Tag Archives: Conferences

09.14.15
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Icon UK – One Week Away

Icon UK starts in London this time next week and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to see friends and talk about new ideas and new technologies.  I’m also doing two sessions this year both of which I’m really pleased with

On Tuesday at 10.20 I’m presenting “Planning and Completing An IBM Connections Upgrade” – this covers everything from patching DB2 to completing a side by side Connections 4.5 – 5 Upgrade.  It could easily run to 300 pages as a detailed technical presentation but instead I’m going to talk about how to plan, how to backup, in what order to do things and most of all – the things that can trip you up.  I tried a similar presentation at MWLUG for the first time and decided it was too wordy so I’ve taken another run at it in a different style –

Then straight after that – because I assume this is some kind of test – I’m presenting, with Mark Myers, a discussion around adapting to changes in technology  This session is about my experiences as an admin, Mark’s as a developer and both of ours as consultants in embracing the “new”.

A Consultant’s Story – Changing Your Technology
The Domino community is a vibrant, passionate world, but the market reality is now hard to ignore. You may be looking at the marketplace as it stands and thinking about the future. You may have spent a long time becoming well known in a technology set, only know to find it is going away. In this informal session come share your stories and here why you’re a lot more valuable than you may think you are. Expect a love of the Domino platform, a good dollop of positivity and a bit of painful honesty.

Plus it’s a great location on London’s South Bank and the Gala Party on Tuesday night (free to all attendees) is at the amazing 1918 HMS President currently decorated as a Dazzle Ship on Embankment.

All profits from Icon UK go to the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity so if you haven’t registered yet,  go here to sign up and join us.

See you there

08.27.15
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Turning The Optimism Up To 11

After last week’s great MWLUG conference (thank you Richard Moy, Lisa Duke & all the sponsors ) I realised how much I miss my community now there are fewer chances to meet in real life. I’m reminded it’s far too easy to think what’s the focus in my little personal bubble matches what everyone else is doing. My friends are not just my friends, they are the people who nudge me off track and kick my brain into thinking about new things it wants to learn and do.

The biggest gathering of all is always January in Orlando and although I had resigned myself earlier this year into saying goodbye for the last time (and literally did that) I realised I’m not ready to walk away whilst there’s still a strong community of people just as vocal and excited by technology (albeit very different technology) as when I first went in 1995. I saw it in Belgium in March, in Norway in May, in Atlanta last week and will see it again in London in a few weeks. So. Orlando.

I have no idea what the conference will be

I have no idea if my friends will be there

I have no idea if I’ll be speaking

But today I booked my flight, put a deposit on accommodation and sent in 4 abstracts which I’m excited about. I briefly went through the panic of “but how do I word this so IBM will pick it” before giving myself a slap to remember it’s not about what I’m meant to talk about, it’s about what I know, want to share and what I think people want to hear.

I may not be on stage – I don’t know if my subjects or even me are what are wanted this year – but I’ll be there, ready to hug my friends, share ideas, talk and laugh. I hope you will be too.

08.20.15
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All Change On IBM Connected Abstract Submission

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about the Connected Abstract submission process and the topics available to choose from

.. that was then.  This is now  All change.  Gone are the topics of

Digital Experience, Email, Meetings and Chat, Social Collaboration, Social Content

To be replaced by more familiar “topics” that look more like the tracks we are used to.  As I discovered when I went to submit the ones I had written in draft .. time for a bit of a rework.  You still have until September 4th to submit yours

Abstract Topics

08.11.15
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Submitting Abstracts For Connect 2016 And Some Interesting Discoveries

Yesterday the IBM Connect 2016 site updated with the call for abstracts, so today I’m submitting sessions because I don’t know 100% what form the conference will take but I want to contribute as best I can to deliver the kind of event we all want to be at.  They may not pick my session (alright sessions – I’m submitting a few choices) but I have topics I’m excited about and that I think people want to learn about so I went to submit.

First thing’s first, as with last year you have to create a speaker profile before you start with your background and a small bio but what I really found interesting was the submission form. There are no mentions of any specific tracks so when you submit a session you only get to choose from “Technical Breakout” or “Business Strategy Breakout”.  What’s really exciting is the list of topics to choose from which I assume are alphabetical rather than importance order

Digital Experience
Email
Meetings and Chat
Social Collaboration
Social Content

Look at that! Those topics may be broad but they are exactly the things I want to hear about (Email, Chat, Social Collaboration) and talk about.  In previous years we’ve had a lot of other topics listed that I would say fell outside the core interest of people that attended Lotusphere of old.  I’m not saying that’s bad but it’s certainly good news that this conference is embracing the topics and technologies we’re all working with today and not just those IBM hope we will be working with tomorrow.

The categories that your session can fall into are short and sweet as well – personally I”m excited to see sessions that fall under these headings

Analytics
Cloud
Cognitive
Commerce
Mobile
Security

There are only a few weeks to submit as it closes on September 4th and I’ve heard noises about the short notice but I’m honestly not sure why.  It’s not a surprise to anyone that Connect is running in January, that was announced months ago. It’s not surprise content, we are all working with these technologies.  Submitting an abstract is simply a case of finding a topic that interests you, that you have a unique slant on and sending it in.  My plan as always – be enthusiastic, write a good abstract and hope for the best.

I’m not involved in any way with the content this year but I’ve seen enough abstracts over the years to offer some advice I think – YMMV but here is last year’s posting on how to write an abstract 🙂

Good luck and click here to get started..

07.27.15
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THIS is how our community learns, thrives and has fun like no other

In just over two weeks’ time I’m heading to Atlanta for the MWLUG conference.  It’s my first MWLUG visit and this year’s conference is ridiculously packed with technical experts, champions, sponsors and more great content than you’re going to see in person anywhere else in the US this year.  Take a look at this schedule (you’ll see me on it).

4.45 on Thursday I have a Domino session called “What is your server trying to tell you“.  I’ve done similar sessions with this title before but I always update it to talk about the best tools and new tricks I use to manage or healthcheck Domino environments.  It’s great having a pure Domino Admin session so I hope you’ll stick around to catch mine.

11.30 on Friday morning I have a session on “Planning and Completing A Connections Upgrade” whether it’s a version upgrade in place, a side by side upgrade, a fixpack or a cumulative release I’ll talk about how to plan, what to look out for, how not to finish until you’re completely done and deciding when to upgrade and when not.  If you’re thinking of upgrading to CR3 which shipped last week this should be a valuable session.

If you haven’t registered go do that now and i’ll see you there (the weather should be balmy in August yes?) REGISTER

04.15.15
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New Sessions At Social Connections

Here I am at Heathrow heading out to Boston for Social Connections this week.  Held at IBMs Research Centre in Boston Social Connections is focussed around IBM Connections (what else!) software with most sessions lasting only 30 minutes.  That’s a tough trick to pull off in a technical session but I’m taking it as a challenge to get my information across in so short a time.  I’ll be there on Thursday all day and presenting with Terri Warren from IBM on “Who Does Connections Think I Am?” At 4.55pm where we’ll dig into how your identity and directories work.  On Friday I have two sessions – one of 30 minutes on being a Connections Administrator at 12pm and a high speed 15 minute session at 1.30 on Design and how to choose what servers, features and add-ons you’ll need. 

So three entirely new sessions I hope you’ll enjoy – see you there!

09.26.14
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Speaking at ConnectED 2015, the mysterious “track 6”

This year the new ConnectED conference introduces a brand new track under breakout sessions – Track 6 entitled “Beyond The Everyday”.  The track is being put together by Christian Holsing and myself and it’s something very different we think has been missing from previous IBM conferences.  Although it has replaced the Show and Tell track the two aren’t connected in any way and the “Beyond” sessions are regular (60 mins) session length.  Best of all , these sessions are ideal for Business Partner and Customer speakers.

Let me explain why I’m excited by “Beyond” because I can think of at least 30 sessions without even trying that would be great. Beyond the Everyday looks to fill a gap as it encourages you as speaker to talk, not just about IBM products, but about how extending those products and adding other technologies bring your software to a whole new level.  In previous years I’ve heard from people who didn’t submit that they didn’t think IBM would care to hear what they want to talk about because it’s not on brand enough – well it may not have been true then (I honestly don’t know) but it’s not true now, at least for this track.

Business solutions today aren’t all from one provider, they aren’t all from one OS, many of them aren’t all on premises or Cloud but combining the most innovative tools in each area from different sources makes Connections, Sametime, Domino, Portal etc a very big part of a larger technological story.  It’s about what we can achieve when we reach further.   So I know you all have innovative ways of making things work, of bending technology to your will, of achieving your goals by forcing those technical barriers out of the way and and that’s what we want to hear about 🙂

In short, if you’re doing something freaky, weird, bent and exciting (in a software sense) share it with an audience who want to know how to work without limits.   As before I am very happy to help or advise on abstracts if you are considering submitting, but you only have a week or so to do so.  I’m hoping we were right and this is what people want to hear and hoping even more this is what you all want to talk about!

Send in your abstracts HERE

Beyond the Everyday

09.16.14
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IBM ConnectED 2015 Call For Abstracts – What Do Those Tracks Mean?

So the call for abstracts are out for ConnectED 2015 this coming January.  For those of you who don’t know.. ConnectED is a very different beast that Lotusphere or even Connect prreviously. It’s intention is to be much more technical as well as smaller (encompassing the Swan only). Think of it more like a technical user group, more opportunity to learn and network.

Smaller also means fewer session slots available so you need to submit if you want to speak as soon as you can.  Call for abstracts closes on October 8th.  Some tracks are still here (yay Best Practices!) some have moved on (SNT) and some are brand spanky new!.  Take a look at the track descriptions below to find out where you fit.  I’m particularly excited about Track 6 – Beyond the Everyday which looks at pushing the boundaries of IBM technology and where it coexists with other environments.

https://www-950.ibm.com/events/tools/ibmced/2015ems/

Track ONE: Strategy and Innovation
Who should attend?: CIOs, IT managers, IT professionals of all levels

Take your collaborative environment to the next level! Laying the foundation for the week, and designed for all levels of IT professionals, this track concentrates on these brand-new, “hot-off-the-press” technology innovations coming from the IBM labs and engineers, including exciting new technologies and glimpses of the future from industry gurus. From social transformation and exceptional web experiences to adoption best practices — and with “sneak peeks” at every turn — this track will be full of sessions that you won’t see anywhere else!

Track TWO: Application Development
Who should attend?: Developers and architects of all levels

The speed of business has accelerated to meet the speed at which people interact, digitally. People are “always on”, consuming data at constant rate. Their interactions and the Internet of things, are sources of that data. Traditional business processes are expected to combine that data with that which is inherent in their systems to provide individualized experiences to end users. This experience needs to be always available and customized to the device from which they choose to access it.

In this track, application developers will learn about building applications in a world of social interaction and information. Topics will include Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, and Social, using technologies for IBM Domino, IBM Connections, and IBM Exceptional Customer and Employee Experience Suite.

Track THREE: Infrastructure and Deployment
Who should attend?: System administrators, IT managers and integrators of all levels

The Infrastructure track is at the technical heart of IBM ConnectED; these sessions will provide the knowledge you need to design, deploy and manage a collaboration infrastructure tailored to your business needs. You’ll learn planning considerations, administration/deployment techniques, and daily “tips and tricks” straight from IBM’s software architects, developers, product managers and “in-the-field” experts. Whether you’re a new systems administrator, an experienced collaboration architect, or something in between – this track will provide what you need to get to the next level.

Track FOUR: Best Practices
Who should attend?: IT managers and practitioners: application developers, system administrators, integrators; technologists of all levels

The popular Best Practices track is delivered by the community – for the community – -and is all about technical solutions that can be implemented TODAY. Whether it’s adoption or development — Domino, mobile, cloud or portal, sessions here provide tips, tricks, and quick maneuvers with a focus on learning from the experiences of others. No product or marketing sessions found here, these sessions take away pain, bring back the fun and deliver the technologies. So put on your thinking cap and see if you can create a session that will meet these standards! We want to hear from you!

Track FIVE: Spotlight on IBM Business Partners
Who should attend?: IT managers and practitioners as well as business leaders and professionals

Back by popular demand! Sessions in this track showcase the highly-acclaimed solutions that our Business Partner community is known for – with technical detail and best practices on how the solution was built! Whether your focus is social software, email, unified communications, or creating exceptional digital experiences – on-premise or in the cloud – there’s something here for you!

Track Six: “Beyond the Everyday”
Who should attend?: IT managers and practitioners: application developers, system administrators, integrators, technologists of all levels

In this track, we step outside the standard uses of our IBM technologies and see how people have combined tools and new techniques to innovate and extend what their software can do. Meeting the demands for multiple technologies, platforms, frameworks, mobile, cloud, on premises and beyond, “Beyond the Everyday” is a deep technical track where approaches will be explained and demonstrated. These sessions may feature IBM products as part of a larger story or may be entirely focused around stretching the products we know to the limits of their capabilities. One think is for certain, they all will be about new ideas and will leave the audience excited to try for themselves!

Track Seven: Chalktalk Sessions
Who should attend?: Any and all ConnectED attendees, both IT and business roles

Come one, come all! Chalktalk sessions are informal, interactive discussion groups for attendees to share ideas and experiences in an small group, and open forum setting. Feel free to submit topics that interest you, either those you would like to lead, or topics and discussions that you’d like to participate in! As a reminder, attendees build the agenda by voting on all submissions and ultimately select the sessions that will appear on the agenda. So you’ll be sure find something that’s well worth your while!

Sessions will likely focus on the areas below, but other ideas more than welcome!

  • Messaging and Collaboration
  • Social Software
  • Exceptional Digital Experience portfolio
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • and more!
10.10.13
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MOBUG 2014 – The Mobile User Group

Some of you may have already heard of MOBUG from some activity this year but for those that haven’t, MOBUG is a new idea for a user group and community around all things Mobile.   Designed to be entirely independent of software, hardware and service provider  it hopes to bring together anyone involved in mobile strategy at strategic or technical levels to share knowledge and discuss ideas.

For this format there needs to be a different approach so alongside regular expert presentations there will be round table discussions and feedback groups to allow you to hear from others and make your voice heard.

Best of all it’s not only free for attendees but is being held at the beautiful Soho Hotel in London

Go here to find out more and register your interest in attending or sponsoring.  MOBUG takes place on 24th March 2014 and spaces are limited.