Day 0 of Lotusphere

 

This could be the shirt needed at Lotusphere sometimes.

Sunday, the infamous start of Lotusphere week for us Business partners.
We had an OGS which others posted about so I am not going to review it. Just to say I wish Alistair had more to say.
Bruce Elgort's session which he co presented was a unique mix of video interviews and live discussion/banter with few slides, a breath of fresh air.

I decided to go to the competitive sessions, as I suspect you expect me to do so.
Problem was that someone at IBM scheduled both at...the...same...time.

Lunch was a nice salmon with pepper sauce for those that wonder and a very nice dessert.

After lunch the fun began for me, session on Lotus Live offerings and futures was very interesting and those interested in it will find that IBM has some nice options and benefits coming soon.

I then attempted to get into what was a VERY packed room of the Mobile Roundtable. I was denied due to fire laws but took comfort in the conversation I had with 4 IBMers who were not allowed in there as well, 2 of which I am quite sure were expected in there.

I then had a great conversation with a leader of a Tiger team on UC/Sametime. While that info will come out shortly, it sounds like IBM has heard us when we say it can be hard to install Sametime.

It was the next meeting which was REALLY what I looked forward to and I will try to post about it under separate postings. The discussion centered around Developerworks and how to engage those of us on the outside to contribute more.

Turtle's session was rather funny and discussed Lotusphere in 1951. You had to be there.

At the party on the beach, and great weather I might add, I found many bloggers, Linkedin friends, blog readers and some old Lotus friends. But spent most of my time with the Redmonk team and various IBMers discussing movie themes, business, portals and the Chevrolet Volt that is displayed outside the Swan hotel.

All in all a long day, not everything I wanted out of it but the meetings I had with various IBMers was well worth it. Isn't that why we come to Lotusphere after all? So we can engage the executives and learn all we need to know for the upcoming year?