Lotusphere

Lotusphere is an annual conference hosted by Lotus Software (now one of IBM's five software brands).

Except for the first conference, which took place in December 1993 [ [http://www.rhs.com/web/blog/PowerOfTheSchwartz.nsf/d6plinks/RSCZ-6C27HF Lotusphere trivia] , Richard Schwartz's blog, May 3, 2005] , Lotusphere is held in late January. It starts with a reception party on Sunday night, and continuing on through the closing session on Thursday afternoon. The conference uses the conference rooms in the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels. Most years have also used the additional conference rooms shared by Disney's Yacht and Beach Clubs.

In addition to the annual conference in Florida, there is also an annual Lotusphere Europe conference.

Agenda

The typical agenda starts with an opening general session on Monday, followed by breakout sessions through the rest of the morning and afternoon where different presentations occur simultaneously in different conference rooms, allowing attendees to choose which one they want to go to. Each breakout session is typically an hour long, with pauses in the schedule to allow attendees to mingle and walk to their next choice of breakout session. Tuesday and Wednesday also have six or seven of these breakout sessions throughout the day.

Thursday is the last day of the conference, with a few breakout sessions in the morning, then a large "Ask the Developers" session where attendees are allowed to ask questions directly to a panel of IBM/Lotus employees involved in making the software. The last event of the conference is a closing session.

The opening and closing sessions typically have a form of entertainment and a guest speaker, as well as executives and key employees sharing news and demonstrations of what's happening in the near future.

Breakout Sessions

In 2008, there were 197 different presentations scheduled during the breakout sessions, scheduled across 18 slots, giving attendees an average of eleven choices per session slot. Each breakout session lasts about an hour. Breakouts are split into several categories called "tracks". Common tracks are; 1) Futures and Innovations : Glimpses of technologies and innovations coming out of IBM and Lotus Research Labs.; 2) Application Development : Presentations on custom application development, ranging from paper prototyping to application development techniques specific to Lotus software products.; 3) Planning and Managing Your Collaboration Infrastructure : Information for administrators and decision makers on architecture, features and capabilities, deployment, and system management.; 4) Best Practices : Tips and tricks for developers, administrators, usually technical and tactical.

In addition to these four tracks, there is sometimes a fifth track with a title and content around "Customer References" or "Sponsor Sessions". There are also "Hands-on" and "JumpStart" sessions.; Hands-on : These are hands-on classes lasting 1¾ hours, taking place in rooms set up in a classroom style with tables and computers. Attendance is limited such that there are one to two attendees per computer.; JumpStart : JumpStart sessions are offered during the day on Sunday, usually lasting about 1½ hours, giving an in-depth presentation on a topic.

History and Statistics

[ [http://ls2008cult.pbwiki.com/Lotusphere+Lore Lotusphere Lore] , C.U.L.T. 2008 Lotusphere Wiki]

During the 2008 closing session Lotus committed to hosting Lotusphere at the Swan and Dolphin through 2015.

Lotusphere Europe

External links

* [http://www.lotus.com/ Lotus home page]
* [http://www.lotusphere.com/ Lotusphere home page for the current year] , including agenda and a list of breakout sessions. (Note: Late each year the URL is redirected to the upcoming conference; some details won't be available until they are decided and released by IBM/Lotus.)
* [http://www.dailymotion.com/lotuspherevideo/video/x4ahxa_lotusphere-2008-opening-general-ses_business Video: Lotusphere 2008 in 60 Seconds] , a 68-second recap of major announcements made during the Opening General Session at Lotusphere 2008
* [http://www.weightlessdog.com/gonzowiki.nsf GonzoWiki] , an unofficial Lotusphere site.

Notes