As in the past few years I plan on live blogging the OGS, Keynotes, and other sessions from Lotusphere. This year I am teaming up with Luis Benitez and together we will provide coverage, commentary, and photos live from the OGS and Keynotes.
The full schedule, and all the details how to find and follow me are on my dedicated Lotusphere 2011 page which also includes other Lotusphere resources, be sure to check it out. I will be adding more live blog sessions to the list as I get my schedule sorted out further.
My friends at GSX are giving away two three Kindles at Lotusphere. Stop by their booth to learn about their great line of products, and register for your chance to win one of two Kindles in their booth giveaway contest.
GSX has also generously donated a third kindle as a prize for the Blogger Open, so if you have not registered yet, what are you waiting for? Wrap up Lotusphere with some fun and prizes.
My wife already laughed at me when I told her I was “Speedgeeking†at Lotusphere, I am waiting the comments that are sure to follow from some of my friends outside of the Lotus Community.
For those of you who will be there I am happy to be participating  in Speedgeeking this year. For those not familiar here is the description of Speedgeeking:
“It all started here years ago at Lotusphere, and it’s a condensed, immersive and rowdy approach to hearing from some of the best and brightest and a wildly popular approach to learning about the tips, techniques (and sometimes crazy) ideas that they have been working on. Participants will migrate as a group around the room from one 5-minute demo station to the next, while stopwatches, buzzers and a loud-mouthed emcee keeps things fast-paced and on track!â€
Registration is open for the 2011 Blogger Open! Reserve your spot now and wrap up your Lotusphere experience with a little fun.
Thanks to the generosity of a couple of vendors looks like we will have some excellent prizes this year  If you are exhibiting at Lotusphere, and want to donate a prize to the cause please let me know, no prize is too big or too small.
Head on over to the Blogger Open Site to register, remember you don’t have to be a blogger to participate.
I have used the Genii Software Lotusphere Sessions DB to plan every Lotusphere I have ever attended (less than the 11 years Ben has provided the database), this year being no different. Â Ben has been very vocal this year trying to gather and add information to the database, take a look Twitter ID’s, Location Services, Tweet Buttons, Books, Podcasts, you name it. Â For a full walk through check out Chris MillersEpisode 91 -Lotusphere Sessions DB walkthrough.
This got me thinking, the name is all wrong, sure it started as a Lotusphere Sessions Database, but with all the work Ben has put into it, it is so much more now. Â It is a tremendous community resource, right in your notes client. Â Whatever you are looking for it’s there. Â Need a book, podcast, a training course, does a certain person use Twitter? It’s all in there.
Regardless of whether or not you are attending Lotusphere, this database should be on your workspace, and if you are attending Lotusphere, don’t throw it out when you get home, the sessions might be over, but the rest of the information will provide value throughout the year.
Thanks Ben, but how about a new name, one that better reflects the contents of the database? Lotus Community Resource Database? Lotusphere Sessions and Community Resource Database?
What do you think? Have any suggestions of your own?
You probably already know about the Genii Software 11th annual Lotusphere Sessions DB, and the extensions of that done by The Turtle Partnership for iPhone, iPad, and Blackberry. Â Last year there had been an individual effort at an Android app, which that individual chose not to repeat this year. Â So yesterday I was happy to find out that there is an Android app again this year for Lotusphere.
It was also interesting how I found out about it, about a week ago after Rob Novak reminded me about my formspring account I decided to add a link in the header titled “ask a question“, well someone clicked the link and asked about a Lotusphere Android App, though as it turned out they answered a question for me instead. Â Thak you anonymous tipster :-).
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond, there were 78 responses when I closed the poll, I can’t say the results are surprising, with iPad representing the majority of Tablets, for those who responded yes.
I wonder what the “other” tablets are, HP Slate? Maybe a respondant from RIM who has a Playbook?
If you are not bringing one is it because of cost? Waiting for the new Android tablets to ship with Android 3.0? Waiting for iPad2? Or do you think the Tablet market is a passing fad? Kathy also asked a really good question in a comment on the poll, if you are bringing a tablet is it in addition to or instead of a laptop? Drop a comment with an answer to any of these questions.
Thanks to our sponsors, and by popular demand the Blogger Open returns to Lotusphere again this year. Join us for some fun and prizes on Thursday February 3rd, after the Closing General Session. For details please visit the Blogger Open Site, and follow bloggeropen on Twitter. Registration for the event will be opening next week, so stay tuned.
Thanks to Mike McGarel who once again took on the challenge of coding the Blogger Open Site, and to Joe Hoetzl for providing graphics for the site again this year.
I will not be presenting at Lotusphere this year, I did submit a couple of abstracts, but none that made the cut this year. I am a little disappointed not to be speaking for the first time in a few years, on the other hand, I now have time in December to work on some other things, and I will probably be able to relax a little more at Lotusphere this year, than I was able to the last couple of years.
One decision I made this year was not to submit to the Show and Tell Track (SNT), which is now going in it’s 3rd year as a Lotusphere track. I presented with Chris Whisonant in 2009 where we presented a record breaking 400 slides, which became the definitive guide on installing and configuring Lotus Connections 2.0.1, and last year I presented with Adrian Spender, a presentation that helped many customize their Lotus Connections 2.5 Instances.
Show ‘n Tell Audience: Developers and administrators of all levels
The Show ‘n Tell track brings you the best in live technical education. SNT presentations go into comprehensive detail on a specific technology with step by step slides, picture screenshots and live demonstrations that show how it can be used and applied for your environment. All sessions adopt a teaching approach and the documentation is critical to this. Facilitators are both presenter and trainer, and will create a session that will stand alone as an instruction guide for attendees to take back to their own IT environments.
Show and Tell is a different kind of track, the preparation is different, the presentation is different. When you sign on for Show and Tell you are committing to building a presentation that can become a definitive guide on a subject area, something that people can take home and use to build systems back in their environments. I would venture to say that one or two SNT sessions in the right areas, could in and of themselves justify your trip to Lotusphere.
So if you are attending Lotusphere 2011, make sure you plan on attending some of the sessions in the SNT track, you won’t regret it. Don’t forget to thank the presenters, while they only have one hour forty five minutes to deliver the session, they have probably spent more then 100 hours preparing slides, and demos. Paul is not kidding when he said
As for me, I look forward to seeing a SNT session as an attendee this year, though from the ones I have seen that are accepted, picking which ones to put on my schedule are going to be tough, they all look good. See you in Orlando!
