I was supposed to leave Friday, but was in no condition to travel. In addition, Cleveland was under a snow advisory, and I thought that if I got stranded in an airport, I might never see another Lotusphere. So, I changed my flight to Sunday, the next available flight,, and have been sleeping and groaning and coughing ever since. The hardest part has been that the hotel has so many little Disney Princesses wandering around. Adorable little girls with doting parents. I look at them having a wonderful vacation, and I am deathly afraid of giving this plague to them, which makes it take forever to get to my room on the 5th floor, as I have to try hard not to ride up with anybody. At breakfast, I make sure to sit in a distant corner and look menacing, but little kids never find me menacing, and I keep having to shoo them away. Even when I give them my best Get off my lawn! snarly look, they laugh and try to play. Fortunately, their parents usually catch sight and whisk them off, but it is difficult to avoid breathing or coughing while they are close.

Anyway, a forced extra two days in Florida is not all bad, as I can stumble down to sit outside by the pool, which is blessedly empty when all the families are at the parks. One of the oddest endings to a Lotusphere that I've ever had, but overall, it was a very good week. When I come out of my haze, I hope I remember enough to do a wrap up.

When you find a session you find particularly relevant, open it up in the Sessions db and see what related resources are show. There may be books on that topic or written by one of the speakers that you can order right then and there, in print or digitally.

First, inside a session there is now a bit more information than before about the speakers. Their names are linked to their profile, and they have little icons which indicate some things about the speaker. For example, below is a screen capture from BP103, given by Tim Clark and Matt White. By glancing at the icons after their names, we can see that Tim Clark has a Twitter id, and that Matt White is an IBM Champion (the star!), and has both Twitter and Google+ ids.

Now, if we click on the link for Matt White, we get to his profile. Some of the new features in the profile are pointed at by elegant red arrows, including links to his social network ids and a photo so that you can recognize Matt if you see him wandering around Lotusphere.

Of course, it isn't only speakers who want to stay connected. Your social ids are welcome as well, and a photo can help people recognize you. Here's how:

Either send your photo (no more than 200px, optimal is 200x200) or let me know where I can get it. I have taken some from Google+, as it happens to use 200x200. As for adding your social ids, here is how:

On Google+, go to the Lotusphere Sessions G+ page and add the page to your circles. For some annoying reason, just +1ing the page doesn't give me access to your name and id.

On Facebook, go to the Lotusphere Sessions FB page and Like the page itself (not the post inside).

On Twitter, tweet your name and id to @blanghinrichs.

I still enter the photos and ids manually, so it isn't instantaneous, but this helps a great deal in getting accurate and timely information. Encourage your friends as well.  The more people who use it, the more other people will know to look for it.  

Of course, if you don't send along a photo, I might be able to use one from Facebook or Google+ or Twitter if you have those and have given me an id. Or I might just grab one from the web:

I know that. You probably know that. But if a Lotusphere newbie looked into the Lotusphere Sessions db, these would be the two profiles they would see, and they would not know that. I do not say this in any way to criticize Nathan, whom I have known for years, but simply to point out that a fair number of you reading this post have a profile more like the second and less like the first. Below the image, I include (again) the ways you can have a profile more like Chris Toohey has (albeit with a less scary expression perhaps).

Either send your photo (no more than 200px, optimal is 200x200) or let me know where I can get it. I have taken some from Google+, as it happens to use 200x200. As for adding your social ids, here is how:

On Google+, go to the Lotusphere Sessions G+ page and add the page to your circles. For some annoying reason, just +1ing the page doesn't give me access to your name and id.

On Facebook, go to the Lotusphere Sessions FB page and Like the page itself (not the post inside).

On Twitter, tweet your name and id to @blanghinrichs.

I still enter the photos and ids manually, so it isn't instantaneous, but this helps a great deal in getting accurate and timely information. Encourage your friends as well.  The more people who use it, the more other people will know to look for it.

Your customers know it.

If you want to be part of the action, you need to start by getting your social ids and photo in the Lotusphere Sessions database. Do you think Carl Kriger or Carl Tyler is going to get noticed? See the bottom of this post for a reminder of how to get into the database.

Dude, where's your face? 

Either send your photo (no more than 200px, optimal is 200x200) or let me know where I can get it. I have taken some from Google+, as it happens to use 200x200. As for adding your social ids, here is how:

On Google+, go to the Lotusphere Sessions G+ page and add the page to your circles. For some annoying reason, just +1ing the page doesn't give me access to your name and id.

On Facebook, go to the Lotusphere Sessions FB page and Like the page itself (not the post inside).

On Twitter, tweet your name and id to @blanghinrichs.

I still enter the photos and ids manually, so it isn't instantaneous, but this helps a great deal in getting accurate and timely information. Encourage your friends as well.  The more people who use it, the more other people will know to look for it.  

Seriously, IBM? I check http://www.ibm.com/lotusphere as well. Generates a different URL, but the same problem. Well, at least www-01.ibm.com/software/collaboration/events/connect/ works for IBM Connect 2012, and from there you can get to http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/events/conference/ which does actually work for Lotusphere 2012. Update - that doesn't work either anymore.  I'm sure anybody looking for Lotusphere a week before the conference won't mind.

On Google+, go to the Lotusphere Sessions G+ page and add the page to your circles. For some annoying reason, just +1ing the page doesn't give me access to your name and id.

On Facebook, go to the Lotusphere Sessions FB page and Like the page itself (not the post inside).

On Twitter, tweet your name and id to @blanghinrichs.

I still enter the ids manually, so it isn't instantaneous, but this helps a great deal in getting accurate and timely information. Encourage your friends as well.

By the way, as IBM and many of you have been focused on social networks and social business this year, we are collecting ids for speakers, attendees and exhibitors. We are using the networks themselves to collect the information.

On Google+, go to the Lotusphere Sessions G+ page and +1 the page itself (not the post inside).

On Facebook, go to the Lotusphere Sessions FB page and Like the page itself (not the post inside).

On Twitter, tweet your name and id to @blanghinrichs.

I still enter the ids manually, so it isn't instantaneous, but this helps a great deal in getting accurate and timely information. Encourage your friends as well.

Make sure you are logged into Facebook, and then go and Like the Lotusphere Sessions facebook page. That way, I will know to add you to the database. Also, as a bonus, other Facebook attendees and speakers will be able to find you and connect.

I currently have all three, Google+, Twitter and Facebook, and my entry in the Sessions db looks like this. Yours could too, but you need to Like the page.

Make sure you are logged into Google+, and then click on the image below to go to the +Lotusphere Sessions page. Add the page to a circle (e.g., I have one called Pages), and I will know to add you to the database. Also, as a bonus, other G+ attendees and speakers will be able to find you and connect.

If you are also a Twitter user, leave a comment here or on that page, and I'll add your Twitter id as well.

Our house has a veritable Rosetta Stone's worth of Harry Potter books. The latest edition is the first book in Russian, and it joins the ones we already have in English (US and UK), Spanish, German and Latin, reflecting the various languages of interest thus far and our family's deep affection for the books. The Russian version is completely beyond me, given the different alphabet, but my 16 year old is eagerly diving into it.

I wonder what is next. Arabic, perhaps, or Chinese?

Authors: If you have a book you would like to be added, drop me a line or comment here with the name of the book. If you are doing a book signing, let me know that as I am incorporating it into the Sessions db (hat tip to Keith Brooks for the idea). Even if you have written books or eBooks that are NOT related to technology, let me know as there will be a "Fun" section in the bookstore.

Speakers: If there are books you know that might relate to your topic, whether or not written by Lotusphere people, please let me know.

Attendees: If you know of a great technology or business book that would be good to share, let me know that as well. Let's crowdsource the recommendations, folks.

For those who can't do anything but dream of Orlando in January...

Many people have deduced the super secret URL.  Unlike last year, where the URL was http://www.GeniiSoft.com/showcase.nsf/LS2011_SessionsDB or for every year back to 2001 when it was http://www.GeniiSoft.com/showcase.nsf/LS2001_SessionsDB (and so forth through the intervening years), this year the super secret URL is... wait for it...

Anyway, Version 0.2 (meaning oh-my-god-are-there-ever-gaps) is ready for you to download.  I'd strongly encourage you to replicate with Tranquility (using the handy view action if you like) frequently over the next few weeks.  I should point out that frequently does not mean every fifteen minutes.  It means once a day or so.  Around January 10, you can move to every fifteen minutes if you have ADD, ADHD or ADOS (attention deficit ohh shiny).

Some may notice odd design elements and such. The whole database is undergoing a facelift, but only bits are in the public database. They'll all show up soon. Be kind, I don't get paid for this stuff.