Theo's Blog

Day 4: Thursday
As there weren't that many session this morning at #LS11, I had a chance to catch up on some sleep. Sorely needed too !
At 10am the Gurupalooza was on. Susan Bulloch (track manager for the BP track this year) did a good job of keeping everything under control. Most questions were about admin stuff though. Still I like coming to this session every year, as it gives me the opportunity to see a lot of (now) familiar faces on stage at the same time.
As I do every year, I went out and did some shopping. I returned to find that the brand new 'Ask the Product managers' went very well. Everybody seemed happy about it. I have to read the live-blogging when I get home.
I was back in time to get in line for the annual BloggerOpen mini-golf tournament. This is a fun and relax way to spent some time with friends, and wind down. Many thanks to Mitch Cohen for organizing this, and to the many sponsors.
I went to dinner at Shula's with Bill Malchiski, David Leedy, Garret Wolthuis and Ali. Excellent food there, but a but pricey. Had a very decent Jack Kendall cab sav from 2006. The first really good wine I had this week.
As most nights I ended up in Kimonos. Enjoyed myself as usual, and was glad to have a chat with some countrymen. As this was the last night, it was sad to have to say good-bye to so many people. As we got thrown out of Kimonos around 1.30h, we opened the unofficial bar at the Dolphin Rotunda. That vodka and whisky wasn't that bad at all. Thanks Mark ! Mary Beth got us some nuts, chocolate and candy, so I stayed a while. Can't remember being in bed that late/early (3.30h). After a few hours of (deep) sleep, I started packing. I gave Mary Beth a lift to the Airport. I had a stopover in Newark, and now I'm waiting for my 7 hour long flight back home to Brussels. I'm pretty sure I will be sleeping this time !
I'm always delighted to come to Lotusphere, but I'll be glad to be home again. It's been a though but fun and informative week !

My conclusions for this year's Lotusphere:

• It was a great event, as ever, but without any real highlights re. product announcements
• The 'Lotus Software' brand, even if contradicted at the 'This week in Lotus' live recording, is gradually disappearing imho. It might be a good thing to get rid of the 'Lotus is old' adagio, but, having used the yellow brand for over almost 20 years now, it saddens me to see it go.
• I've recently started tweeting, after holding back for 2 years, so this was my first sphere on twitter. And I don't regret it. It's a cool way to stay in touch with everyone. Reading other people's reaction to spoken (or non spoken) words is sometimes enlightening. At the same time it's cool to read what's going on in other sessions. I do hope we get an update on the stats about the total amount of tweets and blogs with the #LS11 tag. The intermediate figures were mind-blowing.
• The Wifi was rather good this year. There even was decent coverage in the hotel rooms. A few occasional dropouts, but way better than we've had before. Thanks for that.
• The proliferation of iPads. I read that at the Opening General Session alone there were 1200 iPads in use on the Wifi network. That's 1 person in 5 ! The battery life is staggering. I'm been using it throughout the day, and always had over 50% left at night.
• I got a lot of T-shirts this year, but by far the coolest/nerdiest one, I got from Nathan (GBS). It reads: </bitching> <doing>
• During the BloggerOpen, I had a chat with Donna Bieg, recently appointed to be in charge of dealing with the community. She's been with IBM for about 20 years, but hasn't been involved in the Lotus product line.
  She told me:
  "You are aware that you've got an Exceptional Community, are you?"
  I am, thank you.
• Don't run down an escalator going up ! I did, and was rewarded with a sprain that (still) hurts

Lotusphere might be over, but we'll have our own mini-sphere in less than 2 months. Our BLUG event, March 31th - April 1st, is around the corner. Lots of things to do for that. We are going to try to make it an exceptional experience too.

PS. @Phigment: Sean, thanks for getting those chocolates to Kevin Pettitt. Don't eat them all. @LotusGuru: Kevin, make sure you get at least a few ;-)

Category:  Lotus  Notes  Domino  | Technorati: Lotus, Notes, Domino

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