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Civility in critiquing the ideas of others is no vice. Rudeness in defending your own ideas is no virtue.


Mon 3 Jan 2011, 03:26 PM
One part of the Lotusphere sessions database which has never felt quite right is the pedestal listings.  I can never do it well enough to be better than what IBM puts on the floor, and everything there is dominated by the well-heeled and well-connected sponsors.  While I am glad those vendors do their part in supporting Lotusphere, I'm certainly not getting paid to focus even more attention on them.

This year, although it isn't in the database just yet, I think I'll go virtual.  Rather than put listings in by who paid IBM big chunks of change to have a pedestal or sponsorship, I'll do it based on your interest in promoting your products and skills to the people who read the sessions database.  A bit like the Virtual Bookstore, which tries to show items of value to the Lotusphere attendees and wannabees, the Virtual Product Showcase could be a chance for those with specific products and services to link to their website, describe the product or service, provide a contact name/number and maybe a link to a video or something.

Perhaps that would be worth something, but I really don't like charging anything.  On the other hand, I don't want every Lotus toenail clipper listed, so I'll make a compromise.  For each product or service, I ask you to go into the Virtual Bookstore in the sessions database and buy any book that looks valuable to you.  For example, you could pick up IBM Lotus Symphony For Dummies for $16.49 or Mastering Dojo: JavaScript and Ajax Tools for Great Web Experiences (Pragmatic Programmers), or even the highly anticipated Mastering XPages: A Step-by-Step Guide to XPages Application Development and the XSP Language.  Or any other book listed, no matter how inexpensive, although I would request that you buy something that would be of use to you.  It's all on the honor system, but if you would like to tell people what you got, I'd be happy to list it, as it might inspire others to support our authors (and encourage more).  An added bonus to following my links is that I get some idea of how many of which books have been bought, although I never know by whom.

For a very small sum, you can get a useful investment in your company's skills and a product placement in a database that is routinely downloaded by thousands of Lotusphere attendees, and read by even more who want to find out information before, during and after the show.  Rather than stuffing the Virtual Showcase with pedestals dominated by the big sponsors, this is open on an equal footing to anybody with a product or service of interest to the Lotus community.  People who don't attend are still free to browse, and the database with all its information will be available before, during and after the show.  With no need to stand on your feet all day.

In no way do I mean to compete with the Notes App Store, which does its job its own way.  Incidentally, if you follow their link, they have a list of vendors in the regular LS 2011 Showcase.  Instead, our Virtual Product Showcase could be a quick, fun way to focus attention on either a new product or one of particular interest to the Lotusphere 2011 crowd.  It could also be a way to have some presence at Lotusphere if you didn't have the ready cash to get and man a pedestal, or even if you can't afford to be there at all.  Even companies who have a physical pedestal may want to either promote a product they are showing at their pedestal, or another product that doesn't quite make the cut.

Those true cynics among you may note that books bought through my affiliate link will earn me cash.  For example, if someone bought that Symphony for Dummies book up there, I'd make $0.66.  Clever you to note my get-rich-at-glacial-speeds plan.  Of course, anybody who is grateful for the eleven years I have produced this resource are welcome to buy the book and know that after only a few purchases, I might be able to buy a milk shake to compensate for the roughly fifty to one hundred hours of work I put into the database.  Lucky me!

Copyright © 2011 Genii Software Ltd.

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Mon 3 Jan 2011, 11:32 AM
With Lotusphere fast closing in on us, I wanted to ask one more time for people to contribute their own Twitter IDs or those of others they know.  I am particularly focused on the speakers and authors, as people are like to tweet about them or to them regarding sessions and books, but even if you are neither but still see Lotusphere as a networking time, place and event, don't you want people to have the maximum chance to network with you?

As a recap

There are 251 people in the Lotusphere 2011 Sessions db with Twitter ids.  There  are 569 without.
There are 90 speakers with Twitter ids.  There  are 183 without.
There are 11 speakers with Twitter ids.  There  are 114 without. (In some cases, there is an overlap with speakers).

Please, identify your Twitter id whether you are on the list below or not, and identify anybody on the list whose Twitter id is available.  Names are identified as (s)peaker, (a)uthor, or (b)oth.

Adam Hoover (s)
Alex Russell (a)
Andreas Prokoph (s)
Andrew Brew (s)
Andrew Davis (s)
Andrew Nolet (s)
Angus McIntyre (s)
Art Thomas (s)
Arthur Fontaine (s)
A.J. Morello (s)
Baiju Mandalia (s)
Barry Rosen (a)
Ben Allen (s)
Bennie Gibson (a)
Bharti Patel (s)
Bhavuk Srivastava (s)
Bill Hines (a)
Bill Looby (s)
Bill Wimer (s)
Binh Nguyen (s)
Brendan Crotty (s)
Brian Martin (s)
Bruce Kahn (s)
Bruce Tantlinger (s)
Cengiz Satir (s)
Charlie Hill (s)
Chris Wright (s)
Christine Cunningham (s)
Christopher Baker (s)
Cindy Kou (s)
Clayton Coleman (s)
Colin Renouf (a)
Collin Murray (s)
Craig Riecke (a)
Craig Schumann (a)
Dan Makuch (s)
Daniel Cerutti (s)
Daniel Gurney (s)
Daniel Hauenstein (s)
Dave Durazzano (s)
Dave Kajmo (s)
David Attardo (s)
David Bell (s)
David Bowley (a)
David Brooks (s)
David Brunner (s)
David Hsu (s)
David Kern (s)
David Manning (s)
David Nixon (s)
David Price (s)
David Taieb (s)
Dennis Anderson (s)
Dennis Shafto (s)
Denny Pichardo (s)
Devon Clarke (s)
Diane Loomis (s)
Dick McCarrick (a)
Elizabeth Sawyer (s)
Eric Lesser (s)
Eric Otchet (s)
Eric Sall (s)
Eric Spencer (s)
Erich Petersen (s)
Falk Posch (s)
Feargal McKenna (s)
Frank Altenburg (s)
Fu Cheng (s)
Gary Dolsen (s)
Gary Rheaume (s)
Gary Wood (a)
George Brichacek (s)
Grigory Presayzen (s)
Harvey Pope (s)
Helen (Zhi Yu) Yue (s)
Hunter Medney (s)
Ido Guy (s)
Ilari Nurmi (s)
Irene Greif (s)
Ishfak Bhagat (s)
J Paul Kelsey (s)
Jack Ciejek (s)
James Cooper (s)
James Marsden (s)
James Powers (s)
Jane Marcus (s)
Jason Dumont (s)
Jason Moore (a)
Jay Boyd (s)
Jean Louis Vignaud (s)
Jeanette Barlow (s)
Jeff Foster (s)
Jennifer Meade (s)
Jim Battle (s)
Jim Quill (s)
Jodi Rajaniemi (s)
Joel Farrell (s)
Joey Bernal (a)
John Curtis (s)
John Del Pizzo (s)
John Medlicke (s)
John Paganetti (s)
John Walicki (s)
John Woods (s)
Jon Champlin (s)
Jonathan Booth (s)
Josef Scherpa (s)
Joseph Anderson (a)
Joseph Lu (s)
Julie Reed (s)
Karen Hooper (a)
Karsten Lehmann (s)
Ken Bisconti (s)
Kerri Shafer-Page (s)
Keys Botzum (a)
Kim Greene (s)
Kyle Farnand (s)
Larry Bowden (s)
Lauren Wendel (s)
Leah Backus (s)
Lee Griffin (s)
Leons Petrazickis (s)
Lois Lewis (s)
Louis Richardson (s)
Maire Kehoe (s)
Mark Alkins (s)
Mark Elliott (a)
Mark Harper (a)
Mark Neumann (s)
mark wallace (a)
Marlon Machado (s)
Martha Hoyt (s)
Martin Donnelly (b)
Marty Lechleider (s)
Mary Ann Johnson (s)
Mary Zurko (s)
Matthew A. Russell (a)
Matthew Miller (s)
Mehjabin Kapasi (s)
Michael A Porter (s)
Michael Martin (a)
Mike Adelson (s)
Mike Ostrowski (s)
Mike Wojton (s)
Miki Banatwala (s)
Nan Shi (s)
Naveen Bajjuri (s)
Nicola Creary (s)
Nicole Carrier (s)
Olusola Omosaiye (a)
Pam Induni (s)
Pat Galvin (s)
Patrick Mancuso (s)
Paul Brunet (s)
Paul Miller (s)
Pete Janzen (s)
Phillipe Loher (s)
Prashant Kulkarni (s)
Rahul Garg (s)
Ramsey Pryor (s)
Rawld Gill (a)
Rebecca Buisan (s)
Richard G. Ellis (a)
Rob Holt (s)
Rob Ingram (s)
Rob Tidrow (a)
Robert Campbell (s)
Robert Sielken (s)
Robert Will (s)
Roland Barcia (a)
Ron Pontrich (s)
Ruviano Martinez (s)
Ryan Smith (s)
Sagar Joshi (s)
Salil Ahuja (a)
Sandesh Bhat (s)
Sanjay Patel (s)
Scott Good (s)
Scott Prager (s)
Sean Brown (s)
Sean Poulley (s)
Srinivasa Kolaparthi (s)
Stacy Pschenica (s)
Stefan Liesche (s)
Stephen Hardison (a)
Steve Babin (s)
Steve Foley (s)
Steve Sparrow (s)
Steve Williams (s)
Suneil Berajawala (s)
SUNIL HIRANNIAH (s)
Susana Tamayo (s)
Tammo Riedinger (s)
TBD (s)
Terry Sanchez-Clark (a)
Thomas Hurek (s)
Tim Rowe (s)
Tim Speed (a)
Tom Alcott (a)
Tony Higham (s)
Tony Payne (s)
Tracee Wolf (s)
Trung Khuu (s)
Tyler Tribe (s)
Uri Segev (s)
Vinod Seraphin (s)
Volker Juergensen (s)
Walter Haenel (s)
William Holmes (s)

Copyright © 2011 Genii Software Ltd.

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Mon 3 Jan 2011, 09:20 AM
This is another of those mysteries to me.  Companies chose to spend a lot of money on Lotus Sametime (exact amounts may vary, but many amounts would be enough to shake a very big stick at).  Now wait, that doesn't surprise me.  Sametime is a great tool, but the way many companies use it, it's like having a Swiss Army knife and only using the little scissors: great for performing your own open heart surgery in the wild, but really missing many of the finer points of the product.

Knowing this, two of the smartest people around got together and wrote a book.  Not a book for Sametime administrators, although those might be well advised to read it before their users show them up for not knowing something obvious  that doesn't have to do with golf.  Instead, a book for Sametime users, the people your company wanted to be productive when they licensed the software.

It's called IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User's Guide, and it was written by Thomas Duff and Marie Scott.  As I said, two very smart people (who are teaming up with Gabriella Davis for another book, by the way, but that's another story).

But it doesn't matter how smart they are.  It matters how smart YOU are.  Are you smart enough to get a few of these books and spread them around to the influential people in your company, the ones who haven't quite gotten Sametime yet?  You don't need to get it for everybody, obviously, or even many people.  Start with one or two, and let the influencers do what they do.  In a short while, you will see people using Sametime more.  A little bit later, you'll see it used to form communities and share intelligence in ways you didn't imagine it could.  It's not sexy, it's not cool, just smart.

But only if you're smart enough to buy a copy.  Forty bucks.  Are you that smart?


Non-Disclaimer disclaimer: I have received nothing from the publisher or the authors or anybody else, not even a free copy of the book.  Nobody has threatened me or my kids (like I'd be worried - the two authors together barely reach my height). It's just a damn useful book, that's all.

Copyright © 2011 Genii Software Ltd.