My thoughts on IBM Connect

Monday, November 18, 2013 at 5:43 PM UTC

During the last (and next) days the tweets and messages increase regarding the upcoming event "IBM Connect 2014" fka "LotusSphere" in Orlando, FL.

I never attended this conference because:

  • me and my companies did not pay so much attention on conferences during the last years
  • every slide is available afterwards via SlideShare or Lotus Greenhouse (thank god!)
  • costs for tickets and travelling are very high for European residents
  • I don't have a passport (only a local ID card)
  • I don't like travelling by airplane (though I appreciate the comfort against travelling by train or car)
  • freezing air condition in conference rooms - ok, there are means against it
  • 16 hours sitting in a plane (incl. transfers)? I am a smoker!

The pros though are quite obvious as I attended local conferences (as speaker and participant):

  • joining other conferences like DNUG & IBM Connect Day were a pleasure in all matters
  • travelling to places "where no one has been before" (that's me!)
  • joining sessions with "real" people and learning their experiences directly from their mouth
  • get in touch with people I only "know" from the internet (=networking)
  • having a great time with others who share my knowledge (and complementing it) and love the things "we are doing"
  • having a great "after show" time ;-)

I wish everyone attending the upcoming IBM Connect a very good time with all experiences mentioned above Winken

The day may come to join you in Orlando, in the meantime I enjoy communicating with all of you over the internet as this is comfortable and always valuable Lächelnd






Latest comments to this post

Patrick Kwinten wrote on 11.12.2013, 18:05

some say you do not need to go to connect to speak to the developers https://twitter.com/pdhannan/status/410504060052471808

I am not up to date on IBM's marketing strategy / activities either and I have no idea if MS dominates the social world (the document management world for sure).

we'll see if we go this year. i have not decided yet.

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Oliver Busse wrote on 11.12.2013, 17:56

Patrick, the programme has some "candies", esp. in the technical track. But more than the topics it's the people that speak at Connect I'd like to meet. In the technical sessions I'd expect some "aha" and "wooo!" for me, but I am sure the speakers have already blogged about it or will do afterwards.

I don't want to start a general discussion about IBM's marketing strategy, esp. here in Germany, where they yield Microsoft to dominate the social business area due to stagnating efforts to go INTO the market and TOWARDS the customers etc. As there were no new products I'd expect to see presentations I've seen an estimated two or three times before.

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Patrick Kwinten wrote on 11.12.2013, 17:31

so what do you think about the programme this year?

 

not so much about new things to come in IBM products.

 

a bit of rest, little java, lots of basic xpages hmmm will it give bang for bucks? not if the presentations appear on slideshare like you say. also some sessions were recorded an broadcasted last year. I hope IBM continue to do so...

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