IdoNotes (and sleep)

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        

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 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        

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

• Lotusphere 2005 (group pool)
• Lotusphere 2006 (my pics)
• Lotusphere 2007 (my pics) and Lotusphere 2007 (group pool)
• Lotusphere 2008 (my pics) and Lotusphere 2008 (group pool)
• Lotusphere 2009 (my pics) and Lotusphere 2009 (group pool)
• Lotusphere 2010 (my pics) and Lotusphere 2010 (group pool)
• Lotusphere 2011 (my pics) and Lotusphere 2011 (group pool)
• Lotusphere 2012 (my pics) and Lotusphere 2012 (group pool)
• Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2013 (my pics) and IBM Connect & Lotusphere 2013 (group pool) with an amazing 973 photos
• Lotusphere/ IBM Connect  2014 (my pics) and IBM Connect 2014 (group pool) with an amazing 873 photos
• Lotusphere / IBM ConnectEd 2015 (my pics) and IBM ConnectEd 2015 (group pool)
• Lotusphere / IBM Connect 2016 (me pics which I just realized I never ever uploaded yet due to changing phones)

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        

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).

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 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).

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.

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On Monday, December 5th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

In a confusing move, IBM announces IBM Connect for hybrid clouds, not the annual IBM Connect conference that they hold.

Ready, set, connect… to the hybrid cloud with IBM Connect!
Today, IBM Cloud is announcing a new series of Connect offerings that provides the full spectrum of hybrid cloud solutions for enterprises of all sizes. Without all of your apps and data working together on the cloud made possible through IBM Connect, you risk placing last in this digital race.

This will be interesting in the race for SEO, help via Google or whatever else.  It could be as simple as someone didn't pay attention or maybe IBM Connect gets a new name, again. I mean the IBM Connect conference we all attend, not the IBM Connect they just announced.
Read more here and here

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On Monday, April 25th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

I am happy to finally announce ICON US 2016 is officially launched with a twist.  This will be a one time virtual event on May 9-10, 2016. Registration is already open as well as call for abstracts and sponsor opportunities.

More information will be coming on the website, but space is still limited.  Even with a virtual event.  Head over to http://IamICONUS.org and get registered before it fills.

Also make sure to submit abstracts and get in touch to sponsor either here or via the site.

P.S. Had you been signed up on the IdoNotes newsletter you would have got early notice :-)

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On Tuesday, March 8th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

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        

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        

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.

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        

Session slides from IBM Connect 2016 are beginning to appear in the IBM Event Connect site and on public blogs / SlideShare.

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.  

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 kicked off IBM Connect 2016 in Orlando, FL. I summarize the Opening General Session and more for you.

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, 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.

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 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

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.

• Miss your free exam voucher at IBM ConnectED 2015?
• No certification testing at IBM ConnectED 2015 - but free testing vouchers available
• Free IBM Collaboration Solutions Certification Testing at IBM Connect 2014
• Complimentary Exams at IBM Connect 2013/ Lotusphere for Partners and Clients
• A free certification exam for business partners at Lotusphere #ls11

Keep up with all of my IBM Connect posts

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On Monday, January 11th, 2016   by Chris Miller        

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.

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 has provided some information on the IBM Connect 2016 Technical Labs. These labs have varied over the years and there is three this year.

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 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.

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        

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 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 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.

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        

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.
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 has not communicated well that IBM ConnectED 2015 overall conference evaluation and individual session evaluation forms are online to be filled out.

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        

Competing with http://t.co/5k9kfw4WDS and dropbox through new Connections file share features? Let's go @jeffschick #want #ibmconnected

— Ed Brill (@edbrill) January 26, 2015

IBM, via Jeff Schick, announced at IBM ConnectED 2015, a cloud file sharing service to compete with services like Dropbox, Box and Copy. While exact dates were not offered this is an interesting market for IBM to enter now.

This cloud based file sharing will be based on IBM Cloud Connections and is likely an entry point into upselling users on a full IBM Connections deployment. While an exact date for this offering was not made, the infrastructure beginnings are already in place.

What I found interesting was the late arrival of this offering when many organizations a deeply entrenched with services like Dropbox already. Most everyone you share with personally even asks what your Dropbox email address is. It seems certain services have become ubiquitous with the term file sharing and starting up usage on another service just for that offering would not be a draw.
Continue Reading here" IBM announced a cloud file sharing service at IBM ConnectED 2015" »

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On Monday, February 9th, 2015   by Chris Miller        

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        

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        

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 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.

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        

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.

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        

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

• Lotusphere 2011 online closing - and they listened from 2012. They sent you to an IBM Collaborations Solutions community on Lotus Greenhouse which then closed that community on June 4 2013 and sent users to The Social Lounge on SocialBizUg.
• Shouldn’t Lotusphere be a growing and nurtured community? Not reborn every 12 months? from 2010
• How we in the Lotus world make fragmented islands, not communities from 2008

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 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        

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 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        

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.

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 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.



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        

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.


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

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        

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..
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.

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On Tuesday, December 16th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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 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.

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On Monday, September 15th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Tuesday, April 8th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Monday, April 7th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM announced IBM Mail Next at IBM Connect 2014 this past January. I have tons more to write but this flyer hit my desk today.
According to the image, IBM Mail Next will be delivered from the cloud? Their cloud? Your private cloud at your enterprise?

Look for more info I still need to write that was discussed pub;icly and also an upcoming webcast from IBM.

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On Monday, March 31st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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?" »

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On Thursday, March 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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

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On Monday, March 24th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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


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

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On Wednesday, March 19th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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


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.

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On Wednesday, February 19th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.



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

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On Wednesday, February 12th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.



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" »

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On Wednesday, February 5th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.



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" »

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On Wednesday, February 5th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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" »

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On Tuesday, February 4th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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

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On Tuesday, February 4th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.


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" »

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On Monday, February 3rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

www.flickr.com 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.

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On Saturday, February 1st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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" »

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On Wednesday, January 29th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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" »

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On Tuesday, January 28th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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,

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On Monday, January 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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

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.

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On Monday, January 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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.

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On Monday, January 27th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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

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On Sunday, January 26th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.



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.

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On Saturday, January 25th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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

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On Thursday, January 23rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.



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.

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On Thursday, January 23rd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.


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

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On Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.


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

• IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013
• Lotusphere 2012
• Lotusphere 2011

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

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On Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.


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" »

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On Tuesday, January 21st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.



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

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On Tuesday, January 21st, 2014   by Chris Miller        

IBM has sent over an IBM Connect 2014 agenda at a glance that covers the keynotes and other major events of importance.

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.  


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

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On Thursday, January 16th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.


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

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On Wednesday, January 15th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.

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.

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On Tuesday, January 14th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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.


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.

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On Monday, January 13th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

www.flickr.com 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:

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.

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On Monday, January 13th, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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

• Lotusphere 2011 online closing - and they listened from 2012. They sent you to an IBM Collaborations Solutions community on Lotus Greenhouse which then closed that community on June 4 2013 and sent users to The Social Lounge on SocialBizUg.
• Shouldn’t Lotusphere be a growing and nurtured community? Not reborn every 12 months? from 2010
• How we in the Lotus world make fragmented islands, not communities from 2008

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 2nd, 2014   by Chris Miller        

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

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 :-)

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On Thursday, December 12th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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)


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:

• IBM Connect 2014 timeline at a glance - Lotusphere and Kenexa World too
• IBM Connect 2014 - early sessions announced
• IBM Connect 2014 sponsor exhibitor showcase floorplan
• The IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours
• IBM Connect/Lotusphere/Kenexa World academic pricing

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On Monday, November 18th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.



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:

• IBM Connect 2014 timeline at a glance - Lotusphere and Kenexa World too
• IBM Connect 2014 - early sessions announced
• IBM Connect 2014 sponsor exhibitor showcase floorplan
• The IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours
• IBM Connect/Lotusphere/Kenexa World academic pricing

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On Thursday, November 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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

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:

• IBM Connect 2014 timeline at a glance - Lotusphere and Kenexa World too
• IBM Connect 2014 - early sessions announced
• IBM Connect 2014 sponsor exhibitor showcase floorplan
• The IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours
• IBM Connect/Lotusphere/Kenexa World academic pricing

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On Tuesday, November 12th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.



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:

• IBM Connect 2014 timeline at a glance - Lotusphere and Kenexa World too
• IBM Connect 2014 - early sessions announced
• IBM Connect 2014 sponsor exhibitor showcase floorplan
• The IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours
• IBM Connect/Lotusphere/Kenexa World academic pricing

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On Wednesday, October 16th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.



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:

• IBM Connect 2014 timeline at a glance - Lotusphere and Kenexa World too
• IBM Connect 2014 - early sessions announced
• IBM Connect 2014 sponsor exhibitor showcase floorplan
• The IBM Connect 2014 sponsor showcase hours
• IBM Connect/Lotusphere/Kenexa World academic pricing

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On Monday, October 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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" »

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On Wednesday, October 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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

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        

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        

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        

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

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On Monday, February 25th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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        

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        

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.

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On Thursday, February 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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        

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.

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On Friday, February 8th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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        

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        

www.flickr.com 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        

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        

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        

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        

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        

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        

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        

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        

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        

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!!

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On Thursday, January 24th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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        

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        

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

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On Thursday, January 17th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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        

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        

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!!

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On Tuesday, January 15th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Monday, January 14th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Wednesday, January 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Wednesday, January 9th, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Friday, December 28th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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

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On Tuesday, December 11th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Monday, December 10th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Monday, December 3rd, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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

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.

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On Tuesday, November 27th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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" »

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On Monday, November 19th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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" »

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On Monday, November 12th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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.

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On Monday, September 24th, 2012   by Chris Miller        

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 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:

• IBM Connect 2012 now adds a +1 day
• What was IBM Connect 2012
• IBM Connect 2012 conference guide in PDF
• IBM Connect 2012 speaker preview announced

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On Monday, August 27th, 2012   by Chris Miller