1 - The good...
I LOVED LOVED LOVED SpeedGeeking!! The single best thing at Lotusphere EVER! Or in my 2 years of attending anyway. I appreciated Lotus being so inclusive of bloggers, in particular the Q&A with the executives was a wonderful gesture.

One thing I found fascinating was the number of ad hoc communities springing up at Lotusphere. I saw groups attendees all speaking their native languages animatedly. Then there were the bloggers, and even the Over the Rainbow group. It was like a real life example of Lotus Connections that was happening on the fly. It was very cool and exciting to experience that kind of energy. Maybe next year there could be a room or space set aside for that, instead of having everyone clog the halls. I know the lunch rooms are open for BP's, perhaps one could be sectioned off for other general ad hoc discussions?

And the bad...
Next year do something about the weather. The hot/humid to cold/rainy thing was just a downer. The bandwidth in my room in the Swan maxed out at about 30k, which was annoying. I'm not sure what you can do about that. BoF's at Yacht & Beach was a really bad idea. Or maybe there was a better way to get from the Swan to Y&B than hiking over a mile, including a trip through the Dolphin, and I just didn't know it. I only went to two BoF's because of that.

Signage for sessions in the Swan was pretty bad. Some rooms had the monitors listing session information, but many didn't. This was especially a problem with Swan 1 - 4, where 3/4 is toward the door and 1/2 is toward the back. I would have to ask the person at the door what the session was, and it was apparent they got annoyed at being asked so much.

I never really analyzed the session schedule, but I didn't quite understand why some sessions started at :30 and others started at :15. This made for some awkward timing, and more than one sprint to get between sessions.

I walked into Ask the Developers a little late and the room was packed. I was standing at the back looking for a seat and a guy in a yellow Lotusphere shirt walked up and told me rather curtly that I couldn't stand there. I said I was looking for a seat and his response was "make it quick". I was taken aback, and since he didn't have a name badge I asked his name. He glared at me and walked away. In two other sessions the Lotusphere people were a little cool about it, but they helped me find a seat.

2 - @Andrew - great points, and I appreciate your (and everyone elses') feedback. I want to explain one thing, however.

The reason we post the slides in PDF format is to prevent (ok, deter) unauthorized reuse of the material. And to drive this matter home, we have had a specific incident where a BPs slides - stuff that he had worked on very, very hard, and he is one of the most popular speakers at Lotusphere - had his content reused, by his competitor. Completely, in whole - as if it were their own. They simply changed the title slide.

So, while we could say we do this to deter unauthorized reuse because someone MAY do it, we actually have a case (and it isn't the only one - only the most recent one) where someone DID do it. So, we try to protect our speakers and their content, at least as best as we can.

I can also state that, as a speaker, I asked for Lotusphere to post my slides as PDFs and not in "original" format, even when I was a Business Partner. The first reason is the aforementioned one; the second reason is one you alluded to. The content that is provided to download is for your use. We provide it so you can review them, etc. for yourself - and PDF works perfectly fine for that. In fact you'll notice that my version of my slides are posted on this site, in my downloads area, in PDF as well.

Hope this explanation helps!

Rock

3 - @41 - The Sunday night party's food options/quality left a bit to be desired. I remember last year's as being a lot better.

I don't know ... maybe it was just me being a finicky eater.

4 - Can I echo comment @7 - could you post a link of the speed geeking tables and urls / contact details. Attended this and it was excellent but a lot of information to take in. I am trying to find details on one table regarding analysing what the client is doing when the 'lightening bolt' is showing. Seem to mislaid any urls etc and desperately could do with more info on this.

Thanks for a great event

5 - A fantastic LotusSphere. I have just got back to India and will take more time to decompress .

My one question/suggestion would be (make that 2)

(a) availability of slides/presentations for all presentations (and that includes BDD/INV tracks)
(b) Can the LS2007 online web site be available for a longer period , say until March/April, when LS comes to a city closer to us than Orlando?

6 - Tony - I would be more than honored to meet you and talk for a bt - and please don't hesitate to contact me, if you want, before next year's Lotusphere!

Thanks everyone so far - keep those comments and suggestions coming!

Rock

7 - It was my first LotusPhere since 1997 (in Europe) and it was great to be back!

Lots of good stuff is going on. I very much liked that IBM finally got it right with Notes/Domino, Sametime etc. with a common platform. yeah!

In general the sessions were very good and relevant. Things were
well organized and people very kind and helpful.

The Online Lotusphere site is/was an embarrassment. Very slow and almost useless. Why are the slides AND code not available soon after the session has been held?

The wireless network was not working in many places and if it was I was often thrown off again and again.

Hopefully I will back next year!

brgds
Jesper Kiaer

8 - @10: if anyone will figure out how to control the weather, it'll be Disney!

9 - I did view the band as musical theatre. That's why I was unimpressed. Just do a CATS revival next time or something.

Seriously, I don't have prior OGS's to compare to, so maybe the intro used to be REALLY boring. But I can tell you that after watching this particular form of curdled milk do their thing, and then hear Mike Rhodin praise them, I was rapidly descending into cynic-mode. If it weren't for Neil Armstrong, I literally would have sat there and found a reason to crack on every single announcement for the rest of the session.

That's not a good lead in, particularly from a Notes-zealot like me.

So just be aware that it's a cautious balance.

And TCM would be a hundred times more appropriate for Lotusphere than DT. But I'm sure you'd never have a music act that would please everyone.

10 - Rocky, I have to agree, the overcrowding was painful. It seemed like there were twice as many people as last year, which we all know isn't the case.

I know the lunch rooms are made available for BP's to meet with clients, how about sectioning one off and letting attendees use it to mingle? Let Disney set up a cash bar if you like. It would unclog their public spaces, give them another revenue stream, and give Lotusphere attendees more space to congregate.

11 - Additional comments:
* This was my fourth Lotusphere, and the first one in which I spent more time in the labs than I did in the breakout sessions. I thought the labs were super, very helpful and informative.
* I'm apparently the only person at Lotusphere who thought the band at the opening session was pathetic (every imaginable rock cliche onstage at one time -- good heavens).
* However, seeing Neil Armstrong made everything all right. Excellent choice!
* Someone needs to help the IBM presenters improve their presentation skills. For the second year in a row, I found myself skipping sessions if I knew IBM presenters were doing them, figuring I could get the slides later and be just as informed with less pain. (Of course, in some cases the slides aren't available yet, so that shoots that theory.) I don't expect everyone to have Rocky Oliver's or Bob Balaban's skills yet, since those fellows haven't been in IBM long enough for those skills to rub off yet. But some basic skills are in order.
* The best part of the conference was simply talking with other participants and swapping ideas. The BOFs and Speed-Geeking, Ask the Developers and Gurupalooza were great for this. So was simply sitting to lunch or riding on the bus.

Delightful experience overall. Hope we can do it again next year.

12 - I'm with Jesper on this.

The infrastructure wasn't capable of handling the load, and the ls2007online experience was a downright disaster.

It didn't help when the Connections pre-Beta came online with a different login/same password and a VERY dubious "single sign-on" functionality.

Regarding session, there was a lot of great stuff to see, and in general, all speakers are competent and fairly entertaining.

It annoys the hell out of me, though, that the term SOA is used broadly for anything involving more than one application. Wiring portlets in WPS6 does NOT constitute SOA. Neither does providing web services from Domino.
IBM have a ton of people working on the "SOA Foundation" and "Service Oriented Modelling and Architecture (SOMA)". The use of the SOA terms should be consistent between the Lotus people and the SOA Foundation people. At the moment, both just add to the confusion.

I missed the speedgeeking. From the reports I've read, that should not happen again (me missing it, that is).

First impressions say that Quickr RULES, Connections has potential and Expediter is DOA (wow ... how's that for a bombshell?). I saw some SameTime people doing stuff with AJAX and basic html over http that should prompt a complete re-write of Expediter to ditch all the slow and heavy Java and AJAX it all up.

Sure - there is still a few things missing from the AJAX framework, but that can only be a matter of time.

But all-in-all, it was great to see such a large amount of strategic "forward motion" during this weeks 'phere, and not just in the current portfolio, but also in the research labs. Things like PASTA and MANY EYES just blew me away.

Awesome week!

13 - Lotusphere 2007 overall - excellent

Upcoming products - excellent news, generally clearly explained

Sessions - many, many excellent ones (but when they're all good, I have to miss more good ones)

Speedgeeking - excellent, do it again!

Updated session info and supporting material - make it ALL available and for longer. I can't write fast enough to keep up, so it's extremely frustrating when I can't get exactly the slides that I saw. It should not be up to the individual presenters to do this.

Lotusphere online - slow and unreliable

Online final survey - didn't work, but they gave me the t-shirt anyway.

14 - Hi,

this was also my first Lotusphere - and to summarize it: In my opinion it was a great experience.

Although I'm working and developing with Notes and Domino since nearly 12 years now (Notes 3.3), this was my first chance to come over from Germany to the Lotusphere. Therefore nearly everything was new, interesting and fascinating for me: The informative breakout sessions with its great speakers, the big shows in the opening and closing session, the great location, the "Meet the developers"-, Usability- and Innovation- lab, and last but not least the chance to get to know all the developers, "guru's" and other faces behind the Lotus products and the blogs I read regularly, and to talk to them in person. Great! Altogether I attended about 27 sessions (including the opening/closing, two BOFs, the "SpeedGeeking" and the GURUpalooza & Ask The Developers). Even if it was a stressful week (five days from the early morning to the late evening plus two full days of travelling - my feet still suffer ) - it was just great!!!

There are only two things that I want to refer to in special - I think that they were not mentioned before:

1.) POSITIVE: There were a lot of places in the internet to be well prepared for the "first" Lotusphere: Many "Tips for Lotusphere Newcomers" that I found, and then the great session database provided by Ben Langhinrichs that I had replicated to my notebook with the ability to add the sessions to my Notes calendar and synchronize them to my mobile phone. Thanks to all of you who published this tips and tools, this is very useful to be well prepared. (By the way - maybe IBM could provide more of this tips and tools directly at the Lotusphere or ls200xonline site ...).

2.) A little bit negative: The timing of the "Hands-On" sessions. I wanted to attend as many sessions as possible to learn as much as possible in this week, and I also wanted to attend one or more of the "Hands-On" sessions. But with this years timing I would have to skip two breakout sessions for one "Hands-On" (they overlaped with other sessions, they were in Swan while most other preferred sessions were in Dolphin, they overlaped with the lunch time (see #33) and I would have to be early at the "Hands-On" to get a desk). Therefore I decided to attend two breakout sessions instead of one hands-on. My suggestions: If the breakout sessions are for example 08:30am - 9:30am, couldn't the hands-on be from 07:45am to 9:30am? Or from 4:15pm - 6:00pm? Just as a suggestion ...

I hope to see you all again next year in Orlando at Lotusphere 2008 ...

// Michael

15 - Overall I found this to be one of the poorest Lotusphere's that I've attended. Having attended this event for the past 9 years I can safely say that this event was very poorly run. The lack of a certification discount, pre-conference hotel registration, and Lotusphere on-line were definitely not shining examples of IBM's commitment to the technology or their ability to get it working. I would expect that at their premier event they would have put in some serious effort to creating an on-line experience that would not only actually be functional but would wow the audience. The system was painfully slow, worked only intermittently and users experienced issues that they had to resolve themselves or through the support community at large.

The conference itself was OK, but again nothing really special. The session selections were not as diverse as in the past and I found it difficult at several points to find a session to attend. While there were many superb speakers, there were just as many self promoting speakers who were really there to sell their products and services rather than inform or educate the masses.

I didn't like the declaration that "a new release of Lotus Notes that helps users move from basic e-mail to more sophisticated collaboration activities." What have I been doing for the past 15 years? It seems that the IBM opinion expressed at Lotusphere this year is that Microsoft was right and Notes/Domino is the email competitor to Exchange and now we have these new tools (K-Station revisited, workplace, Websphere, etc) to compete against their other products. This is quite a departure from the past.

The Sunday night reception was nice and the JamFest was quite enjoyable. The Wednesday night party, however, was beyond a doubt the worst event in Lotusphere history. At a cost of $100 per guest to attend I would have expected a lot more. While the weather didn't help, it doesn't appear that a lot of thought or effort went into trying to create a fun evening for anyone. Animal Kingdom is a very large park and most of the evening was spent trying to walk from one ride/attraction to another. The restaurants closed early (some as early as 9 pm) and, all in all, it was a rather dismal affair.

For the price I paid to attend this event I was expecting a solid 5 days of professionalism. What I got was a slap-dash event that still hasn't caught up with its expectations. I have yet to attend another major conference where I don't get the presentation material provided on CD at the conference. The speaker presentations aren't even all posted to the on-line site yet and the on-line site won't be up that much longer. With the speaker fees provided (free registration) and the supposed deadlines to provide that material for review there is no excuse for not having the material ready at conference time. Ed Brill's comment that on his blog that "I don't yet know of a plan to post all presentations, externally or internally. Some can't be posted without permission -- non-IBM speakers, for example." is preposterous. How can IBM pay for speakers to present topics and then not have the right to post those presentations from their own conference.

I've been a dedicated and certified professional with Notes and Domino for years and I love the product. I'll be at Lotusphere again next year and I can only hope that the event gets better.

16 - @15 pretty much covers my experience.

The only other thing I'd add, is that in future years I would like to see a KICK ASS Lotusphere Online. Wow... was I ever disappointed in that part of the event. It felt like an afterthought - stuff was changing on the fly from the moment I logged in a week or so before the show. The show itself was all about the user, the UI... it would be nice to see that reflected in the online application.

17 - Another thought I had ... It seemed that the certifacation piece was lacking this year. The CLP lounge was in the Dolphin ... with no windows. Many people didnt know where it was. It seemed empty to me. The prep lab and the testing hours were the shortest they ever were (or so it seemed). And the people were generally not very interested in being there it seemed. It really felt like the queen of cert, Barbara Bowen, was missed big time. And what shoes to fill.

It would be nice to have some way to update the presentations and add demo content after the show in some official manner. But people also need to remember that many of us are building demo content write up to the presentation. Sometimes its a challenge on who can have the best demo db :)

18 - Marc - yes, Dr. Tyson was a speaker about 3-4 years ago for BDD. He went through all the stuff around "demoting" Pluto from planet to asteroid; he was one of the leading astrophysicists in that area, and he presented his (quite compelling) case.

He made a believer out of me. Also, I think he is a dynamic speaker, especially for such an "uber" geek.

The rest of you - come on, give me some more! What can we change? Your suggestions do NOT have to be problems; if you have some new ideas, something you think would be really kewl, then please share!

Rock

19 - This was my ninth Lotusphere and it reminded me of the earlier ones more than the last three or four...primarily because there was palatable engery everywhere...staff, speakers, attendees and the folks in the labs. The only place I didn't feel the energy was on the showcase floor (aside from the annoying Percussion flashing lightbulbs) but then again, I am not much of a 'product' person; I'd rather develop to spec then buy from a vendor.

My only two complaints are that there seemed to be a large overlap between the app dev track and the best practices track...but that only meant flipping the agenda handbook pages more, so it wasn't a big problem; and that the wireless access was much poorer this year than years in the past...I spent most of my time on my Wireless WAN connection rather then on the LS provided LAN wireless...this was most noticable in the Dolphin ballrooms.

20 - My last time at LS was ten years ago, and it felt a lot like it did then (and as I gather it has not felt in the last few years). It was great to get a sense of direction, and of Notes having a future. So...

Specific Good Things
Seeing Notes 8 in a state approaching a releaseable product. I can't wait!

Lots of good sessions, including all the NaSS/SAP ones. There just wasn't time to get to everything I wanted to see, even with ten-hour days.

Specific Bad Things
Wednesday Night Party was dismal. The rain didn't help, and that is nobody's fault, not even the Romans, but by the time I found where everything was things were closing down. The parties in 95-97 were always a blast. This one wasn't. Maybe it's just me.

Nomad: Knowing that there would be internet-connected computeres on tap, I made the decision not to hump a laptop, but to rely on my Nomad stick. Oh. Bad decision. Everything locked down, and if I want a connection I have to go to the business centre and pay for it. In retrospect, I understand why the LS online machines are secured like that, but it would have been nice to see some provision for Nomad support, given that it is a recently released form of the client, and an exciting one if you can find places to use it....

Presentation Slides: Disappointing that many presentations still do not have their slideware available, and the ones that do are in pdf format. That is OK (but not great) for private reference, but pretty useless for passing on session contents to colleagues. Slides should be supplied at close of the conference, along with the T-shirt, on CD, and in Powerpoint format (or Freelance - I still use it :), or ODF etc. - not pdf, anyway)

21 - Another LS virgin so can't compare with other years.

I actually found the organisation very good and had no problems finding sessions / food etc. I lumped a laptop around and had no problems connecting via the Wireless network.

I echo the comments on the lab times they needed to be longer so not to clash with the sessions.

I found the product showcase to be the worst part - some vendors pushed on the hard sell a little to much for my liking and put me off talking to other vendors. They should also get rid of the card scanning.

Also a CD of presentations would be appreciated - also include an executive summary of the new releases / new functionality in Notes 8 would be good, save me having to prepare a presentation

22 - @Rock (29)

Fair points, mate. I find it irritating to read PDFs of slideshows that are intended for full-screen viewing, but they do the job. It's an acceptable compromise. I really do understand the paing of having work stolen, especially for BPs (which I was for 14 years)

23 - @47 we offered speaker coaching both in advance and on-site to all speakers this year, which hadn't been done in a while. So I guess my question is, if you skipped the sessions, how do you know they weren't good presenters?

I read all the evaluations for sessions in my track (infrastructure) from Monday and Tuesday. I did see a few comments on "dry" speakers, but it was an exception rather than a rule.

24 - Does anyone know where I can find slides for Lotusphere 07? Is it posted somewhere? Can't find it in the Lotussphere site....

Thanks.

25 - I wrote my own summary on my blog but didn't really focus to much on the things I would change. That said:
I agree with @6. I know presentations are changed right up until they are given (if not after as well) but it would seem like the speakers would be able to post them to LSOnline, or post a link to where they are, so that we can always get the latest version. And it would be nice to have that available for a little longer.
@10: I loved SpeedGeeking too - what a great idea. I hope you're thinking of how to handle bigger crowds next year. Bigger, rectangular tables, more spread out, mics/speakers for the presenters... Having the buses to the party there was a really nice touch. Maybe put something in the guide about that (unless I just missed it) - I was totally unprepared to go from one to the other and had to rely on a friend for a ride. And I wish more of the BOFs could have been at Swan or Dolphin to save on the extensive walking to Y&B.
@14: Names on the monitors would be a nice addition.
@18 (and others): I was REALLY disappointed in LSOnline, especially through my own system (not one of the kiosks). Too slow and finicky. Not a great showcase of IBM software. And really too bad that Connections wasn't integrated better (why login again?).
@28: It does seem odd that Nomad wasn't supported on the kiosks, or at least a few of them (just set them up with Internet connectivity and not all the other software so it can't be copied off, if that was the concern).
@33: Agree that "clock management" was really difficult, especially around lunch time with sessions, hands-on and lunch. How about some way to get lunches to hands-on participants?

Since visualization is becoming such a buzzword, maybe someone can explore a more visual way of presenting the session schedule and locations. Show a map of the hotels with rooms, point at a time (or two) and have it show which sessions are where (color coded by time). Then you could tell if you have to go from the Swan to lunch at the Dolphin and back to the Swan and maybe look for a repeat of one of the sessions so there is less back and forth.

It would be nice if the labs were open until 7 so you could go in after the last session of the day, maybe just a couple of the days (open them later on those days).

I think I've rambled enough. Thanks for the chance to give feedback, and thanks for all your work on SpeedGeeking and JAMFest. I hope to be back again next year.

26 - I have to agree with the general consensus and say that this was the best Lotusphere in a long time. The most refreshing to me was that there was a single focus on products for each area (I know what I am supposed to use Domino for, I know what Quickr is for) and I got the impression that all of the yellow shirts got the message before the conference and were excited by the roadmap.

Content wise, I was unable to find the ideal time to goof off and take some time away. During every session there was something I wanted to see, sometimes three or four things.

Negatives for me were few and nit-picky: wireless was iffy, signage for sessions was sometime inaccurate (or even turned off), if you accept a speaker position you need to provide slide content with no exceptions, the weather, and the fact that the cookie choice should be right on the box on the last day so I get one for those chocolate chip-pretzel-thingy ones.

BTW, I could have sworn I saw the closing guest speaker at Lotusphere before: was he a BDD speaker?

27 - @47 - No, I thought the band was lame too. I was sitting next to Ray Bilyk, and said "this looks like the cast from a Boston suburb amatuer production of Jesus Christ Superstar." I mean, did I need to start my geek event with a 40-year guy in leather pants and a sleeveless t-shirt who looked like he'd been hitting a meth pipe for the better part of a decade?

Ed, since you're tracking the comments here, I'd be happy to connect you guys with some real rockstars for next year. Or John could probably hook you up too.

How much cooler would it be to start the week off with The Crystal Method or Dream Theatre? Surely that'll have a better impact than this group of understudies from "Red, White and Blaine" { Link }

28 - This was - by some way - the best Lotusphere I've been to for years. Several reasons for that

The product announcements - including 3 fantastic looking new developments with Notes 8, Quickr and Lotus Connections

The - enthusiastic - crowd. 7000+ people made a real difference , 7000+ happy people who are excited about what Lotus is doing makes a HUGE difference

Nearly every one of my sessions appeared filled - even the 2 hr Jumpstart with Andrew on Securiity at 8am on Sunday morning packed the room. Now that's commitment!

I'm a big Blackberry fan and it was good to see such a strong RIM presence and talk to IBM about how we can further integrate these devices with our applications (lots of exciting stuff on the way there)

I got to see and spend time with friends and customers - and not a single cynical voice to be heard (pretty miraculous in itself)

I nearly managed to keep quiet through Gurupalooza then got over excited listing the things I love in 8 (the Dynamic address book, the new search, the 'conversations') and forgot to mention the 2 things that will be most powerful winning new business - the Openoffice integration and the PDF printing!

I only managed to make a couple of sessions between everything else but they were each excellent (and also packed out in case you think i'm deluded enough to believe it was just my sessions)

I could have started the whole week again on Friday and filled it with all the stuff I missed out doing

oh.. and the opening band were great , i'd love to see them again next year and maybe people would loosen up enough to move as well as stand

29 - Is the Lotusphere 07 site down already? Wasn't it up for a month last year? <br><br>I had started writing a Java agent to download all the PDFs, got distracted by real work (those pesky clients and projects again!), just got back to my agent, and #6@&$# the site is not responding. Plus, I just saw that Alan Bell already wrote an exe to do this. Any other site with the PDFs available?<br><br>As far as Lotusphere 2007 - this was the best one I've attended (out of 4)! <br><br>IBM Lotus is truly moving in the right direction, they've finally communicated a real commitment to Domino, and the conference was well run. Plus, Rocky, I was one of the many that took the opportunity to say hi at the developer lab. The Lotusphere online portal, was pathetically slow and the content should've been really dynamic (it didn't exactly inspire me want to invest any time in learning WS portal).<br><br> I like the idea (mentioned above), to schedule BOFs during lunch (perhaps on the days they have box lunch). This was the second year that I've presented a BOF session, and wanted to thank all the developers that missed breakfast to attend - it's great to be able to rub elbows with really-smart, like-minded people. <br><br>On that note, what is very compelling about Lotusphere is the opportunity to commune with the Lotus community - yes! to be surrounded by people who get it. I'd like to explore how we could perpetuate this throughout the year via technolgy (imagine that). There are lots of excellent blogs and sites, but I'm intrigued by the propect of something more _______ comprehesive (I'm lacking the right word here). Social networking anyone?<br><br>:-

30 - Rocky, I always LOVE attending LS and this year was no exception!
While I'm not Lotusphere Attendee, I think I can address at least one of the points:

-- This runs counter to the reports I have gotten from, well, everyone else. I would love to know two things. First, when you say the "selections were not as diverse as in the past" - in what regard? What would you have like to see that you didn't see? What area(s) did we miss?

I counted a total of 24 available breakout session time periods. Of those, I think only 7 of those slots included developer sessions primarily dealing with "traditional" Notes client stuff or stuff which can directly pertain to client development (including things like your session on coding practices which I loved, the OpenLog session, and a couple of Bill's on OOP). I like the exposure to what I can do on the web and hope to "find a reason" to develop a web app this year. But currently, I only have client apps and we just haven't had any reqs for something that would even be especially useful as a web app, and we don’t use any of the additional products (i.e. Sametime, Quickplace, Workplace Forms, etc.). Year after year, more and more of the developer sessions are web oriented (understandably so) which sometimes leaves me with a slot where there's nothing especially applicable to me. So choosing from, for instance, SOA and AJAX sessions during a particular slot might mean there's nothing for me to see that's not going to go over my head. That's not to say it isn't useful time as I try to fill in those slots with visits to a few of the labs. But I think I could at least see Lotusphere Attendee's point on this.

***

One other problem this year was session timing around meals - specifically morning BOFs and hands-on sessions right after lunch.

With morning BOFs ending at 8:00 and breakfast ending at 8:15, it's often a choice between making it to a BOF or eating. Much as I want the info, with no food in me, I won't get anything from the later sessions either so I often skip a BOF I would otherwise want to attend. Add to that (and I know that this is something that affects only a very small group of people), for those of us that get kosher meals, even if we can get in to eat before 8:15, by the time we get our food, it will definitely mean being late to the 8:30 session. And if that session has closed out, well, you're just outta luck.

Pretty much same story on the post lunch hands-on. Take, for example, the situation I had on Tuesday. Session from 11:15 to 12:15. Lunch from 11:45 to 2:00. And hands-on from 12:30-2:15. So the only lunch possibility was from 12:00 to 12:15. Dolphin to Swan Tent to Swan with actually sitting to eat in between? Even if I didn't have to wait for a kosher meal, not so easy to do. Lunch took well over 30 minutes, and OF COURSE the hands-on session was closed out when I got there. Even Monday, I had a half hour time slot for lunch and still got closed out of the 12:30 hands-on.

I don't know if you could influence the meals being served for longer times, which would help both situations. But if not, at least the hands-on sessions should give a little more time between the prior session and their start time to be able to eat something and still get there without getting closed out.

Thanks for listening, Rock!

31 - My favorite presentation technique was John Vaughan's use of Wink to display short animated files instead of actually typing and clicking. More time was left for the great material in his and Sean's presentation.

And I agree with @14 -- speakers' names should be on the signs outside the rooms.

This was my first Lotusphere. It was great to put faces to the names on the blogs I started reading around this time last year and an honor to meet so many wonderful people.

Lotusphere 2006 seemed to have the feeling of "We're fighting back." I got the impression that this year Lotus is saying, "Eat our dust."

32 - This was my first lotusphere and I thoroughly enjoyed the event. It was great seeing a preview of new technology and thoughts about how the software can evolve. I particularly liked participating in the usability testing lab and also very much appreciated the "meet the developers" labs. These were very good opportunities to get into specifics pertinent to my business. I know this event is not a user group event, but I would have like to have seen a few more user presentations on creative ways that notes/domino was being used. All in all, it was a great event and I hope I can participate in future lotusphere conferences.

33 - I have to agree with the general consensus of the comments above that this was the Best. Lotusphere. Ever.

I am almost wondering if the event is starting to reach the capacity of the Swan and Dolphin as a convention venue, especially with the growing number of overflows and the totally packed Opening General Session.

I just thought of one idea that I'd like to see considered: how about a merging of GURUpalooza and Ask the Developers? I think it would be an enlightening event to hear both perspectives on how problems are getting solved and what might be coming down the road in the Lotus software domain. I know a lot of the Loti are in the GURUpalooza session as attendees, but having some back-and-forth between them and the ISV/BP/blogger community about issues affecting users/developers/admins would bring forth a wealth of knowledge (not to mention probably be fairly entertaining ).

Oh, and @10 (Charles): Exit the Swan heading towards the Dolphin, but make an immediate right (towards Disney's Boardwalk). Continue past the Boardwalk over the other bridge, and then you'll be on the wooden walkway towards the Yacht Club, approaching from the rear. Go through the Yacht Club lobby and then you'll see the walkway to the convention area on your right. Of course, there's the lazy man's option: take the ferry.

34 - Adding on to number 6, some session presentations have not yet been posted once, let alone with revisions.

35 - Session descriptions outside rooms should include the speaker names, not just the abstracts. Give these folks some direct credit! (And no, I'm not talking about me... I'm saying I walked right past some sessions because I didn't realize who was behind that door... it can make all the difference!)

36 - Just a thought ... either on Lotusphere Online or as a handout with the registration packet: information on the nearest grocery store to the Swan/Dolphin (there is a Publix less than 10 minutes' drive from the hotels that is very easy to get to) and perhaps some off-property restaurants for people who may not want to pay Disney prices for food. Although I know not everyone gets a rental car, there are enough attendees that would be willing to lend a drive to head off-property for a bit.

I've gone to the last three Lotuspheres, and one of the first things I do when I get to Orlando is hit the Publix to buy some sodas/water and snacks for those late-night cravings. I also usually buy some deli meats and cheese for sandwiches, in case the lunch menus aren't interesting (or, in some cases, agreeable). That came in handy this year, as the food was a bit sub par.

37 - (one more time, a bit more readable...)

Is the Lotusphere 07 site down already? Wasn't it up for a month last year?

I had started writing a Java agent to download all the PDFs, got distracted by real work (those pesky clients and projects again!), just got back to my agent, and #6@&$# the site is not responding. Plus, I just saw that Alan Bell already wrote an exe to do this. Any other site with the PDFs available?

As far as Lotusphere 2007 - this was the best one I've attended (out of 4)!

IBM Lotus is truly moving in the right direction, they've finally communicated a real commitment to Domino, and the conference was well run. Plus, Rocky, I was one of the many that took the opportunity to say hi at the developer lab. The Lotusphere online portal, was pathetically slow and the content should've been really dynamic (it didn't exactly inspire me want to invest any time in learning WS portal).

I like the idea (mentioned above), to schedule BOFs during lunch (perhaps on the days they have box lunch). This was the second year that I've presented a BOF session, and wanted to thank all the developers that missed breakfast to attend - it's great to be able to rub elbows with really-smart, like-minded people.

On that note, what is very compelling about Lotusphere is the opportunity to commune with the Lotus community - yes! to be surrounded by people who get it. I'd like to explore how we could perpetuate this throughout the year via technolgy (imagine that). There are lots of excellent blogs and sites, but I'm intrigued by the propect of something more _______ comprehesive (I'm lacking the right word here). Social networking anyone?

38 - @48: fair point. I skipped later IBMer presentations based on the ineptitude of their colleagues earlier in the week, and this probably did the later presenters a disservice.

39 - Sorry, I really liked the band. The musicians were tight, and the vocals weren't too bad. You have to view the band as more "musical theatre" than actual rock band. Also, you have to remember - the music needs to appeal to the widest base of attendees as possible. As much as Dream Theatre is good, I doubt they have wide appeal in the total audience.

The band was perfect for their intended purpose, IMHO, and a helluva lot better than generic bumper music and "fun facts" that repeat every 4 minutes.

Rock

40 - I'd agree that having the BoF sessions in the Yacht & Beach seemed too far out, I didnt make any as I never had the time for the walk over.

As a first timer at Lotusphere I'd also say that a better Lotusphere online available BEFORE the event. That way my colleague and I could have planned our sessions better before we left the UK, if the connections was working for all registered attendees we could then have searched for other Notes geeks with skillsets we're interested in and set up meets before even arriving in Orlando...

And yes ALL presentations on Lotusphere online AND supplementary material eg the NSD session had a handout which had the meat of the session in it - there weren't enough at the session for everyone and it doesnt seem to be online (yet!).

Otherwise a great event, we learnt so much and are now back at our desks madly planning how to implement all the cool things!

41 - @Lotusphere Attendee - Obviously I cannot address everything you mentioned - some things have already been mentioned, others are just things I think are personal preferences. However, I respect your opinions, and I would like some clarification on some of your statements...

The session selections were not as diverse as in the past and I found it difficult at several points to find a session to attend. While there were many superb speakers, there were just as many self promoting speakers who were really there to sell their products and services rather than inform or educate the masses.
-- This runs counter to the reports I have gotten from, well, everyone else. I would love to know two things. First, when you say the "selections were not as diverse as in the past" - in what regard? What would you have like to see that you didn't see? What area(s) did we miss? Most people tell me that they actually found the session selections to be the opposite - there were multiple sessions in the same slot, making it difficult to choose which one to attend. Also, as for the "self promoting speakers" - I understand you wish to remain anonymous (although I wish you hadn't - you can talk here without fear of reprocussions, at least from me), but I would love to know some names of speakers you feel this way about. Please email me (or Ed Brill) with more details so we can follow up.

It seems that the IBM opinion expressed at Lotusphere this year is that Microsoft was right and Notes/Domino is the email competitor to Exchange and now we have these new tools (K-Station revisited, workplace, Websphere, etc) to compete against their other products. This is quite a departure from the past.
-- I have a different take on this. I believe that IBM/Lotus is admitting that the pubic view Notes as a competitor to Exchange, even though we've known for years that it is so much more ("mail is just another app"). These new tools, coupled with Notes 8, can be used to create some truly game-changing applications because of the robust rich client with a published plugin interface, the composite applications story, and the integration with other products in our portfolio - in ways never seen before. This is the story I get from what IBM is saying now - of course this is my opinion, and obviously everyone interprets this information differently.

... the JamFest was quite enjoyable.
OK, this one I'll mention only because I helped organize that event Glad you liked it, and I'll pass that along to my partners-in-crime, Russ Mullen and Steve Caudill.

I'll be at Lotusphere again next year and I can only hope that the event gets better.
As I stated in the orignal post I will make sure that your concerns and comments are passed along to the senior Lotusphere staff. I am also glad that we can expect you next year.

Thanks, and see you then!

Rock

42 - @24 - Could that be GaryDev's response?

I love how many people have wanted IBM to fix the weather on Wednesday night. I'm sure they'll get right on that for next year. *eye roll*

Here's a hint on speaker presentations: we work on them right up to the presentation itself. Actually, I had a repeat session, and there were differences between the first run and the second run. Why? Because I learned things while at the conference that were pertinent to the subject, and I thought it was important for attendees to hear them!

Who needs this stuff on CD at the conference? What year is this? You need a URL on where to get them later -- that's it. You don't have to take them with you. There's this cool thing now called "The Internet." You should check it out.

As for touting the non-mail features of the product line -- well, Lotus has been pointing this out about Notes for the last 15 years... how many people get it? How effective has it been? Are you the one person in the whole event who already thought that IBM's positioning on this stuff was ok? And if Quick is a Notes application that runs on a Domino backend, does it matter if they call it a Notes apps? Or does it only matter whether it does what it does?

@33 - Chris Blatnick and I gave two standing-room-only presentations on interface design that were focused on Notes client delivery. Where were you? I think we might have said the words "web" or "browser" a total of 6 times in the two hours.

43 - @39...Hey, I didn't say there were none - I said there were 7 - of which you were included - and yes, I was there. Excellent session - you really did give me lots of ideas to bring back home to curb the chaos of one app in particular that has an absolutely HUGE form. Thanks for that!

44 - @41 It would be fantastic if you could come down here this year - I realise it is a far smaller Lotus scene than any other continent, but who knows.

On the food: I actually only made one lunch, on Tuesday, and I thought it was excellent. There seems to be quite a variety, including some really nice salads if you are trying to keep healthy.

What was pretty sad was that if you want more than just the funny cake square thing that gets served at the 07h00 BOF and, afterwards, try to hastily make your way to the breakfast table to catch the last ten minutes, there is no more bacon and only that weird #19 Kellogg's cereal left... What is that, anyway? Some solution to third world hunger? Have you checked the RDA vitamin percentages on it? It's like you don't have to eat for the day after one of those (I mean, who wants that??? lol). Anyway, I think the hardcore early morning BOF attendees should get some sort of reward for their effort, perhaps just order a new round of bacon/eggs and Coco Pops/Raisin Bran at around 08h00? Perhaps serve breakfast until 08:30? :-

The only thing that didn't rock for me was the rain - yes, if you could get that right next year, it would be great.

45 - @4 & @5 LOL, I know what Tony's talking about: I walked past you at least four times and never had the courage to just stop and say hello.... really dumb, I know :) especially since it looked like you were really keen to meet people, but please take it as a compliment. Some of us Lotusphere newbies just need to sit on the side and admire the bright circle of Lotus guru's a bit before we feel psyched up enough to actually approach someone. Thanks for all you do for the community, you are an incredibly inspiring person.

46 - It was really the greatest LS I have been attending. And the speakers experience was - as you have outlined in another post - really great. I was feeling that during preparation already, the material that was sent out to the speakers has been more complete than ever even giving more hints for the presentations that used to come.

So go on for the next LS in that way, next year will even have more attendees I suppose. I am sure, it will be another great time at the end of Jan 08.

Thanks to everyone, that did help to organise this great event.

47 - This was a great conference by all accounts. My one major complaint was that there were no lunchtime BoFs. I would also love to see the Certification Prep lab open on Sunday and later into the night so that we can study without having to miss any sessions.

Sean---

48 - An awesome show this year that I am still recovering from. The speed-geeking session on Wednesday was entertaining. I suspect in years to come there can be a development track and an admin track for this alone. If you can post a link to a 'Speed Geeking Checklist' - it would be of benefit to the community to see a summary with links of the tables - the geek posted there - and a link to the 5 minutes of material they worked from. It moved at a very fast pace and I"m sure everyone's head was spinning at the end not just from the open bar

Great job Rocky... Appreciate the fresh content and delivery...

Dave

49 - My first request is as an exhibitor, please oh lordy please, get underlay for the carpet. I swear that at night I think it would be less painful to hacksaw my feet off than leave them hurting the way they do.

It would be great if there was someway after a session is given the presenters could go to a room nearby with tables and answer further questions, I know many people who finish sessions with more questions at the end (because they are excited) than the beginning and would love a few more minutes with the presenter.

Gurupalooza, have a few planted questions to get the audience flowing if no one stands up quick, then there isn't an awkwardess at the beginning for the first person to go.

Have the cookie which has pretzels on it everyday and at every meal, hey what can I say, it's a whacky concept for a cookie, but I love it.

Bring back the live band for the Wednesday night party, that was always fun. The band that opened the OGS would be perfectly adequate, but earth wind and fire were still pretty cool as were the doobie brothers.

I liked that I could see the evals the day after I gave a session, although I had already given the presentation, it was still fresh in my mind so it was great to read it so soon versus months later.

More Sametime sessions! Hey you listened to me previous years and look how you gave them all this year! Glad to see I have some ideas.

If I can't get underlay for the carpet, can we get some foot massages?

Basically great job IBM, one of the best Lotusphere's I've been to in a while.

50 - @52: The slides are attached to each session description at LSOnline. Check out Alan Bell's site (www.dominux.co.uk) for an easy way to download them all. I have on my site a couple of modifications if you want the black and white files instead of the color ones.

51 - this lotusphere was better than last year's, why? More of everything they got right last year. Room sizes were better, viewing the screens and the presenters, was better. Content better and wow what content. The whole show oozed kewl things, all the sessions that I was able to attend had kewl stuff, the presenters really pulled out some of the best stuff I've ever seen on any screen never mind comming directly from Notes. I did have questions in my mind heading into the GURUpalozza but sitting so close to so many people that I am in awe of really put me off a little, I became too awe struck to speak. Thanks Rocky for all the help, tips, suggestions, best practices, and common sence things to do with Notes and Domino. May be next time I won't be as shy and actually meet you and shake your hand. Thanks again.

52 - This was one of the best Lotusphere's I've been to in a while, last year's was good, but this one seemed to build on that momentum. Keep it going!! I have two things that I wouldn't mind seeing changed.

I wished the SpeedGeeking session was the only thing going on in that time slot, I would have loved to attend, but I was doing a BOF at the same time slot. Of course I had a room full of folks even with the stiff competition and the party right afterwards, so I'm not complaining much.

The auxiliary parking was out in the boondocks at Typhoon Lagoon, and the schedule for the buses was to long in between.

Other than that, I thought it was a great experience.

53 - This was my second time at the 'sphere, though the first time I was a speaker, so this time I was able to take a much more relaxed approach.
I had such an amazing time, both intellectually and socially.
I LOVED that with both the opening and closing speakers you went totally 'geek'. How appropriate in a room full of geeks.
Maybe next time IBM would consider inviting Dr. David Suzuki to speak.
{ Link }

Suggested Improvements to Lotusphere Online:
- I agree that the interface left a lot to be desired and really didn't reflect Lotusphere 2007's 'Client and UI focus' message.

- A link to some kind of concierge service. Something that could provide information to shows and events happening in and around Disney; perhaps allowing people to purchase tickets online. This'd be for those people who want to do something besides vendor wine & schmooze events in the evening, or want to forego karaoke for a night or two. I'm only saying that because a few of us went to a completely *awesome* Robert Cray concert at the House of Blues instead of getting rained on at Animal Kingdom. It's possible others would have wanted to go had they known about it.

- A carpooling environment, where those needing lifts to places could hook up with people who actually have vehicles and don't mind giving people lifts to places...or going to places together with other like-minded people.

- Customizable sessions slide packages
Since one selects desired sessions to create a 'sphere schedule, why not be able to use that information to programatically create a customized bundle of slides and a way to package, zip it and ship it, link to it from home, or burn it onto CD, based on those selected sessions? ... or @28's suggestion is a good one too. All session slides presented with t-shirt at close of conference, or even better @39's suggestion for URL.

Suggested Session Improvements
"Measure Twice, Cut Once" should be available on video.
No question.
In fact, it should be a mandatory part of developer training. In my humble opinion.

I agree with @33 regarding the dirth of "traditional" Notes developer-oriented sessions.
The company I work for doesn't allow chat, our Notes dbs aren't web-enabled and we're not using additional products either. I ended up going to a lot more BP sessions than anything else because of that. Though, gotta say that between Chris Blatnick & Nathan Freeman's BP101 session and Steve Caudill & Russell Mullen's BP103 session I had two life-altering experiences (or at least process altering) that alone were worth the price of admission.

The event needs to go longer than a week.
There was no way I had time to do everything I wanted to do.

Suggested 'Meal' Improvements
Yes, I agree that meal times should be extended.
I missed breakfast on several occasions having to choose between food or a session.
The mid-morning snacks weren't generally a nutritionally sound substitute either, and mostly consisted of beverages.

Please, please, please, can we have more low-fat alternatives than just 'well, there's salad if you don't put on the dressing'? Does everything have to be swimming in sauce, deep fried, filled with oil & butter, or smothered in cheese? It is possible to bread and then BAKE things, y'know. And muffins can be made virtually fat-free by adding pureed fruit instead of oil. They taste just as good too. Most people wouldn't notice the difference except at the waistline.

Suggested 'Other' Improvements
A golf-cart shuttle or rental service should be available to those of us who want to get to all of the events on the Boardwalk, at the Swan & Dolphin, and at the Yacht & Beach Club, in high heels.

More girl-friendly sheet music at Jamfest.
Amanda Marshall, Shania Twain, Joan Jett, Bonnie Raitt, to name a few.
And could the band learn some other Commitments songs? 'Mustang Sally' is getting old, but some of us out here are still HUGE Commitments fans.

And something in the other 'other' category:
One of my suggestions for the I AM shirt actually ended up on the shirt (cool!) but I never got down to the vendor floor for long enough to grab one...so if anyone has one that they don't want or someone has a spare, please tell Rocky and he'll tell me and so on. I'll pay shipping.

Lotusphere rocks! I'm already planning for next year.

54 - I agree with everything stated so far. This was my favorite Lotusphere of the 5 I've attended. Even sessions I've attended before had new content and were great like "Worst Practices", Julian and Rob's session on "Error Trapping"(they're adding JavaScript to OpenLog!) and Ed and Julian's "How to Sell Notes" had a new twist that was great. I really enjoyed some of the "softer" skills that were presented. "Interface Matters" with Chris Blatnick and Nathan Freeman was awesome. I can't recall this topic ever being present at Lotusphere or any training I've attended. "Low Fidelity Prototyping" was another great skill I've missed seeing before and will make a big difference in my current work. As mentioned, the hard core coding tricks were fantastic. The BP sessions are fantastic. You get the "triple threat" type of speaker as in presentation skill, code techniques and real world experience. Frankly, I didn't spend too much time on the "What's coming" circuit and I had more than enough content to keep me hopping. I've got a year of stuff to sort through. The combination of the blogging community, BP sessions, JamFest, SpeedGeeking and IBM focus on Domino really make for a great conference. Seems to me, Rocky, you influenced these changes. Thanks.
Bandwidth stunk at the Beach Club, for what it's worth. The Sphere portal was slow too and had some bugs.
Can't wait for next year!

55 - @34 I was disappointed not to meet you during the week. I had hoped to attend your BoF (it was one I was quite pleased to see was selected during the BoF voting) but ended up with a meeting conflict. There were about 10 people on my list that I really wanted to meet and never did...in all likelihood because the blogger BoF was at 7 AM. Still trying to figure out how to visit you and Grant and the team in .ZA at some point this year.

@39 Thank you for the reality check -- I did try to get the weather changed for Wednesday night.

@40 the food was sub-par? I heard the opposite about a few of the meals, esp. the "southern comfort food" with fried chicken, mac & cheese, etc. on Monday. Any particular failures?

56 - It was a GREAT Lotusphere, I loved being a speaker (and liked that the Swan Speaker Ready room was a bit less used and so had more food available when I had missed breakfast.

My one suggestion is one that was asked at the Ask the Developers session, but really needs to go to the organizers of the whole event: why can't IBM show a bit more on-going commitment by:

1) allowing speakers to post both updated sessions and demo code directly from the website, and

2) allowing this data to remain on-line and available to more people over time.

I understand some of the objections to either, but every year people want the updated slides, and every year IBM says it can't happen, and every year it manages to happen somewhat in an unofficial way. Let's see if we can make it official.