Lotusphere! Part 3: Chaos theory anyone?
Please note that the blog software post chronologically. This post is the end of the event. It's best to start at part 1.
Following Mr. Spacey's key note speech, we heard from a plethora of IBM partners about what Social Business means to their business, and how it has changed the way they do business.
RIM showed us some product updates for the soon to be released Blackberry Playbook.
It seems that Lotus social aware products are fully supported in the new Playbook.
9: 20 am
IBM starts to show some demos for upcoming "Next" products. It allows full integration of mobile devices, Domino applications, GPS, messaging, and a bunch of other stuff I have no idea what.
I thought of trying to use Twitter to get some information on quick questions, but with 1000 people in a room, the WiFi just died. I couldn't get a connection at any time during the event. This was a shame. I was using an old first gen iPhone that had no cellular contract. WiFi was the only way to connect to the internet, and it was overloaded.
This is the point where the Lotusphere event turned downhill for me. I was seeing all this fascinating stuff, but I really had no idea what any of it was. The IBM lady (sorry I didn't catch her name) seated next to me had her Thinkpad open and was using some software. I asked her if that was a Lotus product. "Yes, it's Lotus Notes" she said. It looked really well designed, way better than MS Outlook or anything I've seen in Sharepoint. I asked her if the software was stand alone or if it needed to be connected to a server application. She said it really needs to be set up for a group environment to be truly useful, as that's what it was designed for. She could see that I had never really seen Lotus software, and recommended I hit a lab after the show.
Once the assembly was over, we (the students) weren't quite sure what to do or where to go. The packets we were given had an extremely vague map and itinerary. This combined with the chaos of 1000 people exiting a ballroom disorientated most of us. We saw that most attendees had little golden guide books with all the classes listed. We tried asking for one, but they were "not for us." Oh well, time to wander.
I desperately wanted to find one of these labs to learn about the core software. What did it do, what was required vs. optional, how would someone develop for this? What is Domino, webSphere, xpages, Lotus Live, Lotus Connections, portal, Symphony, and Sametime? I had so many questions.
I wandered around for about ten minutes till I eventually found the vendor exhibition. It was nice, but without an understanding of the Lotus core, conversing with them was kind of pointless. The reps were friendly, but it was clear from trying to talk to them that they were not interested in talking to the students. They gave us some pens and quickly attached to someone with an IBM lanyard. One rep even went so far as to tell me, "this is probably too advanced for you..." I was a little offended. This guy has no idea of my "level."
A few IBM branded people spoke with my group about how things were going. One guy assumed that we were using Lotus products. When I told him I've never even seen a Lotus product in real life, he about fell over. "They're not teaching this in your school?" he asked. I said, "No. They're not even mentioning it." He was shocked.
I made a heart felt plea with him to communicate to whom ever that "...if students don't have access to your software we can't support it."
I told him that Microsoft has GIVEN me over $50,000 worth of software. For free. Not just because they are nice guys, but because if we have access to it, we become familiar with it. Later when we enter the workforce and some of us undoubtedly become responsible for selecting software, we will likely choose something familiar. It's a strategic move on their part, and it seems to be working.
I wasn't trying to make a ploy for freebies. I was dead serious about getting access to Lotus products. I was genuinely impressed with what I saw, but I've never actually sat down in front of the software. That is a huge problem for IBM. As I mentioned about the info session, IBM software has high recognition, but almost nonexistent implementation on college campuses.
We wandered around the vendor exhibit a bit more. It was half past the hour now so I had all but given up on finding the lab. No point in walking in with half of it over already. In hindsight, I really think an hour was an insufficient amount of time to experience Lotusphere. There was just so much going on, so many things that tickled the inner geek part of my mind. I could have spent a week talking to people if I had the time.
12:00 pm
Time for lunch!
Lunch was to be served in another building. Buses were available, but it was literally about 500 feet away. It was a beautiful day so I walked.
This is pretty much the end of Lotusphere for us. I like to call this:
"The Great Segregation"
I think most of us understand that people spend a lot of money to attend Lotusphere. I checked ticket prices and they were north of $2600 per seat. These people are sent by their employers to learn about the next great thing, develop skills, and connect with new people. It's serious business and the last thing you want is a bunch of wild college kids disrupting everything. However, I couldn't help feeling like we were second class attendees. It's true that none of us paid a single cent to get there, but I was under the impression we were going to be part of Lotusphere for a day as a special group. Wearing those shirts made me feel like I was not part of the event. When people saw you they had that, "oh, he's one of them" faces.
We were basically isolated during the whole event, with the exception of the opening session. Once that was over we were scuttled out the back door off-site never to be seen again. We never really got an opportunity to get any questions answered. Again, I understand why, it just was a let down compared to what I was hoping for.
12:30pm
Lunch is buffet style. Looks great. I'm so hungry I could eat my backpack. Roasted potatoes, baked chicken, potroast. Nom, nom, nom.
1:30pm
Time to hear some words from our sponsors. GBS and IBM.
Givin' away iPads!
Didn't win 
Next time I'm buying a roll of tickets from Office Depot.
2:00 pm
Smarter skills panel. Some sound advice.
Some shithead interrupts a panel speaker (Marcia Connor) in mid sentence. This kid makes no sense what so ever. There's like five second pauses between every word. Sure made an ass out of himself.
Some other guy asks for private email addresses of the panel members so we can send them resumes. WTF? This event is not about getting job interviews. The panel members are trying to be nice, but it's obvious they don't want 5 million resumes dropped off into their inboxes.
OMG! That asshat from the open mic just walked up on stage and handed each of the panel members a resume. This guy is a total douche! Ha Ha, they're making paper airplanes and joking about setting it on fire. One panel member joked about getting rid of the garbage and waved that guys resume. He definitely did not get the "look at me, I'm so bold- hire me" impression he was looking for.
4:00 pm
We that about wraps it up for Lotusphere 2011. There were some wows, and some frowns. Overall I am glad I attended. If they choose to do it again next year I will definitely look forward to going. Take in mind this is the first time that IBM invited students to this event. We were kind of a test run.
I will offer suggestions for constructive criticism shortly. I believe that honest feedback can contribute to making the event better for everyone. If anyone would like private feedback, please check the "About" page for contact information.
I'd like to thank our hosts, GBS, IBM, and all the wonderful people that help out, for inviting us to this special event. I appreciate your commitment to higher education, and look forward to attending Lotusphere 2012!
Lotusphere! Part 2: Things get Spacey
After the mystical and powerful sounds of Mass Ensemble, the house got down to business.
A brief introduction and welcome for all of us "University Students", whoooooooo!
I think I may be on TV. I was front row, and threw a little Issac to the camera.
Every year Lotusphere has a secret celebrity guest speaker. This year it was...wait for it...
Kevin Spacey
via Turbotodd
Mr. Spacey gave an excellent speech. "Send the elevator back down."
You can hear the whole thing here, in all its 80 kbs mono glory. (I'll keep this posted until someone asks me to take it down for DMCA reasons.)
The blog server will only allow 10 seconds of audio, so it's hosted on my Dropbox account. Please be gentle.
Read my final thoughts in Part 3.
Lotusphere! Part 1: Getting there is half the fun!
Man, 2:00 am is way early.
Buses leave at 5:15, I'm an hour and a half's drive away. Gonna be a rough morning.
3:00 am
On the road. There is nobody, and I mean NOBODY but me on the road. It's eerie, like a the last man on earth situation. Making great time though.
4:30 am
Arrive at USF. Looking for buses. There it is. Big, yellow, and it says "VIPs" in the window. Hell yeah.
5:00 am
Most students are here. Bus driver announces that this bus can only take so many students because it has to stop at another college to pick up a group there. He mentions bus numbers? No one knows what he's talking about. Seems someone forgot to send out a memo.
Driver leaves with half a bus. Says two more buses will be along shortly.
6:20 am
Buses finally arrive. We are all relieved. For a minute we thought we would be walking.
All Aboard!
7:30am
We're here! Oh wait, where are we going. Is that a tent?
We are told to go into the tent and get a badge, a back pack, and some breakfast. Mmmmm breakfast. What I really want is a bathroom! Seems we have to cut through the main lobby of the paying Lotusphere event. The security guys don't want us in there and ask us to walk around outside. Rude.
I'm not really liking the segregation. I know that businesses pay top money to send people to this event but, I was also under the impression we were invited guests.
Our badges and backpacks are different than the 'IBM" branded attendees. Those yellow bags are awesome. I want!!! Not that ours aren't swell, they just don't have embroidery on them.
8:00 am
Just getting around to getting some food. Delicious eggs, fruit, coffee, the works. Just as my group sits down,
"Please make your way to the General Session. Follow the sidewalks outside."
Looks like I'm wolfing down this plate and grabbing some bananas for snacks.
Walking into the Open General Session (OGS) was like being at a rock concert. Rich, vibrant colors, flashing lights, fun facts, and a ginormous video wall. Music is playing and everyone is taking pictures:
After some shuffling, I finally get to a permanent seat on the front row of the student section. An enthusiastic IBM rep is seated right beside me. She is taking a few pictures, and I'm asking her some questions about the event. Seems this is here 12th Lotusphere event! She says at one time before the recession attendance would be almost 10,000 people! This is apparently the first year they let college students inside.
8:30 am
General session begins.
I'm really impressed with the subtle things. The sound system is great, the color pallet for the event is very modern and pleasing. I'm still trying to figure out how they made such a large seamless video wall. It has to be projected from behind.
A musical group opens with some very interesting instruments. They are called the "Mass Ensemble"
This post is kinda long. Check out Part 2 for more.
Lotusphere, a Phoenix from the ashes
I'm writing this after the fact. Couldn't get to writing with all the prepping and rescheduling. Just pretend this happened a week ago...
Leaving the info session for IBM Lotusphere, made me a little sad. I really wanted to go. I registered online for a reserve position just in case. I was supper happy to get an email stating that more seats were opened. Looks like I'm going after all!!
Of coarse with such short notice I have a lot of juggling to do.
The Perils of Social Relevance
About two weeks ago I was leaving class when out of the corner of my eye I saw an interesting pamphlet hanging out of a kiosk. It was titled “Are you Socially Relevant?” It was a brochure for an informational meeting with USF students interested in IBM’s Lotusphere 2011. Ordinarily I frown on this kind of undefined “Social” spam, but since I liked IBM and would love to get an insider’s view of any new technology, I decided to attend.
It’s been a while since I’ve had to wear a shirt and tie. Working for a bank I had a closet full of shirts. Strangely, I couldn’t find any pants. The one pare I did find was about three inches too long. Time for a quick trip to dry cleaners for an emergency hem. A day later and $12.00 poorer, my shirts are pressed, my pants are reconditioned, and I’m off to class three hours early to register for Lotusphere and get some ‘intel.’
I don’t live anywhere near USF. Most students at USF including myself are commuters. To get from my front door to USF takes about 1 hour 22 minutes. Total round trip mileage is approximately 106 miles. You can imagine what a royal pain in the rear it is to get things done when you have to spend three hours and a hundred miles of your day just to sign a form or talk to someone in person for five minutes. I don’t like frivolous treks onto campus if they’re not absolutely necessary, but I’m aware we must do what we have to to get things done.
Arriving at the meeting, I can see the smiling faces of student advisers greeting students, as well as a friendly IBM representative. The venue is posh with framed canvases of USF deans hanging on the walls and contemporary chandeliers dangling over huge conference tables. The room is nice, real nice. It can reasonably hold about 40 persons. Satellite “kiddie” tables can expand this to about 50-55. About 60-70 students showed up so about 20 students had to stand in the back of the room. No biggie, we’re here for the information and to register for Lotusphere.
The coordinator guy was about ten minutes late. Apparently he was here an hour and a half early, but got lost after sipping espresso at Starbucks. He welcomed us and began his pitch about Lotus.
“How many of you have ever heard of Lotus software?” he asked.
Almost everyone raised their hand.
“How many of you have ever USED Lotus software?”
This was the awkward part. Out of about 70 students, maybe two raised their hands. Not to be discouraged, the coordinator salvage the situation by explaining this this response was expected. “This is why we think Lotusphere is so important.”
At this point it’s clear that IBM has a problem. It seems that though its software line has high awareness among college students, it has virtually zero penetration. This is not the best situation for a business whose senior software engineers are retiring in droves. It’s okay though, because we’re here to register for a conference that will exposed us to IBM’s latest and greatest software, hardware, We’re here to register for Lotusphere.
Books, how do they work?
It's that time of year again. Time for all the students to partake in the slaughtering of the lambs.
When I first started attending USF, the bookstore was administered by USF. It didn't look much different than it does today, sans all the B&N lubricant sprayed copiously all over the place. The student textbooks were in the basement. The coffee shop was upstairs. Students were buying earlier versions of the same books. The only difference was that text books didn't cost as much or more than matriculation.
What's wrong with this picture?
Here's an example of Academic Progress:
There are two books in these pictures. The book on the left is a Professional writing course book. Essentially it's a regurgitation of English Comp II, mixed with a little Sociology and a twist of business. Nothing to see here. It's basic- almost outdated information that is questionably relative in this modern e-conomy.
The book on the right is a graduate level tome on Water Treatment Systems. It's visually two and a half times the thickness, and contains vast expanses of differential equations, stereo chemistry, physics, and fluid dynamics. Flipping through the pages gave me flashbacks to my engineering core.
Beyond the size and informational density/scope of each book, there is one major difference between these books. Can you guess? I bet you can't. It's hard to see because its not in the picture. The reasoning is arguably financial. One book is highly specialized and will only be utilized by a handful of students. The other is broad and general and will be a required class for every single College of Business student. Literally hundreds of students every semester.
Having been a student that excelled at Microeconomics, I can with a high degree of confidence state that the laws of supply and demand are true and predictable. Unless, someone has a reason or incentive to mess with them. A book so specialized and unique that will sell only a dozen or so copies a semester, that is four inches thick, would be a low volume text. Hence it's cost would be greater compared to a more mass produced book of smaller stature. In my opinion significantly more resources are needed to produce the book on Water Treatment than a book on how to write a resume.
So what does this financial motivation look like? Let us stare the beast in the eye:
Big book: $175 NEW
Small Book: $195 NEW.
If you compare the two based on volume of information, degree of difficulty, number of pages, and scarcity, these prices are not possible. Unless the publisher or some other organization is subsidizing the cost of the Water Treatment text, someone is getting bent over.
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