As has become my habit the last few years I like to capture a few thoughts and say thank you to a few people as I depart Lotusphere. It also seems to be becoming a habit that I am writing this on very little sleep as I have now been awake for almost 24 hours. I am looking forward to boarding the plane and sleeping right through the flight.
To start I have to say thank you to:
My wife – the week of Lotusphere is crazy enough with me being gone for an entire week, and the schedule does not allow for a lot of time to call home and talk. Besides taking care of 3 kids this years fun also included dealing with snow and terrible ice storms that turned our driveway and walkway into a sheet of ice. Oh and did I mention the snow day that kept the kids home and stuck inside all day? Here is a photo of the driveway all ice.
My employer who once again made it possible for me to attend Lotusphere
Karen Lilla and the rest of the IBM communications and PR staff who make the life of a blogger much easier at Lotusphere.
Last but not least, you! You know who you are… my friends… my Lotusphere family, always great to see you in person, while we now return to communicating in 140 character missives, Skype chats, etc… It really is the people that makes Lotusphere the special event that it is.
A few thoughts on departing (in no particular order)
Time moves too fast at Lotusphere, next year I am going to have to look more closely at my schedule, and try to slow it down a little.
The track managers do an incredible job, from selecting the sessions to making sure the slides match the abstracts. It is a tough and somewhat thankless job, but from the sessions I attended, and conversations with others they seems do have done an excellent job.
Lotusphere seemed busy this year, crowded hallways, packed sessions.
You can walk a lot more then usual in a Lotusphere day than a regular day
My limit riding the Hulk is 3 times, the 4th one took time to recover from.
Lots more to be written about Lotusphere 2011 but for now it can wait…. First sleep.