Lotusphere 2007, to infinity and beyond!

Well at least to R8 and beyond. I should have used it in my session.
Anyway, a great show, very much a Lotus focused event, with very little IBM referencing. Nice in light of the last few years where anything not IBM branded was tossed out.
Where to begin.

UX Lab (User Acceptance)
1st of all if you never did a user experience, they are great but take time, so plan ahead and sign up for a time that works for you.
I did 2, one on R8 collaboration and one on the Dogear product.
What can I say about R8 that many haven't? It's cool, it's advanced, it's a portal/dashboard, it can detach "pieces" like calendar or activities or sametime.
Downside, well, good luck getting some older employees used to a million things blinking and popping up around their screen.
Dogear is interesting, to a point. It is about sharing bookmarks and tags to better search or compare information. Maybe you think I know what I am talking about and like my bookmarks to update yours. Maybe not.
While I enjoy the online sharing of information, sometimes my internal interests should not be shared. Also I found it odd why I would want to include someone else's bookmarks into mine(making a few dozen to a few hundred) when I could just as easily search the system or web for the information as well. I was confused and still am on this point, but as the product was still being UI completed, even though it has been running in IBM for 2 years I was told, it is far from unintuitive and I consider myself technically adept.

I did not make it to too many sessions, but then there are really only a few I ever want to go to since the majority is either about the future (R8 which I still can not touch) or application developement. Damn if I missed the worst practices session, probably the most enjoyable one.

GURUPALOOZA
Yep, fun, but seriously lacking in admin people, HELLO! not everyone cares about appdev. Wait Nathan just threw something at me, it's a flyer from openntf.org.
Seriously, it was great to see so many up there, and put names to faces. The combined experience on the dais was amazing, although a brief name or intro on each person would have been helpful to those of us that just know people by their blog or reputation.
But the email problem questions could and should have been answered in a better way. Well maybe next year I can obtain Guru status or at least I can have it as a goal for this blog and my self over 2007.

Sadly I missed Ed Brill's BoF for bloggers on thursday, overslept, big bummer. And then missed the dinner with them all Thursday because of family things. Well there is always next year.

I was impressed to see all my EMEA friends there, were there any US Lotii down at the show?
Edited names to protect everyone.

And thank you to the IBM partner pedestals that gave out network travel packets (with phone charger connection ends too for USB) and usb hubs, they came in VERY handy in a pinch.

I think in another post I will update my list of required items for Lotusphere.

And as always if you have a Domino emergency, do not hesitate to call. We are open for business.
Edited to protect the innocent!