we take a step ahead it seems we fall right back. Here are some posts over the years
See the video for the whole story and make sure you subscribe to the IdoNotes podcasts and Spiked Studio channels on YouTube,
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 2nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

Free IBM Collaboration Solutions Certification Testing at IBM Connect 2014

IBM has announced that at IBM Connect 2014 there will be FREE certification testing.  Unlimited free!  Yes free certification testing for IBM Collaboration Solutions software
ibmsocialbiz style=

One of the biggest draws at this event has always been the certification testing and prep labs. IBM is pleased to announce, for the very first time, that unlimited complimentary IBM Collaboration Solutions exams will be available for all registered attendees for the duration of the conference. All other Software Group exams will be available for 50% off the regular price

This is a great feature for all attendees.  You can read more on this right here.

Go join my IdoNotes Network Facebook page or YouTube channels, I am trying to grow those too :-)
    for this posting

    On Thursday, December 12th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 BP Surround Activities

IBM Connect 2014 has quite a few changes including the new BP Surround Activities. These activities will not be competing against scheduled IBM events as shown in the IBM Connect timeline at a glance posting (see links below)
IBM Connect 2014 BP Surround Events

From the information available, the BP Surround Activities will be events lead and driven by IBM Business Partners on Wednesday night that may include a more enhanced experience then just gathering in a hotel suite.

Business Partners should make special note that these are eligible for co-marketing funds from IBM (with restrictions of course) so you could have a pretty large event and have IBM help cover the costs.

Go join my IdoNotes Network Facebook page or YouTube channels, I am trying to grow those too :-)

Related posts:
    for this posting

    On Monday, November 18th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 timeline at a glance - Lotusphere and Kenexa World too

IBM has put out a high level grid of the IBM Connect 2014 / Lotusphere / Kenexa World timeline.  Note the moving of the Wednesday night party to Tuesday for the Kenexa people to be able to attend. It is in red titled Network Event.

IBM Connect 2014 schedule

I will make another blog post about the new BP Surround Activities


Go join my IdoNotes Network Facebook page or YouTube channels, I am trying to grow those too :-)

Related posts:
    for this posting

    On Thursday, November 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 - early sessions announced

I am honored that IBM Connect 2014 / Lotusphere has selected Gabriella Davis and myself to speak together this year.  We will be presenting Simplifying The S's - Single Sign-On, SPNEGO and SAML in the Best Practices track
IBM Connect logo


How do you make complex systems appear simple to your users?  In this session we’ll review the technologies available to you, discuss what Connections, Sametime, Domino, Portal and SmartCloud can support as well as what is appropriate for on premises vs cloud.  Finally we’ll suggest deployment scenarios that can tie together SSO, SPNEGO and SAML for a seamless single identity experience.

Please join Gab, myself and all the other first round accepted speaker at IBM Connect 2014 and see us in the Best Practices track.  And anywhere else you can find us lurking about Lotusphere. Congrats to everyone.

You can read about all of the first round accepted sessions on the SocialBusiness Insights blog posting

Related posts:
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, November 12th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 sponsor exhibitor showcase floorplan

IBM has released the IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase and exhibitor floorplan. You will notice it is larger than past years, I presume with the addition of Kenexa World to the mix.

IBM Connect 2014 showcase floorplan

I have previously shown the floorplan differences in IdoNotes podcast episodes. It shrunk for many years and was twisted to fill space.  Note there are many more expected vendors again with Kenexa World being blended in to IBM Connect 2014 and Lotusphere.

SpeedGeeking will once again be in the back of the hall, this time in the upper right.  The theater and live streaming sections were moved around a bit and the entire center is open which is very different.  Usually those center poles held some of the largest sponsor areas.

What are your thoughts on the layout and changes?

Related posts:
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, October 16th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

The IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours

IBM has announced the IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours for the exhibitor hall (subject to change).  There is also a new floor layout again (another post coming.

Image:The IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours

Other major changes we should look at:
  • the number of full and exhibitor badges per level
  • the number of of pedestals given per level (I presume to make the floor look fuller)
  • Guaranteed inclusion on a panel or a 60 minute breakout session (based on levels)
  • Conference hotel housing blocks


Related posts:
    for this posting

    On Monday, October 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect/Lotusphere/Kenexa World academic pricing

I applaud IBM for providing large discounts to academic attendees for IBM Connect, Lotusphere and Kenexa World. However, I am still baffled as to why this has never been extended to elementary, middle and high school districts that run IBM Domino and other software.
Academic Policy (IBM Connect)
Eligible attendees can register to attend for $1295.
Proof of academic standing required at check-in.
Students: valid student ID and copy of class schedule showing 12 units or credits required at check-in.
Faculty (full-time professors): valid, accredited university ID, required at check-in.
Failure to produce proof of your academic status will result in a charge of the full registration fee of $2,195. Please contact customer service for questions about this policy.

Continue Reading here" IBM Connect/Lotusphere/Kenexa World academic pricing" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, October 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2014 opens registrations - lets think back 15 years

IBM has announced that IBM Connect 2014 has opened registration and includes Kenexa World and Lotusphere as part of the event.
IBM Connect registration

Join us at IBM Connect 2014 to gain insights into how game-changing technology and strategies in social, mobile, cloud, smarter workforce, cognitive systems, smarter commerce and business analytics are propelling companies to competitive heights. Alongside IBM Connect and the Lotusphere Technical Program, this year we are excited to include the Kenexa World Conference which will help you empower human resources, your workforce, and your business to ultimately drive real business results.

Kenexa World was previously held in October of each year down at Walt Disney World, the last being 2012. So with the acquisition they are skipping 2013 and merging it straight into IBM Connect 2014.  Strangely the website lists Kenexa World as only January 28-29 2014

The cheapest pricing right now is
  • Academic at $1295 with no expiration
  • a new discount for business partners of $1695 until November 4th then to $1995
  • clients are  $1895 until Nov 4th then to $2195
  • group bundles are available anytime as well

IBM opened registration silently last week. Now let us go back 15 years.  Years ago we would be anxiously waiting at our keyboards, fax machines and phones (at the same time) attempting to register for one of the slots to attend. We would redial, retry faxes and click refresh over and over on the web.  There was well over 12 hotels, multiple shuttles and long lines.
Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2014 opens registrations - lets think back 15 years" »
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    On Monday, September 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 additional sessions and slides on SocialBizUg (yo)

SocialBizUg (yo)

Outside the IBM Connect 2013 slides database here at IdoNotes, there is now the material formerly found on Social Business Online on SocialBizUG (yo) site.

You can access IBM Connect 2013 slides on SocialBizUg (yo) as an overall community, then access  each track in it's own community and then the listing of each track in it's own wiki page.  All the files are attached as pdf.
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    On Thursday, February 28th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 slides database now has over 70 sessions

IBM Connect slides database

The IBM Connect 2013 session database we threw together has now grown to over 70 session slides and videos.  From the previous posting when we had only 50:
There is a tag cloud for easy sorting and on the right a breakdown by track for more sorting options. Full text searches are also available for digging into specific abstract content. So head over to the IBM Connect 2013 sessions database find the slides you were missing or want to see and thank the authors!


SlideShare really missed the mark with making groupings of slides for events.
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    On Tuesday, February 26th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Social Business Online is now closed from IBM Connect 2013

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business

Amazingly less than once month after IBM Connect 2013 and Lotusphere the Social Business Online site is now closed.  Wow.
Social Business Online 2013 is now closed.
We invite you to join the Social Business user group community, http://socialbizug.org, where you will have continued access to conference session PDFs along with other information provided to the larger Social Business community.

I think that is the quickest yet.  They do state that you will be able to find content at SocialBizUG and some videos are online.

Do not forget about the IBM Connect 2013 sessions database with over 50 sessions embedded.  Sorted by track and full text searchable.

NOTE: I cannot find any of this content in SocialBizUG yet as of Feb 25 2013. I also find it odd they would take down one without the other being ready

    for this posting

    On Monday, February 25th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Mat Newman and Mitch Cohen attempt karaoke

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business

Even though it is now IBM Connect 2013 we get a rendition of Glory Days from Mat Newman and Mitch Cohen titled Lotusphere.

This is one for the video archives to always remember.

You can see all the Lotusphere Podcasts from IBM Connect 2013 and the past years right here on IdoNotes.
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    On Wednesday, February 20th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 recap podcast with myself and Technotics

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business
Listen in as Andy Pedisich, Rob Axelrod (of Technotics) and myself were caught leaving the OGS at IBM Connect 2013 for this audio podcast from SocialBizUg. As we do each year on this same podcast  we stray way off course

We discuss:
  • What, if any, announcements were made
  • They Might be Giants
  • Greenwell and how to apply there
  • Kinexa announcements
  • always more..

Go to SocialBizUg to listen the the 12 minute recording

(embed to be able to play it here removed at their request)
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    On Wednesday, February 20th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 video of the IBM Champion Tweetup

IBM Connect slides database


While at IBM Connect 2013 there was an IBM Champion Tweetup where their hired guns interviewed people about what we had seen at the event.  I was asked what was trending and my befuddled look was because the floor had just opened about 20 minutes before. The rest of the befuddlement is normal.

Do not forget to visit the IBM Connect 2013 slides database.  We are over 50 sessions now available for you to view.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, February 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 slides database now has over 50 sessions inside!

IBM Connect slides database

Thanks to everyone sharing their slides from IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013. The launched IBM Connect 2013 sessions database now has over 50 session slides linked and embedded.  More are being added daily as they come online.

There is a tag cloud for easy sorting and on the right a breakdown by track for more sorting options. Full text searches are also available for digging into specific abstract content. So head over to the IBM Connect 2013 sessions database find the slides you were missing or want to see and thank the authors!

If you wonder why I did this, go and read my posting on TheSocialNetworker which explains how SlideShare is not sharing well
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    On Monday, February 11th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 social analytics report released

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


While building the IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 slides database I ran across this great report. It uses a social analytics platform from NextPrinciples.  As non-IBM bloggers we managed to write over 300 blog posts and 23,000 tweets.

What I am personally proud of is slide 7 that covers YouTube interaction.  IdoNotes and Spiked Studio were the primary forces in video creation and consumption. We worked hard at getting timely and decent content out to all of you to make you feel part of IBM Connect.

See the report for more info on hashtags, tweets, Facebook and tons of stuff they pulled.
    for this posting

    On Friday, February 8th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 slide collection site for you

IBM Connect slides database
Now that speakers at IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 are publishing slides, being able to find them all is difficult. Slideshare has taken away much of it's social ability and searches suck.  I have an entire post coming on TheSocialNetworker about these changes.

So using the awesome list started by Tom Duff on List,ly and reading PlanetLotus I had an idea last night.  I quickly made a database from the Dominoblog template and started placing the slides from Slideshare in making the author of  each post the content owner.  Searching works great and I will have better sorting links shortly. There is no order except how they come in and comments are disabled to make you go to the owners slides to comment.

If you have slides that are embeddable and want them in the IBM Connect 2013 slides database, leave a comment with the link and I will add them in!
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    On Wednesday, February 6th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the exhibitor floor in 4 minutes

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


Ever want to see the whole IBM Connect 2013 and Lotusphere exhibitor floor? Here it is in 4 minutes.

Make sure you visit all of the Lotusphere Podcasts on the blog or via the YouTube playlist to keep up!
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    On Tuesday, February 5th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2013 photos on Flickr. Please join the group

www.flickr.com
IdoNotes' Lotusphere 2013 photoset IdoNotes' Lotusphere 2013 photoset

Once again the community for IBM Connect 2013 and Lotusphere have come together to make memories and thousands of pictures.  We always have an annual community picture group.  Above are my pictures from IBM Connect 2013 on Flickr but the group needs your help and pictures!

If you upload the Flickr, simply make the selection to add to the group.  You retain ownership and the original, it just puts them all to view in one easy place. That place is the IBM Connect & Lotusphere 2013 community.
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    On Monday, February 4th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - issues with the session eval system

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


I am trying to fill out evaluations at IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 and I am having these issues with the system that runs it. Early warning and I hope they issue a fix quick.

P.S. my session numbers if they fix this is BP102 or 1050 for the four digit code.
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    On Thursday, January 31st, 2013   by Chris Miller        

BlackBerry 10 hand-on review from IBM Connect 2013

BlackBerry Today


Over at Spiked Studio, the BlackBerry Today show was given dedicated time to record hands-on with a BlackBerry 10 device.  Head over to the blog posting for all the details and watch the above video.

You can also subscribe to BlackBerry Today on iTunes or watch and subscribe on YouTube as a playlist
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    On Wednesday, January 30th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Day 2 and 3 IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 video review

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


This is a packed 5 minute overview of the IBM Connect 2013 Opening General Session highlights including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, HitRecord, ForeSee, Kenexa, and analytics. I also need to get an interview at this Greenwell company too.
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    On Wednesday, January 30th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2013 - BP102 Build Your Free Admin Toolkit

They are free, what guarantees?


Welcome to the BP102 presentation material for Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2013 in Orlando, FL.  This is the complete list (and always changing) of the tools presented.  Come back to visit often as I plan on updating it as we go along.
Continue Reading here" Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2013 - BP102 Build Your Free Admin Toolkit" »
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    On Monday, January 28th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

LotuphereLive and IBMConnectLive go live at 7:45am EST / 12:45pm UTC

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business
Do not forget to join Carl Tyler and myself at 7:45am EST / 12:45pm UTC for the best way to watch the streamed Opening General Session on IBM Connect Live which is just LotusphereLive back again for a sixth year.
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    On Monday, January 28th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Day 1 highlights of IBM Connect 2013

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


Here we go with day 1 highlights of IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013. People, places, champions, things and music all make the cut.  Oh and the new badge changes.
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    On Sunday, January 27th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the IBM Connect 2013 bag or backpack

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


Each year Lotusphere Podcasts gets requests to see the annual backpack. IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 are no different.  Here is a look inside.

Make sure you subscribe and keep up with the Lotusphere Podcasts playlist on YouTube, the live IdoNotes shows all during IBM Connect 2013 and the new Notes client widget I made for the Lotusphere Podcasts!!
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    On Saturday, January 26th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere badges over the years

Lotusphere badges
There are a stack of Lotusphere badges there, I just drug them out of the rack and took a quick shot.  Note they haven't changed since 2000 except the one year the holders were white. What will IBM Connect ones look like? We know in two days
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    On Thursday, January 24th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Live streaming info from IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013



Each year we add more video content from Lotusphere and IBM Connect and this year is no different.  We are stepping it up once again as Spiked Studio / IdoNotes will be doing short live broadcasts including the OGS with Carl Tyler on IBM Connect Live for Monday morning.

Using a combination of Google Hangouts the goal is to have some scheduled and some impromptu streams coming to you daily. Here is how you keep up. But I would subscribe on YouTube for sure.
  • IdoNotes Live has been around since 2008 at http://www.IdoNotes.com/live   From there we broadcast and replay many videos that were recorded before and will have the Google Hangout available live.
  • Circle me on Google Plus to know when we are going live and join in with questions!.
  •  I will schedule some of the hangouts and then it will stream live on the IdoNotes YouTube channel. So you definitely need to subscribe there as well.  Other times we may just go live at a moments notice.

There you have it.  Live broadcasting on the channel from just about anywhere we desire.


P.S. do not forget about the new Notes client widget I made for the Lotusphere Podcasts!!
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 24th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Congrats to the first round of IBM Collaboration Solutions Awards for 2013

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business

IBM has announced the majority of the IBM Collaboration Solutions Awards for 2013 advance of IBM Connect. Here is a list of the winners announced.  More will be presented live at IBM Connect 2013.

Social Business Solutions in the Cloud
  • Intelecom UK ltd - winner
  • ASI Informatique
  • SBS Seidor

Create a Smarter Workforce
  • Gemini Systems - winner
  • Base22
  • Social Smart Software

Create and Exceptional Customer Experience
  • TECLA.IT - winner
  • Prolifics
  • Ascendant Technology

Innovation in Social Business Application Development
  • ISW Development Pty Ltd - winner
  • INTRANET Software & COnsulting GmbH
  • GEDYS IntraWare GmbH
Extending Social Collaboration to Mobile Devices
  • Teamstudio - winner
  • e-Jan Networkjs
  • iEnterprises

They also announced the finalists for the geographic awards.  Look for this list and winners at IBM Connect 2013 Business Partner Development Day.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive is back for year 6 and becomes IBMConnectLive

IBMConnectLive logo

Carl Tyler and myself are entering year SIX for live blogging the Opening General Session at Lotusphere and now IBM Connect 2013  under the name LotusphereLive.  Each year Carl has added capabilities to the site making it your go to source to keep up with the happening at the OGS.

Capabilities:
  • Live commentary from myself and Carl about the OGS
  • The live stream of the OGS is embedded in the upper left to watch at the same time
  • We grab photos from Flickr as it goes (thinking Instagram too is tagged right)
  • We added Instagram for the #ibmconnect hashtag
  • We also have the Twitter stream on the hashtag running
  • You can replay any of the past years!!
  • This whole thing is Domino.  Yeah, Domino.

Why not join the thousands of unique visitors we get each year that join us for watching the Opening General Session?

Also make sure you visit Carl Tyler's blog and Epilio as a way to say thanks for all the work over the years on this database.
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    On Monday, January 21st, 2013   by Chris Miller        

iPad tip for being productive at IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013


Last year we witnessed and recorded an awesome tip on better using the iPad while at Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2013. It was worth sharing the video again.

I am not yet sure where the pdf files will sit for you to access as they have not sent the annual online system email to give access. But once they do this saved me so much effort last year. I could then save the marked up PDF and send them to dropbox.
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    On Friday, January 18th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

The Top 10 PlanetLotus Community posts for 2012 - IdoNotes Episode 132

PlanetLotus.org logo


Working together with Yancy Lent, the founder of PlanetLotus, we compiled the Top 10 posts for 2012 on PlanetLotus. We owe huge thanks to Yancy for taking the time to dig through these statistics.

I had a chance to sit with Karl-Henry Martinsson and Ulrich Klause live and talk about their Top 10 PlanetLotus posts for 2012 and then we discuss IBM Domino 9 and IBM Connect 2013.

The order below is not exact as some of these shifted since the count was so close. This is quite a list and as you can see the majority are around the new launch of IBM Notes and Domino 9 Social Edition.

Use RegExp with JavaScript split() by Ulrich Krause
Lotus Notes Client not starting - Loading.. Please wait loop by Paul Farris
How to Create an Auto-Response Mail Message in Lotus Notes by Gavin Bollard
iOS6 oddness and Lotus Traveler by Andy Donaldson
IBM Notes and Domino 9 Social Edition by Karl-Henry Martinsson
IBM Kills Drops and Uses Other Words about Lotus in articles around the web  by Chris Miller
IBM Notes and Domino 9 Social Edition by Volker Weber
How to: Restore the Sametime Emoticon Palette by John James
Customer project: Dojo 1.8 based portal on top of Xpages and Domino 8.5.3 by Mindoo GmbH
Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore  by Gregg Eldred

Do not forget to keep up with all of the Lotusphere Podcasts
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 17th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the official Android mobile app for IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business



IBM announced SocialBizOnline today and a new mobile application for attendees of IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013. On the front page they linked to a new mobile app for Android (and iOS soon to come). See how hard it was to find the app in Google Play searches but the surprise I found when using the app.
Continue Reading here" Lotusphere Podcasts - the official Android mobile app for IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013" »
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    On Wednesday, January 16th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

See the list of IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 exhibitors

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business

The new SocialBizOnline site launched for IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 and some of the information is public for you to browse without login. (look for my mobile app review shortly)

Exhibitors list for IBM Connect 2013
Exhibitors Map for IBM Connect 2013

NOTE: It seems IBM did not like this access and has now changed it after seeing my podcast.  Why they would hide exhibitors is beyond me though.  See tomorrows podcast for more news.
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    On Tuesday, January 15th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - The unofficial IBM Connect 2013 session database has launched


In previous Lotusphere years we had the unofficial Lotusphere database from Ben of Genii Software and this year for IBM Connect 2013 and Lotusphere a new version from Mat Newman of ISW launches.  What makes this database different than the Session Preview Tool from IBM we looked at last week? Watch the video above to find out.

Right before this published Mat also announced a mobile version!!
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 15th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin is here for Lotusphere and IBM Connect 2013

IdoCheckin logo

IdoCheckin is back for the fifth year at Lotusphere and IBM Connect 2013 due to your continued requests over the years. It really helps simplify finding people ad seeing where crowds might be.

The growth in 2012 was heavily attributed to Ben Langhingrich and his amazing FREE Lotusphere sessions database he spent countless hours developing. It was then hosted by  The Turtle Partnership who brought the application to mobile devices.

IBM talks constantly about location and mobile, so why not continue to showcase and grow it during Lotusphere 2013 and IBM Connect 2013 in two weeks?  Here is a refresher for you.

New locations?
Every meeting room, public congregating area and more at Lotusphere has already been mapped.  You will be able to check in everywhere you go!  There is a main check in for Lotusphere 2013 and also for IBM Connect 2013 to let us know you arrive on site.  From there, pick anyplace and share.


Is there prizes again this year?
Mayors at the end of the week for some randomly selected locations will have Bags 'O Schwag shipped to them (courtesy of Consultant In Your Pocket and Spiked Studio Productions).


How many locations will there really be and what about duplicates?
Have no fear.  Duplicates will be merged together daily.  The goal is to have pretty much each room and main area (like the Dolphin Fountain) available.  Being able to find friends and make swarms is the goal here.  I would love to see everyone get a larger super duper or epic swarm badge.  If you do not find a site, create it yourself or let us know and I will make sure it gets created shortly.


Ok, so I am in and want to participate. Where do I get the client, find friends and get started?
This is the easy part.  You can get a client for most types of phones, and even use the web interface.  iPhone/iPad/iPod, Android, Blackberry (Appworld link), Ovi and even more on the Foursquare site.

You can make sure to add myself and the Lotusphere relay account.  From there make sure you let it search against your Twitter, Facebook or other friends to get started.  On site just find people checking into places like you and add them in!


Look for more news coming shortly.  I created additional pages last year to show links and iwdgets for more of the locations to keep you up to date.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Huge discount offered to IBM Connect 2013 by Kenexa code

Update 11am on 1/10/13: Now people are reporting the code is not working at all

UPDATE 8am on 1/10/13 : It seems the webpage is still there but the code is now missing from the page.

Kenexa has a webpage offering a huge discount (not one I have seen) to IBM Connect / Lotusphere 2013. Only $1495 for the entire conference using code JSHTTA as of right now.  That is $800 off.  Click here for the full website and optional two day pass code.

Now the interesting thing is that I cannot find anywhere in the registration Terms and Conditions restricting you from requesting this discount be applied to your existing registration fees.  Thre seems to only be charges to cancel and transfer registrations as shown below.
Cancellations and transfers
To cancel your registration, IBM Connect 2013 must be notified of the cancellation IN WRITING BY DECEMBER 7, 2012. A $250.00 processing fee will be charged for cancellation requests received by December 7, 2012. AFTER DECEMBER 7, 2012, THE CONFERENCE FEE IS NOT REFUNDABLE IF YOU CANCEL, OR FAIL TO ATTEND THE CONFERENCE.

YOU MAY TRANSFER YOUR REGISTRATION AFTER DECEMBER 7, 2012 ONLY. The original registrant must notify IBM Connect 2013 of the substitution/transfer IN WRITING (see options for notifying IBM Connect 2013 above); a $250.00 processing fee will be charged for the transfer.

Your registration must be paid in full by the Early Bird Price (September 4, 2012), Discount Price (December 3, 2012) and Standard Price (January 25, 2013) deadlines in order to receive the pricing for those discounts.

I am sending this to our customers that registered to make sure they inquire about refunding this discount and with the savings hopefully send some more people to attend.

Hat tip to Stuart McIntyre for posting this first. I just wanted to make sure we covered the possibility of refunds.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - IBM Connect 2013 Session Preview Tool


Lotusphere Podcasts are back for 2013 (also under the name IBM Connect Podcasts for grins) with the kickoff video showing the IBM Connect 2013 Session Preview Tool.

Keep up with all of the Lotusphere Podcasts by grabbing the Notes client widget or subscribing on YouTube.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts update and new Notes client widget

With the name changes at Lotusphere blending into IBM Connect, I decided to move Lotusphere Podcasts into IdoNotes podcasts and to launch an IBM Notes client widget.  The website/iTunes and RSS will redirect by this weekend.

Lotusphere Podcasts launched in 2008 and was built to:
Lotusphere Podcasts has brought interviews with the exhibitors, speakers, attendees and more from Lotusphere. We will also have times we are live!

The focus is to bring more video content from Lotsphere to your desk. Not everyone can make the journey to Lotusphere. So we now bring as much as we can to you

You can now find Lotusphere Podcasts as a playlist on YouTube and you can subscribe to that right here.

I also built a widget for your Lotus Notes client (as shown in the image above) that allows you to keep up right in your Notes client!  You can download the widget or drag it right into your Lotus Notes client widget area below.

Pay attention to the Arrows on each side and thumbnails on the bottom that allows you to navigate through the videos.  This will update on the fly as we add them down at Lotusphere/IBM Connect.

LSPwidget.xml

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Last chance to vote for your preferred Lotusphere / Connect sessions


Time is almost up.  You have till Dec 31st to vote for your preferred Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2013 sessions and Birds of a Feather.

Why is this important? It helps them gear up the room sizes and planning on repeats. Head http://www.sponline.info  (don't ask me why that URL)

I forgot, yes mine is out there. But pick what you want to see is the most important thing.
    for this posting

    On Friday, December 28th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM announces the 2013 IBM Champions for Collaboration Solutions

IBM Champions for 2013
On the monthly community call the 2013 selections for IBM Champion for Collaboration Solutions was announced.  Congrats to all the winners for 2013.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, December 11th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Complimentary Exams at IBM Connect / Lotusphere for Partners and Clients

In what has become an annual announcement of discounted exams while at Lotusphere, the Collaborate for Success blog announces free and discounted exams again for IBM Connect 2013.
One of the biggest draws at this event has always been the certification testing and prep labs, and IBM Collaboration Solutions is pleased to announce that COMPLIMENTARY EXAMS ARE BACK FOR IBM Connect 2013. For the first time in years, we have approval to offer a spectacular pricing structure to both IBM Business Partners and our IBM clients and prospect, but conference attendees will have to act fast to ensure they receive their complimentary test(s). Here is how it works: 
 
  • The first 500 IBM Business Partners who test at conference are eligible for two complimentary exams.
  • The first 500 clients* who test at conference are eligible for one complimentary exam.
  • Subsequent exams will be available for $75 each, a significant discount off the developed market price of $200 US (or equivalent).

So if you have been debating taking an updated or new exam, Lotusphere is always the best time to get the free or discounted pricing.

Read more on the original Collaborate for Success blog posting.
    for this posting

    On Monday, December 10th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere annual Blogger Open needs a new home

Blogger Open
Today Mitch Cohen sadly announced via his blog  that the annual Blogger Open miniature golf event held at Lotusphere would not be able to happen at Fantasia Fairways Miniature Golf.

This is disappointing as Spiked Studio has been a sponsor of the fun event that allowed anyone to come and wind down if you hung around Thursday night after the Closing General Session at Lotusphere.

After talking with Mitch he is open for suggestions for alternate location to continue the tradition.  He brought up the possibility of a new bowling alley that is to open in Downtown Disney.

We welcome anyone to comment and give ideas so that the Blogger Open tradition can continue.
    for this posting

    On Monday, December 3rd, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect is now Analyst Insights and Lotusphere is now under IBM Connect. Confused?

Many do not know that IBM Connect was an analyst event that took place under the IBM Connect name until 2011 (it even has a Twitter account. It was then brought in as a separate event during the Lotusphere 2012 and is now a full event in 2013 for everyone with Lotusphere as a track.


Steve Mills at IBM Connect 2011


Ambuj Goyal at IBM Analyst Insights 2012

Watch live streaming video from ibmuk at livestream.com

The old IBM Connect for analysts has now become Analyst Insights.  The keynote from Europe is above.

You can also view a Storify collection with my chosen highlighted tweets from the event I made right here.

Also do not get this confused with IBM InterConnect that took place in October in the AP region.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, November 27th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Kills Drops and Uses Other Words about Lotus in articles around the web

While we have all heavily reported IBM simply removing the Lotus name from what was IBM Lotus Notes and Domino to just IBM Notes and Domino, the press is all over it.  I have been enjoying reading the articles that have recently come out.
  • PCWorld - IBM Kills Lotus Brand, readies Notes/Domino Social Edition (they use the wrong logo in this article)
  • ITBusiness.ca - IBM quietly kills its Lotus brand
  • NetworkWorld - IBM kills Lotus brand, readies beta of Notes/Domino Social Edition
  • eWeek - IBM Drops Lotus Brand, Takes Notes and Domino Forward
  • Techweek Europe - IBM Drops Lotus Brand (IBM is to axe the Lotus brand.....)

Luckily in many of these headline grabbers I found decent quotes from Ed Brill and sometimes just an unnamed IBM executive. With the purchase in 1995 of Lotus for over $3 billion it has had a long foothold in enterprises. I know many outsiders to our blogs always think 1-2-3 when we mention Lotus or shake in fear of their remembrance the client due to bad deployments. Hopefully the name will still sit somewhere in the catalog.
Continue Reading here" IBM Kills Drops and Uses Other Words about Lotus in articles around the web" »
    for this posting

    On Monday, November 19th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Binary Tree chosen as migration tool to move users from Notes/Domino to Microsoft Office 365


I keep an eye on what goes on with Microsoft Office 365 as many of you should and Binary Tree was just selected as the migration tool to take users away from Lotus IBM Notes and Domino.
Binary Tree, a provider of software solutions for migrating to Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Office 365, announced that Microsoft has selected Binary Tree migration and coexistence technology to streamline the migration process for customers moving from Lotus Notes/Domino environments to Microsoft Office 365.

This agreement allows Microsoft to offer Binary Tree technology to streamline the customer's migration coexistence experience.

As Binary Tree was a large vendor at Lotupshere for many years showing coexistence and migration into IBM Notes and Domino, it is interesting to see the flipside take place and have Microsoft themselves choosing the tool.  Congrats to them as a long time business partner to both.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, November 14th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM changes Sunday night reception and more at IBM Connect (Lotusphere) 2013



IBM has made some changes to the week for IBM Connect (Lotusphere) 2013 that I caught in a small release that passed by my desk.
We are expanding our Sunday Night Welcome Reception to start exclusively in
the Solutions Showcase.

The first time I read this I though it implied that the Sunday night reception was only in the Solutions Showcase. In recent years we have seen the decline of the Sunday night party with the removal of the tents, seemingly less food lines and strange themes. This will be an interesting change as the Solutions Showcase downstairs in the Dolphin has never been open on a Sunday as far as I can recall. This pushes the vendors to be setup and ready Sunday night instead of Monday morning.

There are even more changes....
Continue Reading here" IBM changes Sunday night reception and more at IBM Connect (Lotusphere) 2013" »
    for this posting

    On Monday, November 12th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect launches +1 for Business Partners but then you miss a day of Lotusphere



Today I received an email announcing IBM Connect +1 for Business Partners to register for an enablement full day event right after Lotusphere 2013 (Connect.). Unfortunately it is scheduled for Thursday the 31st of January which is the day of Gurupalooza, Ask the Developers and the Closing Session!
What: Connect +1:  Enablement for 2013
Who: IBM ICS attendees (sellers, technical, services) and ICS Business Partners
When: Thursday, January 31, 2013 (all day)

PLEASE NOTE:

You must be attending the conference to attend the Connect +1 enablement event.

This is for Business Partners only but I am not sure who would pay for Lotusphere and then miss a full day of some of the great content? Would you do it?
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    On Friday, November 9th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect / Lotusphere offering $100 discount for alumni for 2013

I have seen this the past couple years but I am not sure everyone that has been to a previous Lotusphere (or last year's IBM Connect ) is aware there is an additional discount available.
DISCOUNT OFFERED FOR RETURNING IBM CONNECT ATTENDEES

IBM Connect (formerly Lotusphere) takes place January 27- 31, 2013 in Orlando, Florida.

Have you attended this event in the last few years? Receive $100 off the event registration price in effect on the day you register.

To qualify as a Lotusphere, IBM Connect, or SBIS Alumni, you must have attended one of these conferences at least once in the past three years. If you qualify, use code ICFHJN during registration and receive $100 off.

Make sure to take advantage of it when registering at the Lotusphere site.

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    On Wednesday, October 31st, 2012   by Chris Miller        

September 2012 Sys Admin Tips is out on LotusUserGroup.org

This month I talk about the end of another era with the renaming of Lotusphere to IBM Connect. From there I move into:
  • A reader asks about Office 365 comparison to Lotus Notes
  • Poll Results: What is the primary mobile device in use at your organization
  • IBM Connections 4 and immediate fixpacks
  • Finding good resources

Related posts:
I post all the Sys Admin Tips links each and every month

Visit the Connectria website today and find out why we offer the best in Lotus Software hosting and management.




Eat.Sleep.Host    It is what we do.

Image:September 2012 Sys Admin Tips is out on LotusUserGroup.org

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    On Monday, September 24th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect promises early call for abstracts!

In pouring over the site updates for IBM Connect (formerly Lotusphere) there was a small section on abstracts this year:
Mark your calendars! This year's Call for Abstracts will come earlier than ever. Put on your thinking caps, sharpen your pencils -- and check back shortly. As you know, sometimes the best seat in the house is the seat ON STAGE!

Prepare those social abstracts on how to help IBM maintain the leadership in the social business arena.
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    On Tuesday, August 28th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect launches 2012, becomes the conference name in 2013. I won my $1

IBM launched the Connect portion of Lotusphere in 2012 as a conference within a conference, even though they had used the name for analyst conferences for years.  IBM Connect 2012 was the place they wanted you to go, but without the full range of portfolio or sessions.  A few hundred people entered the rooms for the IBM Connect event.

This year they are flipping the names around with the flagship being IBM Connect and Lotusphere becoming a track.  Lotusphere will be a technical track inside of IBM Connect.  One can only imagine there will be others across numerous softwares in the portfolio.
The content in the IBM Connect 'Lotusphere' program brings forward the best of our heritage collaboration portfolio, expanding the focus to include the full IBM social business platform, including social portal, web experiences, social content management, social analytics, and social commerce.

The only products retaining the Lotus name are Traveler and Notes/Domino and I see those being merged into the Connections family to make the social platform a single item.  You will only have to say yes to IBM as a social platform and worry less about the pieces. Look at talks about IBM Connections Mail for example.  It can access Exchange or Domino but is part of the Connections UI and naming.

I have guesses of what we will see renamed or folded.  Sametime will be closely related with Connections.  Lotus Traveler will be a mobile solution for IBM Connections Mail.  Notes/Domino will somehow be moved into the IBM social platform since we now have Social Edition.  Then we will see the Lotus brand in it's last year appearing as Lotusphere. I also expect to see all the software brands in force and enormous amounts of sessions that overlap on being social and how the tools fit with more limited sessions on how they work.

UPDATE: Some are saying Lotusphere is not a track and will not be mention.  The website states as above and I found this in another portion:
Within the Lotusphere technical program, a rich array of technology sessions (exactly what a Lotusphere alum would expect!)


Related posts from IdoNotes blog on IBM Connect:
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    On Monday, August 27th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

February 2012 Sys Admin Tips is out on LotusUserGroup

You can read the entire newsletter for the February 2012 edition of Sys Admin Tips to read my editorial on names changes again for what was Lotusphere Comes To You.  I then tackle the following:
  • From the IdoNotes Mailbox: Public Name Error in Mailfile
  • Doing the Shindig
  • Quick Tip: Sametime Security Servlet Security Reminder
  • From the IdoNotes Mailbox: The Mail.box is growing!


Look for a bunch of new webcasts coming along from Consultant In Your Pocket as we kick off the spring season   Subscribe to the newsletter on the right to get notified as registration opens and for some free whitepapers.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, February 23rd, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Spark Ideas videos from Lotusphere 2012 are available


The Nerd Girls reached out to Spiked Studio to see if we couldn't find a way to record the awesome Spark Ideas series.  Working with the Lotusphere team we were able to grab the audio (but no the best camera placement this year).  So enjoy all of the videos put together in a playlist

Also make sure you like them as you go along or subscribe to the Spiked Studio channel on You Tube to keep up with all the shows and events.

We also started putting together the Lotusphere 2012 playlist of sessions on YouTube

Spiked Studio brings you:
  • IdoNotes
  • TheSocialGeeks
  • TheSocialNetworker
  • BlackBerry Today
  • Notes In 9 (via David Leedy)
  • Consultant In Your Pocket
  • numerous other single events like Spark Ideas and the Lotusphere 2012 Great Geek Challenge

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    On Thursday, February 16th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2012 recorded sessions playlist via YouTube



As I started building some items for YouTube I began to run across a bunch of attendee recorded versions of sessions from Lotusphere 2012.  

You can enjoy the playlist I am putting together for the entire Lotusphere 2012 sessions that appear on YouTube from attendees and speakers by clicking above or this link.

Related Posts:

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    On Thursday, February 16th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

User Blast (BP102) at Lotusphere 2012 from Mat Newman


Recorded by Sharon Bellamy and posted by Collaboration Matters, here is the full BP 102 session "User Blast" from Mat Newman via his posting at YouTube.

You can also enjoy the playlist I am putting together for the entire Lotusphere 2012 sessions that appear on YouTube from attendees and speakers.

Related Posts:
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    On Wednesday, February 15th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Lotus Domino XPages Jumpstart - JMP101


I ran across an attendee view recording for the session JMP101 - IBM Lotus Domino XPages Jumpstart given at Lotusphere 2012.

You can also enjoy the playlist I am putting together for the entire Lotusphere 2012 sessions that appear on YouTube from attendees and speakers.

Related Posts:
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    On Wednesday, February 15th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2012 India on March 1st

I ran across a posting for an upcoming Lotusphere 2012 event in Mumbai I wanted to share with my international readers.  While this appears to be a single day event much like the new Get Social Roadshow, or Business Gets Social Roadshow 2012, it has a large amount of external apps and games attached to it via Facebook.

Image:Lotusphere 2012 India on March 1st

You can register for the March 1 event and see the agenda and speakers at the above link.
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    On Monday, February 13th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

28.78 is the new goal

As silly as it sounds, I started tracking the amount of steps and miles I do each year at Lotusphere.  Even though the conference does not cover Yacht & Beach and Boardwalk like it did 12-14 years ago, you still do a lot of back and forth walking around.  I imagine back then I did walk further, but without the pedometer data, who knows.

This year for Lotusphere 2012 I ended at 28.78 miles or 57108 steps from the time I went to register on Saturday to the time I dropped my backpack off on Thursday evening after the combination good talk and offensive demo that took place.

So here is looking forward to finding a way to do 29 miles next year.  Previous years were all in the low to mid 20's for reference.
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    On Monday, February 6th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive 2012 stats and a huge thanks again

Each year the amazing work of Carl Tyler stands out when we run LotusphereLive to bring you live blogging of the Opening General Session at Lotusphere using only Domino technology to run it.  The only site that does the back end in Domino.

We welcomed over 1,000 unique visitors to watch the live stream and see our commentary as the OGS went along.  There were Flickr photos, Twitter messages, YouTube and more capabilities that Carl has built in over the five years.

The best part is you can go to the site and see each and every years commentary!  Yes that is right folks.  Persistent chat capability, embedded replays and photos all within Domino.

So special thanks to Carl and Epilio for us being able to make this happen each year.  Thanks to all of you that keep coming back!  Now go sponsor Carl for charity before he stops giving away free plugins.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 1st, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2012 as an exhibitor (part 2 of 5)

I started this years viewpoints of Lotusphere 2012 as a partner, so moving it downstairs to the exhibitor floor made sense.  Each paragraph seemed to take a new angle in my thought.
Continue Reading here" Lotusphere 2012 as an exhibitor (part 2 of 5)" »
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    On Tuesday, January 31st, 2012   by Chris Miller        

What was IBM Connect 2012?

I have now had the question "What was IBM Connect?" asked of me four times this week.  Each time I give the same answer and then thought, I really don't know what went on behind those closed doors.  I went online to hunt down some answers outside of IBM sites.  Unfortunately if you search for "IBM Connect" you are left with few choices to glean any real information.

Network World had a quick two page article:
Alongside Lotusphere, IBM launched its Connect conference this year to instill a line-of-business voice into the traditionally IT-focused Lotusphere conference, specifically with the aim of pushing its next-generation social business products and services.

The article states this is the inaugural year for the event.  I am unsure of the actual attendance since it was blended in and registration for just the Connect conference was held in a different location that registration for Lotusphere (even though Lotusphere attendees could go to Connect).

IBM Connect 2012 was aimed at the business executive with a bunch of case studies, hoping the C-level would bring along IT for Lotusphere and vice versa.  This would give IBM both sides of the puzzle in pushing the social business theme to both at once.  Previous IBM employee and now research analyst Alan Lepofsky was quoted giving a good summary:
"IBM Connect is going to be more about higher-level - more managers or CXO-level people who are learning about why they should be doing this...I think Connections is what they're doing a lot more work on now. I don't think you're going to see a huge increase in adoption of Lotus Notes. I think people are moving towards more agile, web-based, lighter-weight collaboration tools"

IBM (formerly Lotus) Connections was launched in 2007 and is about to hit version 4 as shown at Lotusphere.  It has been a fast growing software for IBM and they will be driving this home for years to come as it evolves into sentiment and analytics.

I would look for the dual conference approach to be back for 2013 with more growth for Connect.
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    On Friday, January 27th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Activity Streams - a demise of productivity

I really don't like the current state and implementation idea of activity streams.  There, I said it. Now I can explain more about why.

IBM made a grand showing of integrating activity streams into the Notes client with the Social Edition and the expansion in IBM Connections with OpenSocial. However, they introduced this idea well over a year ago (below image from Feb 2011) with no traction.  I believe that expanding capabilities is always a bonus for any product if it allows more adoption and usage.

Image:Activity Streams - a demise of productivity

I have been quite verbal since R1 and R2 of Lotus (now IBM) Connections about the easier inclusion of public services. Activity Streams are not what I had in mind.  I feel that they will become a distraction more than a productivity tool.
Continue Reading here" Activity Streams - a demise of productivity" »
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    On Thursday, January 26th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

How to gather and view Lotusphere 2012 slides

This is always one of the more interesting dilemmas each year.  The online system has released all of the Lotusphere 2012 pdf files into zip files by track.  While not all of them seem to be present (see below), there is a majority.

This content will soon be moved over to Lotus Greenhouse for those that did not attend Lotusphere or IBM Connect or just forgot to log into the system in a timely fashion to get the zip files.  The annual sessions database from Genii doesn't have the rights to republish everything as attachments, which would be so much simpler. (Rumor has it you can write your own Lotuscript agent to put the pdf files into the session document.  But I am no developer)

So here is your choices:
Continue Reading here" How to gather and view Lotusphere 2012 slides" »
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    On Wednesday, January 25th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin results are in for Lotusphere 2012

When I started IdoCheckin four years ago, we were way ahead of the curve in using location based and check in services for conferences on a mass scale.  Debate all you want, but think back four years ago.  Foursquare wasn't a blip, Gowalla didn't exist and Facebook Places was a dream.

The goal was to map all of the meeting rooms and major public spaces.  Instead of checking into a session (which really didn't make sense like IBM did last year with Gowalla), we used the physical location so each could be reused over and over.  You could then say the session in the check in if you desired as a "shout".  With ~3500 check ins, I call it a success.

Continue Reading here" IdoCheckin results are in for Lotusphere 2012" »
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    On Tuesday, January 24th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

The Lotusphere 2012 Flickr group wants your shared photos

www.flickr.com
items in Lotusphere 2012 More in Lotusphere 2012 pool

The Lotusphere 2012 annual Flickr group is alive and growing.   With ~550 photos shared at last check, all you have to do is join the public group and share whatever you uploaded to Flickr already.  You maintain rights and controls, you are just sharing into one giant pool.

You can also just browse publicly if you do not use or want to share into the group.  Visit the Lotusphere 2012 annual Flickr group today!
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    On Tuesday, January 24th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

The magic Lotusphere 2012 Pretzel Cookie

It seems that there is much debate over this tasty treat delivered in our box lunch on Thursday.  I made it a point to tell my session attendees about it and to hunt it down.  Many even gave me extras as we headed out to collapse along the lake and enjoy some sun. (Some got way too much sun that afternoon *cough* mooney *cough*)

Well the cookie is a fine balance between not being too salty from the pretzels and not too sweet from just the cookie.  The immediate way it melts in the box lunch is a sure sign that you do not need to eat it all at once, or suffer possible stomach ache.

Many of you despise it, that is fine, we will take the extras.  Others are still non-believers and many have not seen it.  So I bring to you a simple picture.

Image:The magic Lotusphere 2012 Pretzel Cookie
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    On Monday, January 23rd, 2012   by Chris Miller        

The IBM Champions sing a song very badly at Lotusphere 2012



Quite a few IBM Champions got together and attempted to sing a song in perfect harmony in Kiminos.  You need to watch the attempt for yourself and judge if it was the end of the world as we know it.
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    On Friday, January 20th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Duffbert and Andy Donaldson with "I Got You Babe"



It had to be witnessed by someone and it seems a camera caught it and sent the SD card to right Lotusphere Podcasts.  Watch Tom "Duffbert" Duff and Andy Donaldson attempt "I Got You Babe" at karaoke in Kimonos just last night.  It is dark in some spots but nice and clear.

Do not forget you catch watch tons of content from Lotusphere on Lotusphere Podcasts.
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    On Friday, January 20th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Duffbert and Donaldson belt one out


It had to be witnessed by someone and it seems a camera caught it and sent the SD card to right Lotusphere Podcasts.  Watch Tom "Duffbert" Duff and Andy Donaldson attempt "I Got You Babe" at karaoke in Kimonos just last night.  It is dark in some spots but nice and clear.
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 20th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

IdoNotes Episode 120 - Social Mail and browser embedded client #ls12



With all of the announcements this week, I have received inquiries about my thoughts and more specifications on the Social Mail and embeddable browser client experiences I got to see launched.  In this episode I express my thoughts until I can fully read all the technical specifications.


Related posts:
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    On Thursday, January 19th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - IBM Champion Simon Vaughn receives an award



IBM held a Champion Reception at Lotusphere 2012 where the executives and IBM Champions got together.  While there a couple iPad 2 devices were given away and Simon Vaughn was a lucky winner.  Hear him describe his solution.
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    On Wednesday, January 18th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Attendee trick on note taking



You learn cool tricks while at Lotusphere, even from attendees.  I sit with Katie as she walks us through how she accesses SocialBizOnline via the iPad, downloads the presentations and opens in a note taking and highlighting app.  She is then able to socially share the apps or send to DropBox all marked up with her notes and highlights.
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    On Tuesday, January 17th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere attendee tip - advanced iPad notetaking

You learn cool tricks while at Lotusphere, even from attendees.  I sit with Katie as she walks us through how she accesses SocialBizOnline via the iPad, downloads the presentations and opens in a note taking and highlighting app.  She is then able to socially share the apps or send to DropBox all marked up with her notes and highlights.

Don't forget to watch all the Lotusphere Podcasts and also check out this years bag.
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    On Tuesday, January 17th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connections Next launch and news #ls12

During the keynote today of Lotusphere 2012 there was much talk, and some demo, of the enhancements coming in IBM Connections Next as it is called before moving to Connections 4.  Some key areas were analytics integration, activity streams (which I have an entire post on) and OpenSocial Embedded Apps.

Here are some highlights of the announcements and news links for more.  There was quite a bit of press there as well.  Read on.

Continue Reading here" IBM Connections Next launch and news #ls12" »
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    On Monday, January 16th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM to announce Windows Mobile support for Lotus Traveler at Lotusphere 2012 (via ZDNET) #ls12

As I headed to bed and was making notes for a blog post tomorrow, this article from ZDNET came across my feeds right at midnight (I think too early honestly) about some announcements I will split into posts.
IBM also highlighted the beta of Lotus Notes and Domino, Social Edition as well as plans to support Microsoft Windows Phone devices for its upcoming Lotus Notes Traveler software.


Continue Reading here" IBM to announce Windows Mobile support for Lotus Traveler at Lotusphere 2012 (via ZDNET) #ls12" »
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    On Sunday, January 15th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Livestreaming and Liveblogging the Lotusphere Keynote details #ls12

The past two years Lotus has offered a live stream of the keynote and Carl Tyler and myself have embedded this inside LotusphereLive to offer our commentary, videos and more while you watch.  We are happy to bring back LotusphereLive for the fifth year.

We normally fire the live blogging up a few minutes early to let you know the general feel for the room, what is going on pre-show that you never witness in the stream, things we see and reactions of attendees.  Tomorrow is no different.  Join us ~7:45am EST where we will kick off our live commentary of Lotusphere 2012 Opening General Session.
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    On Sunday, January 15th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Peeking in the Lotusphere 2012 backpack



Each year we peek inside and look at the new Lotusphere backpack.  What surprises did it bring?  Watch and see
    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 14th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

IBM to launch gamification partnership in IBM Connections with Bunchball ? #ls12

Hot off the email press, I received notice that an announcement will be made about a relationship of some type between IBM and Bunchball, a gamification platform provider at this weeks Lotusphere 2012 and IBM Connect.


Image:IBM to launch gamification partnership in IBM Connections with Bunchball ?  #ls12



Bunchball already provides services and integration to Jive and Salesforce, so bringing it into IBM Connections through a launch at Lotusphere 2012 makes perfect sense.


Nitro provides the industry’s most comprehensive set of game mechanics, including challenges, achievements, and virtual goods, as well as a powerful analytics platform.

Designers:
Create assets for trophies, virtual goods, widget skins, and notifications, and insert them all into the system via the Admin UI.


As you can see Bunchball would place gamification, badges, tropies and even virtual goods into the IBM Connections environment to drive user adoption and engagement.

Bunchball is a cloud based solution also making it a key integration partner for the LotusLive suite of products.  So look out for more when I get the full details on the relationship that IBM and Bunchball announce at Lotusphere 2012 or IBM Connect.
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    On Saturday, January 14th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

How to be unsocial at Lotusphere and have a horrible time

Sure, the IBM trend at Lotusphere 2012 this year is about the magic social business.  But this has nothing to do with that I am talking about social interaction with people.

With about 6,000 people hitting the conference in a couple days, I am amazed each year by the number of comments about how someone hardly 'met' anyone or could not find and interact with a blogger, speaker or just forum friend. You have to take the initiative in many instances and step outside your normal cube dwelling.

All the speakers pictures can be found in the amazing Lotusphere Sessions database, with links to their public social profiles.  Send a note, DM or IM asking to have lunch, grab a coffee or even just say hi.  Most will quickly set a time and place that works for you both.  The rest will give you a list of times they will be planted somewhere at the conference.

Do not be afraid
to walk up and just introduce yourself.  Sure they always look busy and deeply involved. Doubtful, as they are there enjoying the conference as much as you.  If they are in the middle of something see the above.

Make friends at the lunch table.  I site year in and out trying to talk to people at the lunch tables.  Amazingly about 50% really do not want to talk or interact.  This is the time to find those with similar interests or even awesome ideas.  You would be shocked at who you are sitting next to many times.  I have been.

Make sure you get out at night.  I know being at a large event alone is tough.  I still find myself in that scenario at some newer ones.  Make friends.  Heck even pretend you know them and sit down if invited.  Within a short time you get the feel of who is around and can decide to move on or hang out longer.  Remember there are thousands more.

Lastly, watch the social streams to see where everyone is.  Twitter, Foursquare and even some of the Facebook and LinkedIn networks will list parties and gatherings you are unaware of.

Don't go home whining that geeks are very unsocial.  You were part of it while here.
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    On Friday, January 13th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2012 conference guide in PDF

I came across the public conference guide today for IBM Connect 2012 and thought you may be interested in seeing the agenda, speakers and more.  You can access the guide right here in pdf format from IBM.
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    On Wednesday, January 11th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckIn site updated for Lotusphere 2012


The final pieces are coming together for Lotusphere 2012 preparation, including IdoCheckIn.  The website is updated with some key place widgets and links to all of the mapped rooms.

Continue Reading here" IdoCheckIn site updated for Lotusphere 2012" »
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    On Wednesday, January 11th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Securely Build Your Social Identity and Brand - Thursday January 19th

Many thanks to everyone that quickly voted to get this Birds of a Feather idea onto the agenda.  It will take place on Thursday morning, first thing.  I know it is early but with the late voting and approval, the rest of my schedule had already been mapped out.  From those that are curious what this BOF discussion will cover, here is the abstract:

Continue Reading here" Securely Build Your Social Identity and Brand - Thursday January 19th" »
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 10th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

The Lotusphere logo Rorschach test for #ls12

We have been poking a bit of fun at the Lotusphere 2012 logo and the hidden shapes inside.  To me it looks like they dissected the Twitter bird into a few parts and scattered some rings around it.  Alan seemed to find a hidden white elephant.  Kathy said well then it's the Twitter Fail Whale.  Wes said we are all crazy and we just took the IBM Lotusphere 2012 Rorschach test.

Take a look at the image and let us know on Twitter what you think

Continue Reading here" The Lotusphere logo Rorschach test for #ls12" »
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    On Tuesday, January 10th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Live launches again for 2012

For the fifth year running, Carl Tyler and myself bring you Lotusphere Live during the OGS.  With Lotusphere Live we add some value to the thousands of you that watch the site each year and  were unable to make the journey to Lotusphere 2012, but still want to keep up.  This is how it works:

Image:Lotusphere Live launches again for 2012




Continue Reading here" Lotusphere Live launches again for 2012" »
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    On Tuesday, January 10th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 119 - the Lotusphere Community

Joyce Davis walks us through the new Lotusphere Community on Greenhouse.


I had the chance to sit with Joyce Davis of IBM as she walks us through the new Lotusphere and IBM Connect Communities on the Lotus Greenhouse.  In the video interview she shows us how this Greenhouse community will be the future destination for all the content from the temporary Social Business Online site that runs during Lotusphere and Connect.

Lotusphere Community
IBM Connect Community
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    On Monday, January 9th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

IBM Collaboration Solutions Award Winners for 2012 announced

On an early morning call, the first list of IBM Collaboration Solutions Award finalists and winners for 2012 were announced.  See the entire listing and share across your networks inside the post!

Continue Reading here" IBM Collaboration Solutions Award Winners for 2012 announced" »
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 9th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Securely Building Your Online Identity & Brand - votes needed!

Since they had reopened BOF submission for Lotusphere 2012, an idea was missing from all these social sessions.  So I went ahead and submitted, but it needs your votes (Greenhouse login required)

Continue Reading here" Securely Building Your Online Identity & Brand - votes needed!" »
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 5th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lsonline name is gone, welcome SocialBizOnline for Lotusphere 2012

Each year for Lotusphere there is an online system (hardly used) for attendees.  This year the lsonline.info domain has been retired and IBM has launches SocialBizOnline.

Continue Reading here" Lsonline name is gone, welcome SocialBizOnline for Lotusphere 2012" »
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    On Thursday, January 5th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere finally got a constant online community but now annual aggregators? #ls12



After years of many of us stating loudly that the Lotusphere sites needed to be a living community that never went away, it finally happened after the 2011 event and we were graced with a billion communities made around each session and a main area. For years the Lotusphere site would be raised from the ashes and then destroyed over and over.

So with the push into social business, IBM built a webpage service that aggregates some of the Lotusphere information.  What I found interesting is that the aggregation is not consistent from year to year now.  It seems they built a new one for the Lotusphere 2012 aggregation around the #ls12 and #ibmsocialbiz hashtags. There was a different site for the Lotusphere 2011 and hashtags of #ls11 and the now defunct #lotusknows campaign.

I would like to see a consolidated aggregation.  Newer items always appear at the top by default, so having tons of content and hashtag filtering should be simple and easy to complete.  You could then browse, compare and even run *gasp* analytics against the content and traffic simply.

Curation and aggregation of content for an event that has lasted over ten years.  There are thousands of photos, a few tweets (since they expire), presentations and more to bring together.  Just something to consider as I now flip between site for content.

Image:Lotusphere finally got a constant online community but now annual aggregators? #ls12
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    On Wednesday, December 28th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere keynote and closing guests over the years - who is next?



An interesting list of guest speakers have made appearances at the Opening General Session for Lotusphere:

1993 • Geoffrey Moore
1994 •  no event
1995 •  ??
1996 • None
1997 • Avery Brooks
1998 • Jamie Clark and Alan Hobson
1999 • Jim Lovell and Gene Krantz
2000 • Walter Cronkite
2001 • Al Franken and Francis Ford Coppola
2002 • Ben Stein
2003 • Rudy Giuliani and Bounce
2004 • Patrick Stewart
2005 • John Cleese and Ray Ozzie
2006 • Jason Alexander
2007 • Neil Armstrong opening by Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra
2008 • Bob Costas  opening by Orlando Symphony Orchestra
2009 • Dan Aykroyd
2010 • William Shatner
2011 • Kevin Spacey

With some amazing years, and a few falters, what does your guess look like for this year?


Why not toss the Closing General Session in as well:

1993 •  ??
1994 •  no event
1995 •  ??
1996 •  Cirque du Soleil
1997 •  ??
1998 • Bill Nye
1999 •  ??
2000 •  ??
2001 • Umbilical Brothers
2002 • Kevin Nealon
2003 • Dr Ronan Tynan
2004 • Richard Jeni
2005 • Steven Wright
2006 • Jim Gaffigan
2007 • Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson
2008 • Alton Brown
2009 • Benjamin Zander
2010 • Brian Cox
2011 • Watson

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, December 21st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2012 now adds a +1 day



There is a strange tide moving in towards Lotusphere.  With the students there on Monday to fill the Opening General Session and then head to a structured event, the IBM Connect  conference was brought in for 2012 (not to be confused with the annual analyst IBM Connect conference that takes place apparently).  IBM Connect seems to be expanding a but further with the invitation received today for an ICS sales type event all day Thursday.  To me this removes a few more people from the Lotusphere event if you have to make the choice.
If you attending Lotusphere or IBM Connect 2012 in Orlando, I would like to invite you to a Worldwide ICS Sales Enablement event on Thursday, January 19, 2012 from 8:30am to 3:30pm called "@Connect+1". This event is for all of our ICS sellers and our strategic partners who are attending Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2012. This is the FIRST TIME that we have had Directs and Channel Partners there together. I hope you will join us!

We have a great lineup, including 2 external speakers which I think will provide great market insight and forward thinking for our IBM Social Business Community in 2012.

We'll open the day with an analyst overview of our overall market opportunity and then we will deep dive into how to execute the Social Business Agenda through scenario driven buying examples. Throughout the day we will have several of our worldwide sellers and partners share their customer best practices, and will end the day hearing from an outside speaker on sales execution/social trends, as well a solution view of our Social Business in Action!

I would think this could have been done on Saturday or Friday so we don't lose any time at the conference itself that we invested in.
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    On Wednesday, December 21st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Get Social Do Business and the IBM Great Mind Challenge



The Great Mind Challenge has been running for years, but has stayed overseas in India since 2004.  This year it came back to the United States to work with a bunch of higher education schools to dig into the IBM plan and new moniker of "Get Social, Do Business" for the 2012 competition.

One of the sponsors of the event is Group Business Solutions (GBS) who had the student projects look at their company. This article from the Spartan Daily (San Jose State University) has some good insight:
According to Daryl Pereira, social media manager at IBM, who has been an integral part in the creation of The Great Mind Challenge in the U.S., the challenge requires students interested in social business to form teams and solve real-world problems for the chance to win prizes and internships.

Gee said there were five winners who got a chance to move on to the next phase of the competition, inching closer to appearing in The Great Mind Challenge 2012.

“The five winners delivered a GBS (Group Business Software) Social Business environment audit study,” Gee said. “The audit provided further insight into GBS environment and ideas how to implement current/new social business techniques.”

So what does all of this mean? The students had to learn about social networking and analytics and bridging business and academics to solve business problems.   We won't see the results for the current program for a while, but the 2011 winners were announced.

Apparently Lotusphere 2012 will have a session on this in the Sponsor Track under SPN208.

Listen to the NerdGirls talk all about what they have going on at Lotusphere 2012 in this podcast

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    On Monday, December 19th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 117 - NerdGirls, Lotusphere, Great Geek Challenge and Spark Ideas



I had the pleasure to sit with Gabriella Davis of Turtle Partnership, Francie Tanner of Panagenda and Kathy Brown to catch up with all the activities at Lotusphere 2012 with the Nerd Girls.

Image:IdoNotes Episode 117 - NerdGirls, Lotusphere, Great Geek Challenge and Spark Ideas

  • Great Geek Challenge - this awesome, geeky, trivia event will take place Tuesday January 17th from 8-10pm at the Dolphin Fountain restaurant (bottom of the escalator).  Bring your best team or just yourself early to get a seat to the event that filled to capacity last year.  There are numerous sponsors and prizes to be awarded.  Also free food and drink!  Your quick master are Carl Tyler and Paul Mooney.  The event will be recorded courtesy of Spiked Studio.
  • Online weekly quiz and giveaways - the Nerd Girls have put together a XPages application serving up weekly shotr trivia quesitons to get you ready for the challenge at Lotusphere.  You can win a prize each week drawn from those that get the most answers right!
  • Spark Ideas - this session at Lotusphere will be five minute presentations (no slides) about inspirational topics.  You can submit your ideas and abstracts now (both guys and girls welcome). Click the link to submit your idea.
  • Nerd Girls blog - the place to catch up with the team blog
  • Nerd Girls on Twitter
  • Nerd Girls store on Zazzle

There is also the return of buttons for everyone to proudly wear and have for LUG's around the world.
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    On Thursday, December 15th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Getting social at Lotusphere 2012 with IdoCheckin, Flickr, Twitter and more



Each year we grow the community involvement in how we build our social interaction.  With barely a month to go *gasp* I wanted to give you the annual first update.

Location services

IdoCheckin is back for the fourth year.  The past couple years we have moved to Foursquare with great success.  Remember, checking in is totally optional and can be manual or automatic based on your personal preference.  But simply checking into the main venue and letting us know you are here for Lotusphere 2012 would be great.  Look for more news around this feature coming. Head over there to get the information on being connected

Twitter

The Lotusphere 2012 speaker list is launched for Twitter.  We are still colllecting Twitter names to add so leave a comment here with yours (if you are speaking) and you will get added.  Also, make sure you follow the list.  If you are unsure about what lists can do to keep your timeline clean, send me a note.

Also the Lotusphere community reflector account on Twitter will be back up and running for the fourth year. It allows messages to be rebroadcast.  So in essence you can follow one account and see and reach many.

I have to promote you can always follow me or Spiked Studio to keep up as well.

Photos

Each year the community has managed a Flickr phot pool where you still post your own photos but simply click when uploading or later and send them to the pool.  This is a great way to share the photos and give many different angles to Lotusphere.  Get involved and join the Lotusphere 2012 community pool again.  (here is a peek at the Lotusphere 2011 group to give you an idea with almost 700 photos)

LinkedIn

There has been many and long running groups over at LinkedIn for those that like using that.  Visit the Lotusphere Community to request membership with the other +1025 members.  This group was formed in 2008.  There seems to be a Lotusphere 2012 group that started via the Crossware team back in July 2011.
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    On Wednesday, December 14th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin launches for Lotusphere 2012 #ls12



IdoCheckin is back for the fourth year due to your continued support.  I would not keep growing this each year if you all did not participate and want the feature.

The growth last year can heavily be attributed to Ben Langhingrich and his amazing FREE Lotusphere sessions database he spends countless hours developing. Then he partners with The Turtle Partnership to bring the application to mobile devices.

IBM is on a push that includes location, so why not continue to showcase and grow it during Lotusphere 2012 and IBM Connect 2012 in January?  Here is a refresher for you.

What's New?
Every meeting room, public congregating area and more at Lotusphere has already been mapped.  You will be able to check in everywhere you go!  There is a main check in for Lotusphere 2012 to let us know you arrive on site.  From there, pick anyplace and share.


Is there prizes?
Mayors at the end of the week for some randomly selected locations will have Bags 'O Schwag shipped to them (courtesy of Consultant In Your Pocket and Spiked Studio Productions).
Image:IdoCheckin launches for Lotusphere 2012 #ls12






How many locations will there really be and what about duplicates?
Have no fear.  Duplicates will be merged together daily.  The goal is to have pretty much each room and main area (like the Dolphin Fountain) available.  Being able to find friends and make swarms is the goal here.  I would love to see everyone get a larger super duper or epic swarm badge.  If you do not find a site, create it yourself or let us know and I will make sure it gets created shortly.


Ok, so I am in and want to participate. Where do I get the client, find friends and get started?
This is the easy part.  You can get a client for most types of phones, and even use the web interface.  iPhone/iPad/iPod, Android, Blackberry (Appworld link), Ovi and even more on the Foursquare site.

You can make sure to add myself and the Lotusphere relay account.  From there make sure you let it search against your Twitter, Facebook or other friends to get started.  On site just find people checking into places like you and add them in!


Look for more news coming shortly.  Some additional pages are being added to show the major for each location to keep you up to date.
    for this posting

    On Monday, December 12th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IBM to launch Whirlwind clone at Lotusphere?



While reading the filtered streams yesterday I came across a hint (and screenshot) that we will see Whirlwind presented in more light at Lotusphere 2012.  Here is some information on Whirlwind before my thoughts.

From some articles I found dating back to early 2011, Whirlwind has about 4000 downloads a month internally from IBM employees.  Employees can view the most downloaded and best rated apps in the catalog.  Whirlwind started in 2009 and fully launched in September 2010.  it runs on WAS, DB2 and some Dojo coding to help build what includes roles as to what can be downloaded.

Image:IBM to launch Whirlwind clone at Lotusphere?
iPad screenshot courtesy of ArsTechnica.


A case study PDF is available for anyone to download from IBM that covers how many users have accessed, the number of downloads they saw and how the BlackBerry was their first officially supported device.

The community has debated for some time about the viability of an application store for Lotus Notes.  I see this as not just a Notes catalog idea from IBM, but a mobile and plug-in based catalog that you deploy for your users.  They are able to browse and install just about anything, even for those that bring their own device (BYOD) to work.

It only makes sense that IBM would then productize this offering, as they often do.  Take IBM Connections which started as the IBM Bluepages internally.  With all of the devices and the current push into believing everything should be mobile by IBM, a catalog to support deployment falls into place.  It runs on the same back end type systems as IBM Connections and Sametime 8.5.x so there is easier understanding of requirements and needs.

IBM's CTO of Mobility was interviewed in this Computer News Middle East article and had a few good summaries:
“By the end of the year, 100,000 IBM employees will be able to connect handheld devices of their choosing to IBM’s internal networks, which have recently been fortified to provide enhanced mobile security,” Bodin said. “Another 100,000 employees will be brought on board in 2012, for a total of 200,000 people, or about half of IBM’s global workforce,” he added.

“We’ve noticed BYOD and the consumerisation of IT , with devices now becoming more and more proficient,” said Bodin, a 24-year IBM veteran who started as a staff programmer. “At IBM, it’s not exactly the BYOD metaphor. Rather, we are taking steps to fortify the infrastructure and device management — all the way to agents on the phone itself — to guarantee that the phone has not been hacked or jail-broken, and that the phone, with integrity, can attach to our network.”


So I am eager to see if this gets branded with some new name and made available as a product at Lotusphere 2012 for enterprises to install to better support BYOD initiatives.  As well as bringing the idea of an application store to internal users.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, December 8th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2012 speaker preview announced



IBM has announced a preliminary (subject to change) list of speakers for IBM Connect 2012 that takes place with Lotusphere.   For those not familiar yet with IBM Connect:
IBM Connect 2012 is a new, two-day conference customized for business leaders charged with turning the opportunity that comes from becoming a social business into measurable success

The preliminary announcement is attached but look for:
  • Gilberto Garcia, VP of Innovation, Cemex - they have been a customer case study at Lotusphere and the Social Business Roadshow
  • Raymond Huff, President at HJB Convenience Corp/Russell's Convenience - also a case study
  • Carol Sormilic, CP at IBM Global Workforce & Web Processes Transformation Executive - read her role info to understand what this means

IBM Connect has it's own registration, or as an attendee of Lotusphere you can go to Connect 2012 (subject to space available after Connect registrants)

The IBM Connect 2012 preliminary speaker announcment
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    On Thursday, December 1st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Shutting down LotusKnows.idonotes.com



Back in 2009, Lotus launched a huge (semi) marketing campaign called Lotus Knows.  It was meant to bring a new marketing angle and awareness to the Lotus brand.  Well Lotus has been slowly sun setting everything to do with it, so I am closing down the LotusKnows.IdoNotes.com aggregator and will be reviving it as IBMSocialBiz.

The LotusKnows account on Twitter points everyone across after a long hiatus and the Facebook page is now closed:
Hello FB Fans, The LotusKnows team wants to thank you for participating in this successful campaign. We'll be sunsetting this FB page at the end of the week - but want to invite you all over to see what's happening with IBM Social Business and collaboration solutions at www.facebook.com/ibmsocialbiz. Give us a "like"! Hope to see you there!!


So I see some of you still hit the page to glean information, just know that it will be making a turn shortly to help me aggregate and keep up with the new term of the year.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, November 16th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 Online closing - and they listened


Long ago I made some commentary that Lotus was wrong to close the Lotusphere Online system each year, instead of making it a growing and nurtured community.
Shouldn't Lotusphere be a growing and nurtured community? Not reborn every 12 months?

Lotus has made a decision here that could have changed some of the communication landscape between tens of thousands of customers, partners, employees, vendors and press.  A living breathing system that grew over the years and integrated more technology, connecting more people together.

Lotusphere should be a constant community with security wrapped around the resources by the the year I attend.  I would maintain an account that allowed me to chat, communicate and look up people.  Lotus would integrate new technologies of social networking tools (outside of Lotus Connections as we went along).  I would be able to access past files from all the years of content that was afforded to me for the years I attended.

Lotusphere should be a Sametime chat community that never closes, now with the zero download client found in Sametime 8.5.  Socialbookmarks should have kept growing.  Throw out Activities since I can only use one such plug-in in my client at work and use it already.  Streamline what communities are there.

So today we received notice via email that Lotusphere Online will be merged into IBM Greenhouse (I am skipping ahead and dropping the Lotus name).
We listened to your feedback that you wanted one ongoing community for Social Business and the IBM Collaboration Solutions. Therefore during June, the existing Lotusphere 2011 Online will be closed and combined into our IBM Connections community on Lotus Greenhouse to establish that single, long term community. Before the site is closed, you will receive an invitation to join the established IBM Collaboration Solutions User Experience Community in Lotus Greenhouse.

The communities will be rebuilt, the presentations moved over and ready for all to access.
We will be making Lotusphere 2011 presentations available and will use the new community for collaboration before and after our events.


You will have to go and create a Greenhouse ID if you do not have one.  But it will allow you to also join into a global IBM Sametime community for chat and other services.  So rejoice in the announcement they are closing Lotusphere Online 2011.  I would like to think I was one of the voices they heard
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    On Thursday, June 2nd, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Humpty Dance for everyone

Sit back and watch and amazing performance at Kimonos by White Chocolate (aka Matt Stratton) doing Humpty Dance.  Did I mention he never looks at the lyrics yet again?   You can also see him in part 1 doing Rappers Delight.

Lotusphere Podcasts - Humpty Dance w/White Chocolate from Lotusphere Podcasts.



    for this posting

    On Tuesday, March 8th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

No more Lotusphere Comes to You. Get Social, Do Business



Well this is going to beat out my coming article, but Darren Adams just posted what we predicted at Lotusphere 2011.
It’s about this time of year that daffodils start to emerge and our thoughts turn to Lotusphere Comes To You. But this year the events aren’t billed as Lotusphere Comes To You – instead they will go under the name of ‘Get Social, Do Business’.

This was not unexpected with the push to cover all of the IBM software involved in the push to make this a reality.  Using just the Lotus name would have thrown some of that off and not opened the doors for a larger turnout.

Humorously IBM did not, once again, reserve that name.  It is now a Lotus business partner.


At least they didnt call it:
0100110001101111011101000111010101110011011100000110100001100101011100100110010100100000010000110110111101101101011001010111001100100000010101000110111100100000010110010110111101110101
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    On Thursday, March 3rd, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere conference slogans over the years (2011 edition)



Way back in 2006 I made a similar blog posting on the slogans they have used for Lotusphere each year.  Since it had been some time, I figured people may be interested to see the common social business theme since the very beginning.  What made 2011 different?

Humorously 2007 introduced us to the press release claiming it was "Lead by business-ready social software"
  • 2013 -
  • 2012 - Business. Made Social
  • 2011 - Get Social. Do Business
  • 2010 - Lotus Knows
  • 2009 - resonance
  • 2008 - Emergence
  • 2007 - IT revolves around you
  • 2006 - Future In Sight
  • 2005 - Envision Decisions
  • 2004 - The Workplace for Innovation
  • 2003 - the essential human element
  • 2002 - Proof Positive
  • 2001 - In the Know
  • 2000 - Forward Looking. Looking Forward
  • 1999 - A Part of Every Decision
  • 1998 - Cultivate your senses
  • 1997 - Pool of knowledge
  • 1996 - More insight. More answers.  More opportunity
  • 1995 - A Worldwide Business and Educational Conference
  • 1994 - None if 1994 thanks to Erik F via comments finding some archived web info since the first was Dec 1993
  • 1993 - A Worldwide Business and Educational Conference

Erik F helped us out back in 2006 with information about the 1993 event
LOTUSPHERE '93 also includes a Product Showcase where you'll learn about products and applications from all over the world. Plus, you'll go home with a FREE CD ROM loaded with Lotus products, source code examples, and developer tools -- including a pre-release copy of the Notes NLM!


I also got the scoop on European events from Sean Murphy:
1998 - Cultivate Your Senses
1999 - A Part of Every Solution
2000 - Work As One

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011   by Chris Miller        

February 2011 Sys Admin Tips is out on Lotususergroup.org


In this February 2011 issue I talk about "Social Business" and the following:

* From the Editor: Chris' 1.88680 VUV
* From the IdoNotes Mailbox: EUM UI Job Error
* New From Lotus in 2011 via Lotusphere
* Quick Tip: Live Domino Console on Mac Client
* From the IdoNotes Mailbox: Old Widgets In My Sidebar
 

Make sure you also:
* Subscribe to get access to over 17 hours of technical content from IdoSphere - the live online event

* head over to Consultant In Your Pocket and catch upcoming FREE webcasts and full replays of previous webcasts including "What's New in Domino 8.5.2 Administration" and "Seeing Shapes in the Clouds"

* catch up on the entire Google Apps Migration for Lotus Notes (GAMLN) series here on IdoNotes

* Sign up for both the Consultant In Your Pocket and IdoNotes newsletters in the upper right corner of the blog.  Get early notices before the public, webcast information and commentary not found on the blog.  Did I mention the two free whitepapers on DCC and Search in Lotus Notes just for signing up?
    for this posting

    On Thursday, February 24th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Killed Softly

Apparently everyone, at some point, gets on stage at Kiminos and attempts to kill us softly.  Kathy Brown snuck up and did just that in this video I got ahold of.


    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

IBM Cloud Computing Speciality for 2011 #ls11


Announced right before and now again at PartnerWorld®, IBM has launched a new partner designation called IBM Cloud Computing Speciality.  Partners in this speciality can resell IBM cloud offerings, including LotusLive.  Then coming along in may will be an actual certification for the cloud offerings.  

Strangely this strengthens IBM sales force out through the partners to run revenue instead of just licenses to IBM, but actual infrastructure.  The VP of IBM ISV and Developer Relations, Mike Riegel, had this to say:
"We don't compete with our partners, particularly in the ISV space. We enable them to be the application provider"

I can see them stating this as the partner only provides possible integration and migration to what is then IBM revenue stream.

Then IBM is also launching another program wrapped around Cognos an analytics to expand the Social Business offerings.  Cognos will make it's appearance in the IBM Cognos Express Planner.

So the push you should be taking away is not just social business that we learned at Lotusphere 2011, but cloud business that IBM wants you to give them.
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    On Tuesday, February 15th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 as an analyst (part 6 of 7) #ls11


Analyst - this is a tough position to be in, mainly if you do not know the industry and company for a long term.  How can you compare current announcements and positions if you do not get involved in the past?  You make an educated guess on your own personal opinions, backed with some study data, statistics and data collected from previous articles.

There was a new mix of reporters and analysts at this Lotusphere, not found at ones in the past.  Lotus management (social team?) reached out to broaden coverage as Lotus launches into social analytics and becoming a social business. I showed up anxious to see what the hype might be.

As I sat in the very first minutes of the Opening General Session, did I just hear that what is considered an enterprise mail and application platform, with some integrated presence/chat/meetings, has taken a turn and chance at being the largest source for bringing businesses to the social landscape and coupling analytics?

Could what we know as a monolith in computing (IBM) and it's long time running mail system (Lotus Notes) come together to bring a platform capable of being conceived as social business?  Email is social.  Lotus Connections is a leader in the enterprise space as social software.  Lotus Sametime holds a large chunk of presence and awareness in large companies.  But none of it is conceived as a package.  Would renaming this all social business and removing the Lotus name make it possible?

I spent time in labs, with customers, with bloggers, attendees, IBM staff, marketing and even hotel staff that have seen them here at Disney for ten years.  What did they think?  Without calling out names, it was across the board.  Lotus may need to shed the skin of old, leave product names in tact but remove the moniker known as the dinosaur Lotus.

The capability some of their developers have is amazing.  I had the chance to visit the Innovation Lab area (no pictures and more but screenshots have been promised).  If they could quickly move some of these into portions of the product they would take yet another leap ahead.

To summarize two areas. I was honestly lost in about 50% of the opening session.  I got the business message, but the low key droning made it all fleet away.  I needed information, strategy and then a boom.  Then back again.  Walk me along and keep me interested.  Luckily the week saved this for me as an analyst.

Also, during the week, the community amazed me in the strength and reach.  It also baffles me at the lack of reach from IBM Lotus in marketing.  I had no clue some of this existed.  Why haven't we been here before?  As an analyst I would expect more of this sent to me in a package and to be exposed to much of this before arriving.  Using the large, yet confined, community to it's fullest would gain IBM/Lotus much respect and a fresh coat of paint in many CEO eyes,


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Sponsored by IdoSphere - the online event February 15-16 2011
Two tracks of technical sessions, presented live. IdoSphere is bringing some of the top and new names straight to your desktop.

Visit IdoSphere to get the full list of sessions and register before the live event fills up.



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    On Monday, February 14th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the girl in the bubble?

Julian Robichaux and I sat a bit stunned at the mermaids, lady in the bubble and ladies stuck in the food tables at the Lotusphere 2011 welcome reception Sunday night.  This is an annual poolside/beach event.  Yet I do not recall ever seeing mermaids.  Or ladies in bubbles floating.  Or ladies stuck in the table.

I am still unable to figure out the theme.  Even after one of the ladies told us.
    for this posting

    On Friday, February 11th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere 2011 as a speaker (part 5 of 7) #ls11


Being a speaker at Lotusphere 2011 is an honor each time any session gets selected.  I had the pleasure of speaking again this year for a few sessions in the Best Practices track.  What they are does not matter for this post.  Here is some thoughts.

Starting in early September we all get on edge trying to figure out what topics we would want to invest weeks of our time creating content for.

As speakers we wait.

Weeks go by waiting for abstract calls to open.  Lotus gives a week, then another week.  We submit the best ideas we have, coerce new and other speakers into joint sessions and get nervous before hitting the submit button.

As speakers we wait.

once it is gone, there is no edit, no redo and no recall.  You are in the mix.  The awesome track managers then sort through hundreds of submissions, whittling it down slowly until what they feel is best that year emerge.

As speakers we wait.

The announcement goes out that soon they will start sending both acceptance and rejection letters for all the tracks.

As speakers we wait.

Finally, emails start to arrive and we read each one.  Excitement, letdown, confusion.  I have seen and felt it all.  That was the best session ever! And rejected.  That is going to be hard, I cant believe I submitted that.  And accepted.  I know someone could not have thought of this.  And confusion.

We start the process of building our outlines, content and even start screenshots.  Ok, most of us.  A few sit back.  We soon get submission dates that all final slides must be uploaded to the system.  Where is the new session template?

As speakers we wait.

Days before slides are due the template arrives.  We grips at font changes, require slides and graphics.  But we plow through Lotus Symphony to make the best darn thing we can.  People in the Show and tell track make hundreds, yes hundreds, of slides.  We click the submit button.

As speakers we wait.

Edits soon come back with a quick turn around request.  Days to make changes, change things.  Make lawyers happy. Clean screenshots.  Add more detail.  Remove.  Change flow.  We submit again.

As speakers we wait.

The agenda comes out for everyone and we get to know where and when we present.  We build our demos again and again.  test them again and again (some of us) and anxiously hope it works when we sit in front of 1 or thousands of you.  We build machines, virtual machines, test servers, test domains, blank users and anything you think of.  Code is written in mass quantity to be given away and shown off.  The last weeks are a blur for all speakers.

As speakers we wait.

We wait for the exact day and times we will be on stage.  Moments before we all have our own little nuances we do.  Rituals just like sports players. Pacing, practicing till all hours, checking code.  Praying.  Not only religious but that our vm will launch the next day and in twenty minutes.

As speakers we wait.

You enter the room.  We might be looking at slides.  Rehearsing in our head.  We might be checking code.  Testing VM. Watching a movie. Nervously chatting with anyone close.  We hope that everything we have done gets a laugh, a wow you can do that, an I never thought of that or just a cool.  We look for gratification in everyones eyes in the room.  we look for you not to sleep.  Not to type all night on your Blackberry.  To have questions.  To be aware and awake.

We support each other as speakers.  We go to each others sessions to learn, mock, listen, participate, be amazed and see the awesomeness each speaker brings. We wonder how the other speaker learns so much on a topic.

Lotus gives us a speaker ready room, which I have hardly seen over the years.  Maybe twice and I needed it bad both times.  Lotus sometimes provides a speaker coach for new and seasoned speakers.  Lotus makes sure we can make a hotel reservation, first come first serve.

As speakers we wait.

We wait for your feedback.  Evaluations.  Comments. Emails. Stopping in the halls.  Seeing us later at events and saying I saw your session.  We welcome good and bad.  We wait for requests for more information.  

We wait for the chance to take a breathe when you leave the room and hope we didn't have a zipper down, faint, fall or wet ourselves.  Really.  As speakers we wait.


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Sponsored by IdoSphere - the online event February 15-16 2011
Two tracks of technical sessions, presented live. IdoSphere is bringing some of the top and new names straight to your desktop.

Visit IdoSphere to get the full list of sessions and register before the live event fills up.



*************************
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    On Friday, February 11th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Domino Admin to Was Admin highlighted, thank you #ls11


I received an email newsletter and in it was the mention of the session I gave at 8:30 in the morning covering Domino Admin to Was Admin.  I recorded the session and have to edit in the slides to have it match up so I can post it.

A common assessment of the technical sessions indicated there was more content and greater interest in the content than in recent years. One session in particular for administrators well received centered on moving from Domino Administration to WebSphere Administration, which was presented in a one hour session from Chris Miller.


Much thanks to the newsletter writer and also to Gabriella Davis for all the hard work we did to put this together as a joint session at a previous Lotusphere.
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    On Thursday, February 10th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 as an exhibitor (part 4 of 7) #ls11


One of the hardest things at any event is to be an exhibitor.  I went for the business approach at first and soon figured there was a story to tell.

Lotus is opening it's arms to social business this year, so as an exhibitor we are eager to get down there and show what we can do.  We entered into the Lotus Awards, but were not lucky enough to make finalist this year.  I know we are new to the game of Lotus software.

we arrive early Sunday to get our floor credentials and find out where our boxes are.  Strangely with a major event, some of the shipping desks are not open today at the Swan and they send us to the Dolphin.  The Dolphin then tells us they can have a guy go to the Swan shipping area to pull the boxes we need and send them to our room or we can meet him.  I suggest we just get them ourselves, but I am informed either way I have to pay some handling fee for the weight of the box.  Even if I handle them myself.  Ah well we will chalk it up to another cost.

Ok, the the vendor floor is in the basement of the Dolphin, our boxes are in the Swan.  So as the new guy I make four trips to carry, drag and curse the warm weather for the 48 pound boxes of shirts, papers and little squeezy balls.  Ok, so they weren't 48 pounds so I saved them for last.

we get cleared by security after getting our exhibitor hanging tags and find out pedestal.  It is an interesting floor layout and we weave back and forth a few times finding the right swirly set.  I am used to floors with nice rows, but this is cool.  It does look a little light for 5,000 people but I bet they aren't done setting up.  We take a quick peek at our neighbors, seems like they kind of do what we do.  I wonder if they grouped us?

Everything is set up, papers tucked away. I dropped the squeezy balls and they went everywhere, but we got them.  I think.  So off to a quick lunch and then the evening party!  We show up at the evening parry and our guy arrived late due to weather.  What, he can't get in?  The badge?  The place closed already?  Well crap.  We leave him.  I am not proud of this but we do leave him.

Monday we attend the opening session along with everyone else.  I was hoping to see some mention to send everyone down to the floor or highlight some vendors.  Seems the only highlighted customers and a couple winners.  There was a lack of demos.  I look at that as good so we can show our stuff.  Off we go to set up and expect the rush!

Monday afternoon hits and the crowd comes in.  Strangely most walk up and say scan me and talk a squeezy ball.  Not a lot of talk yet.  I know, these are the goodie people.  Stuff for the kids.  I get it.

Monday night arrives! the big launch.  All three of us are there are ready to go.  We talk to hundreds of people.  We get some decent leads I think.  We feel good that this will be a great week, even though there is tons of free beer and food tonight.  There seems to be some genuine interest.  I hope to close a sale or two this week.

Tuesday hits and there are huge gaps of slowness.  Lunch and some breaks were great.  But this floor being all cement is tough.  I wish we had those little pads the Wal Mart greeters stand on.  With only one stool we take turns.  Phone signal sucks, big time.  We have one Internet connection and brought a tiny router so we can share that.  I head to the couches for the tomes there is no one.

Tuesday night we are closed.  I am confused.   Not another event pushing people down?

Wednesday back to the grind.  We have hundreds of squeezy balls left.  I give them to everyone, scanned or not.  A few more leads, but no sales.  Where are the checkbooks and purchase orders? We have good stuff.

By later afternoon some vendors are coming around wanting to trade giveaways.  We gladly oblige.  Wow, bucky balls?  Cool!  Some t-shirts and tons of pens.  But something did throw us off.  Some want to trade copies of scanned badges.  To make mega lists.  I am not sure what the protocol is there.  We normally don't but they make it seem like it is common here.  We opt out of that but I see more doing it.

So we pack up.  I am staying tonight, but they are flying out to get home and start prepping to follow up leads.  The Wednesday night party is a blast and I wish we had spent more time just meeting people to see what they needed.

We downloaded all of our scanned badges and split them up to start calling.  Lotus didn't give us much else to go on beside some guidelines of what we can and cannot do while on the floor.  Strangely some of the vendors seemed to have broken some of the rules, but they had huge booths compared to us.

So here we sit the week after.  Some good leads came back with us for sure.  We didn't have a purchase order in hand or even a credit card when we left Orlando but the future looks promising.  Lotus laid out a clear vision and we know how we fit in.  We just hope to get our solution in front of more people in the long term. I am not sure how the sales team works and we have no input to reach them direct.  It seemed as if there was a billion of them running around. I am not even sure who handles our area as a business partner and exhibitor.

We were also approached about some user groups.  I had no idea the community was so strong.  We will be investigating those as well.  Lotus is vibrant and we are glad we took the step to exhibit.  I hope they leads turn out and get some sales or we have to evaluate another path due to costs.


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    On Thursday, February 10th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 as an attendee (part 3 of 7) #ls11


These "through the eyes of" posts have become harder to write as some of the area repeat themselves as expectations no matter who you are.  This time I flip off any and all knowledge and move into customer/attendee zone.

Customer/Attendee

The hype each year!  These mystical bloggers, podcasters and people that teach me through wiki articles, forums, Google searches and more. I cannot wait to get there and see all the new stuff and maybe talk to an actual Lotus developer about my issue. I know no one else has it but us!

I have been getting emails, calls from my sales rep, calls from some IBM call center.  All asking if I am coming to Lotusphere 2011. Hell yes I am.  Plane booked. Mears shuttle coupon ready. Already accessed Lsonline.info to read up. I have the Blackberry app as well as the one for my iPod just in case. I wasn't sure about the lsonline one, the bloggers seemed to love the one from the Genii. Damn that Gab is amazing.

I woke up hours early, really I didn't sleep as I double checked my luggage. I am coming in on Saturday night after fighting with the homestead for the need to be there "Saturday" instead of Sunday morning. I want a fresh start and I know things kick off at like 8am now.  On a Sunday!  Two hour sessions!  Flight was good, shuttle seemed to take forever to get to the hotel. I had to wait, my room wasn't ready. Strange. But, Iwent ahead and ran over to get my bag expecting the long lines and early people.

No line. Strange. I thought everyone would be here. I see some milling around. A few faces but no badges I can read to see who they are. This must be a behind the scenes type look! Yes! I read on the blogs about a BALD guy lunch. I am headed to meet some of the bloggers if I can get in. Found it. Signs hanging outside already. This will be huge. I am a bit anxious to approach anyone. I will sit here and just wait for the moment. Lunch done. I see groups but do not know who is who really and I am only a two year admin.

Back to the hotel, into room and a quick call home. Tonight is the big ESPN party. Wow. Packed. But who is who again? Some look like vacationers for sure. I say hi, see a few web faces. Drink a couple and back to my room since it is early rise time.

Sunday morning, first session.  Packed.  Eager. Wow, the information flows over me for two hours and this is ony Sunday, you must be kidding? Lunch was decent and even more.  So much info for two hours.  Amazing sessions. Some guy called Turtle (he must work with Gab) takes the stage and fills me in on many things.  He is nuts but funny. Now a quick dash to the room to drop my bag and get in line for the party.

No line? Some people milling around but no real lines anywhere. I see lights. Hear music. Plenty of food. Girls in the tables, pool and on stage? Whoa, what kind of party do we have going? A few drinks and back to my room. I don't know anyone else.

Monday morning.  Sunday was jumpstart so the big crowds must be here.  Line up early, to stand in a short but fast moving line. The big room. Lights. Music. Pointed to chairs. Who are all these young kids? I see a big sign for the blogger den.  Wish I could sneak up and peek. huge screens.  Whoa the stage. Huge. Looming.

Band rocks. Incredible. Who were they? Something on the screen? No? Damn, I ad my phone ready to look them up. The big boss! Let the announcements begin. All right, Kevin Spacey is cool. Boss again, more Lotus bosses. How many do they have at IBM? People in chairs. More chairs. More bosses. Isn't this thing only an hour and thirty minutes? We are 80 minutes in and here we go. finally. What just happened? I read almost all of that before. I use Microsoft Office. So that was lost. Connections 3 we are testing.  Should be a year or so before it's out there. Is there new Lotus Notes stuff? Social business? My CEO thinks we spend too much time on IM already. This won't fly. Thanks for coming?

Racing to the first session since the thing went long.  I am not sure why, but it did.  LDAP, the cursed thing is first on my list.  Ok, this guy scares me. Firehose, turn him off. Fast. WTF do you mean you have no slides?!?!?!  What kind of speakers do they bring here? I think I just got whiplash yet I strangely feel like I learned a ton. Wow. Lunchtime? More session and my first BOF where I can share my thoughts. Ok, too scared to say a damn word

The vendor floor party Monday night has to be the place to see cool stuff and get some freebies to rub in at the office. Some little stuffed snacks, a bunch of beer, more snacks and I am dizzy.  I have some bucky balls (wtf?), one shirt, three pens and I was scanned fourteen times.  That loud buzz from Nokia was obnoxious but I gotta find that little blue box I tossed. Where is all the vendors? Huge groups that do the same thing and then many I can't quite figure out. Some cool ones too. Grabbed a paper or two to read more later.  More snacks.

Tweet, check in. Who can keep up with this stuff in this little screen? I use AOL to chat with friends.  Whoever thought of this has a lot of freetime and a satanic complex. I hate that little Twitter thing and never want anyone, mainly my boss to know were I am.

Tuesday up at 6am for a quick breakfast and off to yet another BOF.  Scared to say a word. On to sessions. A great day with fabulous topics. I finish about 7pm and I am worn out.  I don't know where everyone is but I heard laughter everywhere.  A quick bite in this Pikachu place my kids would love. I think it is a Pokemon. Bedtime and a call home. Disney at least has these little tables around with ugly aprons to sit at. I didnt want to eat in my room and the bar was packed and loud.

Up at 6:30am.  I can shower and grab a damn muffin and coffee.  Off to another BOF.  I spoke. It was to ask for them to repeat the URL but I spoke. All day sessions again.  I have now eaten far too much. How the hell do these damn people keep moving all day.  The speakers amaze me at their knowledge. And their passion. And their ability to teach it. I gotta start a blog.  Ok, ten minutes after last BOF and they are lining up.  I am going to miss the buses!

I sit next to some guy from Arizona. His third year. Tells me to relax and we can hang out. He gives me the rundown. Free food everywhere? No way, not at Disney. Yep. And rides and games. Get out! We grab a beer on the way in, it seemed like a long ride. Food or ride? Harry Potter then food.  ok, that was awesome. Quick bite. Want another ride? What? Get on the buses? Huh? Times up?

I have heard this music each night. Kimonos? I hate Japanese food.  Singing sucks, yet it goes on.

Thursday and I cant move.  Up at 6:50. Rinse, repeat. Coffee. Screw food. More BOF I nodded off. A couple good sessions and we got to see all the speakers on one stage. Wow, they are a gnarly group. But damn they know a lot. Grabbed a picture. Too scared to ask a question. Headed over and a box lunch at the lake. I could lay here but there is a time to go and hang out with the developers. Whoa another big room.  People whining. Is this allowed? I thought we got to meet the developers?

The closing session. I hear they have a comedian a lot. Watson? A computer? Ok, that was very cool.  I knew like four of those.  Gay, heheh, he said Gay.

I bet she throws out a big last second announcement! Thanks? Lights? Where is everyone going? Who are all those people on the stage taking pictures?  What the hell did I just miss? I was only social once!


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Sponsored by IdoSphere - the online event February 15-16 2011
Two tracks of technical sessions, presented live. IdoSphere is bringing some of the top and new names straight to your desktop.

Visit IdoSphere to get the full list of sessions and register before the live event fills up.



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    On Wednesday, February 9th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Have you seen Lotusphere Podcasts? #ls11



Some of the best interviews, videos and more have been pumping out of Lotusphere Podcasts.  With tons more coming the next few weeks (including today), you may want to add it to your feed reader, or better yet, spread the word.

A sneak peek hands-on of the Blackberry Playbook is there, Kimonos songs, Lotus Award finalist, product announcements, winner interviews and more.
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    On Tuesday, February 8th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 as a partner (part 2 of 7) #ls11


While this posting is based on my own experience as an IBM and Lotus partner, it is also built from many conversations I had with other partners before, during and after Lotusphere 2011.

Business Partner

Each year we strain to maintain specific partner levels with IBM/Lotus for benefits, visibility and partnering capabilities.  Lotusphere is a place to meet old, make new and discover alternate contacts in the Lotus world.  I look forward to this part of my week as a partner.

I start early, participating in the Lotus Awards (as long as you maintain some specific level of partnership which eliminates many smaller partners with incredible solutions).  We are a 3 time Lotus Award winner and a six time finalist.  We enjoy showcasing our hard work.  Recently, it seems the categories are being tuned by a predetermined solution.  It is what it is.  We celebrate every one of the partners that win each year and hope all get a chance to show us what you have done.

We then head to the event, anxious to see the new launches, future plans and provide our own input.  The opening session lays the groundwork.  My team sat a bit stunned.  In our post conference meeting the comments were that the push and future message could have been done in 20-30 minutes.  Then on to demos across the product lines.  Wrap up a section with a panel or commentary.  But five minute sneak peeks would have driven them to more sessions on those topics, anxious to see more.

Social Business was driven into our heads.  We got it.  We want to get certified and carry the mark.  We already have a huge leap on some of the areas.  We can host any and all parts of what the product line offers.  Yes, including analytics.  We understand and manage many of the tools in the Web 2.0 world, expanding the Lotus offerings more.  Let us in now, no need to wait.  We are ready and have open arms.

Backing up to Business Development Day, they were overly happy with the message.  While most headed to jumpstarts, with all of the technical information found there, a few sessions brought them back to BDD.

During the week was nothing but good news. Excellent technical sessions. Some good overviews from IBM in the INV track and deep down skill in show and tell.  A winner from IBM for Lotusphere 2011.

The exhibitor floor was a bit of a surprise to a couple.  partners we worked with before had moved on, new ones slightly took their place.  The buzz and energy was there in waves.  But the lack of the sheer numbers was apparent.  The business development team went off to make new relatonships.  we will know more about that in later months.

Exploring and expanding new relationships is a key component.  Whether it be with a new prospect or any size existing customer.  Relationships with IBM are a major part as well.  We are all one ecosystem while there. We hope to continue to see growth in attendance again and expansion of partners wanting to work with the drive into Social Business.


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Sponsored by IdoSphere - the online event February 15-16 2011
Two tracks of technical sessions, presented live. IdoSphere is bringing some of the top and new names straight to your desktop.

Visit IdoSphere to get the full list of sessions and register before the live event fills up.



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    On Tuesday, February 8th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - White Chocolate is a delight

Sit back and watch and amazing performance at Kimonos by White Chocolate (aka Matt Stratton) doing Rappers Delight.  Did I mention he never looks at the lyrics and belts out six minutes strong? See also part 2 doing Humpty Dance.

Lotusphere Podcasts - White Chocolate Rappers Delight from Lotusphere Podcasts.


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    On Tuesday, February 8th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Slideshare group for Lotusphere 2011 exists - for all those sharing slides already #ls11

www.flickr.com
items in Lotusphere 2011 - the annual group More in Lotusphere 2011 - the annual group pool

I just wanted to remind everyone we have a group on Slideshare ready to go if you already have yours out there.  Nothing extra except sharing to the group.  Makes it easy to find them in one place and still attribution to the author of the material.  

Much like the Lotusphere 2011 Flickr group we have with hundreds of photos that is built annually by the community.

So please add them in when sharing.
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    On Monday, February 7th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 as a C-level executive (part 1 of 7) #ls11


As I quickly approach eight year of the IdoNotes blog, I look at Lotusphere differently each year.  They own presented their own twists, turns, news, events and outcomes.  Product evolution coupled with demand for features have made our job of stating what we see enjoyable.

Lotusphere 2011 started with a major twist.  A very lacking Opening General Session.  Even if I pretend I am an analyst or C-level executive I had my doubts.  Let me break down each role starting with this first entry in the series.

C-level executive

As a C-level executive being seated in the front section of an Opening General Session for the software that drives my enterprise, I expect a mixed level of information.  I would expect news about growth of Lotus software, types and sizes of enterprises sticking with and moving to Lotus Notes and trends in industries.  Lotus focused entirely on trends, and only one of them.  There is always a theme at every event.  This is one of the first that spoke to me.  I was shown the direction IBM will have for some time.

I then want to see a high level overview of new launches and a brief demo I can then tell my staff to get pilots up and running.  Lotus lacked severely in the opening, but caught up later in the week.  With approximately 20-25 minutes of demos and launches in an over two hour event was a bit concerning. Was there a lack of product demo with focus on theme?

Once I moved beyond the opening session, I also looked at it from the other side.  Lotus has presented me a multi-year plan, verifiable customer stories and a few glimpses into some new product.  They outlined a goal and main industry trend I need to pay attention to.  I heard from peers that spoke about how their business transformed following this path.  It gave me something to think about.  Did I get enough on the software side to show me it is more than just a sales plan?

I was then able to attend a symposium to understand business direction further, or head to customer case studies and mini-keynotes.  Technical sessions are left for my staff and there seems to be a slew of those for them to attend.  I made a couple trips through the exhibitor floor and saw some new and familiar vendors.  This shows growth and interest by new companies, as well as stability from others.  However there was a definite gap in the number of vendors on the floor.

This was productive for my time, even though I only stay two days.  I know my staf fis picking up technical information, but I definitely need them to have a big story to tell when they get back.  We have been social since our inception, I am talking to you now over a blog right?  But how does it help me streamline operations, cut costs, improve productivity and strengthen moral?


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Sponsored by IdoSphere - the online event February 15-16 2011
Two tracks of technical sessions, presented live. IdoSphere is bringing some of the top and new names straight to your desktop.

Visit IdoSphere to get the full list of sessions and register before the live event fills up.



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    On Monday, February 7th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Judging a Lotusphere Idol contestant #ls11

A short portion of live judging of a just finished Lotusphere Idol contestant.  For those nor familiar, contestant provide 5 minute chances to get your very own Lotusphere session.  The judges are IBM and seasoned speakers.  They say it like it is and the winner presents that very week.  Congrats to this years winner!


Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotusphere Idol judging from Lotusphere Podcasts.


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    On Monday, February 7th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

IdoNotes Episode 103 - Gurupalooza at Lotusphere 2011 #ls11


I had the opportunity to again  be part of Gurupalooza.  I have sat on that stage each year since the very first time Rocky Oliver threw it together.  This year Susan Bulloch was the ringmaster, and did an amazing job keeping tens of best practice speakers in order.

If you have missed this session over the years, you get the chance to ask questions of the entire BP speaker track.
You've been basking in the knowledge that has shone down upon you from our tracks of experts all week. You’ve listened to their sessions, “borrowed” their ideas, and have cornered them in the hallways at every opportunity to get that little bit of extra help. But, as always, there are more questions than opportunities for answers. We’re giving you one last chance to pick their brains — and that opportunity is known as GURUpalooza. Bring those final questions, comments, and even a little bit of praise to GURUpalooza and let’s all have one more collaborative "geek fest"before we draw Lotusphere 2011 to a close!


This podcast is brought to you by IdoSphere.  Join in for two days of live web based technical presentations.  Most of the sessions brand new and never seen at the other events.  All recorded and available for playback at your convenience as a registered attendee.

Join in today and register!
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    On Monday, February 7th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

I do not like being forced to answer survey questions. #ls11


While this may be an oversight in the awesome ability to do online surveys, you could not move ahead in the overall conference evaluation without marking something on some of them.  I did not make it to the Tuesday morning keynote.  And there is no option to say "not attended".  

So how do I rate you, session I did not attend?  Be nice and mark good?  Be fair and mark fair?

UPDATE: I did the survey for the cloud poll and even after saying none, the next screen made me answer which software I chose.  NONE on the previous screen answered that.  I am thinking no one walked through these.


Image:I do not like being forced to answer survey questions. #ls11

Anyone? Bueller?
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    On Saturday, February 5th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Closing General Session pre slides

Lotusphere Podcasts - Closing General Session preshow from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Since the Closing General Session at Lotusphere was not streamed, I was able to capture the pre-show slides on the screens with statistics
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    On Thursday, February 3rd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - what’s in the Lotusphere backpacks #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotusphere 2011 backpack from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Everyone asks what kind of stuff comes in the Lotusphere backpack.  Here is your chance to see
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    On Thursday, February 3rd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - What happens at Islands of Adventure #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Long IOA Night from Lotusphere Podcasts.


A few friends join together and head to Islands of Adventure.  It always ends in fun.  Even without winning the $10k from Group.
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    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the $10k winner picked live from GBS #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Group 10k winner ! from Lotusphere Podcasts.


At just before 10pm while at Islands of Adventure, all of the finalists in the Group (GBS) drawing were collected.  They each received $250 for just being a finalist.  But one of the lucky people had a backpack with the $10k gold card in their treasure chest.

Watch the drama unfold and the winner!
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    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Exclusive HANDS ON with the Blackberry Playbook live from Lotusphere 2011 #ls11


Lotusphere Podcasts - Blackberry Playbook hands on from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Paul Steel, Technical Services Manager for RIM, takes time out of the busy vendor floor to bring 2 (two) Blackberry Playbooks along for a hands on demonstration.
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    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Blackberry Playbook HANDS ON #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Blackberry Playbook hands on from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Paul Steel, Technical Services Manager for RIM, takes time out of the busy vendor floor to bring 2 (two) Blackberry Playbooks along for a hands on demonstration.

Only here at Lotusphere Podcasts
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    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the Nokia E7 winning attempt with Woowar #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - the Nokia Giveaway with Woowar from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Nokia is here in full force offering a USB key, 2GB to be exact, in your backpack.  You take it to their booth, stand in line at most times and they place it in some magic slot.  We have no idea how they are seeing the winner on each key, but see the rest for how it works.

Julian waited patiently and let us record his chance.  Find out what happened.
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    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotus missed an opportunity to be social this week at Lotusphere #ls11


In conversations with some people last night the crazy idea came up after seeing my t-shirt I wore Sunday night to the Welcome Reception.  If this is the launch and week of social everywhere here at Lotusphere, why was more social information NOT included on our badges.  This would mean maybe a social ID tag, name or even web link (think About.me).  You could even go so far as to include a QR code where we could place our personal information.

Just asking.  (This is built using the Google chart API, so some older scanners have no clue, but most have no issue)

Image:Lotus missed an opportunity to be social this week at Lotusphere #ls11

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    On Tuesday, February 1st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

BP120 slides from Lotusphere 2011 - Sametime Gateway: Business Case, Implementation & Best Practices


The session BP120 - The Sametime Gateway: Business Case, Implementation & Best Practices was given at Lotusphere 2011.  I am sorry these do not have tons of meaning without the commentary, but people asked for the slides.
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    On Tuesday, February 1st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - What Happens at Kimonos with LotusrockStar #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Kiminos with LotusRockStar from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Long days lead to fun and long nights while at Lotusphere to unwind from hours of learning.  Captured in the wild was Rob "LotusRockStar" Novak leading the Elsmores with special guest Woowar.
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    On Tuesday, February 1st, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

IdoNotes Episode 102 - After OGS interview with Sandy Carter on social business #ls11


Sandy Carter, Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Evangelist, takes a deep breath to discuss her new role with IBM and all of the Social Business news from the Opening General Session at Lotusphere.


Special thanks to one of our sponsors Sherpa Software for their participation and support.

Image:IdoNotes Episode 102 - After OGS interview with Sandy Carter on social business #ls11
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    On Tuesday, February 1st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Mobile Strategy interview with Kevin Cavanaugh #ls11


As part of the blogger program, we get access to some Lotus executives in small group interview sessions.  Kevin Cavanaugh, VP of Business and Technical Strategy, was kind enough to sit down for mobile strategy.  I captured everything as it happened for you to read here first.

"By the end of 2011 consistent support across iPad/iPod/Nokia/Blackberry/Android.  A lot of platforms are hard to get to if we are not native. We see mail, calendar, contacts, IM, meetings in web, and activity streams as native apps.  We will move to partial delete/business wipe support, but not iPhone yet"


What about contact integration with local contacts from things like profiles?

"Everything that is social has a mobile component, but everything that is mobile may not be mobile


Windows mobile was not listed?
"we do have Windows Mobile support.  I have yet to see a Windows Mobile device in the wild.  It is on our radar but has not passed the test of making it as a device."


Context and location based awareness built into location based solutions
"Native apps on the platforms (sic) allows location based solutions.  Ron in his beach and Stonehenge scenes demo shows thoughts on location information. Activity Streams could be location sensitive."


What about XPages on the mobile devices?
"We are delighted with the XPages stuff"


When will we see the new native Sametime clients?
"Sometime midyear on"


On the back end where there be adddional support needed?  or will the apps be built to connect right in?
"They will connect right in.  With Lotus Mobile Connect we mentioned in the OGS we are thinking how to package that with Traveler.  Some people have their own VPN in place, others don't.  Some use the MDS BES service."


Do you see Traveler for the consumer with personal devices using BIS for Blackberry devices?
"We are focused on their native experiences and controls.  We are launching LotusLive Notes BES support.  Traveler is the fatest growing gateway.  We are happy to give our customers choices."


Will there be a cost to use the new native Sametime clients?  For business that have plans like Standard?
"We don't quite know.  We worry about licenses rather than acquisition"


We didn't see a whole lot of Apple
"We had lots of iPad pictures in screenshots.  we showed lots working on the iPad.  We are fairly complete on where we are with the iPad.  That sounds more like presentation than substance."

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 31st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 101 - Exclusive OGS interview on LotusLive Symphony for the cloud #ls11


I sit with Jeanette Barlow, Product Manger for LotusLive Symphony, to dig deeper into the Lotusphere Announcement on moving what was Project Concord to the web.  It is now part of LotusLive Labs and Lotus Greenhouse.

Special thanks to one of our sponsors Sherpa Software for their participation and support.

Image:IdoNotes Episode 101 - Exclusive OGS interview on LotusLive Symphony for the cloud #ls11
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 31st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Live blogging OGS at LotusphereLive.com for #ls11 . Get over there!


I know we talked about it but some of you may not remember.  Carl Tyler and myself live blog the Opening General Session.

 Why would you go there when IBM is streaming it?  Because we have embedded the live stream AND you can read and talk along with our commentary!  Play by play in a sports match comes to mind.

So get over there, we start soon!

Also look for tons of video and live streaming all week. Keep your eye on twitter to kep up @IdoNotes
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 31st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 100 - The Centennial Edition (all clips)!!! #ls11



You can also watch this in HD on YouTube

Yes it is episode 100 for the IdoNotes podcast.  It just happened to hit here at Lotusphere 2011 and I got lucky capturing a bunch of friends wanting to wish me a crazy happy 100.  Watch clips from Andy Pedisich, Rob Axelrod, Carl Tyler, Bill Buchan and Matt White.  I toss a small closing myself at the end.

It has been a blast so far, and some exciting changes in the works that will take place right away I announce at the end.


Special thanks to one of my sponsor Sherpa Software.

Image:IdoNotes Episode 100 - The Centennial Edition (all clips)!!! #ls11
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 31st, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - two minutes with the touchscreen #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Touchscreen from Lotusphere Podcasts.


I coerce Julian Robichaux, of SNAPPS and NSFTools, to take the first attempt at figuring out what to do with the touchscreens they have placed around Lotusphere this year.  I think we need a UI guide.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 30th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Live blogging : Social Software Superhero with Bruce Elgort and Chris Martin


Lotus has a huge drive, you will read an see, on being a Social Business.  Brice and Chris took this to heart with JMP206 - How I went beyond the Hype, Narcissism and Trendiness to Become a Social Software Superhero.  With included videos from IBM, bloggers and others they dove into changing the enterprise outlook on what social media means to individuals and business.

"The Internet never forgets, it is like trying to remove pee from the pool" from Bruce Elgort


A section of the presentation covered the enterprise and SocialSphere Interactions.  Working with internal and external social interaction.  Where to focus and being your process of becoming a social business.

Sharing + Social Awareness = Increased Trust


Chris Martin tells us he and Bruce "met online and have been sharing since".  There is no guidebook how to communicate, meet, interact.  It is about listening, sharing and communicating.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 30th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Andy and Rob of Technotics live on stage #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Andy & Rob of Technotics from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Have you ever wondered what you miss on Jumpstart Day?  Take this segment recorded live with Andy Pedisich and Rob Axelrod of Technotics, two good friends of IdoNotes.  Rob is hiding behind a monitor working the live servers while Andy handles this portion of talking.

Make sure you visit their blogs for the awesome statistics template for your Domino environment.  Oh yes it is free!




    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 30th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

IdoNotes Episode 99 - Virtual Desktop launch for Smart Business #ls11


I had the opportunity to sit with strategist Anthony Satyadas to discuss the recent announcements around the Virtual Desktop Offering for Smart Business.  We cover what it means to companies, costs, deployment options and how it fits into your business model.

You can see more on Virtual Desktop at Business Development Day (BDD) at Lotusphere or on the vendor floor.


Special thanks to one of our sponsors Sherpa Software.

Image:IdoNotes Episode 99 - Virtual Desktop launch for Smart Business #ls11
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Where the Lotusphere Insiders go #ls11


So the only thing I could find to do with Gowalla was make a trip where the Lotusphere Insiders always make their way to.  Complete the trip to the few places I could find listed to join in!

Lotusphere Insiders trip.

Image:Where the Lotusphere Insiders go #ls11
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 98 - Lotusphere exhibitors get moved around #ls11



You can also watch in HD right here on YouTube.

I was exploring more of LSonline (the Lotusphere online site) and went exploring the exhibitor floor.  I noticed some changes to the floor layout, not to mention a visual lack of the same number of sponsors on the floor.

Anyone else notice this?

Special thanks to one of our sponsors Sherpa Software.

Image:IdoNotes Episode 98 - Lotusphere exhibitors get moved around #ls11
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Vidyo for Lotus Sametime at Lotusphere #ls11

Mark Noble, Director of Product Marketing, shows off Vidyo by hosting our video meeting to explain the integration with IBM Lotus Sametime.  We talk about the plug-in architecture, deployment, multi-video capabilities, screen sharing and more.  From one to many participants, public Internet to behind the firewall, this is a tool for those investing in HD video conferencing.

This is a must see video
.

Lotusphere Podcasts - Vidyo for Lotus Sametime from Lotusphere Podcasts .



Visit Vidyo on the Lotusphere vendor floor and their website for more information.  Below is a sample multi-participant conference.

Image:Lotusphere Podcasts - Vidyo for Lotus Sametime at Lotusphere #ls11
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotus Protector news for Lotusphere #ls11

Sean Brown, Product Manager for the Lotus Protector Family, catches up everyone on all the Lotus Protector news and announcements. We talk some tech about deployment, features and licensing.

 He also lists where to find the Protector sessions and information while at Lotusphere.

Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotus Protector from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Foodspotting at Lotusphere #ls11


Foodspotting is a social network combining finding the best food dishes with Foursquare check-ins, Facebook Places and Twitter.  I had the pleasure of talking to their community manager and thought bringing this tool to Lotusphere made perfect sense.

The idea is not rating of restaurants, but you showing off your favorite foods you find with a picture and a Foursquare checkin.  The application then shows the best dishes to be found around you.  There are plenty of times people are looking for good food around Lotusphere.  This shows it off, let's you become an expert in food categories and share the location.

As a foodseeker, you can…

    * Explore your city or neighborhood to see the nearest, latest and best foods around you.
    * Look up a restaurant and see what’s good there.
    * Find a particular dish that you’re craving.
    * Bookmark foods you want to try by clicking (“Want it!”)
    * Vote up foods you’ve tried and loved (“Nom it!”).
    * Access guides from experts like the Travel Channel to see the nearest recommendations to you.
    * Follow people and guides that you trust, and places and foods that you love.

As a foodspotter, you can...

    * Share where to find a food you love by uploading a photo (“spotting it”), emailing it to food@foodspotting.com (you’ll need to add details from the website), or adding it to a guide.
    * Complete guides, scavenger hunts and challenges to earn badges and recognition.
    * Become a dish expert by spotting five or more foods of the same type.
    * Earn virtual tips for making quality contributions to the Foodspotting community.


Make friends with Lotusphere and myself on Foodspotting to get started!

Foodspotting integrates heavily with Foursquare, Facebook Places and Twitter (sorry Gowalla users for now).  It is available in the App Store for iPhone/iPod Touch and if you track me down I know about the Android beta and where to go.

Image:Foodspotting at Lotusphere #ls11

    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 27th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts interview schedules - you don’t want to miss #ls11

We wanted to let you know about some upcoming posts we will be doing here at Lotusphere Podcasts.  Make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed to get the update or check the site often.
  • Vidyo - personal telepresence integration for Lotus Sametime
  • Lotus Protector both Mail Security and Mail Encryption
  • on-site videos with attendees, product managers, vendors and more
  • some special Opening General Session launch announcements


You will find Carl Tyler, of Epilio, and myself live blogging our stream of thoughts at LotusphereLive for the fourth year.  Come and watch the embedded live stream of the OGS and see our unfettered commentary.

You should also watch both of our Twitter feeds as we can go live at any moment in time.  There is far too much to give away in advance.

Special thanks to one of our sponsors Sherpa Software.

Image:Lotusphere Podcasts interview schedules - you don’t want to miss #ls11

    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 27th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Tips from a 3 year Lotusphere veteran #ls11

 I had the chance for a rare interview with a 3 year Lotusphere veteran.  I learned about a new iPad app, mobile technology and what to bring to Lotusphere.


LotuspherePodcasts Tips from a 3 Year Lotusphere Vet from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 27th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

SametimeGuide.com launches with special Lotusphere discount #ls11




I am happy to announce the launch of SametimeGuide.com, a video tutorial source for installing, configuring and managing Sametime 8.5.x and higher installations.

While the videos are being built out, we are currently offering an introductory pricing through the end of February to celebrate the launch, Lotusphere and early access as content is added.  Head over to the SametimeGuide site and get more information and take part of the launch.


I would also like to note this is going to be an excellent companion to the upcoming Sametime Administration book being authored by Gabriella Davis, Marie Scott and Tom Duff for Packt Publishing.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 26th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 97 - Integrate LSonline, Tungle, Blackberry and more #ls11



You can also watch this video in HD on YouTube right here.

With Tungle, you are able to seamlessly integrate your Notes calendar, Lotusphere Online (LSonline), LotusLive and more with your Blackberry and iPhone devices.  There are a few steps you need to know to make the transition complete for easy scheduling and a common calendar.

I walk you through these steps in a quick video.  Do not forget to register for your own Tungle account or schedule a meeting with me via Tungle.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 26th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts interviews Trilog CEO, Alex Homsi #ls11


If you have not caught on to the relaunch of Lotusphere Podcasts, now if the time to get in before it takes off for Lotusphere!  Already video interviews have been done with Marc Gingras (CEO of Tungle) and Alex Homsi (CEO of Trilog Group).  Both are Lotus Award winner and finalists.  These podcasts are all done in video.

Look for some great on the street video from Lotusphere as well as tons of product reviews.  All from  Lotusphere Podcasts.



In other recent events, the IdoNotes podcast in Episode 93 was joined by Mike Ostrowski of Ascendant to talk about their awards this year for Lotusphere 2011.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 25th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

The must have book from IBM just arrived in time for #ls11


Need I say more?

Image:The must have book from IBM just arrived in time for #ls11
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 25th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

The Lotusphere mobile applications now let you tweet and check in! #ls11


I am once again amazed at the FREE work that Ben (Genii Software) and Tim/Gab (Turtle Partnership) put into the Lotusphere session database each year, as well as the two mobile versions. I should say four with the variations of Blackberry devices and iPod/iPhone and iPad HD.

Well working with Ben and some document refreshes, Tim now has taken the Twitter information and through a menu item in Blackberry allows you to tweet what session you are attending.  Another menu item allows you to check into that very room!  Too freaking cool.  If you have hooked Foursquare and Twitter together, you could check in and have it send a tweet as well.  Get the new Blackberry code immediately from his blog post or wait for AppWorld and the AppStore refreshes



Talk about social business boundaries?  I think we blow it away each year.  I am happy to have worked with them on providing some of the back data needed to make this happen.

If you do not know what this is all about, go see my webcast on the session database.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 24th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 96 - Event Map for Lotusphere 2011 walkthrough #ls11



You can also watch this video in HD on YouTube right here

The IBM Event Map service has been made available for Lotusphere 2011.  it is a visual way to see and set up your schedule.  A favorites feed is then generated to input into calendaring systems like tungle.me (see Lotusphere Podcasts for the interview)
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 24th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Online builds in Lotus Traveler and Sametime #ls11


If you have access to the LSonline.info site that was launched, you now have access to Lotus Traveler and Sametime

Image:Lotusphere Online builds in Lotus Traveler and Sametime #ls11

So for those wanting to test it out , now is the time to get in and communicate.  Now I still feel most people will be in BleedYellow for Sametime or even extst.ibm.com but it is nice to see them extend the ability.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 20th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Idocheckin location services for Lotusphere 2011 update #ls11


It has been a few weeks and everyone needed an update on the location services for year three of IdoCheckin.  Foursquare is in full swing with pretty much every venue created and ready to go.  From presentation rooms, to labs and more.  It is there.  Let everyone know where you are while at Lotusphere.  Prizes are being shipped down as well.

I have personally added Foodspotting to my arsenal to check in and say where the great food dishes are.

I am hoping we can get at least 500 people to check into the OGS room to get the Super Swarm badge.

  • Genii Software (Ben) has embedded the check in ability into the Lotusphere sessions database for each room.
  • Turtle Partnership (Gab & Tim) are finishing touches on embedding it into the Blackberry and iPhone and iPad apps as well
  • All of the Boardwalk restaurants are on Foursquare


Everyone needs to remember:
  • there are prizes!!
  • it is voluntary
  • Fun
  • Include pictures
  • Find friends easily
  • See swarms of people

    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 20th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

January 2011 Sys Admin Tips is out on LotusUserGroup.org


In this January 2011 issue I talk about App Stores for Lotus and.the following:

*From the Editor: Chris' 1.00000 MMD
* From the IdoNotes Mailbox: Sidebar Web Links Only Open Notes Embedded Browser
* Lotusphere Resources and Tips
* Quick Tip: ReCon
* From the IdoNotes Mailbox: Open Mail Archive on Blackberry



Make sure you:
* Register now for the best pricing at IdoSphere - the live online event
* head over to Consultant In Your Pocket and catch upcoming FREE webcasts and full replays of previous webcasts including "What's New in Domino 8.5.2 Administration" and "Seeing Shapes in the Clouds"
* catch up on the entire Google Apps Migration for Lotus Notes (GAMLN) series here on IdoNotes
* Sign up for both the Consultant In Your Pocket and IdoNotes newsletters in the upper right corner of the blog.  Get early notices before the public, webcast information and commentary not found on the blog.  Did I mention the two free whitepapers on DCC and Search in Lotus Notes just for signing up?
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 20th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 94 - #NerdGirls at Lotusphere part 2 #ls11


With the growing group of the NerdGirls, I got together with another large group to talk Lotusphere, sessions, gatherings, events and even more for Lotusphere 2011.  This episode includes:
  • Jennifer Stevenson (RIM/Blackberry at pedestal 433-438)
  • Jess Stratton
  • Marie Scott  (book singing on Wednesday!)
  • Gabriella Davis (Turtle Partnership)
  • Eileen Fitzgerald  (GSX suite and pedestal)

Do not forget all the following going on:
  • NerdGirl Panel
  • all the sessions they have
  • Great Geek Challenge
  • Mentoring lunch
  • new badges at registration for NerdGirls

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 19th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotus announces Application-Specific Licensing (ASL) #ls11


In an email announcement I received today, IBM Lotus is poised to announce and talk about application-specific licensing (ASL):
IBM Application-Specific Licensing (ASL) provides you with a vehicle to
deliver your solution bundled with IBM software, under one contract, to
clients anywhere in the world at a consistent price, and supported
end-to-end by your organization.


So for all of the ISV's that are developing applications, remove some of the licensing hassle with ASL for your solution!

If you need somewhere to deploy these custom applications, and the company does not have Lotus Domino in house, come and talk to use at Connectria.

Visit our new Connectria website today and find out why we offer the best in Lotus Software hosting and management.


Eat.Sleep.Host    It is what we do.

Image:Lotus announces Application-Specific Licensing (ASL) #ls11

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 19th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 93 - Lotus Award winner Ascendant Technology #ls11


I had the chance to sit with Mike Ostrowski, Vice President - Portals and Social Computing (Lotus), of Ascendant Technology to talk about the two (yes 2) Lotus Awards they received for Lotusphere 2011 as well as a finalist position for another to be announced live Business Development Day.

Image:IdoNotes Episode 93 - Lotus Award winner Ascendant Technology #ls11

Mike covered the technology used for the winning solutions, how it influences future business and where to find them at Lotusphere 2011 at Pedestal 710

Today's podcast brought to you by GoDaddy:
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 18th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts relaunches as video channel for #ls11 with Tungle opener


Lotusphere Podcasts originally launched in 2008 to create a feed for all of the audio from the sessions produced at Lotusphere.  Since then it has gained quite a few RSS feed subscribers, but it needed something new.  

After some thought, coupled with IBM producing more streaming content, the missing content was more insight into the partners and live activity around Lotusphere.


So the very first episode on Lotusphere Podcasts is live, an interview with Tungle CEO, Mark Gingras, right after they were announced at finalists for a Lotus Award.  He covers a lot of ground about enhancements, integration and their manifesto.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 18th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive will be live for the OGS again with new features and a twist #ls11


For the fourth year running, Carl Tyler and myself will be live blogging via LotusphereLive.  We thank the thousands that join us each year to read our unbiased commentary around all the statements of the Opening General Session (OGS) at Lotusphere 2011.

Carl has done it again and added even more functionality to the amazing, DOMINO based tool we use each year.  Here is what is new and what to expect as we step it up yet again:
  • We have embedded the IBM live stream into LotusphereLive, so you can watch real-time with our commentary
  • We are moving to a sports commentary format, since the live stream is in the corner.  Hear our true thoughts as we don't need to keep up with the full announcement at the same time now
  • Twitter is still integrated to see tweets as they come in
  • Flickr is still integrated to grab photos we like you won't see in the live IBM stream
  • Youtube is still integrated so we can grab videos from us, IBM, partners or whomever around the announcements

If you are new to LotusphereLive, you can go back and watch the previous years replay as well.  Carl has them all queued up on the homepage.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 18th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 92 - Lotusphere Online walkthrough #ls11




You can watch this video in HD on YouTube as well.

A brief walkthrough of the Lotusphere 2011 online site that just launched.  I look at what is new, where to find items and the hope it sticks around.

Update: You get a sneak peek since the site now shows:
Image:IdoNotes Episode 92 - Lotusphere Online walkthrough #ls11
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 17th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotus Award winners announced for Lotusphere 2011 #ls11



Lotus held a web event today to disclose the first round of Lotusphere 2011 award winners. Please congratulate the following:


  • Business Transformation in Cloud Computing (integrate with LotusLive: Silanis Technology (for eSign Live)
  • Delivering an Exceptional Web Experience: Ascendant Technology
  • Extending Collaboration to Mobile Devices: iEnterprises
  • Enabling Innovation through Social Collaboration: Trilog Group
  • Industry Solution Providing Business Value: Ascendant Technology
  • Delivering an Integrated Collaboration Solution: Fritz and Macziol Software
  • Extending Business Value though UC2 Solutions: Polycom

The remainder were the distinguished business achievement awards for the world, which will be shown live at Lotusphere
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 14th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 91 - Lotusphere session database walkthrough #ls11




You can watch this video in HD on YouTube as well.
With over ten years of development, this free database from Genii Software, is the tool to have before you arrive at Lotusphere.  I do a screencast walkthrough of all the features and how to get the database.  You can also get the mobile versions in the iPhone and Blackberry app stores for free.  Just search for Lotusphere in both stores.

You may either visit the Genii blog itself, or create a local connection document to the Turtle Partnership server in your Lotus Notes client.
server: Tranquility/TurtlePublic
DNS:   lotusphere.turtleweb.com
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 12th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

2011 Blogger Open (free) at Lotusphere 2011 #ls11


Image:2011 Blogger Open (free) at Lotusphere 2011 #ls11


If you have been looking for something fun to do and unwind from Lotusphere 2011, the Blogger Open is back again.  Mitch Cohen has organized the Blogger Open  each year at Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course on Thursday evening.

Join bloggers, attendees, speakers and whoever wanders over for some drinks and mini golf when all of the festivities are said and done.

Everything starts Thursday Feb 3 2011 at 5:30pm.  Head over to the site for more information.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 11th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

A free certification exam for business partners at Lotusphere #ls11


This email just came in.  While it was asking for you to bring more customers down to Lotusphere for bigger discounts on your registration, it did have one other bit of cool information:
While you are Lotusphere in Orlando, upgrade your skills and ensure readiness for Software Value Plus and Software Value Incentive (SVI) certifications by taking ay one (1) Lotus technical certification test at no charge.  All technical certification tests are available , as well as select technical sales mastery tests.

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 10th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

IdoNotes Episode 90 - #NerdGirls at #ls11


The NerdGirls band together to talk about Lotusphere 2011, community growth, hashtags, buttons, online communities, community feedback, having daughters get involved and more.

If you want to track them down while at Lotusphere, their Twitter id's are below, you can also follow the LS11 speaker list or use IdoCheckin - location services for Lotusphere!

For those interested in participating more in their communities:
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 6th, 2011   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 speaker list on Twitter #ls11


If you wish to see what all of the speakers talk about, via Twitter, I found the Lotusphere 2011 speaker list.  It is growing daily since Ben L put out his posting looking for the Twitter id's of everyone for the speaker database.

This is a great way to keep up without having everyone in your main stream.  If you need a client , I always recommend the catalog EverythingTwitter and you can always find me on Twitter (and every network) as IdoNotes
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, December 21st, 2010   by Chris Miller        

My Lotusphere 2011 sessions and BOF’s - time to vote? #ls11


I am happy to share what sessions I will be presenting at Lotusphere 2011 (#ls11), including the Birds of a Feather (BOF's) up for vote.  Feel free to drop by and see me at any of these and vote for some of the awesome Birds of a Feather:

Sessions
  • LDAP - the Amazing Infrastructure Challenge (and solutions) for BP104
  • IBM Lotus Domino Admin to IBM WebSphere Application Admin -- in an Hour!  for BP109
  • Sametime Gateway: the Business Case, Best Practices and Implementation  for BP120
  • Inspector Widget - How to Successfully Deploy a Widget Catalog (riding shotgun with Jo Ann Card driving) for BP115

BOF's
  • Using Social Media to Consume Lotus Information
  • Sametime Gateway 8.5.x Open Discussion

    for this posting

    On Friday, December 17th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin lanches for Lotusphere 2011 #ls11


IdoCheckin is back for the third year with some enhancements and changes. ( Recent news has Brightkite totally shutting down, so luckily, I already  switched everything over to Foursquare a short time ago.)

Note: IBM has mentioned a checkin service (listen to This Week in Lotus episode 30 yesterday about 44 minutes in) that they will run and it will work across services. The beauty is that there is only a couple major players (and GoWalla just announced they are using the Foursquare API and Facebook Places for unified checkin) so this will fit right in no matter what.  Plus we have the users already build from previous years!

What's New?
Every meeting room, public congregating area and more at Lotusphere has already been mapped.  You will be able to check in everywhere you go!  There is a main checkin for Lotusphere 2011 to let us know you arrive on site.  From there, pick anyplace and share.


Is there prizes?
Mayors at the end of the week for some randomly selected locations will have Bags 'O Schwag shipped to them (courtesy of Consultant In Your Pocket and Spiked Studio Productions).
Image:IdoCheckin lanches for Lotusphere 2011 #ls11







How many locations will there really be and what about duplicates?
Have no fear.  Duplicates will be merged together daily.  The goal is to have pretty much each room and main area (like the Dolphin Fountain) available.  Being able to find friends and make swarms is the goal here.  I would love to see everyone get a larger super duper or epic swarm badge.  If you do not find a site, create it yourself or let us know and I will make sure it gets created shortly.


Ok, so I am in and want to participate. Where do I get the client, find friends and get started?
This is the easy part.  You can get a client for most types of phones, and even use the web interface.  iPhone/iPad/iPod, Android, Blackberry (Appworld link), Ovi and even more on the Foursquare site.

You can make sure to add myself.  From there make sure you let it search against your Twitter, Facebook or other friends to get started.  Onsite just find people checking into places like you and add them in!


Look for more news coming shortly.  Some additional pages are being added to show the major for each location to keep you up to date.
    for this posting

    On Monday, December 13th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2011 Slideshare and Flickr groups formed - join in early #ls11


Each year we attempt to pull together as many of the publicly posted sessions as possible.  I know most like people to come to their blogs, and there is nothing wrong with that.  But hopefully we can get the content posted, tagged and still linked back to postings and additional files on the blogs as needed.

Remember, you can post to the event or tag your presentations properly.  It was chosen #ls11 as the proper tag, but beware there are other images and postings out ont he web already using that tag as well.

Either way, join in the the Lotusphere 2011 event on Slideshare.
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    On Thursday, December 9th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

October 2010 Sys Admin Tips is out on LotusUserGroup.org


In this October 2010 issue I talk about the event creeping up on us and the following:

IN THIS ISSUE #63
* From the Editor: Chris' 1.986790 ALL
* From the IdoNotes Mailbox: Choosing the Right Blog Solution
* Lotusphere - How You Can Participate Using Social Media
* Quick Tip: Right Click on Servers in Domino Administrator
* From the IdoNotes Mailbox: Widget and Plugin Deployment


Make sure you:
* head over to Consultant In Your Pocket and catch upcoming FREE webcasts and full replays of previous webcasts
* catch up on the entire Google Apps Migration for Lotus Notes (GAMLN) series here on IdoNotes
* Sign up for both the Consultant In Your Pocket and IdoNotes newsletters in the upper right corner of the blog.  Get early notices before the public, webcast information and commentary not found on the blog.  Did I mention the two free whitepapers on DCC and Search in Lotus Notes?
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    On Wednesday, October 20th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Comes To You - if you came ( #LCTY in St Louis) live blogging

Registration looked good, plenty of badges.  Awesome room and presentation center I have had the pleasure of being at previously inside of Washington University at the Charles Knight Executive Center.  All the presentation material will be available on LotusLive for attendees which was nice.  I wonder if they will create a new account or use our existing one?
Ed Brill - Keynote

The Collaboration Agenda (I dissected it here back in January at Lotusphere) mentioned at Lotusphere was the opening portion of the slideset.  Ed moved right into the building blocks to help companies work smarter, which is the Lotus Collaboration software.  Partners are a key part of the growth of the strategy.  The Collaboration Agenda (CA in my notes from here one for simplicity) is about translating technological innovation into industry-specific contexts.  It is not about products but about basing solutions around needs.

18,378 new customers have been added since the launch of Lotus Notes and Domino 8 with growth in LotusLive as well.

LotusKnows was the next impact statement from Ed talking about the influence it had had and the advertisement placement everywhere.

The technology roadmap is based on customer evolution as much as the drive to enhance the products themselves.  Desktop productivity was a highlight with Lotus Symphony.  He moved deftly into LotusLive and LotusLive labs talking about such things as the Slide Library.

Ed showed a video on Project Vulcan, hosted by Ron Sebastian.  It was a good demo walk through.  I hope this video is out there for everyone to see.

Smarter Collaboration: Integrated Lotus Portfolio

A huge client demo was part of this.  Widgets, Activities and more.  I did ask a question around sources for best practices on security controls and deployment for all of these widgets.  Yes it might have been a slight set-up but I see IBM sales push widgets constantly with no idea of the complexity of including and deploying 3rd party widgets into your environment.

"Lotus Knows you should stop begging and stealing from people and borrow from them instead" -  yes this was an actual slide.  The idea is learning how to search and find information, leveraging communities of interest.  Lotus Connections is the key here.  Many, many slides and commentary on Connections and social sharing.

The PeoplePod plug-in was cool, wish we had it to play with.  He then moved into live demos and click-to-call technology.
IBM Websphere Portal - the awesome Jon Raslawski

Jon did a bang up job explaining the why to use Portal without making it a huge sales pitch. The partner references were not just a name, but the story and the integration portions and making your day perform better.

Social Collaboration Delivers Real Business Value - Randy Frink, and Americas Business Unit Executive

Social networking is part of our fabric as human beings.  Lotus Connections and Quickr install base grew 34% and millions of users.
Social collaboration helps people work smarter.  We moved through Quickr Connectors, Connections and about how you share and locate not only your data, but co-workers.

He discussed Lotus Connections Next and Quickr Next.  Enhanced mobile support for Andriod.  As well as microblogging and better profile support.

Notes and Domino Strategy - Ed Brill

Ed rapidly moved through 8.5.x, licensing, packaging and more in a nicely paced presentation.  I think this is a core of what poeple wanted to know and what licensing works for them.  Mainly with Travelr, CAl's, free Designer and Mobile Connect.

Notes 8.5.2+ and the naming on iNotes/DWA plus lite mode and ultralite mode.  Ultralite will move to support Andriod and more.  Ed said it, I repeat it.  Learn XPages!!  (I personally might suggest the upcoming developer webcast in Series 3 of ConsultantInYourPocket).

OpenNTF.org was also highlighted which was nice to see.  In 2009 traffic was up 25% to 3.2million page views.  67,000 members and registered.

IBM and SAP managed to get a slide.  Not a lot of hands went up but I know it is important.

Now slides on delivery of Notes showing on-premise, appliance, cloud and hybrid.  LotusLive Notes will be getting a substantial update this year, according to Ed.  Slide had a ton of info:
  • Cloud based Domino Mail, Calendar, Contact and Instant Messaging
  • Seamless transition to the cloud from business
  • Runs Domino
  • Per user/per month licensing
  • Archiving with Sonian
  • Moving to 5gb mailbox with options for mobility and archiving
  • lower entry of 50 users
  • customers still handle user id management

I know we still currently offer a better deal on this, but I will watch closely.

Lotus Protector was next up.  it is a product line, not just a single product.  IBM has now moved to Protector for internal spam control. It is a per user software license on physical or virtual.  Up to 360k emails per hour filtered.  it is optimized for the appliance model.

Project Concord, or web based collaborative document editing, supports both individual and teams.  It isn't just Symphony on the web.  Web clippings, co-editing and more make you more productive.  Look for this in 2nd quarter in LotusLive Labs.

Collaboration In the Cloud - Ted Brufke, NA Sales Leader

LotusLive is of particular interest to us as we have been doing this model for years.  Keep in mind that LotusLive iNotes is NOT Lotus Domino based.  Their idea is to have you not manage your IT infrastructure.

LotusLive iNotes is~$3/user/month targeting users in factories, overserved or not served at all.

LotusLive Notes and LotusLive Engage with enhancements and partner offerings (Skype, SalesForce, etc).

Sametime Roadmap and Unified Communications

The first portion was talking about who could use the unified technology, such as healthcare.

He moved into plug-ins to jump you from Sametime Connect to Sametime 8.5 meetings and also peeked at audio and video.  Up to six people in the video environment.  They did a nice live demo over the network to another MCTY city.  He preloaded presentations and was able to change and navigate between them quickly.  Markups and the rest of the expected tools were there.  The discussion area was the tiny bottom left box, but could be expanded and also sorted to show only the questions or action items.

Meeting recording was demod next.  With Sametime 8.5 it records in mpg or mov format.  I am waiting for the hardware and software requirement questions to begin.
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    On Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010   by Chris Miller        

The solution for obtaining more session evaluations, possibly #ls10

After the awesome feedback so far on this morning's post, an idea bubbled to the top that some liked.  Others may have had reserves, but I think the idea is sound enough to up the number received.  We will be using Lotusphere as an example (for those coming from other types of conferences).

Lotusphere has an online system that is not as clean and easy as some would like for filling out "on the fly" evaluations of session.  Lotus gives a conference T-shirt when filling out and turning in the final conference evaluation.  That is it.  From there the room monitors attempt to get them as people walk out the door, but many are never done by an overwhelming majority of attendees.  So here is what came up.

Offer a token for each evaluation turned in per session.  The room monitors would hand one back when they got handed the eval.  Attendees are a competitive bunch, as pointed out by one person.  They would go for these if the prizes or rewards were real.  Online evaluations could be verified at the Info Desk.  You walk up, show your id and they see the number you have done.  You are handed XX amount of tokens and then they mark those off.  A simple task since you use your registration number to submit the online on anyway.  The info is there.

Now what are the tokens good for?  Numerous choices are possible.  Discounts in the Lotus Stuff store.  Shirts.  More coffee.  Prizes from vendors.  A bigger giveaway with each token being an entry marker.  Hand in a few for some cool piece of Lotusphere memorabilia.  The possibilities can be mixed and matched with cost versus input.  There is a line there somewhere that could be met by all.

While actually handling tokens sounds crazy, people respond better to the physical side.  This could be done virtually as a bank with a scan of your ID.  But being able to trade, share, group and pool them is just as important.  Think collaboration here people.  You are short 3?  Here I am not using them.  We want the big prize?  Let's pool our tokens.

I would suggest reading the comments from the previous posting as well as they offer some great feedback.  No system would be perfect to gain more evaluations.  But there has to be some movement to make the response better.  Also, using a business partner solution, such as Ben's, for the session database makes perfect sense.  It has grown into such an amazing tool and needs to be recognized.  While IBM needs to and wants to keep you in the little lsonline bubble, that goes away, bridging the collaboration gap they so much promote would be awesome.
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    On Monday, February 8th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Are speakers evaluations a requirement, weapons or lack of interest at conferences? #ls10

Speakers spend varying amounts of time preparing sessions for everyone to consume at Lotusphere.  Some spend weeks (or a month) making demos, perfecting slides, generating code and practicing over and over. The intent is to build the best possible session (length of the session does not matter) for everyone involved.  The end goal is happy attendees that take away tons of new information, fee tools or code and the feeling they learned something.  Some are even entertained along the way.

Now what speakers get back is the difference.  Speakers are normally nervous enough about the impression that was made and how they did.  They sit anxiously by and sometimes run right away to look at evaluations as people leave the room.  Others wait patiently for the evaluations to be entered, manually, into the system for review.  either way it is hard enough to digest.  Every comment, checkbox, compliment and concern are digested.  Some speakers take things to heart, and very serious.  Others glance and shrug.  The next points are very serious and where I am headed.

Evaluations are greatly appreciated and definitely wanted by each and every speaker.  Not just one or two, but in quantity.  If there are 100 or even just 20 people in the room, then I personally expect 95% of that number have an eval.  Even if you only quickly check the boxes and run out.  or go online and fill it out.  Spend the few moments to compensate for the weeks of prep speakers did.  it isn't much to ask and I honestly fore myself to make sure and do it out of respect for the session.  No matter if I liked it or not.

Now what gets placed on the evals has apparently become a game of chance.  From blaming speakers (not the conference producers on final evals) that the room is too hot/cold, that the projector didn't work to something I never anticipated.  From some recent Twitter traffic I submit the following craziness:
1.Oh and ZERO evals for (session removed) - yet people stopped me, emailed me, thanked me for it. Problem is getting feedback to IBM.
2. I did not fill any evals at #ls10 - as a way of saying 'could do better'
3. Didn't look at evals till today, disappointed (+ embarrassed) that people evaluate speaker looks.

Does anyone see a crazy pattern here?  Evaluations are not weapons of choice.  Not filling one out is of no help to anyone at all.  Simply state what more or less you would have wished to see.  If you are contacting the speaker with praise, please let IBM know in performing an evaluation there.  IBM does look at these and helps in getting your favorite speakers back and removing those you did not like.  But the last one?  Stating how a speaker looks is of no concern to anyone.  Heck, there is not even a section that asks you that question or ever would.  I am sure your job performance reviews do not have that type of section, since it would be against any and all companies Human Resource rules.  While we are all human and may notice such topics, evaluations are not the place to include them.

It seems now it is too late to fill out evaluations, we can only hope for better at any event that we all attend or speak at.  I am sure the yellow-verse can do better. Can't we?
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    On Monday, February 8th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

As speakers, were we not social enough inside LotusLive? (from a comment there)

I read, with interest, someone asking why the presenters and speakers were not active in their session communities established inside of LotusLive.  From Maria:
In my opinion, it doesn't appear that presenters/speakers are communicating during their sessions on where to locate their Connections public communities (if any). Most of the communities have minimal content, although during the presentation speakers are sharing during their presentation online resources and bookmarks for additional information. Couldn't this information have been uploaded to the speakers/presenters' Connections community before attendees arrived at Lotusphere, which could've spear headed Connections and audience interaction during question and answer portion of session?

It is disappointing that Lotus/IBM is promoting social software but it isn't being used to its' potential.

I think there are a few reasons:
  • Many of us run public blogs that contain this exact content
  • Lotus created these and also had the pdf files, which could have been linked there I imagine
  • We put the resources in the slides themselves, instead of as bookmarks inside the session community
  • The community isn't used by many people it seems
  • MOST IMPORTANT: Lotus online is not a community since it goes away in a few weeks.  See my posting here

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    On Tuesday, January 26th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

The one issue stopping the Lotus App store (AppCentrist) right now

Nathan did a great post on what is needed as a missing ingredient, a Lotus App Store.  It has been in the works for some time and is ready to begin.  Here is the issue:

Vendors all across the Lotus software world are not ready nor do they sell in this mode.  No one has an a la carte attitude or the means to support it currently.  Everyone thinks in the Lotus model for licensing with great discussion on purchasing, support and other items.  I have found it nearly impossible to even get referral codes form most of the vendors. They are just not built to support them.

User counts matter, number of servers matter, your certifier name you use matters.  The Lotus client and server are not built in consumer mode, so I do see some concerns.  
Don't get me wrong. (I am highlighting this so you all read it). I am not saying any vendor is not right in protecting the code they developed and making sure it isn't sent all over the place without receiving payment.  We aren't talking a phone that has individual coding, we are talking a server that takes any template, so it is harder to write for and protecting intellectual property is tough in that model

But I will say that in order to spread your goods to more places, on demand, requires a change of thinking in how people are allowed to procure the software from you.  So if you think you can step up and want part, let's talk..
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    On Monday, January 25th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2010 day 2-3 review, summary, compilation and whatever #ls10

During Lotusphere, I dissected the Collaboration Agenda that was re-presented during the Opening General Session and took notes on some sessions.  But, I never gave a good crux of my feeling on Lotusphere2010 in mid stride during the festivities themselves.

Lotus came on strong with the push towards LotusLive and cloud computing on one hand.  There were numerous sessions dedicated to the track itself.  BOF's were organized in support of the unknown number of companies using LotusLive, and labs were built to give users a test bed.  Partners were offered the chance to attend sessions on how to build business using LotusLive and customers were asked in what way it could help.  In all a marketing blitz encapsulated in Lotusphere like no other.  Partners still wonder how to make true revenue around management, integration and services, outside of reselling.  They are pointed to migration services, but you really do not have access into LotusLive to provide a true integration customization experience.  I think looking to Lotus to build this into LotusLive would be prudent to assist companies moving into the cloud solution.

The Best Practices track is as strong as ever, with incredible amounts of knowledge being shared by the speakers.  This became the most technical track years ago and is a destination for many attendees.  The speakers themselves spend inordinate amounts of time to actually create, test and deploy the demos for use in the session.  Then add on presentation creation time and rehearsal.  I heard ranges of long hours they invested to be selected and create the final masterpieces.  Relish these sessions and peek at ones you might have missed.  Some of the presenters actual in person presentation may be a little bit different than what was uploaded for you.

Interestingly, there are some sessions that snuck into the schedule with little fanfare but ones you should have seen.  Lotus Foundations Start had it's own session on Monday afternoon and is something any company with remote servers for smaller offices, or new ones, should investigate more.  Back again was the Nerd Girl panel and some other blogs captured the conversation for you.  This is a second year for this session and BOF and really drives attendance for what is apparently a concern with the women in our field.  Lotusphere Idol makes another return and allows those maybe passed over or that have never spoke at Lotusphere a chance to stand up and be recognized.  You then have a full day to get the real presentation together and actually stand there and do it.  It builds the presenter pool and opens the door to just about any topic.  There was one on attention management futures in the Notes client that was in the ID track and almost missed my eye on Wednesday morning.

BOF's sit at add times, have very focused topics and beg for your attention.  Some are jammed packed and others are lightly attended.  They were picked based on your votes of popularity and topics that are needed.  Make sure you get involved in these next time.  Force yourself awake or indoors in the late afternoon.  Sitting in a non-formal structure simply communicating with others that have the same issues you do really brings out tons of information from the moderator and others in the room.

There was some strange events around numerous people having to leave Lotusphere early, which continued the mysterious aura surrounding the entire week.  I tried to get a grip on what the feeling was and think I have it for the summary posting I am finishing now.
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    On Monday, January 25th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Disecting IBMs new "Collaboration Agenda" announced at #ls10

It isn't what you think (I don't think).  When I first heard the term, I immediately thought of a movement of bringing together Lotus products in a more tightly integrated basis, with easier points of entry and packaging.  While Lotus is tops in enterprise mail/calendaring and more, they are now becoming leaders in the enterprise social software space.  I envisioned dreams of installs and products that made this all a simple click and deploy architecture.

Here is what was quoted from IT World Canada:
Alistair Rennie, IBM’s newly minted general manager for Lotus software and Websphere Portal, said the collaboration agenda is a vehicle for encouraging discussion of collaboration technologies in the business. The agenda extends this new way of thinking about collaboration to “your critical line of business priorities,” said Rennie.


Image:Disecting IBMs new "Collaboration Agenda" announced at #ls10

So if you read this, you will see that this is a vertical initiative through workshops that are in quite a few countries already, to offer more collaboration tools into specific industries at first, with expansion later.  Through workshops they will hep each vertical industry understand how to get ROI and measure this against collaboration efforts.  I am interested to see this as obtaining ROI numbers from social software is a hot topic and often disputed in the social media space/blogs/conferences.

Finding articles that did not repeat the same exact press release was tough, but I read about 18 to get it all.  From many of the articles I read trying to get my grips around this new initiative, consulting services are a major player coupled with tools and software labs experts.  Then an article on ebizq (never heard of them either) showed a governmental example and case study.  It began to click.  This is about IBM being able to go into a vertical enterprise type organization, offer a review of how they struggle with collaboration and then sell services and make recommendations around it.

Now here was the kicker.  This was talked about in 2008 at Interop by Bob P himself in a keynote.  And finally and IBM employee that is actually working the pedestal at Lotusphere made a blog posting on what it means, which leads to the most simple answer:
Collaboration Agenda is a philosophy, a way of doing things, a metamethodology that brings together well-known best practices to help customers address pain points with solutions that will save them money and help them make money.

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    On Wednesday, January 20th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

BOF507 slides from Lotusphere 2010 - Utilizing Social Tools to Consume Lotus Information


Most BOF sessions do not have slides.  I merely made these are reference handouts for the attendees for BOF507 - Utilizing Social Tools to Consume Lotus Information
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    On Wednesday, January 20th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

BP109 slides from Lotusphere 2010 - The Advanced Low-down on LDAP Infrastructure


I partnered with Warren Elsmore at Lotusphere 2010 for this mind meld of LDAP information
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    On Tuesday, January 19th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Social Software BP Rountable notes/comments #ls10

This is my second year attending this roundtable on social software at Lotusphere.  It seems some headway was made on certain areas raised as a concern last year and is still on hold in others.  Here are my quick thoughts and notes.  Keep in mind that social software is both Connections and Quickr.

What was on the concern last last year and how they did
  • Common branding for social services - started and will be doing more this year
  • Competitive information - they have it and have sone great studies.  The push is to get that information in the hands of partners so it can be utilized in informing customers.  Partners requested access to internal competitive information.  We were told we will look at finding a way and apparently if they can substantiate the source and testing it can be shared.  Should prove helpful if they can make this happen
  • Positioning in the marketplace - they say it is done.  I agree that Lotus is being seen as a leader in the enterprise social space.  But you cannot sit back at any point as there are so many new ones popping up constantly.
  • Air cover through a social media manager/community leader across blogs, wikis and more - they state they have really moved into this.  I am really struggling to see it pop up anywhere.  They did found the "Collaboration Soapbox" but unless you knew that name I don't see how they are promoting it in other networks.
  • Lastly was a licensing model for hosted environments to get Connections and Quickr up faster for SMB with a better licensing model to meet the SAAS needs - this has not been done

Technical and sales enablement was next.  A concern was the missing sales kit enablement parts that are needed to present to customers when engaging them in IBM Social Software initiatives.  Greenhouse is becoming a resource for some partners to store, share and get information.  But it is partner driven, not IBM and they asked for IBM help.

A big topic was SMB entry pricing models for Lotus Connections.  The current minimum of 45k is way above what a small company would invest.  That was agreed so options were discussed.  It was suggested a 6-10k model with a limited amount of users would be helpful in reaching the smaller new customers.  They cannot use the word "Express" without some process inside of IBM, but the seed has now been planted.  This goes back to the above point of hosted license model options which would give quick startup and easy entry costs for SMB.

Lastly a topic was on the current competition reaching beyond Sharepoint and into other products like Jive and BlueKiwi.  Jive also acquired Filtrbox which I mentioned as a tool in my BOF507 last night on using social media to consume Lotus information.  More higher level marketing materials on why IBM Social Software and the Collaboration Agenda was requested so it could be used when talking to customers.

As last year, there are some partners deeply involved in selling the tools, while others are finding it tougher with some of the concerns they raised.  It depends highly on area, need and how it is presented.  There was mention of a 6 month follow-up call to see where we stand mid-year instead of waiting till next Lotusphere.  I will have updates then.
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    On Tuesday, January 19th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

BOf507 - Using Social Networks to Consume Lotus Information

Here are the basic slides as resources.  I know we covered a ton of information in the BOF, so feel free to reach out to me to get more information.

BOF507 - Social Networks.pdf
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    On Monday, January 18th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive live blog for the OGS is all set. Details to view are inside! Web and iPhone.



You can watch the stream right here in this posting built on Domino technology or click this URL to set your own refresh preferences.  You may also utilize the iPhone interface here.  

Please join us for this 4th annual venture into bringing you live commentary, Flickr photos and Tweets about the event itself

I will also try and get another stream going at http://www.IdoNotes.com/live like last year depending on bandwidth
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    On Monday, January 18th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2010 opening throwback party had an oxygen bar (video)



The idea was simple as you can see in my constantly updating Flickr stream.  Everything was a throwback.  PacMan, Jetsons, 80's music, 80's ads and surprisingly in the middle of the fray...  an oxygen bar!
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    On Monday, January 18th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

FewClix is running on my PC, get your free license in your Lotusphere bag #ls10

I did Episode 69 of the IdoNotes podcast when I attempted to install on the Mac not reading ahead or knowing it was PC only.  I went ahead and had it installed on me PC and was surprised to see a cd from FewClix in the Lotusphere bag with a free license code.  Make sure you jump on it.

Image:FewClix is running on my PC, get your free license in your Lotusphere bag #ls10
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    On Sunday, January 17th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2010 Day 1 - and mainly what’s missing #ls10 (updated)

When I checked in yesterday (Saturday) I think I got our first hint that something was amiss in Disney compared to years past.  I was handed a badge and one thing was not quite like the other. (picture)
Image:Lotusphere2010 Day 1 - and mainly what’s missing #ls10 (updated)
Your honor, I submit to you the following cutbacks have taken place so far at Lotusphere this year:
  • The badges have a thin velcrostrap for your neck, no thick cord.  Already saw one pull off and drop
  • The badges are not plastic name inserts.  They are paper
  • The badges have no RFID tags this year, which in turn means no tracking equipment
  • The badges have NO booklet inside as all years past.  I know printing costs and going green stuff, so I applaud that.  Just this little map foldouts with schedules.  Now the layout is very nice showing each day on a side.  So two days to a foldout.  Then the rooms are listed.  However, folding these buggers is like grandpa driving on a windy day.  Plus, there is no map of the layout of the hotels.  There are blank pages on them to take notes, but maps for newbies would have been better.
  • The Business Development Day had no guest thingy, like the painter last year. Just speakers from IBM   UPDATE: Ed reports there was a guest speaker/host of the event.  (I was just reporting comments)
  • Not a sign of water bottles yet.  They may not appear till Monday anyway but I cant recall   UPDATE: someone says they saw one
  • Holy freakin cow, there is no giant tent outside for the opening reception that happens in a short amount of time.  I saw tables lined out, but if the weather turns bad or the cold had hit..what is that song..  "nowhere to run, nowhere to hide".   UPDATE: I was reminded that last year since there was no Swan dining the tent was MIA.  I thought they had something small still, but the years are blurring.  UPDATE: I was told the tent possibly ripped due to winds/weather which then takes it out of the equation.

UPDATE at 11:45PM :  List updated some..  This was more of a parody than anything but apparently it was taken a little more.  Even with people asking for speaker names on the agenda, my point was just the map.  I think even Turtle ended up pointing out the foldout in his TURT101 session, big changes just draw attention, even if it was after people asking for year.

This is the current list of evidence we have.  I am sure this will be update later.
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    On Sunday, January 17th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

PlanetLotus blogger of the year announced at #ls10



Here is a quick video clip of Yancy Lent announcing this years voting winner in a close race.  Visit the winner's PlanetLotus profile here.
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    On Saturday, January 16th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

FewClix launches an awesome email productivity app. I have seen and I am impressed. See them at #ls10

FewClix opened their website today for you to get in and start viewing and testing this email productivity application.  You have a time limited, fully-functional beta available to grab in a solo installer, nsf or enterprise nsf version.
Image:FewClix launches an awesome email productivity app.  I have seen and I am impressed.  See them at #ls10
I had the pleasure of talking to Madan Kumar, CEO of FewClix, the other day and he answered many of the nagging technical questions.  Look for the podcast coming out shortly.  With the sleekness of their website, the time they put into building the demos and actually offering a downloadable test right away, they score some major points in understanding how to do business.

You will find them at Lotusphere on the vendor floor at pedestal #629 as well.
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    On Thursday, January 14th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

A prediction for #ls10 and 2010 in regards to exhibitors

After a flurry of emails, press releases and announcements, I think 2010 will be the year of the useable and functional plug-ins for the Notes clients.  It seems vendors are deploying real value additions for the client.  Couple that with the recent additions that are going open source through OpenNTF and the client will become overly busy with sidebar applications.  Look for some cool ones that I have had the pleasure of seeing being announced over the next week and changes to some existing ones that were only tiny web browser interfaces becoming a real tool that actually integrates with the client itself.

This also leads to another theory in how many apps can the client function with before it becomes bogged down?  The Firefox browser extensions and new Chrome extensions can slowly eat away at resources and cause slowdowns in function.  Not to mention the UI challenges with the sidebar itself.  Mary Beth and I have had some conversations around this and I can't wait to see what they come up with.  Is there  a point where the sidebar could be overgrowing with widget and plus-in icons and become a distrction?
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    On Thursday, January 14th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

LotusKnows I know how to build you #ls10 news landing pages for LotusKnows and Xpages

I mentioned a landing page I had made to watch appearance of the LotusKnows marketing name when they launched it.  Since then Lotus has made it the focus point of Lotusphere 2010 so you can bet there will be tons of information around it.  So here is what I use and offer to you to grab as simple landing pages.

LotusKnows page on IdoNotes - finds Twitter, FriendFeed, blog searches, delicious and more

LotusKnows newspaper on NewsCred - find Twitter, news articles, ls10 searches, Flickr and more.  

Xpages newspaper on Newscred - follows all the xpages blogs and Twitter searches


There are a few more tricks I have for you, but you will need to attend my BOF on Monday night in Swan Parrot 1
BOF507  Using social networks to consume Lotus information
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    On Wednesday, January 13th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

IBM is changing their Sametime Gateway address - the day before Lotusphere #ls10

I held on from making any fuss around this until it was moved twice and then confirmed.  The night before Lotusphere, IBM will officially take their Sametime Gateway to a new address on the Internet.  This DOES NOT affect extst.ibm.com that some of you connect to.  It only affects those that communicate with IBM from gateway to gateway (SIP to SIP).

This was supposed to take place at the end of December, but due to various reasons (read as it seems some larger customers had issues) with the timing so they moved it.  The date, the day before Lotusphere.  So if anything goes wrong, the connectivity and awareness to IBM will go away for those affected right before communication might be very important.


If you are currently pointing to IP address 207.25.251.165, please change it to IP address 170.225.31.215.
If you are currently pointing to IP address 207.25.251.166, please change it to IP address 170.225.31.216.
If you are currently pointing to IP address 207.25.251.167, please change it to IP address 170.225.31.217.
If you are currently pointing to IP address 207.25.251.168, please change it to IP address 170.225.31.218.

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    On Tuesday, January 12th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

2nd Annual Blogger Open at #ls10 - IdoNotes is a proud sponsor

From the entire IdoNotes and Spiked Studio Productions family, I am happy to co-sponsor this year's Blogger Open.  With the hard work of Mitch and Warren, an amazing number of people gathered at Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course for an evening of team building, drinks and attempts to play a hard course of miniature golf.

Jump over and register for this event that takes places after the Closing General Session on Thursday January 21st.  Spaces are very limited as Northern Collaborative Technologies and myself decided that they really needed a budget to go by :-)

Image:2nd Annual Blogger Open at #ls10 - IdoNotes is a proud sponsor
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    On Monday, January 11th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

The Lotusphere podcast 009 - I get interviewed by Stuart McIntyre on Lotusphere #ls10

I had the pleasure to have Stuart give me a call on Skype and talk briefly about all things social going on for Lotusphere.  Listen in to the LotusphereBlog podcast episode 9.
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    On Monday, January 11th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin privacy and connecting - check in while at Lotusphere #ls10

Thanks to Brightkite, there are amazing amounts of privacy controls and ways to connect to your existing friends while at Lotusphere through the IdoCheckin points.  If you don't get it yet, the ability to see where your friends are, or who has checked in at particular places, adds tons of value to your experience.

Privacy

This is something everyone takes seriously, and you should.  The idea of sharing your location throughout the day is to build in person connectivity with the Lotus community.  There are no checkpoints established anywhere outside of public spaces and checking in is totally up to you.  Meaning, you control when and where and to whom (see below)

As for privacy controls, there are a couple levels and sharing types.  Here are the types first
  • Fans -  these are people that want to hear from you.  You do not have to make them a friend or see their information.  They just want to keep up with where you are
  • Friends -  these are people you wish to follow yourself.  You have levels of alerts and controls of what is shared to them.  You can receive alerts by email or SMS if you really have to know where this person is without using the applications.

Levels of sharing
-
They have simplified sharing when you check in.  You can share to just friends (not everyone/fans) and toggle on and off Twitter/Facebook.  It makes sharing to who you want and when you want a simple click.  So I could share with everyone most of the time and even cross post to Twitter, and then restrict others to just friends.

Friendship is a one way street with the service.  Anyone can become a fan of anyone else, nothing more is needed  It is up to you to post for just friends or everyone.

Posting

You can also post to Twitter, Facebook and Flickr when you do your check in itself, making life simple.  Adding notes, pictures and other items can then be assigned to the place itself as well as your Flickr stream.

Connecting
  • Facebook - the largest grouping of who you know and trust.  Are we connected on Facebook?
  • Twitter - if you follow them already, then you should be seeing them in location services.  You can find me on Twitter and do not forgot about the @Lotusphere account for reaching everyone while down there.
  • Gmail - use your Google mail or even Google apps account to find those you communicate with
  • Yahoo - many of you still live and breathe Yahoo services, here is your connection point.

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    On Monday, January 11th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Everyone needs this for drinks at #ls10 (video)



Oh if it was only possible..
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    On Friday, January 8th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

How to add friends quickly with BrightKite for IdoCheckin #ls10

Now that many of you are downloading the clients and preparing to get involved in location services while at Lotusphere, I wanted to let you know the fastest way to add contacts/friends.

Simply login to BrightKite, head to the page for Discovering Friends, and choose between Twitter, Facebook, gMail, Google Apps and Yahoo to quickly connect to and see who uses the service already.

If you follow me on Twitter, connect on Facebook or have ever emailed me, then you should be able to connect right away!

More on privacy and sharing later.
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    On Thursday, January 7th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin checkpoints for Lotusphere 2010 #ls10

After a great conversation with the Brightkite team yesterday, we started pulling statistics and ideas for more places to list as check-in locations.  Amazingly, people checked in hundreds and hundreds of times across Lotusphere.  Couple this with the expansion of listings Brightkite has gained since last year as they expanded, pretty much every major restaurant around is covered and merged with the listings we had last year.  Here is the base list from last year when IdoCheckin launched for just the hotel spaces.
Clarification - every major restaurant in the hotels and around the Boardwalk have their own listings in place and are ready.  From BlueZoo, Kimonos, Big river, Spoodles..  they are all there!!


See yesterday's relaunch announcement for more information.
 
  • DolphinBar
  • DolphinDining
  • DolphinHemispheres
  • DolphinRotunda
  • LSVendorFloor
  • SwanEntrance
  • Y&BConferenceCenter
  • Y&BLobby

So what other locations do you want to see established?  Each meeting room is possible, but might be overkill.
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    On Wednesday, January 6th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive is alive for 2010 - year #4

After breaking another record in number of viewers in 2009, Carl Tyler and myself are ready for year #4 of giving you LotusphereLive.  Carl has once again stunned us with his amazing design work against a Domino 8.5.1 server with Sametime 8 loaded.  He made a great video and posting about it right here for Lotusphere2009.  If you want live content from the OGS, this is the place to get it in real-time.  Even on your iPhone and Blackberry , Droid and more with the mobile web interface!

If you missed the previous years, feel free to go back and visit to see all the chatter, pictures and commentary.  Yes, there is archives!
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    On Wednesday, January 6th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin returns for Lotusphere 2010 #ls10 - Announcement

Last year was the launch of IdoCheckin, providing all attendees at Lotusphere with geo-location services.  This year the experience has been expanded with more functionality, check-in points and remote viewing.  For the new attendees and participants, here is an excerpt refresher:
Remember the first time you went to a conference when you did not know anyone or could not find anyone?  Imagine you are one of those new people this year.  You wander around with no way to easily be in touch or locate another attendee.  You will be able to communicate and locate anyone that participates, even total strangers through IdoCheckin.

The important thing to know is you decide when you check-in and to where.  You can go "off the grid" at any time and only the public Lotusphere locations are established as public points.  This was a great way to find your friends, see where the crowds are and join in and meet new faces.  Couple this with the Lotusphere Twitter account that let's you reach everyone, there is no reason we aren't a better community while there.

So what is new and has changed?  Mobile clients and more integration!!
For those of you not attending Lotusphere in person, you can also launch and view the entire wall (live now) that pulls all pictures, notes and checkins across the Lotusphere area.  Hopefully Lotus will have some of these running at Lotusphere for the enjoyment of all.

More checkin locations coming with the announcement made right here!
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    On Tuesday, January 5th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Shouldn’t Lotusphere be a growing and nurtured community? Not reborn every 12 months?

Over the years, Lotusphere has taken the path of building an entire infrastructure to support the conference, most of the previous time with the servers onsite in the Dolphin.  The capabilities do grow annually, but we lost the past knowledge and contacts from the previous years.   The technology has changed in what seems like eras of time over the short years.   I know this brief outline is not perfect, but the path has looked somewhat like the following:
  • the annual website is always in place
  • while at Lotusphere we get a new email address we could use, (but never do anymore)
  • Early Lotusphere days had us using full Notes clients, we hacked and found ways to use our ID's and make connection docs home
  • Soon they had worked out a good roaming system
  • They launch Nomad to allow us to carry Notes on a stick.  We rejoice!  They block USB ports on machines there.  We shrug
  • Online awareness enters the picture into the kiosks; yet we are never at the kiosks
  • the Domino Web Access era (accounts we never use)
  • the Lotus Connections era
  • LotusLive and the cloud era
  • back to Lotus Connections and Domino for 2010

Lotus has made a decision here that could have changed some of the communication landscape between tens of thousands of customers, partners, employees, vendors and press.  A living breathing system that grew over the years and integrated more technology, connecting more people together.

In perfect timing Lotus sent an email this weekend opening Lotusphere and promptly closing it at 4pm EST on February 5th 2010.  So you get one whole month total and exactly fifteen (15) days to grab, save, download or whatever anything from the conference


One of the recent concerns has been access to the files from Lotusphere and the length of time it stays available.  People end up writing scripts and other tools to grab everything they can from the site like an after holiday sale.  Collaboration and sharing is not about making it a local resource and becoming a hermit for another 11 months.

My Proposal

Lotusphere should be a constant community with security wrapped around the resources by the the year I attend.  I would maintain an account that allowed me to chat, communicate and look up people.  Lotus would integrate new technologies of social networking tools (outside of Lotus Connections as we went along).  I would be able to access past files from all the years of content that was afforded to me for the years I attended.

Imagine I only go every other year.  Well I would never lose contact, I would jump right into the mix, have access to past slides, audio and more and be able reconnect.  Remember that not every presentation is given each year and not every new one is better than the previous.  Some of the best info on a topic might be three years ago.  A development session may cover some piece of technology that does not appear in this year's schedule.

Lotusphere should be a Sametime chat community that never closes, now with the zero download client found in Sametime 8.5.  Socialbookmarks should have kept growing.  Throw out Activities since I can only use one such plug-in in my client at work and use it already.  Streamline what communities are there.  

Keep the accounts active and make use of the population that wants to be part of Lotusphere and comes each year instead of making us go through a rebirth of connections, technology and sharing. I know I have talked about the number of silo and fragmented communities that pop up, but this would have been the oldest external one in existence (outside of forums on Notes Net)

It's only a thought.
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    On Tuesday, January 5th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere on Twitter - the updated guide for 2010

Once again the Lotusphere Twitter id is alive and well for communication with anyone and everyone!  Just read the following rules and How-To document.  The idea is to be able to communicate in mass without having to follow each person.  If you are looking for the perfect Twitter client for your device, then head over to EverythingTwitter and browse by category or do a search.

The hashtag we all decided on back in November was #ls10 for you to use in tweets, photo postings and more.  (It seems Lotus like the very long LotusKnows as a tag but the trend has been ls and the year it seems.  Also, LotusKnows is the new Twitter id IBM will tweet under this year for their marketing plan as this has been a community resource)

First, the Rules:

  • I am not turning on auto-follow to prevent spammers.  So it might be a minute before you are allowed to post,  But you can follow right away
  • Anyone that sends explicit content or becomes a nuisance (as voted by many not just one of us) gets removed from being followed, which removes the ability to send to everyone
  • Anything you send will be read by MANY, keep that in mind.  Typos can hurt
  • I personally don't mind a small one time shot to promote your booth or giveaway, but I will let the people decide that one


If you do not agree with a rule let me know, we may very well change it.  If you just don't agree, don't participate but you miss out having 'instant' communication with as many people as sign up while there.  Lotusphere Online does not offer this, Lotus does not offer this and we couldn't think of a way to let everyone have their own identity and use multiple devices. (ie: SMS, web browser, instant messaging, handhelds).

The How-To portion

  • Get over to http://Twitter.com and register if you do not have an account now
  • add Lotusphere as someone to follow
  • choose a client for your device type.  There are so many for every phone and operating system.  I have my own favorites and don't want to sway your choice
  • To send a message that everyone would get, you simply type  "@lotusphere  "   up to 140 characters.  Make it to the point as it will go to everyone with your name on it.
  • If you see someone you wish to talk to directly, replace "@lotusphere " with their username or simply type @username to send a public , but directed at them message.
  • Lastly, if you need help with this, ask!


The idea is to communicate, collaborate and have fun.  If you see an awesome giveaway, let us know.  If you find the best hidden snack area, let us know.  If there is an open vendor party, lets us know.  If you are headed to lunch and want someone new to eat with, ask!

Also new for Lotusphere 2010 is the ability to follow the list of speakers that use Twitter.  In order to make it easy to see #ls10 updates from all the Lotusphere 2010 speakers, you can now follow the speaker list via email or Twitter and see when any speaker uses the tag #ls10 in a tweet to keep up with the flow of information without being totally overloaded.

Just use the above subscription or follow along in your favorite Twitter client (like Mixero, TweetDeck or others).  If you do not know what to use on your desktop or mobile device and want suggestions, ping me
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    On Monday, January 4th, 2010   by Chris Miller        

LotusKnows you must be on speed for Lotusphere

Apparently a new trend is not to take your time and enjoy speaking one on one with the actual folks who make Lotus products and the business partners that can make it work for you, but to rush quickly along.  No time to banter.  Say what you want quickly and get out of the way.  I present to you the speed sessions for Lotusphere
  • SpeedGeeking - an annual event where the Best Practices speakers get together in a very loud and rapid spit in your face version of some tip or tool.  You grab a free drink and run quickly to the next pedestal at the buzzer where you are hit yet again.  Tons of fun and a must see.  I have done a couple of these and you really do wear the speakers out as they present the same topic 12 times in quick fashion, resetting their demo between drinks, I mean breaths.
  • SpeedPartnering - This is a new event on Business Development Day (BDD) where business partners get together to see some marketing sessions and topics around better partnering.  The event will be Sunday evening right before the party.  The idea is to move around in six-minute conversations to find the perfect mate for your product.  Yes free drinks will be here also.
  • Speed Networking - This title was under the above also, but it slightly different in my eyes.  You are not only trying to see who you can work with for ISV and other business needs, but to make more contacts socially in the business partner community.  Did I mention the free drinks?

There are some regular sessions that will also show you quick and easy ways to get things done or how to make your server and application faster.  DO a quick search and highlight those on your schedule.
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    On Wednesday, December 16th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Interesting question on Lotusphere 2010 registration #ls10

While filling out the form for registration I noticed the question on if you use Domino currently, and then when selecting 'yes' it opened another list of choices:
Image:Interesting question on Lotusphere 2010 registration #ls10

Hopefully there is not many 5.x or lower versions alive out there.   But how come there was no choice for 8.0 and higher or even 8.5 to get a true idea of how many attending have upgraded?
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    On Thursday, December 3rd, 2009   by Chris Miller        

LotusKnows and Ars Technica Mobile crowdsourcing

While creating a new little project (separate blog posting coming) for Lotusphere, I ran across this article on the Ars Technica blog.  Apparently they are building a better mobile browsing experience and somehow had the support of LotusKnows by IBM.  I could find no other reference to this anywhere, ye they state they hoped to have version 1.0 out this first week in December (as in right now).

Does anyone out there in the crowdsource have more information on this?  Does Lotus Know?
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    On Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009   by Chris Miller        

My Lotusphere 2010 sessions #ls10

I waited to post to get the assigned session number.  While the data/time/location is not yet available, the listing is:
  • The Advanced Low-Down on LDAP Infrastructure (BP109) - Join myself and Warren Elsmore on Wednesday at 11:15-12:15pm in Swan 7-10 as we bring together the best of four years of LDAP session at Lotusphere into one giant session around Domino as a core LDAP source.  This will be a combination of what a 100 level class and a 400 level class would like like, wrapped into a blazing hour.
     Integrate all of your Lotus software with LDAP, a widely-deployed, key directory technology. Implementing Lotus Sametime, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections, WebSphere Portal or even remote directories? Believe it or not, LDAP is the mortar that holds it all together. Explore schema management, federation and integration with other directories through Directory Assistance and IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator.  Whew!
  • IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway: The Business Case, Best Practices and Implementation (BP117) - Join me  on Wednesday at 01:30 - 2:30pm in Swan 7-10.      .   I'll help you understand the various business case scenarios in deploying the Lotus Sametime Gateway and walk through the architecture and implementation. You'll learn how it integrates with your existing Lotus Sametime architecture and the Sametime user policy changes required. We'll cover the basics of troubleshooting, configuration and controls, and discuss network placement, firewall rules, SSL and growth scenarios

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    On Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2010 Speakers List on Twitter #ls10



In order to make it easy to see #ls10 updates from all the Lotusphere 2010 speakers, you can now follow the speaker list via email or Twitter and see when any speaker uses the tag #ls10 in a tweet to keep up with the flow of information without being totally overloaded.

Just use the above subscription or follow along in your favorite Twitter client (like Mixero, TweetDeck or others).  If you do not know what to use on your desktop or mobile device and want suggestions, ping me
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    On Wednesday, November 18th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Collaborate4you knew before LotusKnowed?



In an amass of links, emails and leftovers from Lotusphere, the whole Work Smarter thing generated a bunch of information for a very short time.  Including a long list of videos.  The above video was one of them on Lotus Software.  It seems Lotus Knew.
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    On Tuesday, August 25th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

LotusUserGroup online seminar today! Franziska Tanner on “Manage and Control Your Data, Even After It Grows”

If you have not signed up for the LCTY events on LotusUserGroup.org then head on over.  The next one in the series is today in one hour (that is 12pm EST).
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    On Tuesday, May 12th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere09 site down, LotusLive offers.. clothing?

We were told last week (or so) that the Lotusphere2009 site would be going down.  It is down as far as I can tell.  All the materials were to be moved to LotusLive Engage (that is my profile link so we can connect).  Well a search today only turns up a test account for clothing?  Anyone know how to find anything related to Lotusphere in there?  Does it even exist yet?

There is no groups, one profile and one for the Lotusphere Event team.  I am terribly confused..

Image:Lotusphere09 site down, LotusLive offers..  clothing?
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    On Monday, February 9th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

A Smarter Planet - IBM’s pitch from Lotusphere2009

Umm, why is this blog of A Smarter Planet, a major push by IBM we were told and shown through the sesisons, sitting on Typepad and not some IBM software like Domino or Connections.  heck even the Roller one they use for Developerworks would be ok.
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    On Friday, January 23rd, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Sys Admin Tips for January 2009 - came out during Lotusphere rush

The January edition came out right before everyone headed down and got lost in the mix.  You can read it online here if not subscribed to the monthly email.
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    On Friday, January 23rd, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Assessing session BP404 - IBM’s take on social software adoption (freakin ouch)

THIS IS LIVE CHECK FOR UPDATES:
Way too much info on these slides to begin with.  Charts, tiny words, bullets everywhere.  More charts came and then by slide 5 we are getting a sales pitch for "Business Value Assessment" by IBM.  In the Best Practices track?!?!  They have:
  • Business Value Alignment Workshop
  • Process Modeling Review
  • Architecture Assessment Review
  • Day in the Life demo
  • Business Value/ROI case
  • then the presentation on all the data

We finally break away and get back into the listed best practices:
2 - business value assessment
3 - phased "soft launch" which includes early assessments and small microcosm groups
4 - having a measurement scheme that apparently involves huge amounts of small charts and # signs
5 - develop a center of excellence (COE) to build competencies and link to business strategies.  Have a bunch of people that run reports and look at the growth by doing Social Network Analysis and gathering metrics.
6 - develop an approach to governance.  Basically policies that should be in place but most sites don't have them yet.  email, IM, blogging policies.  Then on to items like proper etiquette which is normally under Internet Usage and Conduct Guidelines.
7 - locating your subject matter experts and advocates using Social Network Analysis (SNA).  How can you find these people if you don't have a social network yet?  They want Mavens, Salespeople, Connectors.  You measure and graph based on density, distance and centrality.  But what does that have to do with adoption?  They showed a sample questionnaire but it seems to be huge work to perform as an employee and also correlate the data.

Change in speakers---  new speaker reads the slides and pages and pages of notes that are printed out

8 - Communications should employ "big seed" viral marketing tactics.  t-shirts, email, lunches, contests and whatever to get people informed and involved.  Lunch and learn results also.  You can do this top down or bottom up techniques.  Have leaders makes blogs and lead by example.
9 - formal training program to teach users how to use the technology.  Provide relevant education, why blogs make me productive versus how to blog.  Teach why this is a business tool.

change back in speaker
10 - Address culture change by "living" the vision.  Basically help people change their basic assumptions coupled with the external factors that drive them.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) apparently has a cousin called Personal Network Analysis (PNA).  Users have their own analysis done as well as the network.  Their model they are proposing for building the SNA is broken.  They naturally assume you follow the prime source and that builds the model.  That doesn't count the person with the 100 followers whose content is reshared to thousands.  make sense?  I might reword that later.

Final slide is ISSL consulting, training and support options.  A partner session in this track with that content would be pulled.
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    On Wednesday, January 21st, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Flickr stream updated and eye opening thoughts on Day 3 at Lotusphere2009

www.flickr.com
IdoNotes' Lotusphere2009 photoset IdoNotes' Lotusphere2009 photoset


After finishing all my sessions with a bang, and nerf ball shot to the back of the head from Gabriella, my eyes opened wider and I started seeing clearly again.  I don't need to run you through my day and all the session to express that the passion the business partners that speak have is only overcome by the amount of fun we have in getting together throughout the week at all times of day and late into the night.  One other speaker/blogger/friend even apologized this evening if they came off too strong or argumentative sometime during the day while we were attending something or another (I don't even know what).  I quickly pointed out that A - I had no clue what they were talking about and B - that is what we do since we all have agendas while here and thoughts on where Lotus should focus attention.

If we spent time arguing with another, nothing would get accomplished and Lotusphere would suffer.  What other major, large scale conferences do you know that have deep technical sessions, allow you to directly interact with product developers, hunt down Lotus executives (via IdoCheckin I might add) and then party into the night like nothing happened to start over again tomorrow?  None I say.

We are a rare breed here at Lotusphere that bleed much yellow while fighting to keep it as pure as possible and the coolest software you have used.  I think the eye opener for me was what you are about to see at Lotusphere Idol from one of the winner's on Thursday.  I got the chance to talk to them this evening.  They actually wanted to meet and talk to me, but when I heard what they were doing, I wanted to hear more about them.  Two college kids, sponsored by IBM in ticket only to be here, making some of the best plug-in work for Symphony I have seen/heard.  Wait till you see their energy and what they are doing.  Watching the new generation we are fighting to get by deploying corporate social software (whatever that is, a different posting) and learning they are working on our core products instead revitalizes some thoughts we had that Lotus was the 20 year old man in software.
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    On Wednesday, January 21st, 2009   by Chris Miller        

ADVANCE NEWS: Blogger "Nachos and News" unembargoed newsfest at Lotusphere2009

  • Ed Brill: Twitter already covered the ActiveSync support in Lotus Traveler, but they are putting it in there.  Looking to ship in 2009.  License agreements were not available for comment.  A public beta date is not set yet.  They have to decide which active based devices will be supported.  The session today that introduced it used the native mail application on the iPhone for example.  Android testing has not been done yet.
  • David Marshak: Sametime 8.5 is second half of year, enhancing the meeting server.  It will be Websphere driven for the expanded meeting services.  Meetings are persistent, so presentation materials may be stored.  The new meeting services will be faster and richer with zero footprint, all Ajax and HTML.  Java and JVM issues go away.  Improved audio and video.  Websphere versions will finally be the same across Sametime 8.5 meetings, Advanced and Gateway.

    The new Sametime web client is also announced.  Zero footprint with functionality the same as the client. Still no Skype due to their lack of integration.
  • Caleb Barlow: Lotus Foundations news..  IBM branded appliance worldwide.  The first announcement on Foundations is version 1.1 with suport for VM Hypervisor on top of Foundations.  This will allow any image to run on the server.  Single click deployment from an image you drop on the server.

    The second announcement is Lotus Foundations Branch Office running Domino version 8.5.  Basically a Domino server in the domain.  News on running native Domino HTTP and also migrating in an existing domain is not sure yet.

Over to live demos from Xerox Corp for Foundations
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    On Tuesday, January 20th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Blogger live interview of the executives at Lotusphere2009

I am recording this as usual for a later podcast.  Excuse the typing noises you will hear.  But here we go.
  • Ads will continue globally with more marketing push.  A past weakness Lotus had.  Expect to see more online and tv soon
  • Jack Dausman asks:  we are seeing growth in Microsoft customers moving over to Lotus, Bruce Morse from UC says
  • Nathan Freeman asks:  Alister joked about legal and lawyers that had interfered with releases due to processes.
  • John Head asks:  Small 1000 person shops putting up items like Sharepoint/Office and doing it cheap (not well necessarily).  But where is the rapid development and document management moves from Lotus.  Jeff Schick brings up ECM integration and Quickr movements.  John reminds that the competitor has s single solution where you build your website, host your documents all in one.  Kevin Cavanaugh brings up Domino does well under 1000 employees, even with Foundations.  Plus xPages and extending Quickr further. Alister brings up Sharepoint is inadequate in many scenarios, past just a website.  Using social software and more.
  • Mitch Cohen asks:  What about the disparity in versions of backend systems required , like WAS.  Alister responds this is in discussion in the next iteration of Quickr and Connections.  This will grow over time to run across the products including WAS, DB2 and more.
  • Tom Duff questions: His company politics wants Sharepoint and he finds it frustrating he is fighting the battle and lost.  Lotus wasn't fighting it.  Kevin Cavanaugh brings up the attempt to have more coverage in the practice.  The coverage is about a pace now, now just around events.  it isn't just press releases and being on CNN as an ad at the bottom.
  • Jess Stratton asks: For LotusLive, as a small business owner, it might almost like a local chamber of commerce.  How do you plan on reaching this market?  The SBA has talked to Lotus about this type of offering and capability with small businesses.
  • Bob P joins us to cover the question that Notes 8 is not just an email client.  It is a major jump into enabling productivity.
  • Alister feels that xPages is a game changer in the future of building modern web apps on top of Domino.
  • It was brought up that Lotus should not just evolve and make a better product, but invent something new.  Bob P makes an interesting joke I will leave to the podcast.
  • Nathan continues to have his hand up and might be reaching explosion. He brings up how Lotusphere has been a case study in cloud computing.  How will Lotus evolve with non persistent connection?  Shawn makes some good points about lack of connection.  Alister brings up appliance/cloud integration.
  • I asked about Saas and Foundations and clouds.  I will type long answer later from Shawn, Alister and Kevin.
  • Alan Lepofsky brings up phenomenal to hear about Linkedin, Skype and etc.  No more purple icons for Portal.

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 19th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

BP216 extra handout for LS2009

Here is the PDF from last years hands on session!

HND302 - Sametime Gateway Installation and Administration.pdf


    for this posting

    On Monday, January 19th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive for the OGS is live at 8:15 EST! View live here or at the URL inside including the iPhone!!!



You can watch the stream right here in this posting built on Domino and Sametime technology or click this URL to set your own refresh preferences.  You may also utilize the iPhone interface here.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 19th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Bloomberg reports the announcement of LotusLive

While reading feeds in Google Reader, this popped up a bit early I think.  I cut the highlights to here..
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- International Business Machines Corp., the world's third-biggest software maker, will release an online version of its Lotus programs, a bid to attract new customers by tapping into so-called cloud computing.

The company said last week it would buy e-mail software assets from Hong Kong-based Outblaze Ltd.  That will let LotusLive users access their e-mail from any computer via the Web, similar to the way Google Inc.'s Gmail works.

LotusLive ties into software from Salesforce.com Inc., the maker of customer-management program, and LinkedIn Corp., a social-networking site for professionals.  It also works with Research In Motions Ltd.'s Blackberry phones and software from SAP AG, the world's largest maker of business-management programs.

The test version of LotusLive, called Bluehouse...

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 19th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2009 Day 1

Some say this is day zero, well with all of the events it is day 1.  Jam packed with jumpstarts, preliminary customer meetings, people close to scuffles with the law, business development day and then a long evening of seeing everyone and parties.  Why else is this being written so late.

So the summary of news.  Nothing we can say.  While I was not at the entire keynote for BDD, the message was clear.  There will be some mesage this week as it resonates a lot like last year with some more flair added in.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 18th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2009 CTO and Best of Show Awards

We are sitting live on the vendor floor as part of the blogger program, able to follow the judges as they visit each booth to judge these onsite and highly coveted awards.  While the wifi is not up, pictures will be a few minutes to enter the stream.  It is interesting to see the nerves that the partners have as the unknown general public is not browsing their products, but a select few of judges are in your face asking questions and viewing live demos that better work.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 18th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2009 Day 0 and picture stream

www.flickr.com
IdoNotes' Lotusphere2009 photoset IdoNotes' Lotusphere2009 photoset


With a prompt arrival and easily checking in the buzz was apparent.
  • New attendees running around with badges on and bags on shoulders, even before the conference began.
  • Bob Balaban handing out the new annual button showing off how long you have been making the trip to Lotusphere
  • After retrieving the badge and bag I immediately strip the fluff content from the inside.  Does anyone really read the ads the cram in with the notebook and conference guide?  We should option paperless on checkin to save on all that stuff with all the agendas online in iPhone and Blackberry format.
  • Bill Buchan sunburned from his Harley ride around Florida.
  • The smart ones getting into Kimonos tonight for food since the next nights will be totally packed
  • Everyone crammed into BALD and then ESPN

IdoCheckin started taking off.  I spent more time explaining features and functions that anything else I think.  And I am damn happy to see it..
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 18th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive is alive for year #3 with iPhone and BB integration

Carl and I have put LotusphereLive together again with his amazing design work against a Domino 8 server with Sametime 8 loaded.  He made a great video and posting about it right here.  If you want content from the OGS, this is the only place to get it in real-time.  Even on your iPhone and Blackberry
    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 17th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

The Lotusphere Twitter account for 2009

The Rules:
  • I am not turning on auto-follow to prevent spammers.  So it might be a minute before you are allowed to post,  But you can follow right away
  • Anyone that sends explicit content or becomes a nuisance (as voted by many not just one of us) gets removed from being followed
  • Anything you send will be read by MANY, keep that in mind.  Typos can hurt
  • I personally don't mind a small one time shot to promote your booth or giveaway, but I will let the people decide that one


If you do not agree with a rule let me know, we may very well change it.  If you just don't agree, don't participate but you miss out having 'instant' communication with as many people as sign up while there.  Lotusphere Online does not offer this, Lotus does not offer this and we couldn't think of a way to let everyone have their own identity and use multiple devices. (ie: SMS, web browser, instant messaging, handhelds).

This is in additon to IdoCheckin, of course.

  • Get over to http://Twitter.com and register if you have not
  • add Lotusphere as someone to follow and turn notifications ON for it
  • go to notification settings and choose your poison.  I suggest your SMS (check your provider for charges or unlimited texting options), an IM alias of some type or even email notifications.  You can always use a browser from laptop or handheld.  I mix the way mine are done.
  • To send a message to everyone you simply type  "@lotusphere  "   up to 140 characters.  Make it to the point
  • If you see someone you wish to talk to directly, replace "@lotusphere " with their username or simply type @username to send a public , but directed at them message.
  • You can turn off following for a while if you need some silence or whatever by following this Twitter help page.  It will stop notifications but still leave it in your web browser views.  http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=5
  • Alternately you can simply text 'off lotusphere' to Twitter to do it temporarily and then 'on lotusphere' to turn notifications back on!  We are making life simple here folks.
  • Lastly, if you need help with this, ask!


The idea is to communicate, collaborate and have fun.  If you see an awesome giveaway, let us know.  If you find the best hidden snack area, let us know.  If there is an open vendor party, lets us know.  If you are headed to lunch and want someone new to eat with, ask!

Please see the older posting for further info or go to Twitter help for short phone command and such.  And here is the whole Twitter helpfiles
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 15th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

2 Minutes with the Guru interview - mine is posted at LotusUserGroup.org

I jumped in for a quick LotusUserGroup podcast the other day and it is posted and ready to stream or download from here
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 13th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

BP207 - From Domino Admin to Websphere Admin in an Hour (the video)



Gabriella Davis and myself are putting this session on but needed some viral video effect to get everyone excited.  Here is what it is like to be a Websphere admin compared to a Domino admin.  We decided instead of standing in front of cameras we wanted some virtual people to stand in.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 12th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin - Making the iPhone app easier to use

Thanks to Rob McDonagh of CaptainOblivious, he came up with an easy way for the iPhone users to keep checkpoints ready to go:
At least for iPhone users, by far the easiest way to checkin to a place at Lotusphere is to placemark those spots you pre-defined for us.  Just search for them on the website and when they come up, hit the Placemark link and give them a name.  If they're placemarked, they show up in a list on the iPhone, which makes it pathetically easy to use them (you have to touch More first, which I wish they would change, then Placemarks, then pick the right checkin button from the list).  The only annoyance (other than the extra "More" touch) is that the locations are listed in reverse order from when they were added.  That probably makes a ton of sense in most scenarios, but in this case it winds up being reverse alphabetical if people use the list you posted on the blog.

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 12th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin - the mobile browser interface

OK, so we have covered SMS, email based, the iPhone app and now you need to see the mobile browser interface.

Image:IdoCheckin - the mobile browser interface
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 9th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

BlueMan Group at Lotusphere - halfway there!



I originally posted this almost a month ago and so many of you were generous.  But if we want Carl to continue to dress up as part of the Blueman Group at Lotusphere, then I need some more help this week!
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 9th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin - the logo to look for

Many of you have asked how will I know what places to log into.  Well I am working with Lotus to get signs placed in the checkpoint locations.  But no matter what, look for this logo and you know a Checkpoint is nearby.  Or ask anyone wearing a shirt with this how it all works:

Image:IdoCheckin - the logo to look for
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 9th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

A glitch in the Lotusphere online matrix? Ed gets a new job

Need I say more than this image?

Image:A glitch in the Lotusphere online matrix? Ed gets a new job
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 8th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin - the iPhone application from Brightkite

I know many of you have iPhones and want a native app for it instead of just SMS, email or browser based, which all rock.  So Brightkite has an iPhone app ready to go from the iTunes store.  The link is right here

Image:IdoCheckin - the iPhone application from Brightkite
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 8th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin - email guide

Some people do not like to use SMS or maybe do not have that ability but do have email.  Guess what? You can still do this over email too:
  • You will be assigned a personal address to email in for check-ins
  • You can then do all your updates that way!
to: your_code@bkite.com (your personalized Brightkite email)
subject: 
body: @2911 Walnut St, Denver CO (or what ever placemark you've defined)


See the email guide right here for those that need it
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 8th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin benefits - SMS cheatsheet (or use the web) for Lotusphere

Many have asked, ok what can I do besides check myself into an IdoCheckin checkpoint at Lotusphere.  What benefit does using a Checkpoint give me?  Let me start with the easy things.  If IBM approves the signs, checkpoints will be identified with the name of the checkpoint and the commands to always get help if you get stuck.  But I wanted you to understand some of the cool things you can do at any of the checkpoints (previous blog post listing checkpoints):
  • Where username - sending this command gets you the last checked in location for the person's name entered
  • Who place name - using this command gets you everyone currently checked into a specific place, like DolphinDining
  • Join username - This checks you in at the same place as someone else, let the gathering begin
  • Leave - this is what it says, you are leaving the checked in place
  • ! - this lets you post a comment or note to the place you are checked in
  • POSTPHOTO - you can upload a photo from your phone for that place

Without going through them all I wanted to get the key ones out there.  For the complete listing or SMS based ones (you can always use the web people!), just visit this reference page.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 7th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckin - checkpoints for Lotusphere2009

Since this is the first year, we built checkpoints for all of the main areas around Lotusphere.  If something is missing I apologize and might be able to get one or two more done, if the need is there.  But here is the list:
  • BigRiverGrille
  • DolphinBar
  • DolphinDining
  • DolphinHemispheres
  • DolphinRotunda
  • ESPNOrlando
  • FlyingFishCafe
  • JellyRollsDisney
  • LSVendorFloor
  • Spoodles
  • SwanEntrance
  • SwanKimonos
  • Y&BConferenceCenter
  • Y&BLobby

I tried to keep them all as one word for consistency.  I am working with Lotus to get signs placed around Lotusphere, but I bet the bars/restaurants will be off limits for signage.

Look for a bunch of commands you can use in the next posting.  Such as the ability to look someone up and get their last location they checked in
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 6th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

IdoCheckIn discussion posting

I apologize the last posting locked discussion.  I wrote the posting over weeks and the open discussion expired.  So this thread will allow a full Q&A until Lotusphere time for everyone with questions like I saw on Twitter today.

Q. Stuart McIntyre - you can't leave comments on that post - seems a great idea. Will the usual BrightKite interfaces work - I assume so...
A. All the usual Brightkite interfaces will work.

Q. Olufsphere - Looks exciting. Will it work for us 'foreigners' as well? (Unlike twitter, where we are bound to PC-clients)
A. Yes there is an international code for sending text but while in the US the code for here should work unless I am wrong.  I am checking this

Q. MattWhite - Very cool, hopefully it will cut down on lots of shouted "I'm by the rotunda" phone conversations :-)
A. That is the goal for sure and to be able to quickly scan for large groups as well as find those people you only known names and not faces or how to find them
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 5th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

Announcement: IdoCheckIn for Lotusphere2009

This year over 8,000 Notes professionals are attending Lotusphere2009.  With all the social networking technology, from Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn, you are still in the dark on the location of people and finding new contacts.

IdoCheckin (website launch this week) will allow everyone to better communicate and locate each other around Lotusphere and other events.

Remember the first time you went to a conference when you did not know anyone or could not find anyone?  Imagine you are one of those new people this year.  You wander around with no way to easily be in touch or locate another attendee.  You will be able to communicate and locate anyone that participates, even total strangers through IdoCheckin.

IdoCheckin allows you to broadcast your location via SMS or web browser where you are around Lotusphere and be able to see everyone that checks in at different areas.

I partnered with Martin at Brightkite (an incredible location service) to make this happen.  We knocked out a nice listing of key areas for this first year launch.  While I realize there are even more locations we can list, I created the majority of prime places, even ones like Jellyrolls.  I will blog the full listing of locations and more detailed instructions tomorrow.

So here is how it works:
  • you do NOT have to register with Brightite if you do not want to, but I would strongly suggest it
  • your phone number is NEVER exposed at any time.  You could always just use the web interfaces
  • if you choose not to register an account, you get almost all functions and assigned a jdoeXXX name until you set one
  • you will simply send a simply formatted SMS to their service and it "checks you in" at that location
  • you are able to see who is at locations through notifications (if registered) or on the public 'wall' through a browser.  I will cover the wall this week
  • if registered, it can also link your location to Twitter for your followers, as many of you often see me do.
  • standard text messaging (SMS) rates will apply based on your carrier and phone plan if using the SMS interface.  IdoCheckin has NO fees associated with it.
Look for more postings starting tomorrow outlining all the spots established around Lotusphere, more instructions and videos.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 5th, 2009   by Chris Miller        

How we in the Lotus world make fragmented islands, not communities (evolving document)



One of the things  currently wrong in how we handle discussions in the Lotus community is the tiny islands we seem to create on a regular basis.  Before we go further, I am not saying any implementation is bad, wrong or whatever.  It is how it all fits together.  I have learned a lot the past year from some of the top social media people out there, and fragmentation is a key issue we face.

Lotusphere has brought that out even more with the beginning of support from IBM on the Twitter account I created last year (that was brushed aside as a communication channel) a new LinkedIn group and another blog for Lotusphere itself.  Yet none of the blogs (myself temporarily included) uses some of the commenting systems like IntenseDebate or Disqus (that then integrates with things like FriendFeed and Plaxo and Seesmic for video comments).  Your RSS feeds can even utilize flares inside of Feedburner to show numbers of comments dynamically and aggregated.  
Just today there were new conversations started on LinkedIn that are good Lotusphere information.  But if you have not joined that group or go back and watch it, you would never know. Even the LotusUserGroup site has weekly forums that fragment the discussions on Notes.Net.  Not to mention the ones that take place inside isolated business partner and company forums.  So where do you go to keep up?

Then we get into the multiple Lotus Connections sites popping up.  From Greenhouse to Paxos (for partners) to BleedYellow, yet more links, blogs and other information is fragmented once again.  Of course, none of these interact with each other and RSS is not a fully acceptable answer since we would have to still log in and out everywhere to actually participate and not just read.

We won't even get into how all of us bookmark.  With LinkJam, Dogear, Diigo (my favorite), Delicious, Magnolia and the 250 other ones.  How to we all get aligned?  We start be trimming down the sites we utilize.  From bookmarks, to shared RSS feeds, to communication channels to comments and conversations.  We begin to include and mix technologies instead of isolating.  We ask what people think of sites and items and if no one has an idea, we go test.  From there we might begin to bring a lot of this together.  I run into Lotus people all over the world that have no clue about the blogs, PlanetLotus or anything else but Notes.Net (LDD).  How do we start including these people in the conversations?
    for this posting

    On Thursday, December 18th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2009 Award Winners Announced

Winners in bold and link to last years winners at the bottom.
Category
Business Partner
GEO
Best Industry Solution e-On Integration S.A
iEnterprises
Ascendant Technology
Best Lotus Energy and Environment KLG Systel, Ltd
Alphalogix
Enterprise Information Management
Best Mid-Market Solution iEnterprises
Pavone AG
Nortel
Best Philanthropy PSC Group, LLC
Teamcentric Technologies
ITM Associates
Best Portal or IBM Mashup Award Ascendant Technology
Alacrinet
Edifixio
Best Tool and Utility Solution Award Permessa Software
Sherpa Software
iEnterprises
Best Total Lotus Solution Award Trilog Group
Ascendant Technology
Brookstone Technologies Pty Limited
Best Unified Communications and Collaboration Solution Award Avistar Communications Group
Polymorph
Permessa Corporation




Here is the link to the 2008 winners.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, December 18th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Want Blueman Group at Lotusphere? Carl can help! (fundraising inside)



Carl called himself out by shaving his head and going as a member of Blueman Group to his niece's birthday.  He then stated in his comments he could do it for Gurupalooza at Lotusphere 2009 if we raised enough.  So I went ahead and started a fundraiser project for a great cause I work with here in town.  So I know it goes to a great cause, autism treatment and services.    The organization is called MO FEAT and provides the following:
An organization of parents and professionals throughout Missouri with headquarters in St. Louis. Our mission is to provide advocacy, education, and support for families and the autism community and to support early diagnosis and effective autism treatment.


So jump in and spread the word!
    for this posting

    On Monday, December 15th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

LiveTwitting - how we will do Lotusphere2009

In case some of you don't follow my Twitter stream, where I post most everything short during the day, there is a new Twitter tool I plan on using during Lotusphere.

LiveTwitting allows you to set streams by session at a conference.  You can even hide them from your public stream.  Almost like taking notes in real time as well as providing that data to others.  If I am successful in getting a session at Lotusphere, I would hope people in the audience do the same.

Take a look at the entry on EverythingTwitter to get more info on how it works.  We will probably talk about this some more as we get closer to Lotusphere.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, September 18th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

"Show and Tell" track at Lotusphere 2009 and a poll

The powers that be have done an excellent job at enhancing the previous "Hands-on Lab" track.  It is now reads as follows:
Audience: Developers and administrators of all levels
Due to the enormous popularity of the Lotusphere Hands-on track, we've reworked it to expand the audience far beyond what we were able to accommodate in previous years. The new Show 'n Tell track is designed to bring you classroom-style technical presentations, complemented by a hands-on sandbox where you can run through the exercises after the session at your own pace using virtual machine environments supplied by the presenters. Simply put, the Show 'n Tell track will be a fast track to your education on a single topic. From start to finish, with picture by picture screenshots that you can take home with you and use to set up your own environment. All sessions will adopt a teaching approach with heavy emphasis on documentation and the supporting hands-on labs

So here is the poll, do you think that people would expect to not only work on these sandboxes in the lab area at Lotusphere, but to also have access to download and play with these sandbox session when they get home?
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, September 9th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Guest blogger: Disappointments of a first timer to Lotusphere Comes to You St Louis

Hi, I sent this posting over via email so it cold be pasted in.  I went to the Lotusphere Comes to You in St Louis last week for my first time.  I knew it was only a day review of what was explained to me a week long event.  I knew it would be consolidated.  I was not ready, however, for the way it was presented.  The speakers showed a lot of videos and hardly anything live.  One person actually showed his inbox, but everyone else had these pre-planned videos and stuff.  It turned out to be like a sales meeting in a way, where they talk about the products but only show slides.  I thought half of this was shipping? Could they not show it?  Are the demos too hard?  How can I make this work for my users then?

Also some of the speakers didn't seem to know fully the material or topic they presented.  Questions went unanswered.  That was a bit disconcerting for those that couldn't got to Lotusphere and needed more information.  I didn't plan on speeding a day there to get more questions that I came in with (meaning others asked some good ones too).  I know we only had a day to get this completed, but it seemed a bunch of product announcements from Lotusphere didn't even make it into the program in any way.  I know I stepped out once for a phone call, but in 20 minutes they could not have done them all as the session I stepped out from was still going strong when I reentered.

So my last thought was the actual other attendees.  From talking to people, there was like 3-4 times as many people last year.  With about 20-25 there this year, what happened?  I am sure it was not the change in venue as I got the email weeks before.  Where the heck was everyone?


IdoNotes note: I found the same thing from LCTY in Minneapolis per this blog posting.  I couldn't comment on that blog posting as it required a Wordpress account.  I suspect we are seeing this at cities that partners do not do a majority or any of the presentations?
    for this posting

    On Monday, May 12th, 2008   by Wanted to be Anonymous        

IdoNotes Episode 51 - Lotusphere 2008 picture review



Lotusphere2008 photo show set across music from Drop Trio via Magnatune

This is a test of some things I am playing with, let's get some feedback on how it turned out
    for this posting

    On Friday, April 25th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Comes To You (the online version)

LotusUserGroup.org is hosting Lotusphere Comes to You Online. This is an
online event series featuring updated presentations from Lotusphere 2008
and even one or two new sessions. Designed to bring anyone who couldn't get
to Orlando the critical information and the excitement they missed, this
series will help you get more from your existing IT investment and boost
collaboration across your enterprise.

The first of the series is:
April 14, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 pm Eastern (GMT -5)
Lotus Notes and Domino — The Road Ahead
Presenter: Ed Brill, Business Unit Executive, WW Lotus Notes/Domino Sales
Leader

How do we top Lotus Notes and Domino 8? Learn about the roadmap for 2008
and beyond, giving you a glimpse into planned innovations for upcoming
releases, intended to reduce the cost of managing and storing your email,
offer additional deployment options, and drive continued optimization of
employee productivity. We'll describe important initiatives designed to
reduce the costs of running Lotus Domino in many areas including security,
identity management, directory openness, storage reduction, administration,
quality of service, 64 bit support and web application server. You should
leave this session with a clear understanding of the Lotus Notes and Domino
strategy and future roadmap, to help you plan future deployments.


April 28, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 pm Eastern (GMT -5)
IBM Lotus Sametime Strategy and Roadmap: The Future of Unified
Communications and Collaboration
Presented by: Dave Marshak

May 12, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 pm Eastern (GMT -5)
The Business Value of Web 2.0 and Enterprise Portal Solutions
Presented by: Jon Raslawski

May 19, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 pm Eastern (GMT -5)
IBM Lotus Connections and Mashups
Presented by: Suzanne Minassian and Nicole Carrier

May 26, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 pm Eastern (GMT -5)
IBM Lotus Domino Designer
Presented by: Maureen Leland

June 23, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 pm Eastern (GMT -5)
Desktop of the Future
Presented by: Ed Brill and/or Alan Lepofsky

All the Lotusphere Comes to You Online sessions are free but require
pre-registration. Sign up for as many as you like. You have to be a
LotusUserGroup.org member, but membership is free.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, April 10th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

SocialBomb - a new game for Lotusphere

SocialBomb

I think this could be a big hit at Lotusphere as we all crowd around Ed and Alan to keep our scores up on our devices. However, you should also lose points for bad signing at Kimonos.
    for this posting

    On Friday, March 7th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere RFID hacked

Well there is not much surprise I hope.  Using a little hobby of mine with some RFID books and kits, I was able to pull apart the RFID tags from Lotusphere and see what they stored.  You know most of the stuff as you supplied it right to them.  Anything you put on the registration was on the tag:
  • badge id number
  • name
  • address
  • title
  • phone number
  • email address
  • primary industry
  • job level
  • number of employees
  • company need
  • attendee type

So then it all gets put into a database when we walk through the scanner.  If you poked in and out of a session, it grabbed you both times.  I can't quite see how Lotus could tell when someone was leaving versus coming in during that time of change between sessions, so there must be some form of cutoff.  So have no fear, I am watching you  :-)
    for this posting

    On Thursday, February 21st, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere sesions podcast feed - updated

I managed to get a couple more in to the podcast stream from the unauthenticated Lotusphere podcasts.  I am trying to add one or two a day until done, but there is a lot.  See yesterday's posting for the iTunes link or the widgets
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 19th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Updated: Lotusphere podcast feed (the right way)

UPDATE: I added a few more (so they might all get there eventually with help)
Had Lotus done this right, then this is how it would have looked and worked. I don't have the time to finish the whole thing, but read and see the following:


You simply click this link if you have iTunes --->   click me

you click this link if you don't - -->  click me
    for this posting

    On Monday, February 18th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere MP3 site, screenshot. Bulk downloader possible?

Here it is in all it's glory.. now to see what they recorded, quick before this goes away!

Image:Lotusphere MP3 site, screenshot. Bulk downloader possible?
    for this posting

    On Friday, February 15th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Ed does a Flickr good

Peeking at Flickr stats shows that Ed linking to the picture of the electric violinist during Lotusphere2008 week made things get hopping that week.

Image:Ed does a Flickr good
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 29th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Wow, the first Lotusphere Comes To You 2008 cities up (LCTY2008)

Go and check out and register for the first batch of cities right here.

thanks Henrik of IBM
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 29th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

A movie showing a customer scenario for Lotus Foundations (we will be offering)


    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 29th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2008 recap - bluntly

Why did I choose do to my recap posting so fast?  Because due to what I have seen, experienced and learned at Lotusphere this year, I have much work to do.  While this was not a year of amazing announcement after amazing announcement (sorry), it was a year of watching Lotus move beyond "Big Blue" syndrome and into the wild world of Web 2.0.  If they understand the leap they are taking and embrace the speed it happens, then they should come prepared for Web 3.0 in 2009.  So let's peek into my head and I will summarize as best I can and try and focus on what I am trying to say.  I have a habit of trying to portray all my ideas as they stream through.  After I typed most of this I found that I had even more to say but trimmed some to get key points out.

Domino 8.5

Let me start with Domino 8.5 as shown at Lotusphere. (as I said, as shown at Lotusphere).  Imagine we began with single copy template (SCT) to reduce disk needs back in version 6.  Administrators rejoiced.  Domino then comes along and announces design note compression.  Saving tens of MB per mailfile and database.  Administrators rejoice.  Next is the consolidating of non-summary data.  Administrators rejoice.  Finally, we hear of the new attachment service to combine those pesky attachments down to save even more.  We don't need numbers and percentages, we understand there is hug savings to be had.  Administrators rejoice.  Lotus understands the needs of disk savings in an ever growing environment.  This is a huge change since the says of shared mail (did I say that?).

Further work in security and directory changes.  ID Vault is officially put out to the public.  The ability to let users obtain their own lost passwords and even id files without helpdesk calls or human intervention outside their own struggles.  Administrators rejoice.  I am incredibly over simplifying the work that Peter and his team have done here.  There is much more to the ID Vault that I may talk about independently from the public information.  Sit and watch this space as more information is shared.

Directory independence.  This will soon be a global holiday.  The ability to walk away from most of your Domino directory to invest in LDAP sources to be the primary point of authentication for your enterprise.  I have been preaching this to you for years and telling you it was coming.  It was not a premonition on my part, it was the way Lotus had to go to stay alive in the increasing world of single directory infrastructures with software independence.  Do not get me wrong, I strongly believe that the Domino directory can be that single directory for enterprise needs, but not everyone took that path and Lotus will now support it. Administrators rejoice once again.

Lotus Foundations (Connectria will be supporting deployment and hosting of this) and the security device

A device is pulled from a DHL package (a la Steve Jobs) by Mike Rhodin.  It looks unusually like a laptop or small tablet device.  Yet it turns out to be a fully functional collaborative environment that will be duct taped to the wall of some SMB and fires us anything from email, instant messaging, document management and others.  All wrapped in what you would expect, a call home function and get help ability to update, add functions and patch.  (ET phone home?)  This could prove to be a major shift in IBM/Lotus' push into the SMB market if they can successfully market the device.  Microsoft has no such offering of a self maintained and loaded device you just plug in.  Unless you have a handful of plugs and know how to stack servers like pizza boxes.  If your SMB target market complained about any resources needed to deploy, manage or obtain all the tools they need, then point them to us as a reseller and they get it all.  No hype, we are ready for this one.  A humorous tidbit I learned today, the device is not yellow, that was construction paper (or similar) on it to give the Lotus yellow.  Darn!

The security device was a bit raw.  Even the one they had over in the IBM Village area.  I talked to the product manager and the developers to get a good feeling for what it offers.  I walked away with a nice list of what it did, soon.  The device laying there had some nice features, but IBM is taking the purchase of ISS a while ago and coming out swinging.  There are lots of choices in the space from numerous providers, lets see what the official box looks like.  Note that I am not telling you all it offers, mainly since it wasn't clear to me.  Can we get a list?

Lotus Bluehouse

I have mixed emotions here, lets just say another attempt for SAAS or AOD or whatever acronym you wish to give it this week.  Lotus' attempt at being the supplier of applications on demand or also known as software as a service.  Lotus needs to step back and see itself for what it is.  A software platform, yes a whole platform, but not a hosting company.  Passing this off to a newly formed group (I spoke to the new sales or marketing dude at the partner reception) that isn't ready to implement (his words not mine) is not their core strength.  Lotus' strength is bringing cutting edge, enterprise software to light through development.  Then letting customers implement or even us host.  This is not me talking as a hosting company, but as a company that sees that we ourselves only focus on what we do best.  We dropped support of Groupcast development for that very reason and are the largest referrer of Lotus licenses to a license reseller.  Licenses are not our core business in our eyes and we grew by not doing it.

Did anyone notice also that they are not using the new Sametime logos but the older, well known and branded blue icons for Sametime?  Maybe just me.
Image:Lotusphere 2008 recap - bluntly

Lotus Mashups

This should have been coming some time ago.  Here is the Lotus page describing the offering.  I am not understanding if this is a purchasable product yet, or an entitlement, but the offering will bring more Web 2.0 into Lotus software.  While this will not be available until Mid 2008, some sneak peeks at the widgets was shown for the Notes client in the OGS.  The catalog ability for sharing and rating the components is a requirement if the catalog is well categorized to show business and for fun components.  The Mashup Server was not well defined outside of supporting a variety of platforms and add controls.

I will say that there are public sites that do this already, I was making lists until I noticed there are too many.  Lotus is playing catch up quick though and should visit and learn from them.

The Unified Communications scenarios

I am so happy to see these movements and advances.  From the Lotus Sametime Advanced Server, to the telephony integrations to the future of the new web based client with no java behind it (see Innovation lab posting later).  Sametime is finally getting the focus is needs.  I have mentioned it before.  We told Lotus almost 7 years ago now that chat should be a commodity and the client interface should be changed to catch up.  They did it.  Now they show integration with Microsoft, Portal, phone systems and presence across the board.  The Sametime Gateway has grown into a mature product connecting you to the public IM networks.  If you missed the demos in the keynote for UC2, then you missed the future of enterprise collaboration.  Visit Adam G's blog for a summary of the keynote.  I cant force this down you anymore than to say look at how much of my time and blog postings are on Lotus Sametime.  From praising them to showing you what mistakes they made along the way, all is fair play and open season.  Adam will vouch for that.  He knows once the products are GA I let you know what I think.  And I think Lotus is on the right path in this space.  The strength in the partnerships they formed with the telephony product providers will grow them far beyond Microsoft in this space (sorry Peter).

Sametime Unyte.  I had a great 30 minute conversation with the product manager.  Interesting choice for an enterprise with skinning and branding abilities in a hosted solution.  The solution is only available through IBM hosting, so a no go for companies wanting that in house.  Resellers must pay enormous fees to get in the program in my eyes, but some will jump.  There are quite a few options for billing that you should investigate before choosing one to make sure you get the best deal.  I won't even list them all.

Social Networking (a la Lotus Connections)

Ok, this deserves it own posting (and the one I do on the Innovations lab will go further).  But I will sum it up.  Lotus Connections 1.0 was not what the enterprises needed.  They did need someone large (IBM) to stand up and say we have an enterprise product for you, but Connections missed the first mark.  Now saying that, they have listened and are making good strides.  The next hurdle is getting companies to see why they need it.  I overheard Connections was the fastest selling out of the gates over even Quickr.  Impressive, but are the companies really seeing what else is out there?  Not as in there is better for the enterprise, but there is better in the open world that Connections should be emulating.  I have strong opinions on social networking and I am happy Lotus has listened to some of my ideas and thoughts.  We proudly support and host Lotus Connections and will continue to do so assisting Lotus in growing the product with any input they will take from me.  My point here is not bashing, but letting you know the world of 2.0 is huge and we are entering a new path.  The Innovations lab has much of that path to offer, we just need to have Lotus give them the development cycles to bring it to the front.  Great sessions and talks on social networking took place at Lotusphere, I applaud Suzanne, Ted, Joe, Ronnie and everyone else on the Lotus Connections teams.  This is new I know and you have done great work bringing pieces of products together.  Take this as someone passionate about Web 2.0 and want to see Lotus stand as a leader in 3.0.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 28th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotus changes the client error screen (screenshot as seen at Lotusphere 2008)

Image:Lotus changes the client error screen (screenshot as seen at Lotusphere 2008)

Hmm, I am not sure what the user would do with a search of the technotes, unless it is your internal helpdesk it searches first.  If this is configurable then I am incredibly excited.

  I like Paul Mooney's work on this one to customize the error messages across the client.  I will find the link to his blog posting on performing this awesome gask for users.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 24th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

The pain of the online Lotusphere survey system

First, I appreciate each of every person who took the time to deal with this system to submit an evaluation for one of my sessions. You have shown much bravery and effort and should be commended.

Now then, let's begin. I love the approach and initiative the Lotusphere team took in making us more green. However, this was a huge failure in my eyes. Yes you had the choice to still do paper, so no complaints, you just had to go get the forms. But this new system was to revolutionize the way we did evals. From laptops, to Lotusphere kiosks to your handheld devices.

Handhelds are first. We could never get any device or browser type on the device to get past the splash screen. No not just mine, but four of us, that are reasonably skilled in these areas tried 4 different browsers on our Blackberrys including the standard and as far as Opera mini. All would let you type in your badge number and then immediately take you back to the splash screen. I finally tracked down where the link went and we got this first image.

Online survey issue The webpage, ugh. Why in the heck are we using a site that is handled by no-ip.com redirects and then has an incredibly awful interface for having a user do an eval. A nice tabbed interface lets you find the day and then the time of the session. Great start! But when I open the session I wanted, it does not populate the speakers names. I now have to go back to the guide to gather the speaker name. The type is also not filled in, yet it is known by the listing itself and is already categorized in the book.

Playing around we fincd out it is Domino all the way, including authentication.
Online Survey issue
No BOF's seemed to be listed for 7am, yet there was a category for them in the online form. When selecting a time slot it didn't highlight it so I forgot what time I just filled out a form for and had to go back to the book again.

Filling out an eval seems to be as easy as hitting this form.. without the session specified.
http://www3.channel1corp.com/na/ibm/ls2008b/rdtdb.nsf/usr.responseSet?openagent&m=read
So if you haven;'t guessed, all the work is being done by Channel1Corp, a real-time results company hosted in Rackspace.com's racks. Then, humorously, it was down today for a while for system maintenance. Not the best timing in the world.

So let's get this thing tested and flying for next year with a bunch of changes to make it work everywhere all the time in a better fashion.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 24th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive broke a record

I was shocked myself, but Carl went in and verified that we both were not crazy.  The Domino 8 server running Sametime 8 with the persistent chat rooms had over 1200 people in it for LotusphereLive.  This not only shows the scaling of the room Carl built (and remodified when 8.0 broke it from last years 7.5.x), but also the ability of Sametime.  All was hosted, built and managed by us (Connectria) and will remain up for a bit until we archive it off again for next year.

We debated having persistent chat rooms for each of our sessions, but blogging, pictures, presenting sessions and trying to get to some myself made it slip by.  If you have ideas let us know, but watch to make sure we dont change our minds, like for Gurupalooza or something silly.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Sametime, Apply Directly To Your Business

For all of my international readers you can go look at this television ad after you watch this Lotusphere one below:


    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Live blogging the Unified Communications keynote

Who knew this was the answer to this trivia picture?
Sametime Bus trivia

  • Akiba and Bruce took the stage to start the path of what the future strategy of UC2 is.
  • Sametime customers grew of 30% with 1/3 being Exchange shops
  • New partners were added, with new ones.  Ericsson being first with their voice platform being integrated.  NEC is the second with their IP telephony server Univerge.
  • CIsco has signed to sell Sametime as part of their Unified Communications package.  Nortel will also sell as part of their unified solution.

    On to demos with Jeremy and Konrad.  Using Radvision, quick text and live text they did demos on stage.  They then showed buddy map that grabs contact location and mashes a Google Map.  I wonder if Lotus saw RadiusIM before?  Some more plug-ins that no one has and it was a great show.

    A customer case video from Bank of New York Mellon and also Colgate-Palmolive.  It looked a little like Mitch in that video, hmmm.  A nice change where after the videos, the actual video people came onto the stage to talk and be interviewed by Bruce.
    Mitch had the quote of the day:
    Sametime is like crack, you give it to people and they just want more


    Ok, people are getting restless to get more product demos and announcements.  On stage is good but analyst is talking long.

    Ok, new stuff!!!
    • Sametime Advanced (we knew) is due in the first half of this year
    • Konrad is up on stage again.  Persistent chat was first.  There is screenshots inside, files dropped and rich text.  All this is stored in a database on the backend.
    • Broadcast Communities are communities users are interested in that will send alerts.  Hmm, cool if it worked with Communities in Connections.  Too many things with the same name that don't connect yet.
    • Instant share was very cool, no more launching meetings
    • Instant polls for voting

    Unified Telephony is about simplifying communication being delivered in second half of 2008
    • Being on the phone is now a status.
    • You can now set rules for call routing.
    • Rules will follow not only status but who is calling.  Sounds like GrandCentral to me too.  Nice.

    Now we look at what's coming beyond the above 2
    • A whole new call manager showing who is in, when they came in, are chats going on.  The ability to mute lines
    • Konrad in the IBM Metaverse (Second Life idea).  He steps up to a presentation board in a virtual room and it loads his slides.  He then takes over the room audio

    The scary part was the closing that showed our Sametime video over and over like 3 times.  Video coming, I taped it.  Ha

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Here is the link for the transcript for LotusphereLive of the Opening General Session this morning

Read it right here
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 21st, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Blogger BOF interview with Mike Rhodin - live

Mike Rhodin at the Blogger interview

Here is the good news, many people are blogging it, I will podcast it once again. Look for it shortly.  Flickr pics are up of the room.
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 21st, 2008   by Chris Miller        

My FLickr stream is up

If you want the whole stream in full size hit my Flickr stream..
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 21st, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Posting the OGS live in LotusphereLive

Head on over  http://www.LotusphereLive.com
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 21st, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Emergence - my guess of what it means before Lotusphere starts

The theme of this year of Lotusphere2008 is Emergence.  So here is what I think of that term before Lotusphere2008.  All this came about after a pleasant dinner with Penumbra (big thanks to them for an excellent event).

Lotus will combine the announcements of new products (say Notes and iPhone for example) and the growth of existing products in ways not yet imagined as we prepare to leave Web 2.0 and enter (gasp) Web 3.0 land.  If Lotus plans to stay ahead in the enterprise space, it has to reach deeper into it's development efforts and theory practice to start fighting for what enterprises need in the future.  Keeping up with what enterprises need today is not fast enough.

Lotus will emerge with some amazing announcements come Monday, but the real gems will be hidden away in the labs and halls of Lotusphere.  It is where demo-ware vanishes and real test code can be put in your hands to see and play with.  Find those gems.  Get into the labs and don't be afraid to talk to anybody that passes.  They might hold one of those magic EMERGENCE gems in their heads, or even backback.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 20th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Two ways to ask a question for my sessions at LS08

Everyone has been reading about Ben's sessions database and it allows you to post questions in advance for sessions.  A great way that acts much like a discussion board.  However, during the session I might not replicate in time to get them all, mainly if you ask during.  But let me know now if you wish
  • HND302 - Hands on Sametime Gateway Installation and Administration (and networking) - ask a question here
  • BP105 - Best Practices Installing and Administrating the Sametime Gateway - ask a question here
  • HND302 - Hands on Sametime Gateway Installation and Administration (and networking) R2 - ask a question here


So your other option is that Carl and I will also fire up persistent chat rooms for our sessions through LotusphereLive to have a streaming ability of live Q&A as well.  Look for the direct room links shortly here and on Carl's blog.  We will be able to see that live in the session.
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 18th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive rides again for 2008

Carl Tyler and I went nuts last year and provided a live persistent chat site for 2007 at LotusphereLive where people such as ourselves, Ed Brill, Bruce, Julian, Volker, Chris B and others blogged the Opening General Session.  Well we will be doing it again for all of you not able to be there with us.
A quote from someone that visited the site last year:
And it worked without a hitch! A fantastic demo of what can be done quickly with the technology. It was great to be able to feel involved, and with photos flying up on Flickr, you get a real feel for the buzz.

Followed by a link to a snapshot of what we did from another person watching on the Internet.

The site this year is based on Sametime 8 on a Domino 8 server.  Yes, persistent chat without having a Sametime Advanced server you say?  Of course Carl and his magic.  Tell your friends and neighbors.  If you can't come to Lotusphere, well sit through the Opening General Session with us.
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 18th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

UPDATED: How-To guide and rules for Lotusphere Twitter

Image:UPDATED: How-To guide and rules for Lotusphere Twitter







The Rules:
  • I am not turning on auto-follow to prevent spammers.  So it might be a minute before you are allowed to post,  But you can follow right away
  • Anyone that sends explicit content or becomes a nuisance (as voted by many not just one of us) gets removed from being followed
  • Anything you send will be read by MANY, keep that in mind.  Typos can hurt
  • I personally don't mind a small one time shot to promote your booth or giveaway, but I will let the people decide that one


If you do not agree with a rule let me know, we may very well change it.  If you just don't agree, don't participate but you miss out having 'instant' communication with as many people as sign up while there.  Lotusphere Online does not offer this, Lotus does not offer this and we couldn't think of a way to let everyone have their own identity and use multiple devices. (ie: SMS, web browser, instant messaging, handhelds).

The How-To portion (modified Thusday Jan 17th 9pm CST, see the 4th bullet changing 'd lotusphere' to '@lotusphere')
  • Get over to http://Twitter.com and register if you have not
  • add Lotusphere as someone to follow and turn notifications ON for it
  • go to notification settings and choose your poison.  I suggest your SMS (check your provider for charges or unlimited texting options), an IM alias of some type or even email notifications.  You can always use a browser from laptop or handheld.  I mix the way mine are done.
  • To send a message to everyone you simply type  "@lotusphere  "   up to 160 characters.  Make it to the point
  • If you see someone you wish to talk to directly, replace "@lotusphere " with their username or simply type @username to send a public , but directed at them message.
  • You can turn off following for a while if you need some silence or whatever by following this Twitter help page.  It will stop notifications but still leave it in your web browser views.  http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=5
  • Alternately you can simply text 'off lotusphere' to Twitter to do it temporarily and then 'on lotusphere' to turn notifications back on!  We are making life simple here folks.
  • Lastly, if you need help with this, ask!


The idea is to communicate, collaborate and have fun.  If you see an awesome giveaway, let us know.  If you find the best hidden snack area, let us know.  If there is an open vendor party, lets us know.  If you are headed to lunch and want someone new to eat with, ask!

Please see the older posting for further info or go to Twitter help for short phone command and such.  And here is the whole Twitter helpfiles
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 17th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

TV Guide for IdoNotes TV @ Lotusphere

I am getting asked when things will show live from Lotusphere.  Well let's start with the basics.  You can can access IdoNotes TV either by the URL Both go to the same page so no worries there.  The loop will always be running, we just have to deal with live escapades.  So outside of stating to follow me or Lotusphere on Twitter, the blog will update too.
8:00PM EST Monday Jan 21st opening of the Exhibitor Showcase
5:45pm EST Wednesday Jan 23rd Bloggers BOF  (Pending Lotus ok)
1:00pm EST  (somewhere in there Thursday Jan 24th The Boat Race Finals !!


From there I am still planning and if you have ideas let me know.  I am curious about Jamfest and many others but only what time I have or someone helping me can do!
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 16th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Anyone want to tell me what Lotusphere Online looks like?

It seems that I cannot get access to Lotusphere Online until after I Get there.  I won't have time to get in, build any profile, look around the communities or anything else at that point.  I know they did a bulk input of people around Jan 1 or 2, and it seems in the whole thing I got tossed around like the last kernel of popcorn in the popper.  I actually registered in December but it appears to have sat through the holiday season  looking at the dates of submission to the date of the final okie dokie letter.  So they are not doing another import until right at Lotusphere which explains my lack of email or ability to get in.

So anyone want to do a site review of it for me?
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 15th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Thanks to all of you for making me a finalist in the blogger awards

Image:Thanks to all of you for maing me a finalist in the blogger awards

Please head over and select who you wish, everyone on that list does an amazing job.   I would say close your eyes and click a name.  The winner gets announced at Lotusphere
    for this posting

    On Monday, January 14th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2008 - like an arline, now taking Hands-on standby’s

Apparently an email went out last night to many of you letting you pre-register for hands-on sessions.  Oddly, I am one of many who did not get it and when I finally got the URL forwarded, it said I was not even allowed to reserve a slot in any hands-on session.

I saw this idea floating around weeks ago and had mixed emotion.  While I like the idea of not having the mad scramble, what happens to those that would have waited hours at a door and did not get this email in time?  What happens when someone does not show so the Southwest Airlines stand-by lines begin?  How disappointing to be the 10th stand-by and 9 make it in.  I think the most disturbing was that it was a late at night email in batches (some got it as early as 9pm PST apparently).  How does everyone get a fair shot at sessions and are speakers not eligible?  Is everyone pleased with how they got the chance to attend a hands-on session?  Did you make it in?  Did you make all the ones you wanted?
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 10th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2008 session evals, all electronic this year!

NEW this year
Session Evaluations
Session evaluations will be completed electronically this year - no more paper forms in the conference notebooks!  Attendees will be able to access all evaluations forms by selecting the evaluation icon on any Lotusphere Online laptop, their own laptop or handheld device through a special URL.

    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 10th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Reminder: live pre-Lotusphere podcast tomorrow 10am EST with myself and Carl Tyler



Join Carl Tyler and myself for a pre-Lotusphere call-in.  We'll be using modern technical marvels like the telephone and websites, to host an interactive call-in where you can ask us questions, Sametime questions, relationship questions it makes no difference to us we're happy to try and answer them.

Unable to attend Lotusphere but have questions you want to try and get answered? no worries, share them with us and we'll try and get them answered in followup Lotusphere podcasts.

So put it in your diary, 10am EST Jan 10th, http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/31241

Episode: The Pre-Lotusphere call
Not going to Lotusphere? Ask us to get answers for you. Having issues with your relationship? I am sure Carl can help!
Talkcast ID: 31241

Scheduled Time:

Date: Thu, January 10, 2008
Time: 10:00 AM EST

How to participate:

Call in:
1.        Dial: (724) 444-7444
2.        Enter: 31241 # (Talkcast ID)
3.        Enter: 1 # or your PIN

Join from your computer:
1.        Become a TalkShoe member
2.        Download and install TalkShoe Live client
3.        Click here to join the Talkcast
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 9th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

I had a good conversation with Yancy (PlanetLotus) last night - ideas abound

So as people are slowly learning, Lotusphere on Twitter is out there and could be huge if we get a strong push from everyone. Yancy already has it feeding the main feed page for PlanetLotus and then pulls all Tweets to another page. Let us know your thoughts on how you want to best utilize Twitter down there? Open season tweets everywhere or following a main Lotusphere tweet? Or a mixture. Let us know. We also talked about grabbing the RSS feed from the Lotusphere pictures so we need to set a tagging standard.



Also, the normal string of IdoNotes podcasts will be running but the added benefit of IdoNotes.TV will be present. You will be able to reach it at any time at
http://www.IdoNotes.com/live
or you can find it on the PlanetLotus page. I will be grabbing any and all video I can from Lotusphere into a long loop plus live broadcasts from down there. Anyone that wants to assist in the live ones let me know. I see us being able to reach a large audience of people not there to give them the feel of what is going on. Even broadcasting JamFest or the scene of Speedgeeking could be cool.



Give me some thoughts here people and pass this posting out so we can get all the ideas finalized



go to the IdoNotes TV page to watch it now!

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 9th, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Live pre-Lotusphere2008 podcast open call with me and Carl Tyler hosting on January 10th



Join Carl Tyler and myself for a pre-Lotusphere call-in.  We'll be using modern technical marvels like the telephone and websites, to host an interactive call-in where you can ask us questions, Sametime questions, relationship questions it makes no difference to us we're happy to try and answer them.

Unable to attend Lotusphere but have questions you want to try and get answered? no worries, share them with us and we'll try and get them answered in followup Lotusphere podcasts.

So put it in your diary, 10am EST Jan 10th, http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/31241

Episode: The Pre-Lotusphere call
Not going to Lotusphere? Ask us to get answers for you. Having issues with your relationship? I am sure Carl can help!
Talkcast ID: 31241

Scheduled Time:

Date: Thu, January 10, 2008
Time: 10:00 AM EST

How to participate:

Call in:
1.        Dial: (724) 444-7444
2.        Enter: 31241 # (Talkcast ID)
3.        Enter: 1 # or your PIN

Join from your computer:
1.        Become a TalkShoe member
2.        Download and install TalkShoe Live client
3.        Click here to join the Talkcast
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 3rd, 2008   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2008 Lotus Award Winners announced

Winners in bold.

Image:Lotusphere2008 Lotus Award Winners announced
    for this posting

    On Thursday, December 20th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Business Developement Day at Lotusphere2008

Interestingly Rob Novak issued a nice blog posting on how Quickr will be fitting in to BDD at Lotusphere and then Tim came on the call today mentioning there will be 19 sessions with pre-sessions utilizing Sametime Unyte to get everyone primed for press releases, interactions and validation through a "Making News @ the Sphere on December 19.

But wait, there is more..
Image:Business Developement Day at Lotusphere2008

The Business Partner cafe is the place to not only get coffee but sit with experts across product areas.  I know we saw something like this last year and by the end of the week it was quite empty.

Lotusphere Comes to You starts in February
    for this posting

    On Thursday, December 20th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

I have dates and times for my Lotusphere 2008 sessions

Sun January 20, 2008
9:00-10:45am EST
Y&B Grand Harbor Salon IV
HND302: IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway - Setup and Administration
Tues January 22, 2008
4:15-5:15pm EST
Dolphin S Hemisphere IV-V
BP105: Installing and Administrating the IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway
Wed January 23 2008
12:30-2:15pm EST
Y&B Grand Harbor Salon IV
HND302: IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway - Setup and Administration

    for this posting

    On Monday, December 10th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

republish** IdoNotes Episode 41 - The Bob on Lotusphere2008 Jumpstarts

Bob Balaban starts off the Lotusphere2008 track manager interviews with Jumpstart information


Music today is Beat Under Control from Stockholm, Sweden via Magnatune




Thanks Mac for noticing how tired I was and linking the wrong podcast the first time

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, December 4th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere on Twitter (pass this out everywhere, lets get all 8000 in here)

In order to foster faster communication with everyone at Lotusphere, or even if you just wish to sit back and watch, there will be a Lotusphere channel you can follow and post to.  Twitter is setting it up so if you set yourself to follow all the tweets, you can also post to it so everyone gets them.  Talk about instant communication when not everyone can be on Sametime and there is breaking news, a vendor giving away cool stuff, when you want to find people or when a vendor has an open party.  The possibilities are endless.  I talked to some Loti in and around the social networking area to see if they had anything built for this, the immediate answer was they didn't think so.

I would suggest you follow me also as I have some other surprises as we take Lotusphere into a social networking exploration.

So here are the basics for all of you that are new to Twitter.

you can find me at http://twitter.com/IdoNotes


http://twitter.com/lotusphere

everyone should set Twitter to FOLLOW. You can follow any profile on Twitter by sending follow+username.  For example, people would send:

follow Lotusphere

to Twitter from IM or phone.  People can also go right to the profile page, where you can click the  "follow" button located under the profile name.


Image:Lotusphere on Twitter  (pass this out everywhere, lets get all 8000 in here)

 

People who follow the profile will be added to the list of followers; if they decide to Twitter back about the event, their updates will show in the "Lotusphere" timeline.

Via phone or chat, instruct people to send FOLLOW Lotusphere to Twitter at:

  • 40404 for US followers
  • 21212 for Canadian followers
  • +44 762 4801423 for all other international followers
You can even add Twitter to your instant messenger buddylists while there.


    for this posting

    On Tuesday, November 20th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Yes, I have Lotusphere2008 sessions this year

The final session numbers have been assigned and I waited to get those to make life easy for you to say you will be attending them!

HND302 - Setup and Administration for the IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway.   (yes this is hands-on folks)
BP105 - Installing and Administrating the IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway        (myself and Kyungae Lim of IBM)

So there you have it..  fun filled sessions all about the Sametime Gateway.
    for this posting

    On Monday, November 19th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

RFI&F (request for information & feedback) - How many of you used or enjoyed the Lotusphere Live site last year?

Since Lotusphere seems to be coming at light speed, (the Dolphin, Swan and Yacht are all sold out already),  Carl and I are planning on Lotusphere Live once again.  For those that don't know and are new readers, there was a persistent chat site where certain bloggers and IBM'ers got into the rooms and sent you live feeds, images and anything else about what was going on in the Opening and closing General Sessions.

We are also pondering adding something new to the mix, so give us your feedback!
    for this posting

    On Monday, October 22nd, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Partnerworld announcement: Lotusphere Collaboration Summit

Details are sketchy at this moment and time is running out to organize it if you ask me (from someone that has been doing a bunch of conferences).  But here is what we were told

Marjorie Tenzer stated that Lotus has not had a fall event in a long time, so outside of Lotusphere Comes To You events that are going on now, there will be a roadshow starting in the 3rd quarter titled
Lotusphere Collaboration Summit


No cities nor firm dates were mentioned yet, but it is an interesting twist..  no hints online yet that I could find in some quick searches.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Blogging Live - Lotusphere Comes To You (LCTY) in St Louis

From the very opening breakfast the attendees were discussing the lack of heavy technical and directional content.  Two rooms of sessions to cover a bit more content would have been great.   With only 3 session and the keynote it left holes.  But saying that..   attendance looked towards 70 on a quick count.  Great for St Louis.

Keynote
: John Dunderdale, VP of Worldwide Sales in Lotus SW (who we had lunch with yesterday as Business Partners), was the keynote speaker.
  • He covered the resurgence in attendance at Lotusphere and the solid double digit growth of Notes.
  • Market share is solid and growing.
  • Kids today don't email, they use social software
  • The agile business embraces change (me: how many companies are still fighting not to upgrade?)
  • We then jumped into the Domino 8 announcements - all you have seen online already
  • Sametime 7.5 was up next..  Point-to-point video, tabbed chat, Office Integration and Outlook, Mac client, Linux server and the list goes on
  • Kraig Vanderbeek jumped up to continue Sametime 7.5.1 demonstrations.  Overall he had about 15 plug-in loaded. (me: this leads me back to my March LotusUserGroup.org newsletter's editor section on making these available with no support to give us wow factor for demos).
  • He demonstrated all the pieces you would expect to see in all the new areas.
  • Portal was next on the list..
  • Lotus Quickr discussion came up to talk about Lotus' document management space.  80 sites are testing this product now
  • Lotus Connections came to close the keynote (the restlessness of slideware was starting to show).  Dogear got it's do mention and then Activities.  No one seemed to notice that Activities is Lotus Connections and not Domino 8.  475,000 profiles exist with 6 million hits per day on their internal BluePages.  IBM Community Map has over 700 communities now.

You need to read on for the Quickr comments.....

Continue Reading here" Blogging Live - Lotusphere Comes To You (LCTY) in St Louis" »
    for this posting

    On Thursday, April 12th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Time for my Lotusphere2007 wrap-up

Overall...  I think that Lotusphere2007 scores a 9.33 out of 10.  Animal Kingdom was a bust from the get go with no animals.  But we weight that smaller.  Al the main scoring comes from content, presence of Lotus and delivery.
  • Content - Lotus hit the mark.  No mixed messages.  No tongue twists.  Workplace, a goner in the total sense and they didn't hide behind that.  Lotus Connections, the thing of the future.  The new client, the way you should be headed and yes, they will support all your applications.  Can we be any clearer?  Quickr, while spelled funny and related to Flickr through second cousins (kidding), a killer for Sharepoint contests.  Sametime, well take that all other perpetrators of enterprise IM  9.8
  • Presence - Lotus made it a point to be in your face while there.  From product managers being all around the "Sametime all the time" area to the labs.  If you did not schedule a time to take yourself and testdrive one of the new and upcoming releases, you wasted some time down there you shouldn't have.  No vaporware here, real products coming out the door to a desk near you. 9.6
  • Delivery - Clean, clear, crisp.  A refreshing change from some years past.  Keep Mike Rhodin short and from using large analogies and show more demos.  Done.  Put sessions that talk not just about futures but how it all fits together.  Done.  Use the same darn software online for attendees for the conference that you are talking about, done.  No more Workplace Messaging for mail when we are talking DWA.  Of course, unlocking some USB ports for Nomad would have helped the score. 8.6

The Notes client
....Here I sit, days after Lotusphere2007 wondering if I took away what I think I saw.  I am not exactly sure.  Do not get that confused with Lotus not having a clear message.  They did.  Notes is here to stay and grow.  Not just grow, but evolve.  Mary Beth Raven and the team (sorry I don't know all the names) have transformed what we think of as the normal Notes client that people bash for years on end.  Sure the chicklet desktop will still be there in some format, I for one never moved to bookmarks.  But the new UI gives so much flexibility with the underlying Eclipse framework, it will shock me to hear anyone complain about it.  The tasks have been streamlined, actions that are hardly used have been removed or hidden away into advance areas.  The ability to plug-in just about anything astounds me each day I watch someone make a new one on the fly.  I know the increased hardware requirements, site updates, and policy management will change, but get with it, it is backwards compatible to all the stuff you have done already.

Sametime
, near and dear to me as most of you know, enters a new arena with the point-to-point video integration.  The public IM integration was promised and delivered in 2006.  I have talked to the AOL Clearinghouse team directly about future plans and if all goes well, you will see some awesome things coming out in the future too.  The reworking of the Sametime server has to be done, it has been far too long.  Such things as true failover and scaling for meetings needs to be put in place.  While the EMS was a valiant attempt, that was years ago and it hasn't gotten any better.  The policy controls need to be optional to integrate with the Domino policies, or standalone for those with Sametime and no other Lotus environment.  Lotus really needs to get on the ball and get a real Sametime plug-in catalog out there and open for everyone if you want this to continue taking off.

Lotus Connections
...  candidly I don't see how most enterprises will get any value from it upon deployment for some time.  It takes huge effort to start getting enough data where it becomes a valuable asset.  I can't imagine IBM turned it on and the first day had people gaining insight into the thinking leaders.  it took time to populate bookmarks (Dogears), profiles and communities.  This will be a direction that a company has long term plans for.  I approached Alan Lepofsky, did a podcast and I fully understand where they are going with this.  I just have my concerns on implementation and controls.  I know we will be hosting this product for companies, I can see that without the crystal ball.  I am even trying to get Lotus to offer a real test of this in action with the bloggers having a community.  I registered BloggingConnections.com so we can run Lotus Connections and you can watch how the bloggers Dogear and create communities.

Quickr
... A much needed change to Quickplace with the controls of Domino Document Manager.  We heard the rumors of this coming, and it appeared, just short of an E apparently.  I haven't played enough with it yet to make an honest statement on it, just please place it in the spellcheck for me.  The optional backend data stores will be a selling point for everyone, even going head to head with Sharepoint.

Second Life
...  I have jumped in and out, met some people I know and don't know but see that in order to have this be a fully functional opportunity, you basically have to have people dedicated to the task of being there.  While a neat way to reach more people in a pseudo world, it takes more time playing around to be productive.  Who wants to look goofy in there so you spend a ton of time making yourself look just right.

SpeedGeeking, Gurupalooza and other things I did
...  SpeedGeeking was something that caught my eye the moment it was brought up.  I have presented plenty at numerous places, and everyone knows how fast I can go.  So I decided to push myself and not be outdone by Mr Mooney, Ben and Wild Bill in that room.  From stealing Bill's Toblerone midsession to covering about 36 presentations in the hour (3 presentations in 5 minutes) I had no voice left and couldn't get the slides reset fast enough it seems.  But what a blast it was.  Congrats to Rocky on that and then moving us along to Gurupalooza.  I always enjoy that session in that most people don't get the amount of experience on that stage at one time.  Across so many disciplines too.  While all of you are out there asking questions, we are mumbling to ourselves based on the topic who will be getting the mic.  It is as much fun for us.  The glowing part? To have all that skillset on the stage look to you for specific answers.  I don't know how the others feel about this, but having your peers respect you for certain parts of your knowledgebase is incredible to me when you look to them for the same thing.  Then lastly, there was
LotusphereLive.  If you did not have the chance to check that out you should.  Carl Tyler whipped this site of persistent chat rookms and virtual places in about a week.  Connectria then hosted it to thousands of visitors that wanted to see the bloggers talk live about the opening and closing general sessions.  A great way for partners to use the technology together and show rapid development.

Vendor floor
..  As always, Connectria had a presence on the exhibitor floor.  This year seemed to be about one or two particular topics like DR and remote management.  It is becoming clear that companies want a good disaster plan and we are happy to talk all about how we become part of that.  Overall the feedback was a nice constant buzz.  Instead of other years where there was large gaps in people down there, this year was almost a constant milling.  That means good news for partners and for products being developed.  It was nice to see such an array of plug-in partners for Sametime too.

Podcasts
...  Now this was totally a highlight.  I couldn't get them done fast enough and balanced enough to not overflow your iPods and give you time to stream online.  I had so many topics to do and people to talk to.  Not to mention those that wanted just to get on one.  Thanks to the advertisers who helped assemble the t-shirts Bruce, Julian and I totally ran out of, the new equipment we needed and other random items.  Special thanks to the wife for coming down to help do intros on the podcasts, edit and hand out t-shirts.  Heck, she ended up on the plasma screens as an attendee, lol.  She also had a huge part in the vendor floor and book.

Book
...  Wow!!  I can say wow!  The first batch in the Lotus Bookstore sold out.  The second batch did well enough in there too.  Thanks to all that
grabbed a copy.  It would have been nice for the sessions on the Sametime Gateway to mention it as a reference, but there was not much time between Lotusphere and the book coming out.  I signed a few, which was surprising and made me grin so big is was silly.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 30th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2007 daily non-tech Review

You can find my entire Lotusphere2007 picture set on Flickr now, or everyone that tags match Lotusphere2007 will be there.  As usual, I still make a directory sideshow on Yahoo photos over here.  I have 3 more podcasts to get out from Lotusphere for you.  First up, a quick 2 person end of week review to get another attendee's take on how it went for them.  Then the interview with the Technotics guys on DST.  Finally, the bloggers press interview with Mike Rhodin that took place during the week.

So here is what I missed blogging about directly.

Lotusphere Day 4

Speed Geek - Let me start there.  It was as you would expect from reading around the blogs.  Ben L had a nice section on what everyone covered and I added my comment in.  Everyone that attended received a nice open bar surprise and I provided some giveaways of my Sametime Gateway book.  I did 3 presentations in 5 minutes for 12 times in just at an hour time.  Whew!  It was brain draining for us too.  Ben L has two postings with a SpeedGeek review on his blog, so go have a look.  I would definitely do this one again.  Plus I managed to get a nice travel bag with tech toys, my favorite being this 4 port USB hub in a square..
Image:Lotusphere2007 daily non-tech Review

All week the exhibitor floor was non-stop and I have to commend the sales team from Connectria for standing there fielding any wild issue all of you brought to them.  I know I couldn't catch everyone that tried to stop by, but they did a great job of telling me who came and trying to tell you when I would be back.

Lotusphere Day 5

The blogger BOF at 7am left us with half the room of people that never slept, and a few not showered :-).  Ed was the commentator and led a good discussion on some topics he brought.  The task of bringing other ideas was actually acted upon by some of the bloggers.  My point was the implementation of the social computing and Lotus Connections software into larger scale environments.  We know how long it takes to groom your own profiles on personal sites, but getting workers to actually do that for something internal is a long fight.  I liked the idea of some forced work and automated information updates being utilized in parallel.

I stopped in the labs for a few minutes to find most of the schedules full for the ones I wanted to participate in.  That was a good sign that people wish to touch the new technology and it gives a wider variety of feedback to Mary Beth and the teams.

Next up was a stop at the Certification Lab to find the massage ladies were done yesterday and there was not much for good giveaways.  A place to sneak in a drink and snacks always though.  It was moved from the 7th floor of the Swan to the side Europe room in the Dolphin.  No balcony, cool view or just a nicer place than a dark conference room.

Instead, I was asked to join a company conversation with Lotus on deployment of the Sametime Gateway.  Thanks to all of you that bought a book while here, the first round sold out and some of the second with him.  I even had some people asking me directly.  Well the conversation turned into a larger scale architecture conversation and many solutions.  I hope to talk to that group again shortly.

Gurupalooza was even better this 3rd year for me.  The questions have settled in some and people are still hesitant to give that first one out.  After the first person got up, we had a nice run of some good issues.  LDAP, mass mailings and backup products were some I handled.

Ask the developers was the same as usual, but no big ranting this year.  Some nice applause and it was good to see a few stumpers from the developer team.  We did the live blogging of the closing session over at
LotusphereLive once again and all the commentary on that is there.

Dinner was caught with Gabriella Davis, Andrew Pollack and the Turtle crew before saying a goodbye to everyone over in Kimonos.  A relaxing evening to close out a sleepless week.

I will give a tech overview and more podcasts later on today.

    for this posting

    On Friday, January 26th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2007 - One comment from the blogging BOF this am

One topic came up around "what if there was a Lotus Connectons" for bloggers to trim the gathering of info and implement Dogear.

So I went ahead and registered BloggerConnections.com and will put up the site as soon as we can with the Lotus Connections software and get everyone in there as needed.  Sounds like a better way to track and see what everone reads without trying to get everyone into Del.ico.us
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 25th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2007 news: Microsoft’s new migration tool from Notes and new McAfee update disables Lotus Notes

Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Notes -
This new suite exploits a simple, unified interface, allowing customers to plan, prepare and transition their messaging and directory services as well analyze their Notes application infrastructure, determine the best course of action for applications, and move data from template-based applications to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0


McAfee updates disables Lotus Notes -
...the recent update McAfee Virus Scan Enterprise to version 8.5i will disable the inboxes of Lotus Notes and lock users out of email.

Once the update for McAfee is installed, users will see a displayed message "ERROR: You are not authorized to perform  that operation and are denied access to their mailbox.  This can lead to serious issues for a large company using the IBM business suite.


This issue is known to McAfee and they are working to provide a fix.

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 24th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2007 Day 3 completed

I started the day in a BOF with Wes Morgan BOF that I walked out on before heading to Wes.  Now, to move from session to session is a normal event for everyone based on what you expected and want to hear in the short times you have, but rarely would I use the words walked out on.  It was not a sponsor event where you expect to hear about a certain solution.  It was an advertisement for the services of the host of the BOF.  I even took some of the placards placed on the seats with me.  One side was promoting the BOF itself, well done and glossy.  The other was a terribly blatant ad to this solution and the host led right into it the first couple minutes.  This is something personally I have not done in my sessions.  While what I do is not a secret, I don't mention it unless they expect some background on us.  Ok, the rant is over on that topic.

Now on to Wes.  A small session but well run, as usual, and full of comments.  The people there were slow to start speaking up but it slowly moved into more questions and answers about deployment, plug-ins versus bots and versioning.

One of the tones of the opening is the Social Computing aspect.  They launched Lotus Connections and placed it in the online system for the attendees.  I played with this for a while and some thoughts came to mind.  So I started thinking of whom I could ask for opinions.  After Ted and I tossed it around during lunch I just happened to run into Alan Lepofsky who willingly wanted to answer the questions I had burning in my brain since he is the marketing guy for this product!  One of those weird by chance instances I asked him about it.  So look for that podcast in a few minutes.  I have more comments after that.

Lastly it was the vendor floor for quite a while.  It is nice to see the enthusiasm of the products as you walked around on a break.  I did see many that were definitely competing in numerous areas which just shows the strong growth of the Lotus products in the marketplace.  You don't have vendors flocking to sell services and software when the Lotus Notes marketshare is declining do you?
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere2007 Opening General Session

First things first.  There was a signal but no connection to the Internet from 3 attempted places in the room.  While we could see access points, there was no way to get to LotusphereLive or any other site.  I managed to hit one or two pages and then it went away again.  So this was what happened all morning in my eyes.
**********************

After a nice live band opening the show, Mike Rhodin took the stage for the introduction and 2 minute recap of 2006.
  • Sametime is over 1M seats since Sametime 7.5 shipped!
  • 7k people here in Orlando, up 11% since last year
  • 85 reporters and a ton of analysts
  • 1869 certified professionals
  • Second Life opens tomorrow online for Lotusphere.  Ed gave the link last night

The guest speaker was... Neil Armstrong.  He received a standing ovation from everyone in the crowd.  His immediate tip is why Orlando International is the title MCO.  I never knew why.  It was named for McCoy Air Force Base, which turned into the airport.  It was here they did the X1 rocket work if I heard correctly.  He joking stated that once they got the idea to race the Russians into space, no one was quite willing.  Until they chose pilots.  The Americans fell behind the space race with the 3rd person in space behind the cosmonauts.  Neil made the first spacecraft docking in space and made a good joke about setting a landing record, for the farthest away from the aircraft carrier.

Mike Rhodin
took the stage once again after Neil closed with another standing ovation.  He made a good joke about not having to worry about being in the "Office" and the removal of the word "Office"
  • Access should be easier to information through better and faster ways
  • the mailbox needs to be tamed

Mike turned it over to Akiba Saeedi and Bruce Morse to talk about Sametime 7.5
  • 3500 customer downloads of Sametime 7.5.  Huge demand shown for new technology
  • Customer case studies were mentioned about DOD, GE and Intellicare (a Connectria customer).  While they provide a quick clip, there is always the murmur to hear more about how they did the implementation
  • Sametime 7.5.1 is announced with video chat in point-to-point connectivity.  I heard the giant vacuum of bandwidth sounds.  But what a way to bring
  • Tabbed chat
  • Linux server
  • Mac client platform support
  • Microsoft Office and Outlook integration
  • UC2 is the new theme for Sametime and Unified Communications

Ron Sebastian
then jumps in with live demo and Sametime 7.5 and video
  • you can invite devices and people for multi point video
  • tabbed chats is now integrated (I remember asking for that one in the beta program)
  • Smart Tags in Office sees the names and start chats from within the Office docs
  • the softphone integration was a nice touch but a lot, I mean a lot of clicks for voice calls
  • Blackberry integration showed off click to call

Ken Bisconti
then was up next
  • 130 million seats of Lotus Notes with competitive wins worldwide.  If this doesn't say growth and market position, then people in other shops don't understand simple math of true collaboration software.
  • The name Hannover is now officially dropped as a project name and it is fully Notes and Domino 8
  • ODF technology is built into the Notes 8 client.  This brings a whole new solution to the SMB market for large cost savings.
    • He tossed it over to Ron again for a demo
    • Ghosted entries show in the calendar show to let you choose to accept an invitation or not without being in the mailfile.
    • He also showed the ability to import calendars based on standards right into your own with a couple clicks.  I would like to see this easier for the users, but this is still in beta.  Having certain business applicaitons serving RSS feeds would make notifications much easier and you can work with the streams.
    • Threaded mail messages click open with ease from right in the inbox with a simple arrow.
    • The simple click RSS reader will be an excellent enhancement.  Now can you push pre-configured feeds down?  That would be awesome
    • Sametime integration is full and complete.  All the side items can be floated or docked to let the user drive the interface with ease.
    • Convert to PDF built into the client, that will be huge for all enterprises.
    When Ken came back he then changed to Domino
    • Message recall ability is being made available.  I imagine this will be an on/off feature controlled by admins through policies.  This also means some new mail template changes in store.
    • tighter integration with Websphere Portal, Larry Bowden covers that further below.
    • Then it was moved beyond Notes 8
      • alternative directory support for authentication
      • the move to support 64-bit platforms without mandating them.
      • Domino Next will have more content management abilities integrated.

      Allister Rennie
      announced Lotus Quickr software
      • There was a note to a Personal Edition to share and store your own content.  Think about this storage as a place people will back up harddrives and share content everywhere.  Storage concerns will be an issue here.  I did like the RSS and Atom feeds built in.  We aren't talking companies hosting family photos, we are talking content that can be shared and replicated locally.  An interesting twist to security controls and policy management
      • Every licensed Notes or DWA user will be able to use the Personal Edition for free.  Yes, no additional charge.
      • Quickplace license holders will be able to use the Standard Edition of Quickr for free.  This has more built in capabilities and controls that the personal edition,of course.  Information on that will be forthcoming as they did not fully cover that.
      • Microsoft Sharepoint repositories will be included with the purchase that IBM preformed of FileNet

      Larry Bowden
      comes on next to discuss Portals and collaboration
      • Google gadgets will be available as mashups within Portal 6
      • Forms handling capabilites were integrated this past year to increase speed and redice errors
      • There is a new Workflow Builder
      • IBM Websphere Portal 6 Express ships on January 30th
      • A personal Portal mode to work offline and disconnected will be available
      • Using the Google gadgets they showed how AJAX will allow only portional Portal screen updates for better performance for the end user

      Allister
      returns to talk about how Notes 8 based on Eclipse can run Domino apps online and online
      • A common runtime wrapped with Lotus Designer allows Domino 8, Sametime and Portal to allow you to build and depoly components that can be shared without writing Java code
      • Lotus Expeditor 6.1 and Portlet Factory provide some foundations for SOA, J2EE and a slew of other opportunities
      • The Composite Application Editor in Notes 8 allows you to mix all of the above
      • The demo was a portlet built in Component Designer, then have it run offline.  Move it over to to Sametime and pray for more.
      • Now call me silly, but in the lower right of Ron's demo computer it sat there trying to retrieve a wireless connection.  Just call that humorous
      • Quite an impressive demo actually.  One tool, one solution, one product.  Wait, that is a movie line.

      Mike Rhodin
      was back to provide more product news
      • He announced Lotus Connections and passed the stage to Jeff

      Jeff Schick
      , the new vp of Social computing took the stage to talk about Lotus Connections
      • This was a terrific announcement on how Socaial Computing will change the workplace with the integration of blogs, dogears and basic profiles about individuals to get better response and ease of finding knowledge in your enterprise.

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 22nd, 2007   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive website is set and ready for the OGS and Lotusphere Day 1 (plus picture links)

Do not forget for everyone not here (and here with Internet) to watch LotusphereLive.com for live blogging of the OGS.

Pictures can be found on Flickr under the Lotusphere2007 tag or on my Yahoo! site as usual as an album.

The day had far too much going on at once, but Lotus has made one thing clear, they are not out to play games anymore.  Well ok, they had a game theme at the Welcome Reception as a weird twist however.  Poker, air hockey, pool tables, twister and even video games.  Sametime sessions are non-stop, as the podcast pointed out yesterday.  They unveiled another company that has deployed Sametime in a larger scale than IBM themselves.  That would be GE.  The diagrams look the same as what you have seen at the conferences I have presented over the years.

Business Development Day was a success as always with partners from all over the globe gathering to talk shop and see what Lotus has in store for them in 2007.

This was also the day for Certified Lotus Instructors.  I was only able to attend a short amount of time there but they are gearing for some major shifts in how curriculum is delivered and assembled by the instructors.  More on that later as I have my own opinions.

The Welcome Reception was well packed as the weather was better than the recent past years and everyone had a blast.  Even Wild Bill as we welcomed in his 40th birthday as you can see in the pics.

With the murmur of Notes 8, tons of hands-on sessions and even the 'un-Conference", the 2007 Opening General Session looks to fling everyone straight into Web 2.0 and the wave of Lotus future.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 21st, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Ventura, Geneva and Dogear hits the press and web a bit early for Lotusphere2007

I was reading a bunch of the web about these new product names and such, and much of the links seem to be gone or removed (suddenly, hmm) but CRN went ahead and left a nice page talking about all these product/names/announcements

You can read the CRN article
right here and a quick clip for you:
Ventura is the umbrella name overlaying a set of Web 2.0 applications that IBM will make available for enterprise use. The project will make BluePages, IBM's end-user directory for people's profiles, available beyond Big Blue's walls. Ventura also will include a version of Roller, the open-source blog server that drives Sun Microsystems' employee blogging site and IBM's DeveloperWorks blogs.

Also on the road map is a project code-named Geneva, which would converge, repackage and clean up IBM's QuickPlace shared workspace software and Domino Document Management.


Dogear, according to this IBM Research Web site, is a "social bookmarking" system that lets users "centrally store, categorize and share a set of personal Web bookmarks with others."


Here are a few more links from IBM'ers and the like it seems:

Elias Torres
Andy Piper
Elesar1
RollerWebLogger
Arseneault
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 19th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

LotusphereLive blogging. Built by Instant Technologies, hosted by Connectria

Carl Tyler went and built a whole live blogging site for a few us to give you immediate feedback as the Opening General Session goes on.  He built it in a matter of days and I stepped up and we are hosting the server to run it.

We will be running the latest and greatest of Domino/Sametime with Carl's custom code.

Ed Brill already announced it and will be participating..

So here is the site, it will be live shortly....


LotusphereLive
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    On Friday, January 19th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

A couple of Lotusphere2007 items

I had already gone back and adjusted some past postings to include the Lotusphere2007 tag for Technorati and also Flickr stuff.  But today Ed sent out a reminder that not only can we use this tag for ourselves to search for Lotusphere2007 info across the blogs, but the press will be using the same Lotusphere2007 tag to look for quotes, stories and other info.  So make sure you put the Lotusphere2007 tag everywhere you can :-)

Also, if you have not visited the LDD Lotusphere2007 page, you need to do so.  It highlights the blogs, podcasts and other events.  A great page.

Notice how I snuck that Lotusphere2007 tag in far too many times for one posting?

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    On Tuesday, January 16th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Upcoming Lotusphere 2007 podcasts next week, you don’t want to miss these!! I mean it

I have arranged all the track managers for Lotusphere to tell us what they like best about their track, any surprises they can talk about and what makes you, the attendee, want to be at those sessions!  Most are scheduled and I am finalizing the exact time for the last couple so get ready.

I am getting them all to you by Thursday so you can have them on your iPod and listen in before Lotusphere.

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    On Friday, January 12th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

The Pawdcast t-shirts are ready for Lotusphere, go look

Bruce has the pictures of the shirts right here
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    On Thursday, January 11th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Current Lotusphere attendee math - 4725

If you happened to already get your online username/password and find the profiles section.  You will currently see 315 pages of profiles at 15 people per page.  That makes about 4725 registered attendees in the system.

Sorry, early morning math brain working

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 10th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

My Lotusphere 2007 activities I know so far



Information on the podcasts, interviews and sponsors are listed by clicking the image above.  As well as where you can find me at certain times of the week.

You can follow the link to this static page I will be updating regularly.  I will also put a link on the navigation somewhere.

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 10th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Announcement: I will be SpeedGeeking at Lotusphere 2007

Ed talked about the recent announcement of the SpeedGeeking un-conference session this year.  You can see all the details here for the time being.  The full list of topics and speakers has not been announced but you are getting a good idea.  I am scared to see Wild Bill, Paul Mooney and myself (with others) in a room talking at the same time, but we will see how it goes.

My topic you ask?  I am coming up with a catchy title if I can

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 9th, 2007   by Chris Miller        

Finalists announced for Lotus Awards this morning.. congrats to Instant Technologies, PSC and Ascendant

Here are the categories and winners

Best Messaging and Collaborative Solution
  • Intravision (denmark) - winner
  • cypoint systems innovation AB (sweden)
  • Gaia Informaitca (brazil)

Bext Contextual Collaboration Solution
  • Adrenalin eSystem Limited (India)
  • Brookstone Technoloiiges pty limited (Australia)
  • relavis Corporation (US) - winner
 
Best Portal Solution
  • Flowring Technology Corp (Taiwan)
  • Kryos Systems (Canada) - winner
  • Gemini Systems (USA)

Best Industry Solution
  • Bat-groupware GmbH (Austria) - winner
  • Engram Gmbh (Germany)
  • Siemens Communications (USA)

Best Midmarket Solution
  • GEDYS Intraware Gmbh (Germany)
  • DLI.tools Inc (Canda)
  • VDoc Software (France) - winner

Best Tool and Utility Solution
  • Idokiorro Mobile, Inc (Canada)
  • Instant Technologies (USA) - winner
  • Smartdot Technolgoiies Co, LTD (China)

Best IBM Lotus Sametime Collaboration Extension
  • Radvision, Inc (USA)
  • iscood AG (Switzerland)
  • Imixs Software Solutions Gmbh (Germany) - winner

Best IBM Workplace Forms Solution
  • ITM Associates Inc (USA)
  • Spheronic (Austrialia) - winner
  • Enterprise Information Management, inc (USA)

Best People-centric SOA Solution
  • PSC Group, LLC (USA) - winner
  • Ascentant Technology (USA)
  • Peace System Integration (Taiwan)

Distinguished Achievement Awards NA
  • TamGroup (USA)
  • Ascendant Technology (USA) - winner
  • E2 Consulting (USA)

    for this posting

    On Thursday, December 21st, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Yes Lotusphere 2007 registration is open, but have you seen the prices?

We normally have a pedestal which includes some badges so I never pay attention.  But the early bird rate caught my eye in the corner of the screen.  Here is the breakdown:
  • Now to Oct 13 2006 it is $1695
  • Oct 14 - Dec 8 2006 it is $1895
  • Dec 9 2006 it goes up to $2095


Will this inhibit your company from getting budget to go?
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    On Thursday, August 17th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

A rebuttal from Microsoft and my readings/comments on public IM connectivity in Sametime 7.5....

An accurate response came from Microsoft to my post yesterday.  LCS 2005 does offer connectivity to outside public IM systems through PIC (Public IM Connectivity).  Sametime will have the VOIP options built in also.  I agree that the integration needs to be made further in the phone systems.  DUCS is still under-utilized and full VOIP integration needs to be completed.  Awareness in both products is everywhere.

We can now move on to IBM/Lotus's statement that this feature or function will be free.  From the LCS website here, there is more costs involved:

Public IM Connectivity licenses are available on a per-user, per-month subscription and are additional to the Live Communications Server Client Access License (CAL). Public IM Connectivity has two licensing components associated with its use, a Services Subscription License (SSL) and a User Subscription License (USL).

Public IM Connectivity service licenses are available for Microsoft Volume License customers only and are not available for retail open customers following other Microsoft subscription licensing programs.


You then jump to this site to fill out forms to get public connectivity.  Unfortunately the Public IM Connectivity Partner site has nothing there yet either and states so.  This is how you merge your ID into the public systems.

Let's see how fast organizations move into federated connectivity with a free system versus licensing, I am curious.
    for this posting

    On Friday, March 10th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Live Blogging from Lotusphere Comes to You - St Louis (finished since Ed called me out)

There will be sections to this posting as I add on per session.  I will do the normal highlights and then my thoughts.

There were 66 people in attendance according to the lunch numbers as a side note, from places not usually at User Group meetings.

Click below to read on as it grows...


Continue Reading here" Live Blogging from Lotusphere Comes to You - St Louis (finished since Ed called me out)" »
    for this posting

    On Thursday, March 9th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

HND104 slides an tools are here for download in compressed format

Thanks everyone for asking and waiting, I had to get some things done first.  Here you go

HND104SMTP_public.rarHND104.zip

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 7th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Thanks to all for the compliments on the presentations.... and the SMTP slides are coming

This one took me by surprise and almost made me blush...
Chris Miller rocks - If you are an admin DO NOT MISS his sessions.  Look at his blog...... Keep up and you will learn a lot, but it is somewhat like encountering a knowledge hit-and-run, so you WILL have to download the slides to commit most of it to memory. So, do that and love it.

So again, thanks everyone for the emails, IM's and blog postings.  The slides for SMTP will be up shortly.  I had to clean them and PDF them for you.

Back to our schedule of replication versus synchronization.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 1st, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Another replication versus synchronization posting

This has gotten to be a hot topic in the comments and the hits from the posting last week found here.  I even saw it pop up in the internal Business Partner forum (thanks Sean) looking for feedback.  So let me explain, quote and move along a bit further.

This is not a semantics talk anymore about which word a person uses.  The meaning has been built in for years.  There are major differences to me and others on the proper definition of replication.  Dictionary.com tosses out a few meanings:
1. A fold or a folding back.
  2. A reply to an answer; a rejoinder.
  3. Law. The plaintiff's response to the defendant's answer or plea.
  4. An echo or reverberation.
  5. A copy or reproduction.
  6. The act or process of duplicating or reproducing something.
  7. Biology. The process by which genetic material, a single-celled organism, or a virus reproduces or makes a copy of itself: replication of DNA.
  8. In scientific research, the repetition of an experiment to confirm findings or to ensure accuracy.

Amazingly I like number 8 here.  Using the words repetition of an event or experiment (called scheduled replication in our world) to ensure accuracy across replicas.

Back to Dictionary.com we have the formal definitions of synchronization:

v. intr.

  1. To occur at the same time; be simultaneous.
  2. To operate in unison.

        1. To cause to occur or operate with exact coincidence in time or rate: We synchronized our watches.
        2. To cause to occur or operate at the same time as something else: They synchronized their trip with the annual tulip festival.
  2. To arrange (historical events) in a synchronism so as to indicate parallel occurrence.
  3. To cause (soundtrack and action) to match exactly in a film.

So Synchronization would be more like clustering according to the first line.  So I could see this word used in place of clustering, not replication.  Definition 4 describes replication best to me, an echo or reverberation.  They do not have to be totally in sync (hmmm, interesting placement of the word) at all times.  Replicas can be hours or days different.  They then echo, rejoin or reproduce (or delete) as necessary on schedule or on demand.

So some good quotes for you.  From Gabriella Davis:
I also think synchronization sounds much less feature rich than replication

From Jerry Glover taking the other spin:
I think "synchronize" is far more well-known by the general populace

Of course Sean had a blunt point:
It seems to me to be quite a lot of time and money to change something that does not necessarily need to change.


My two cents have been written, spilled and could go on for pages.  More words from the faithful and new readers?

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 31st, 2006   by Chris Miller        

I overheard something from Lotus people in the hall and I had to verify. Plus my question on it

While walking back from the Swan to Dolphin, I had the opportunity to hear an echoing group in front of me having a conversation.  They were stating that one of them was surprised not to hear questions on why they are changing the name/tab for replication in the Hannover release.  They were actually quite nervous someone would ask as it has been asked in some internal reviews.  So it seems it might be something like synchronize at this point, as used in the Workplace Managed Client (WMC).  So off I went on a search.

Current Hannover docs I could find anywhere on the web had no mention at all of offline mode and replication/synchronization.  I could only find one reference at all to this in some more than basic searching.  Way more than basic searching.  Crazy amounts on both IBM, LDD and the whole Internet.  Docs on LDD and some other marketing and reference material did not point to it.  But I whittled down and eliminates until this doc for the Workplace Managed Client (WMC) came up.  From what I understood Hannover is following this theory, but not exactly the same menu choices for offline mode..so don't think I am saying that this is exact.  But it makes perfect sense.

http://www-12.lotus.com/ldd/doc/uafiles.nsf/docs/wcs26/$File/rich_client_ug.pdf

Check starting at the bottom of page 13 (as per the contents) in Chapter 1 under Working Offline.

So what is the big deal you ask?  Well we are teaching people and employees for years to use the Replication tab and to replicate.  Not the synchronization tab and synchronize.  This could bring up a training issue and support calls for this upgrade.  Yes, the client is magnificent and magnificently different.  Meaning that you should always have training anyway.  But why would a change like that be necessary unless they are trying to get it more in-line with Workplace and WMC.  Make sense?
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 27th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Day 4 in review (part 2) live blogging at closing..

Surjit Chandra opened with thanks to all customers, partners and even Sandra Marcus for putting on, once again, an amazing show all week. He continued on with 3 main points....
  1. Commitment - "Yellow is the new Black" was a giant quote put on the wall on the closing screens.  Lotus is committed to Notes, Domino, Sametime and everything else.  But then tossing in new openness.  96% of all the sessions were delivered using the Workplace Managed Client and Open Document Format
  2. Attitude - He put bloggers on the screen (screencaps), showing the commitments.  He replayed his FUD comment of not putting up with anymore bulls**t (there was even horns in the replay) from the opening session.  he is declaring the Gloves are off.   Lotusphere for next year has been announced Jan 21-25, 2007 at the same place, same location.
  3. Crap I missed something....


The special treat was...... Jim Gaffigin (from Letterman, Conan, etc and I am not sure of the spelling here.  looking..)  He was decent enough.  People laughed and quite a few in the back left.  I am sure his stab about watching pr0n at home with Surjit will guarantee he won't be returning.  Now he finally got off of food topics after about 30 minutes and got much funnier.  Remember, this is all my opinion.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 26th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Day 4 in review (part 1) live blogging..

More pictures are up once again...

Hit a couple BOF's this morning and people were much slower but still trying to be strong getting up early.  BOF314 on C&S was good and it seems everyone has isolated calendar needs and issues.  Most widespread issues are well known and documented.

BP106 was on repeat with Paul Mooney.  He took some notes from talking to us yesterday and applied them well.  I did appreciate he got the light stick from the Disney-bots last night at Sea World.  But it broke by this morning, of course.

GURUpalooza - this was awesome again this year.  Well attended and the questions were much more detailed and not esoteric.  We tried to pass the mic around so everyone could answer, but it seems some of the questions were very directed.  I appreciated Wild Bill sitting in the back row since he wore his kilt.

Ask the Developers - Started very slow with comments and thoughts and not questions.  It then started to take off.  I liked some of the questions that were asked, but very unique to each environment.  There were a few global questions, like one on SMTP.

Ed is blogging next to me and eating my bandwidth.....  He is typing way too much and it takes more of the 802.11 on each keystroke...

There is was some good comments on making the web and Notes more similar in terms of policies.  I agree it is hard to manage security policies that does not affect all aspects since we expect the user to utilize both.

Omnifind was brought up as a solution by the Developers for a question on search enhancements in Domino.  Searches on Google showed announcements around that product in 2004, but it was new for me to hear.  The web shows the following:
For example, the Armonk, N.Y., company recently took the covers off OmniFind, an enterprise search engine for file systems, content repositories, databases, collaboration systems, applications and intranets. OmniFind integrates with any portal or content management system.

This will be interesting in what resources it needs and where it runs (locally or server).  The Websphere Information Integrator and the DB2 Information Integrator middleware are already in place.  I can imagine a piece for Domino is soon to follow.  If it has the same cost structure as LEI, it might be a tad expensive.

Mary Beth Raven took the stand to answer a client UI question.  She turned it right around to a request from all of you.  Get your butt on LDD and register as a usability tester to make your complaints about things like the View Unread button and making the default in the mailfile "Reply without attachment".  That got much applause.  I think that is an awesome idea.  Instead of complaints, make the effort.  She made a very bold statement:
As you can see we are in a total redesign of the UI for Hannover

That is as close as I can get the exact quote but it is darn accurate.  But it embodies what one theme here was (to me) at the conference.  Make a difference yourself, because Lotus is making changes beyond belief.

"Tell Amgr cancel"  starting in Domino 6 will stop an agent that runs away from a server command of Tell Amgr Run.  But that changed Julie K's response when she listened to the question again.  Her cancel comment will only stop agents running normally, not ones launched from the console.  She took it under advisement.
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    On Thursday, January 26th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Day 3 in review (part 2)

Well I appreciate Paul Mooney read my comments on his session.  We sat (ok stood) for a few last night to talk while in the Dolphin and I gave my impressions.  He did great for his first year and he has a repeat in the morning.  Hope you are there now reading this live or not reading it yet and seeing him.  There is a picture here hinting at what I talk about below and the rest are on the Flickr or my Yahoo photo site as linked before.

Image:Day 3 in review (part 2)

I did my podcast in the afternoon at LotusUserGroup.org and made sure I did not hear or see the questions before hand.  I wanted to wing it for the interview and surprisingly, I was asked some questions no one had asked or at least in a long time.  Leave it to Libby Ingrassia for that.  So go take a listen.  Scroll down the left some for the podcasts.

I managed to miss Wes Morgan's Network Infrastructure Design session, which is one of my personal favorites.  I have seen it numerous times, yet he encompasses a 'feature' I try to put into my sessions.  No matter how much you know on the topic, the speaker can make it entertaining and teach you at least one thing new that makes it always worthwhile.

Let's get straight on to SeaWorld.  I had my hesitations about this one when I saw it announced.  It is at the bottom of my list, right above Wide World of Sports.  I am not usually this candid, maybe I am tired this morning as I type this (yes it is back dated to keep me by day in postings).  But there was not enough time to do everything, and there really was not much to do.  Lots of walking, there seemed to be places to eat but everyone so far I talked to ate at the pizza shop.  Shamu was cool but such a short show was surprising.  One rollercoaster really sucks.  I know I love rollercoasters, so there is some bias.  I had hoped for a good, known, band.  Yet I know they are expensive.  Get a few thousand more people back to the conference and we might get lucky again.  I will say all the positives from here on though.
  • Shamu show was good for the time on.  Very entertaining and amazing as each time.  Awesome how much they can get them to do, learn and cooperate.
  • The sharks area was great.  Long line to get in.  I realized that they had turned off the moving sidewalk that is normally on.  So instead of getting whisked through, you could take your time.  Made it more enjoyable but longer to get in.
  • I have a new fish that reached amazing on the cool meter. The Leafy Sea Dragon.  I thought they had a bunch of loose plants or weeds in the tank, it was the actual cousin of a sea horse (according to webpages I peeked at).  Just amazing how it blended in.
  • The pizza was fine (there, I stretched it)

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 25th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Day 3 in review (part 1)

This morning (yes this means waking before 7am to get there at 7) began with a BOF session (BOF512)  for Lotus User Group Communities.  As we host LotusUserGroup.org and I am on the advisory board, I forced myself to actually awaken at the crazy early hours. I found that IBM does not have as much local participation at each user group, nor can some of the people get any help.  We all know IBM cannot just give out email addresses of users in the area, but some emails from the groups trying to begin could be helpful in starting or growing the local user communities.  We talked about bonding together with other tours that come to town, using remote presentations from speakers of conferences and even hooking up with other regional groups to tag along with them until you get yours built.

BP106 - Worst Practices in IBM Lotus Domino
was the first session out of the gates for me.  Wild Bill and Paul Mooney were the speakers and started with the humor even before the session began.  The room filled quick and a lot.  Let the live blogging begin.........   The laughs are continuous with these two and some very accurate issues that many face.  Their layout was making fun of the error, listing the investigation and the jumping right into the listing of solutions for the problem.  Everyone identified with many of the problems and couldn't believe some of the errors poeple make.  The funniest was the section on a large domain being rolled out, globally.  They enabled public key checking for security the evening before it rolls out.  The next morning no one can log in.  The cause?  Someone on the project lost the certifier passwords halfway through and quietly replaced the cert id hoping no one would notice.  Need I say more?  The session was more than entertaining and everyone enjoyed themselves.

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 25th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Day 2 in review (part 2)

Ok, I did not finish yesterday right away.  The rest of my day was the blogging BOF (BOF105) where most of the Lotus bloggers you know were in attendance.  I could list but you can guess.  Everyone there was interested in ( in no order or complete list:
  • growing the community
  • understanding corporate guidelines on blogging
  • internal versus external rules
  • linking to other bloggers
  • getting outside the circle that we seem to follow to each other and bringing in new readers
  • how to reach the world in a timely fashion and generate more comments on your entries and feedback

I then headed to the certification bootcamps being held by CertFX.  It was nice to see the number of people studying hard and late into the night to get certified.  Sad to see Jason knowing so little about Domino, but he is learning.  Give him time.  :-)

A nice dinner with Kathleen McGivney, Susan Bulloch and Jess Stratton (and Matt of course).

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 24th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Day 2 in review (part 1)

Starting out early with my repeat of HND104 for SMTP.  It was overwhelming to see that is full was and closed before 8am.  The session was to start at 8:30am.  Lotus brought in extra chairs to help accommodate.  Thanks to everyone that came.  Slides will be up shortly as promised on here and the Lotusphere Online site.

The food was good at breakfast and lunch.  They made up for Monday and opened more tents and more food.

I met some great people full of questions.   Most were on SMTP and LDAP following where they saw me earlier but the array of conversation is amazing.  I will provide a full day overview later, I am off to another sessions and all pictures are up to date.

    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 24th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Day 1 in review..

  • Vendor floor - packed, dense, filled, capacity, crammed, free stuff
  • Sessions - packed to overflow and closed capacity.  Reminds me of days of old.  You had to fight to get in early and have a seat.  Rooms went to overflow so you could hear and not see the presenter.  It is back!
  • Breaks - crowded and quick.  But awesome to see people fighting for coffee
  • Lunch - long ass walk to Swan back back back tent for box lunch today.  Decent food but had to make escape to get ready for my session.

    BP402 - Yes this is my session.  Big thanks to Kathleen McGivney for putting this Bootcamp track together.  The response is overwhelming.  I was more overwhelmed to learn this evening that not only did I fill and close my room, but proceeded to fill and close two (yes that is 2) overflow rooms in the Swan.  Feedback has been appreciated all day from everyone.  I just thank you for coming to a session I enjoy doing.

    HND104 - Yes this was me again.  Imagine my surprise when I got there at around 2:15 from the LDAP session to see the room full and closed.  Done, poof, no way for more people.  I had a time getting in the door until they figured out I was speaking.  Awesome fun in the hands-on lab.  Neat to have it in the track (thanks again Kathleen) and really helps drive the points home when they can play and do it themselves.

    MTG601 - I went 10 minutes late due to stops along the way and found myself locked out.  damn damn damn, go back to bullet 2, put gun to foot and shoot self

    Sorry for the short posting on the rest of the day but sleep calls and I have more tomorrow !!

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    On Monday, January 23rd, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Live from the Lotusphere Opening General Session

Packed to the back of the room, not sure of overflow from where I sat, but packed more than definitely. (Update: Ed posted that there was overlfow in the Swan Ballroom, quite the hike)

Mike Rhodin (Gen Mgr of Lotus Software)
  • Double digit growth
  • Seats, seats and more seats sold and maintenance renewed
  • 6,000 attendees in the house

Jason Alexander was the opening speaker (no not the architect)

Quite funny with stories.  He made good fun of how we are working on the future and he wants his past back.  Yet he know he has to work on the future.  A good segway for the demos.

still blogging and laughing...this entry will get updated more..... I have heard hints about there is more to Sametime than meets the eye so far...

Ok lets get serious after 20 minutes of Jason.  Mike Rhodin took the stage again to show how "user friendliness" will be changed in upcoming releases and products.  He had 3 questions to ask ourselves as we watched about 80% demo time of live code instead of the normal speeches
  • what's the big idea?
  • how can I use it?
  • when can I get my hands on it?

Ken Bisconti
  • Announced expanded support for Mac with Sametime and DWA on Firefox
    • Ron Sebastian showed off Notes client on the Mac.  Dialog boxes are tied to the look of Mac.
    • Also support for Apple's new Intel PC's later this year
    • Over 1500 customers did migrations from Exchange
    • New support of mobile devices including Blackberry, Nokia, Intellisync, Good Technology (GoodLink)
    • WANDA is new initiatives for USB memory stick (hmm, I think I said U3 didn't I? no one listens to early hints)
      • Ron Sebastian showed SAP and Lotus integration expanded
      • Blackberry and Sametime integration for IM capabilities was shown live...quite cool and got applause
      • Blackberry integration using Web Services for databases for live work
      • Google Search was shown including mail searches returned with web and local files

      Mike Rhodin

      He popped back out to discuss Real Time in our communications.
      • AOL connectivity is back, even Apple iChat.  There will be no additional purchase required to connect the two
      • Yahoo! connectivity for IM
      • Google talk connectivity (makes sense with the AOL and Google talk agreement)
      People are spinning in their heads all around me on some of these announcements.  Mainly because they are geeks but there is also some managers that were loving it

      Craig Hayman, vp for Sametime

      His quote:
      "We stopped working (sic) on what name it should have, switched it back to Sametime and got back to work on the product"
      • Sametime 7.5 with spell checking, emoticons, timestamps, type-ahead name checking, reporting structure, voice chat, photo business cards.  It matches Skype on voice since they use the same Codex.  Can you say Mac, Linux, Windows??
      • Based on Eclipse for make it open and extensible for telephony
      • Avaya, Polycom and Nortel announced more partnership
      • Of course we are looking at the new user interface
        • Ron Sebastian is the demo man it seems.
        • Last chat is shown when you hover over names in Buddy List
        • New launch pad for plugins on the bottom
        • Misspelled words are underlined in red and can correct
        • Screen capture built into the client to show pictures  (hey they used Powerpoint, where was the Workplace Productivity Tools)
        • VoiceJam was the name they used for the voice chat
        • FreeJam and SkillTap was integrated from the IBM Common Tools (ICT)
        • The where are they brought up Google tools
        • Polling was enabled
        • web Conferencing
        • Additional slides can be uploaded while in conference
        • Real Time Collaboration Gateway was announced

        We made a jump from Sametime into forms..  Bowstreet, Portal and tons of other parts together to make the Bowstreet Portlet Factory.

        Allister Rennie, vp of Lotus software

        He got the run on IBM Workplace overview
        • WCS and WMC (Workplace Managed Client) 2.6 is shipping as of today
        • Customer story was early adopter using the WMC at the retail stores
        • Ron was back again for demos.  This time he covered WCS starting with mail and the integrated 130+ file attachment type conversions.  Plus documents can be detached to libraries
        • Open Document Formats and Office were included in the Productivity Manager of the WMC 2.6
        • WBSE (Workplace Business Strategy and Execution) came along next.  People got the glazed eye here and I heard whispers behind me asking him to get back to Domino and even Portal.  Of course, I know there is at least a handful here wanting to see this new product and more on Workplace

        He then took off into IBM Lotus Domino
        • He asked for Lotus Developers to stand and take a bow, there was like 4.  Eli counted 5 but that guy left out the Disney staff entrance
        • Maureen Leland, Chief Architect for the Designer, stepped in
        • She covered Workplace Designer 2.6 with built in samples out of the box
        • Cool tool that mixed different kinds of code,  JavaScript and @Functions.  Eli says cool and awesome

        Her demo took a bomb at the last sec but we could tell it worked, she clicked some code wrong.  One more time for Workplace Designer on Eclipse and that went well.

        Tim jumped back on stage and followed the format for the Identity 2.0 presentation I saw before that set a new standard in presenting.  A big impact through hundreds of slides with pictures and a couple words per slide.

        Activity Explorer was shown and that got some attention and people woke up.  The ability to drag docs and maintain activity information in threads was impressive.  All this available now. The future takes Activity Explorer to a web based solution as well.

        Mike Rhodin to close it out, the home stretch
        • 2 Million seats at time of IBM acquisition.  Now to 125 million
        • For the record, there is no shift or regression, all growth and support for past and future Notes apps adding Eclipse and Java to make it stronger
        • Hannover was an early preview but now Ken is back with an update
        • Ken Bisconti - Domino "Next" sounds just like RNext years ago.  Websphere Portal technology is moving into Domino to move the browser interface forward
        • Jeff Eisen (Chief Architect Notes and IBM Distinguished Engineer) took the stage for demos
        • Hannover - Preview pane can be on the bottom or left.  I don't preview anything personally, either I read it or not, but ok...
        • Invitations are ghosted onto the calendar
        • Mail threads works pulling mail from all views, not just the current
        • Sidebar has frequently used applications on right side.  You can add your own app links everywhere
        • Recent Collaboration was very cool showing chats, emails whatever that you recently had with the person selected.
        • Contacts are greatly enhanced with pop-up window or embedded like now through policies and preferences.
        • Quick Find will be found everywhere in the client
        • Activities is huge, too much to type at the end here.  I will find the slides or something for you


        Ok, that was it, time up and over!

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 23rd, 2006   by Chris Miller        

First day breakfast....

Let's make this simple, one attendee said :
"I know they were cutting back on variety and quality, but quantity also?"


Basically they were running out of food at the Swan tent.  No bread, limited eggs left and seating was going to the highest bidder.  No really they were.

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 23rd, 2006   by Chris Miller        

I know the theme for tonights Welcome Reception

See these two pictures and the album.  Can you say gambling...

Image:I know the theme for tonights Welcome Reception



Image:I know the theme for tonights Welcome Reception
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 22nd, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Business Development and Jumpstart day entry 1

This is how crowded things are this year first off.  A full session at 1:30 in the afternoon from Gabriella Davis on Domino clustering basics...
Image:Business Development and Jumpstart day entry 1

Business Development Day opening session and breakfast
  • Ken Bisconti (VP Lotus Workplace I think now) makes the statement  "... Notes 7,8,9,10...." letting us know it is not dying.  Take that !  Walking around later I see shirts taunting the talks of Notes 11 even.
  • Mike Loria states that in attendance for BP Day alone there were 17 countries represented, 10% registered were new and the exhibitor floor is totally sold out (as I mentioned before)
  • Mike Loria states that the Lotus Awards had submissions from 31 different countries.  Letting you know Domino is everywhere.  Of course I would like to win each category we are finalists in.
  • Marjorie Tenzer, (BM Software Group, Marketing Vice President, SWG Channel & SMB Marketing) announces the push for partners and Workplace Services Express.  Including free marketing with direct mailings and nurturing calls if you get certified in the next few months
  • iCollaborate on iSeries announced
  • Lotus moved back into AP region with Lotus Days (like Lotusphere) and most every presentation was given by a Business Partner.
  • The guest speaker was excellent.  She raced in the Eco Challenge in 2000 and finished the race with her team.  It was an impressive thing to witness and she had some great comments and ways to make you think about how you approach business

Jumpstart sessions
  • I popped in and out as the pictures will show (see below entry for links)
  • Tom and Julian had a fine crowd and Gabriella packed the house to the point they were telling people to come back for the repeat
  • Jessica  did her first stint on stage at LS and did a great job
  • We are waiting for McGivney and Susan to take the stage this afternoon
  • I could give drab details but take what I think so far as this.  Basically people are excited more than last year.  The crowds are strong and energetic, even though it is the first day.  People are talking about advanced things at lunch letting you know they are using the technology

So a quick break to demo for the Best of Showcase Lotus Award and then I will hit the 4pm sessions.  More text and pics later

    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 22nd, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Important information about your Lotusphere badge (email that was stuck in the spam filter)

I think I will leave it broken :-)  Means less spam mail and phone calls.  Wait, I use a mail-in database and voice mailbox on my registration, no matter


*************
Dear Chris Miller,

If you experience difficulty having your conference badge scanned in the
Product Showcase,  please go to the registration area outside the Product
Showcase or to the registration area in the WDW Dolphin Convention Foyer to
have the bar code on your badge corrected.

Thank you,
Lotusphere Registration

    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 22nd, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Some snapshots of the evening

I posted more pics to the links.  After the quick stop a Kimono's for some drink and sushi with this person and this person (who are also presenting many a session), I headed to the dreaded ESPN where everyone was still meandering around.  Wild Bill came in full glory as the pictures will show.  Carl Tyler and I were accused of being the same person, so we took a picture to prove, yes, there is two of us.  You can actually see the back of Wes Morgan in the next pictures.  This once again proves that 3 people really know Sametime, no really.  Libby was there making the rounds, but another person was hiding in a back corner so they shall rename nameless :-)

Oh yeah...insight into Monday's guest speaker.  But I was beaten into submission from typing more

    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 21st, 2006   by Chris Miller        

The landing gear is down, arrival at Lotusphere 2006

The photos will be found (sync'd) on my normal Yahoo photos and also on Flickr (to keep everyone happy).

There seems to be a bigger buzz here than last year.  The flight was full of people destined to see not only Mickey, but
Lotusphere.  I was impressed at the amount of talk and conversation I could overhear as I rode shuttles and walked around.  The bloggers dinner/drinking was going on when I finally got to the Boardwalk, and that is where the pictures start.  I managed to pass Libby, Rocky, Volker and Turtle before I even made it to the gathering.

So tonight it is off to the ESPN Sportsbar for more gathering and pictures

    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 21st, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Rocky did a good thread for Lotusphere N00bs

You can find the thread here.  But I wanted to add something of my own to the thought.  There are so many of us not only in the blogging world that hang out with each other, but also simple friends and professional associates.  I personally make it a point to get to a few minutes of each session one of them presents.  Even if it is to step in for ten minutes and race to another that is at the same time.  I find that you learn a lot about speaking styles, even tips you can use for yourself.  I have one friend that not only blogs but has attended a few of my sessions.  It is awesome to hear candidly how you do as well as hear them say they liked something so much in the way you present they want to encompass it to their own styles.  Flattery I tell you.

So take the time to make eye contact, send a wave, let them know you came through, even if just for a few minutes.  Remember, many of us (like Andrew :-)  ) can't sit still in sessions for long times anyway.  Or business meetings and other sessions keep us running.  I know I am terribly guilty of trying to be everywhere and pulled in different directions.  But I love watching my friends present.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 19th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere attendance numbers thoughts..

Ed has hinted that the numbers are up from last year, which means up from 2004, up from 2003, etc etc back to the heydays of yesteryear.  Those of us that have been there since 2000 recall racing to the website, phone and fax to register a slot and hope to get a close hotel room.  There was actually a shuttle route that took you across numerous hotels per color.  I always stayed at the Hilton as we were the second to last to pick up and first to drop (not sure how that worked but it did each year).  When I say shuttle, there was like 7 hotels on our route and people walked even further from some of those drop points.  You got used to rooms being overflowed and full for sessions.  Dining tents had you walking to Yacht & Beach and you still waited in line.  The Sunday night party made the sand disappear under so many feet.  I could go on but you get the idea.  Oh wait, you actually got a gift at the Sunday night party as you left.  The Magic Lotus 8-ball still sits in the corner of my office.

Let's hope that this upturn continues as Domino sales increase and Lotusphere takes a more technical (and some marketing for new stuff) approach with such things at the Bootcamp Track.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 17th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere on-line help submission has some issues

Why would I blog it?  Well for a few reasons:
  • The pop-ups are just too darn hilarious for a production system (see below)
  • There are images I wanted to show and had to link them somewhere in the on-line forum since you cannot attach (which I think is a fine idea)
  • plus the email to support bounced back due to some incorrect configuration somewhere
Delivery Failure Report
Your document: Lotusphere 2006: New Trouble Ticket Submitted
was not delivered to:
because: Error transferring to mail2.zoneedit.COM; SMTP Protocol Returned a Permanent Error 550 : Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table


First I introduce you to the long prompt that says just send real issues, not things like I cannot find parking or where is the party
Image:Lotusphere on-line help submission has some issues

Then the prompt after that one
Image:Lotusphere on-line help submission has some issues

Then the second prompt
Image:Lotusphere on-line help submission has some issues

The the final one....
Image:Lotusphere on-line help submission has some issues
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 12th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere conference slogans over the years

As I prepare to move offices I found old conference bags, notebooks and stuff from the years of the conference.  Here is the list of what Lotus presented as the theme for each year...feel free to fill in what I didn't have laying around to show me.  Anyone see the theme with conference topics and the theme?
  • 2006 - Future In Sight
  • 2005 - Envision Decisions
  • 2004 - The Workplace for Innovation
  • 2003 - the essential human element
  • 2002 - Proof Positive
  • 2001 - In the Know
  • 2000 - Looking Forward
  • 1999 - A Part of Every Decision
  • 1998 - Cultivate your senses
  • 1997 - Pool of knowledge
  • 1996 - More insight. More answers.  More opportunity  (thanks to Susan B for the image!)
  • 1995 - A Worldwide Business and Educational Conference
  • 1994 - None if 1994 thanks to Erik F via comments finding some archived web info since the first was Dec 1993
  • 1993 - A Worldwide Business and Educational Conference



Image:Lotusphere conference slogans over the years
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 11th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

Surprise for me, both my Lotusphere 2006 sessions are in the Bootcamp track

I was reviewing the site following along Ed, Bruce's and Vowe's postings about redirects and such and how IBM is handling the lotusphere.com redirect.  I just happened to wonder what else was in the Bootcamp track.  Well to my surprise and with a follow-up call to McGivney, it is true.  So once again here are my sessions and a brief outline of what I am covering.

HND104 Locking Down, Testing and Fully Understanding Your IBM Lotus Domino SMTP Environment
Jan 23 2:30-4:15pm   and then again   Jan 24  8:30-10:15am  both in Swan Mockingbird 1-2
This session will be interesting.  IBM had the test laptop shipped here to be configured.  I was happy to see a 2GB RAM machine with wireless and wired connections.  So it is configured, then shipped back and I am awaiting it to come back for one final peek of the image.  Each classroom is then to have 25 computers with 50 seats for the hands-on.  I am only doing this session twice so far, so sign up early!!  I am hoping this is worse than overflow and has to repeat some more.  I will try and cram as much information into this time as I can.  I am still finalizing a couple key areas and seeing how they work on the local laptops that have no connectivity.

BP402  Advanced Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Infrastructure Design (Updated Again!)
Jan 23 1-2pm in Swan 3-4
This session has taken an evolution that past couple years.  The first time out is was decently received and worked more on Domino.  Then last year I took it a whole new direction at the request of some certain people and it moved into the top 20 sessions in rankings and it was a hell of a lot of fun.  So I am adding more technical content to meet the Bootcamp and adding more fun to make learning the LDAP side easier.  That was the best comments I had from all of the reviews, how making it fun and simple, made all the difficult areas finally understood. (Thanks to those that wrote that on their evals in one way or another)
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 5th, 2006   by Chris Miller        

My Lotusphere presentations time are now available (excluding repeats)

I had a previous posting with the abstracts, but I received the actual times today
 so here you go! Look for some repeats if I get lucky
Session Topic
Date
Time
Location
BP402: Advanced LDAP Infrastructure Design (Updated Again!) 1/23/2006 1:00pm-2:00pm SW 3-4
HND104: Locking Down, Testing and Fully Understanding Your IBM Lotus Domino SMTP Environment 1/23/2006 2:30pm-4:15pm SW Mockingbird 1-2
HND104: Locking Down, Testing and Fully Understanding Your IBM Lotus Domino SMTP Environment 1/24/2006 8:30am-10:15am SW Mockingbird 1-2





    for this posting

    On Tuesday, November 29th, 2005   by Chris Miller        

Announcing my Lotusphere 2006 sessions (finally)

I will have two session this year for 06
  • HND104  Locking Down, Testing and Fully Understanding Your IBM Lotus Domino SMTP Environment  -  this one should be fun and after reading I found out it is first come, first server for seating.  I am looking for a full room since I have done variants of this before.  Let's let the new admins in the room shall we?
  • BP402  Advanced LDAP Infrastructure Design (Updated Again!)  - I love this session and try to make it better each year.  Unfortunately Lotus keeps growing the portfolio so making a session that covers everything doesn't happen.  I have to trim certain parts and expand others.  Last year the session took off in the appreciation people had for the content, so I am expanding the creative ideas again.  For those that were there they know how far off the deep end I went in breaking things down to basics.  This session also got picked up for the new Bootcamp Track !!!!  Thanks to McGivney for that one.
  • I will be in a couple BOF's again as usual also

Connectria will have a pedestal again this year at #628 on the giant grid of swarming vendors.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, November 17th, 2005   by Chris Miller        

I am impressed, 3 Lotusphere hotels sold out or waitlisted...

We are busy booking more rooms for Lotusphere only to find out that the Yacht is totally sold out and both the Dolphin and Swan are waitlisted.  Is this a good sign?  Could the crowds start to cometh back?
    for this posting

    On Thursday, October 27th, 2005   by Chris Miller        

Following up on LAEC’s after CLI day at Lotusphere

I originally made a posting early January about the decline and fall of Lotus Authorized Education Centers (LAEC) across the US for sure.  Not sure about internationally.  But at Lotusphere, I attended Certified Lotus Instructor (CLI) day on Friday after most people had left.  I made my trek back to the Yacht & Beach early in the morning to join in on breakfast and presentations.  There was not that many people there.  After talking to a few of them on a break and during breakfast I found that quite a few were independent just due to the fact that they were then free to move around and even create custom courses.

The idea of the one course fits all approach doesn't seem to work anymore.  Customers want custom courses maybe even spanning multiple levels of classes or even products.  I did run into a company (ElementK) that lets you go on-line and grab lessons from different courses and build your own Table of Contents.  That is a great business model.  I had some discussions with them on pricing and the minimum required books purchased, but you can even toss your own graphic onto the cover.

But back to the topic.  A couple of the LAEC's had a thriving business with continued incoming students.  Why they did became immediately apparent.  They are cross-branding certification and training initiatives to offer a broader range to a broader audience.  Great move on their part as one gentleman there was able to teach Lotus, Websphere, Portal and even DB2.  Which walks him right into Workplace offerings.  Another woman goes to every enablement session and will travel anywhere.  She is opening new doors that other LAEC's thought would survive forever on Lotus.

I was already in process of getting my 'official' Websphere certifications and instructor evaluations, but this just prompted me to speed up the process.  So I now know my earlier posting was correct, but there is a world of opportunity available for those that really make the necessary moves toward it.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 1st, 2005   by Chris Miller        

Trying to accumulate Lotusphere 2005 picture links

I am trying to get links together in one place so we can see all the angles of different people.

My pictures for this are
right here as usual.

The official Lotusphere (Notes.Net) photo album is listed on
this page by day

The amazing Jess Stratton links the
group Lotusphere photo site!!  I had a blast hanging out with her last week during gatherings!

Plus Jess has
her own pictures posted.

Bruce Elgort has his picture site
right here

Carl Tyler tries to confuse me with just a few
photos uploaded and not even in an album format yet.

One page from
Rocky Oliver I could find.

McGivney actually took like three whole shots!

Come on people!!!  I know a bunch of us were flashing cameras all day!

    for this posting

    On Monday, January 31st, 2005   by Chris Miller        

Here is my Lotusphere presentation BP116

I have attached the Advanced LDAP Infrastructure Design (Updated!) slides in PDF to this document, hope this new feature works as I have not used it yet in DominoBlog.  Please comment on the slides, the session or whatever else you desire about my presentation.  Was my shirt too bright?  Did I pace too much?  You get the idea.

BP116 - Lotusphere 2005.pdf
    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 29th, 2005   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2005 updates #3

Tuesday, January 25 continued
When we last left off I had headed to GURUpalooza (on Thursday) which comes much later in all this reading. (Look for all the links to be added later after I replicate and get on-line.  This is being posted on a plane you know.  I did what I knew real quick)

I headed to the vendor floor for a while to not only gives the guys working a break but the chance to see what traffic had been brewing.  LotusUserGroup.Org had really taken off.  if you do not know the user group site has been taken over, redone and under new management.  We are hosting this endeavor.  The numbers at the end of the vendor floor time on Wednesday said that over 1200 of you are interested in being part of the regeneration efforts for Lotus user Groups.  1200?!?!?  That is more swipes than most vendors will ever see in one week on that floor.  Congrats to all.  I can say that the floor was busier than I recall from the last two years which is a great sign in what is going on with Lotus.

Next I skipped Domino Domain Monitoring and opted a last minute dragging, literally by my sleeve, into BP123 for Improving Collaboration with Blogs and Wikis in Domino,  Excellent presentation by Richard and Declan.  It opened some eyes to lead to the blogging BOF popularity the next day.

BOF508 on Lotus User Group Leadership was next for a short time.  As you saw the numbers above, the interest was awesome so the BOF had some good conversation.  I said a couple words and jumped out of there skipping the dreaded walk to Y&B for Best Practices in Deploying Workplace.  I imagined by the time I got there it would be almost over.

Lastly in the evening it was helping CertFX with their bootcamps for 623 exam and Workplace Messaging.  I went back and forth between the two rooms that had a great crowd showing their interest in being certified.

Then it was a stop at the E-Pro Appreciation dinner hosted by Libby.  Tom Duff was in appearance after battling some flu like symptoms some of the time he was there.

Yes, the final resting point of the evening was the Party with the Developers held at Atlantic hall.  Music, drinking and dancing of the Lotus Software developers made for some quick fun.  I spoke for some time with Rob Novak and Liz after sneaking up on Wes Morgan.

Wednesday, January 26
Ok, I do not know who thought of this 7am thing again this year but it gets tiring.  As we compete in the Sametime hosting space (ok we lead it greatly even against IBM), I thought it was prim and proper of me to go and stop at BOF318 for On Demand Conferencing.  Simply put, IBM has realized most enterprise sin the world have firewalls and Sametime has it's issues with going across them.  Big surprise there.  But the audio integration is quite nice and seems to have awesome advantages.  Can't wait to run it ourselves as a hosted solution.

STR106 How To Sell Lotus and Domino in Your Organization is always a must see no matter what the schedule looks like.  If you don't see this presentation, you have no idea how to answer some very basic questions when you face the other software beasts.

Right before lunch we make it into BOF513 for the Lotus Blogging Community.  No matter how you slice it, the experience of having all big the bloggers (ok lets go with a large majority) in one room is a daunting task.  But there we were (see pictures).  Constant chatter, quite a few good questions, much making fun of each other, and last but not least Rocky Oliver announcing that Connectria will start hosting blogs based on the Domino templates for free.  Of course I was busy....umm reviewing...that is the word I am looking for Ed (as he peeked over my shoulder and shook his head), my slides for that afternoon when he said it.  I simply poked my head out of the aisle and made sure he really said what I thought I heard my busy brain think it heard.  Yep, you guessed it.  After some internal talks, it is true.  Look for the hosting agreement on the right to get amended with a new one for free services with some simple rules to live by.  Sign and email or fax it back and off you go.  We will be supporting a few things, including Java agent rights support.

Lunch was immediately followed by a conundrum.  STR109 of Ed's The Boss Loves Microsoft went against two others.  Well reason came into play and I had to go with the business decision on this one.  ID301 Planning and Deployment Considerations for IBM Workplace.  As a launch partner, we deal with scaling and deployments on a constant basis.  I was curious what they had to say.  Disappointingly they said what the book says a lot.  There were a few gems and tips in there, but the regurgitation did not help with some deployment and mainly scaling decisions.

A quick dash over to my room for BP116 Advanced LDAP Infrastructure Design (Updated!!).  Good attendance and incredible reviews when it was all said and done.  The 60 minutes hurts when I present but I gave fair warning that we would run long and everyone stayed.  I apologized to the IBM/Lotus staff coming to present next but I had to finish.  I took LDAP into some interesting fundamentals and cannot thank Tom Duff enough for letting me borrow his remote USB presenter  as I left mine in the dresser at home.  He gave his own review on his blog posting, go check that out too.  Basically I was overwhelmed with the appreciation on the evaluations and thanks to everyone for attending.  I know you got to laugh a bunch and hopefully things became a lot clearer the way I presented it.

Now the big fat bummer comes in that with the questions after my session that kept me in the Ask the Speaker room for some time, I missed most of ID508 Wes Morgan's Network Design for Collaboration.  I love that session as he and I get to go round and round when I present the same topics at Admin2003, Admin2004 and coming up at Admin2005.  He really knows his ...umm... stuff.  yeah stuff.

The park that night was the same as always.  Good friends, quick food, many rides till you bust and ice cream on the way out.  We had fun, bought some gifts for the family that were requested via cellphone (hey baby!), and tried to make ourselves sick riding over and over.

Per the usual we ended at Kimonos, but only my senior vp and myself as some of the others in my group had enough.  Unfortunately we were starving and sushi was the perfect end.

Thursday, January 27
An 8am marketing meeting with IBM at the Y&B had me traipsing back across the property.  I ended it as soon as humanly possible to get back to BOF504 on Domino Web Access.  As a large hosting provider in this space, I had a couple concerns I brought up that they not only took good note of but took and traded cards to see if we can't work together on one of the key issues.  If this works out, look for reduced disk space for your web only mail users and the ability to pull in outside mail via account documents.  No way this will be 7 , but simple enough for right behind it.

I poked into ID121 to see McGivney give her all for a last hurrah (hell she even blogged twice in one week, that woman was on fire I tell you) before heading to the room to dump gear, change and get ready for GURUpalooza.  Now this is the first year the event has taken place.  Talk about a cool idea.  The best and brightest from your BP track together on one stage to answer any question.  They had a little delay getting the room set up so we played around and took pictures and said hi.  Nineteen of us graced the stage as seen in the pictures.  Alan was the moderator of the day, making fun of his own clothing attire.  Watching the people swarm in the doors when they opened, followed by a lot of you taking pictures made us feel like stars.  Thanks for that!  Now that we know what to expect, look for next year to be better defined and more fun.

I skipped Ask the Developers in turn for eating some lunch and relaxing the mind.  Plus I headed to the CLP Lounge for a massage and some snacks.  I got a hold of who the guest speaker was at closing ceremony and dashed my ass off to get close.  Well the hint was right on the money as Steven Wright graced our presence.  He is one of my favorites, and if you recall from last year, we snuck to see him at Hard Rock Live in Orlando during Lotusphere.

I think everyone's brains melted by the end of the show as everyone went to pack or take a nap before dinner.  Dinner was quiet, just co-workers and customers before back to Kimonos for a short time.

Friday, January 28
What you thought I was done?  Of course not.  Friday is known for Certified Lotus Instructor Day at the Y&B.  Yes, once again the trek that has killed thousands of men before me had to be taken.  A room of instructors is not very quiet when given the chance.  They announced some new courseware, classes and ways to get instructor certified in those.  But, alas, I had to head out before the lunch started to make some final packing and then the shuttle.  Tom and I sat for a few in the hotel before the shuttle arrived and a lunch at Fox Sports in the airport.  The flight here is full of people and quite a few Lotusphere backpacks.  Good to see that return.

Epilogue
The author of this narrative now has hurting hands from typing too much but not nearly everything.  Some topics will be explored in depth in the coming days.  I have plenty to say in terms of tips, thoughts and rants.
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2005   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2005 updates #2

Here is the start of the rundown of my days....  and more pictures have been added to the album but need to have comments added and sorted some for timeline reasons!!!

Monday, January 24

I started after the Opening General Session going to ID113 for Lotus Directory Technologies: Planning, Deployment, Best Practices.  This session was quite well attended and gave some excellent information about the future and some good above basic information.  I went to find out more about what people were looking for in Directory Services before my session.

Next on the list was BOF307 for Integrating Workplace, Portal with Lotus LDAP.  I was not really pleased with this BOF for some reason as there was not much interaction.  A weird idea of using LEI to sync directories, which we find out the next day that IBM uses internally.  Much cheaper than the Tivoli Integrator and it works!  Something to look into and test for some of our mail migration and consolidation work.

I jumped in and out of various sessions the rest of the day until the last evening slot.  I hit two more BOF's before heading to the Welcome Reception on the vendor floor.  Then we headed to the Lotus Awards dinner before settling in Kimonos for more sushi, drinks and tons of people singing.

Tuesday, January 24

This was an early morning at 7am with BOF305 for Domino Administration - Meet the Developers.  Normally in previous years this BOF was always filled to capacity and closed.  But it showed as a repeating session so I was shocked (as well as the panel by the look on Art's face) that not many people were there.  I somehow survived through that early morning.

I stopped in the Innovators Panel but for business reasons I instead saw ID201 on the new Lotus Web Conferencing Service.  I will have an entirely separate posting on my thoughts on this offering.  Entirely separate posting.

ID308 ran me to the interoperability of Domino and Workplace because I imagined it would have some concerns on LDAP which I wanted to hear for my session.  I got some info in there.

Now ID505 for Single Sign-On in a Multi-directory World was an excellent session to me.  Great technical info and covered lots of ground for a short time.  A couple topics could have been sessions on there own for the true geeks



Sorry I have to stop here to go to Gurupalooza.  I will add the rest later.

    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 27th, 2005   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere 2005 first impressions and pictures

You will find the  growing photo album right here in slideshow format!!!  Take a look often and I will repost the link all the time.

Image:Lotusphere 2005 first impressions and pictures

Well I awoke early in the morning for the Business Development Day breakfast where we had the pleasure of sitting at the table with Ambuj the entire time plus through the Opening Session.  As I mentioned
before, Connectria did win another Lotus Award (Beacon) and that makes 3 and counting.  But the real news was the announcements of the growth in Lotus software sales and some initiatives of what they are planning for 2005.

Look at Workplace being meshed more into Domino with joint sales revolving around Domino instead of competition or confusion between the two.  I posted thoughts the other day on the naming conventions.  But the direction with the new WSE offering makes allows a greater penetration into so many markets that might be closed right now due to costs or justifications.  Now the biggest improvement is the simple installation via cd compared to the full Workplace install.  They also stated that is being built into future versions of the full install.  But to have it as a quick deployment makes it a very easy product to sell.


From there I heard a lot about the weather and people stuck all over.  But I ran by the JumpStart sessions in the Swan to see some good ones from
Tom Duff and Kathleen McGivney. (see pictures link above for a couple shots)  They both were going quite well and had great attendance.  Pretty much every session I went into had good attendance.

I then headed to an Executive Roundtable meeting about sales and marketing initiatives and how the Business Partners need help, direction or want things changed.  I can definitely say changes are in the works and they listened well to our ideas.  There are a lot of changes I wanted done and will make that a separate entry.


So next is the welcome reception where I will grab a bunch more pictures.

    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 23rd, 2005   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 OGS and day 1 review - IdoNotes Episode 145


IBM kicked off IBM Connect 2016 in Orlando, FL. I summarize the Opening General Session and more for you.
IBM Connect 2016 logo
The IBM Connect 2016 episode covers the following:  Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2016 OGS and day 1 review - IdoNotes Episode 145" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016   by Chris Miller        

IBM Connect 2016 preview video - Lotusphere Podcasts


IBM has tons of scattered information on IBM Connect 2016 in Orlando, FL. I try and summarize a lot of it in one place for you.
IBM Connect 2016 logo
Here is a rundown of the show notes
  • First of all we have a new location for IBM Connect 2016 at the Hilton Orlando.  We are no longer at the Dolphin & Swan area (video link)
  • Things to do and eat around the new conference center location    (video link)
    Continue Reading here" IBM Connect 2016 preview video - Lotusphere Podcasts" »
      for this posting

      On Thursday, November 12th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 OGS and week in review video - Lotusphere Podcasts


A whirlwind IBM ConnectED 2015 tour in under ten minutes. From the Opening General Session and onward. More of a peek instead of a full summary that needs to be written.
  • IBM Verse was everywhere
  • IBM Verse has a freemium model
  • Digital Experience is a new way to work if you know what it is
  • IBM Lotus Domino barely made a dent of a mention in the OGS
  • The OGS went by quick
  • Non-IBM speakers are delivering some high quality sessions (I have only seen two IBM sessions)
  • The welcome party was not as it was
  • The vendor floor was not as it was
  • IBM Verse was everywhere again

See the video for more. Also catch up on the live blogging replay of the OGS on LotusphereLive from Carl and myself.

As for the week itself..
- a look at the annual backpack
- the Lotusphere cookie and #pretzelcookiegate
- IBM Verse again
- IBM Connections 5 sneak peek
- the vendor floor changes
- and tons more

The IBM Connect / Lotusphere sessions database is already filling with content. Make sure you visit that regularly as content gets added


See the video for the whole story and make sure you subscribe to the IdoNotes podcasts and Spiked Studio channels on YouTube
    for this posting

    On Monday, February 2nd, 2015   by Chris Miller        

IBM ConnectED 2015 site launches | IdoNotes Episode 142


IBM has launched the website for IBM ConnectED 2015 and Lotusphere at a new URL of IBMEventConnect.com/ConnectED. I dig into the new site capabilities and ask the annual question of when will this site just go away again?

We have talked before about IBM opening and closing down annual sites and each time we take a step ahead it seems we fall right back. Here are some posts over the years
See the video for the whole story and make sure you subscribe to the IdoNotes podcasts and Spiked Studio channels on YouTube
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 15th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Mat Newman and Mitch Cohen attempt karaoke

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business

Even though it is now IBM Connect 2013 we get a rendition of Glory Days from Mat Newman and Mitch Cohen titled Lotusphere.

This is one for the video archives to always remember.

You can see all the Lotusphere Podcasts from IBM Connect 2013 and the past years right here on IdoNotes.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 20th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the exhibitor floor in 4 minutes

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


Ever want to see the whole IBM Connect 2013 and Lotusphere exhibitor floor? Here it is in 4 minutes.

Make sure you visit all of the Lotusphere Podcasts on the blog or via the YouTube playlist to keep up!
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 5th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - issues with the session eval system

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


I am trying to fill out evaluations at IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 and I am having these issues with the system that runs it. Early warning and I hope they issue a fix quick.

P.S. my session numbers if they fix this is BP102 or 1050 for the four digit code.
    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 31st, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Day 2 and 3 IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 video review

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


This is a packed 5 minute overview of the IBM Connect 2013 Opening General Session highlights including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, HitRecord, ForeSee, Kenexa, and analytics. I also need to get an interview at this Greenwell company too.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 30th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Day 1 highlights of IBM Connect 2013

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


Here we go with day 1 highlights of IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013. People, places, champions, things and music all make the cut.  Oh and the new badge changes.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 27th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the IBM Connect 2013 bag or backpack

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business


Each year Lotusphere Podcasts gets requests to see the annual backpack. IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 are no different.  Here is a look inside.

Make sure you subscribe and keep up with the Lotusphere Podcasts playlist on YouTube, the live IdoNotes shows all during IBM Connect 2013 and the new Notes client widget I made for the Lotusphere Podcasts!!
    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 26th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

iPad tip for being productive at IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013


Last year we witnessed and recorded an awesome tip on better using the iPad while at Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2013. It was worth sharing the video again.

I am not yet sure where the pdf files will sit for you to access as they have not sent the annual online system email to give access. But once they do this saved me so much effort last year. I could then save the marked up PDF and send them to dropbox.
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 18th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the official Android mobile app for IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013

IBM Connect 2013 Get Social Do Business



IBM announced SocialBizOnline today and a new mobile application for attendees of IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013. On the front page they linked to a new mobile app for Android (and iOS soon to come). See how hard it was to find the app in Google Play searches but the surprise I found when using the app.
Continue Reading here" Lotusphere Podcasts - the official Android mobile app for IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013" »
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 16th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - The unofficial IBM Connect 2013 session database has launched


In previous Lotusphere years we had the unofficial Lotusphere database from Ben of Genii Software and this year for IBM Connect 2013 and Lotusphere a new version from Mat Newman of ISW launches.  What makes this database different than the Session Preview Tool from IBM we looked at last week? Watch the video above to find out.

Right before this published Mat also announced a mobile version!!
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 15th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - IBM Connect 2013 Session Preview Tool


Lotusphere Podcasts are back for 2013 (also under the name IBM Connect Podcasts for grins) with the kickoff video showing the IBM Connect 2013 Session Preview Tool.

Keep up with all of the Lotusphere Podcasts by grabbing the Notes client widget or subscribing on YouTube.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts update and new Notes client widget

With the name changes at Lotusphere blending into IBM Connect, I decided to move Lotusphere Podcasts into IdoNotes podcasts and to launch an IBM Notes client widget.  The website/iTunes and RSS will redirect by this weekend.

Lotusphere Podcasts launched in 2008 and was built to:
Lotusphere Podcasts has brought interviews with the exhibitors, speakers, attendees and more from Lotusphere. We will also have times we are live!

The focus is to bring more video content from Lotsphere to your desk. Not everyone can make the journey to Lotusphere. So we now bring as much as we can to you

You can now find Lotusphere Podcasts as a playlist on YouTube and you can subscribe to that right here.

I also built a widget for your Lotus Notes client (as shown in the image above) that allows you to keep up right in your Notes client!  You can download the widget or drag it right into your Lotus Notes client widget area below.

Pay attention to the Arrows on each side and thumbnails on the bottom that allows you to navigate through the videos.  This will update on the fly as we add them down at Lotusphere/IBM Connect.

LSPwidget.xml

    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013   by Chris Miller        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the IBM Champions and end of the world


Quite a few IBM Champions got together and attempted to sing a song in perfect harmony in Kiminos.  You need to watch the attempt for yourself and judge if it was the end of the world as we know it.
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 20th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Duffbert and Donaldson belt one out


It had to be witnessed by someone and it seems a camera caught it and sent the SD card to right Lotusphere Podcasts.  Watch Tom "Duffbert" Duff and Andy Donaldson attempt "I Got You Babe" at karaoke in Kimonos just last night.  It is dark in some spots but nice and clear.
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 20th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - IBM Champion Simon Vaughn receives an award



IBM held a Champion Reception at Lotusphere 2012 where the executives and IBM Champions got together.  While there a couple iPad 2 devices were given away and Simon Vaughn was a lucky winner.  Hear him describe his solution.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, January 18th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Attendee trick on note taking



You learn cool tricks while at Lotusphere, even from attendees.  I sit with Katie as she walks us through how she accesses SocialBizOnline via the iPad, downloads the presentations and opens in a note taking and highlighting app.  She is then able to socially share the apps or send to DropBox all marked up with her notes and highlights.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 17th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Peeking in the Lotusphere 2012 backpack



Each year we peek inside and look at the new Lotusphere backpack.  What surprises did it bring?  Watch and see
    for this posting

    On Saturday, January 14th, 2012   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Humpty Dance for everyone

Sit back and watch and amazing performance at Kimonos by White Chocolate (aka Matt Stratton) doing Humpty Dance.  Did I mention he never looks at the lyrics yet again?   You can also see him in part 1 doing Rappers Delight.

Lotusphere Podcasts - Humpty Dance w/White Chocolate from Lotusphere Podcasts.



    for this posting

    On Tuesday, March 8th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Killed Softly

Apparently everyone, at some point, gets on stage at Kiminos and attempts to kill us softly.  Kathy Brown snuck up and did just that in this video I got ahold of.


    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the girl in the bubble?

Julian Robichaux and I sat a bit stunned at the mermaids, lady in the bubble and ladies stuck in the food tables at the Lotusphere 2011 welcome reception Sunday night.  This is an annual poolside/beach event.  Yet I do not recall ever seeing mermaids.  Or ladies in bubbles floating.  Or ladies stuck in the table.

I am still unable to figure out the theme.  Even after one of the ladies told us.
    for this posting

    On Friday, February 11th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Wake Me Up

Jess Stratton takes the Kimonos stage this year with Wake Me UP.  If you have missed her at previous years, she is amazing.  You can visit her cool mom tech blog at Momelettes.


    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 9th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - White Chocolate is a delight

Sit back and watch and amazing performance at Kimonos by White Chocolate (aka Matt Stratton) doing Rappers Delight.  Did I mention he never looks at the lyrics and belts out six minutes strong? See also part 2 doing Humpty Dance.

Lotusphere Podcasts - White Chocolate Rappers Delight from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 8th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Judging a Lotusphere Idol contestant #ls11

A short portion of live judging of a just finished Lotusphere Idol contestant.  For those nor familiar, contestant provide 5 minute chances to get your very own Lotusphere session.  The judges are IBM and seasoned speakers.  They say it like it is and the winner presents that very week.  Congrats to this years winner!


Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotusphere Idol judging from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Monday, February 7th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Closing General Session pre slides

Lotusphere Podcasts - Closing General Session preshow from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Since the Closing General Session at Lotusphere was not streamed, I was able to capture the pre-show slides on the screens with statistics
    for this posting

    On Thursday, February 3rd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - what’s in the Lotusphere backpacks #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotusphere 2011 backpack from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Everyone asks what kind of stuff comes in the Lotusphere backpack.  Here is your chance to see
    for this posting

    On Thursday, February 3rd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - What happens at Islands of Adventure #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Long IOA Night from Lotusphere Podcasts.


A few friends join together and head to Islands of Adventure.  It always ends in fun.  Even without winning the $10k from Group.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the $10k winner picked live from GBS #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Group 10k winner ! from Lotusphere Podcasts.


At just before 10pm while at Islands of Adventure, all of the finalists in the Group (GBS) drawing were collected.  They each received $250 for just being a finalist.  But one of the lucky people had a backpack with the $10k gold card in their treasure chest.

Watch the drama unfold and the winner!
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Blackberry Playbook HANDS ON #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Blackberry Playbook hands on from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Paul Steel, Technical Services Manager for RIM, takes time out of the busy vendor floor to bring 2 (two) Blackberry Playbooks along for a hands on demonstration.

Only here at Lotusphere Podcasts
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - the Nokia E7 winning attempt with Woowar #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - the Nokia Giveaway with Woowar from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Nokia is here in full force offering a USB key, 2GB to be exact, in your backpack.  You take it to their booth, stand in line at most times and they place it in some magic slot.  We have no idea how they are seeing the winner on each key, but see the rest for how it works.

Julian waited patiently and let us record his chance.  Find out what happened.
    for this posting

    On Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - What Happens at Kimonos with LotusrockStar #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Kiminos with LotusRockStar from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Long days lead to fun and long nights while at Lotusphere to unwind from hours of learning.  Captured in the wild was Rob "LotusRockStar" Novak leading the Elsmores with special guest Woowar.
    for this posting

    On Tuesday, February 1st, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - two minutes with the touchscreen #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Touchscreen from Lotusphere Podcasts.


I coerce Julian Robichaux, of SNAPPS and NSFTools, to take the first attempt at figuring out what to do with the touchscreens they have placed around Lotusphere this year.  I think we need a UI guide.
    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 30th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Andy and Rob of Technotics live on stage #ls11

Lotusphere Podcasts - Andy & Rob of Technotics from Lotusphere Podcasts.


Have you ever wondered what you miss on Jumpstart Day?  Take this segment recorded live with Andy Pedisich and Rob Axelrod of Technotics, two good friends of IdoNotes.  Rob is hiding behind a monitor working the live servers while Andy handles this portion of talking.

Make sure you visit their blogs for the awesome statistics template for your Domino environment.  Oh yes it is free!




    for this posting

    On Sunday, January 30th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Vidyo for Lotus Sametime at Lotusphere #ls11

Mark Noble, Director of Product Marketing, shows off Vidyo by hosting our video meeting to explain the integration with IBM Lotus Sametime.  We talk about the plug-in architecture, deployment, multi-video capabilities, screen sharing and more.  From one to many participants, public Internet to behind the firewall, this is a tool for those investing in HD video conferencing.

This is a must see video
.

Lotusphere Podcasts - Vidyo for Lotus Sametime from Lotusphere Podcasts .



Visit Vidyo on the Lotusphere vendor floor and their website for more information.  Below is a sample multi-participant conference.

Image:Lotusphere Podcasts - Vidyo for Lotus Sametime at Lotusphere #ls11
    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotus Protector news for Lotusphere #ls11

Sean Brown, Product Manager for the Lotus Protector Family, catches up everyone on all the Lotus Protector news and announcements. We talk some tech about deployment, features and licensing.

 He also lists where to find the Protector sessions and information while at Lotusphere.

Lotusphere Podcasts - Lotus Protector from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Friday, January 28th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts interview schedules - you don’t want to miss #ls11

We wanted to let you know about some upcoming posts we will be doing here at Lotusphere Podcasts.  Make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed to get the update or check the site often.
  • Vidyo - personal telepresence integration for Lotus Sametime
  • Lotus Protector both Mail Security and Mail Encryption
  • on-site videos with attendees, product managers, vendors and more
  • some special Opening General Session launch announcements


You will find Carl Tyler, of Epilio, and myself live blogging our stream of thoughts at LotusphereLive for the fourth year.  Come and watch the embedded live stream of the OGS and see our unfettered commentary.

You should also watch both of our Twitter feeds as we can go live at any moment in time.  There is far too much to give away in advance.

Special thanks to one of our sponsors Sherpa Software.

Image:Lotusphere Podcasts interview schedules - you don’t want to miss #ls11

    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 27th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Tips from a 3 year Lotusphere veteran #ls11

 I had the chance for a rare interview with a 3 year Lotusphere veteran.  I learned about a new iPad app, mobile technology and what to bring to Lotusphere.


LotuspherePodcasts Tips from a 3 Year Lotusphere Vet from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 27th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Mitch Cohen on Blogger Open, SpeedGeeking and more #ls11

I am joined by Mitch Cohen, CuriousMitch,  as he digs out of a foot of snow in a race to get to Lotusphere 2011.  We talk about:


LotuspherePodcasts - Mitch Cohen on BloggerOpen, Speekgeeking and more from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Thursday, January 27th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts        

Lotusphere Podcasts - Alex Homsi, CEO and Founder of Trilog Group on winning another Lotus Award (and XPages)

I had the pleasure of sitting with Alex Homsi, CEO and founder of Trilog Group, winner of yet another Lotus Award.  Being a multi-year winner of Lotus Awards and IBM Beacon Awards, I was happy he took a few minutes to discuss not only where they are headed in social business, but how they achieve so much.

Learn about some amazing things in this video:
  • How they basically invented what is now XPages back as XSP
  • ProjExec5 launch
  • Project Wall
  • Their integration with Connections, Quickr, OpenSocial and the new Collaboration Toolkit
  • His feelings on using the public social streams and activity
  • Alex's excellent outlook and theory on project management futures, product development and more


You can follow all of their Twitter and Facebook activities through the following:

Lotusphere Podcasts - Interview with Alex Homsi, CEO of Trilog Group from Lotusphere Podcasts.


    for this posting

    On Tuesday, January 25th, 2011   by Lotusphere Podcasts