Sep 112009
 

First I have to apologize for not posting anything on my blog for some time. It has not been much time over for blogging lately.

Well, it’s September again and time for Collaboration University in Chicago and London plus a visit to Sweden and the family there. This year I have to leave my family, here in Kansas, for 18 days. Not something I like to do but with work the first 13 days and then being so close to Sweden make it almost impossible not to go there. Cheap airline tickets with Ryan Air doesn’t hurt either.

I’m very excited about CU this year. Showing the new Lotus Quickr 8.2 features in Troy’s, Rob’s and my sessions, together with sessions about Lotus Sametime 8.5 with the new WebSphere-based Meeting Center and Lotus Connections 2.5 are not short of amazing. If you are attending this year, it will not be disappointing.

I hope to CU in Chicago, London or maybe Sweden!

Jul 102009
 

We really don’t know how to fit all this in three days but we will give it a try. Hope you attendees don’t need sleep.

Keynote:
Lotus Software 2.0: Success and Strategy for Quickr, Sametime, and Connections

Show Then Tell:
Your Speakers Share Results First: So You Have the Goal in Mind

Underlying Technology:
Introduction to DB2 (Yes, you need to know!)
Single Sign On, LDAP, and Other Fun Acronyms

Sametime:
Customizing and Extending the Sametime 8.5 Meeting Center
Customizing and Extending the Sametime 8.0 Meeting Center
Using and Customizing the Sametime 8.5 Web Client with the new Proxy Server
Sametime 8 and 8.5 Toolkit Overview, Differences, and Examples *
Sametime Telephony Overview – TCSPI, Plugin and Unified Telephony options
Deploying Sametime 8 on Linux – Getting to the Root of the Install
Sametime 8.5 Infrastructure – How all the Pieces Fit Together
New ST Client features and New “zero download’ client; Working with the new Sametime Proxy *
Installing and working with Sametime Community server 8.5
Installing and working with the new Meeting server
Websphere Administration for Sametime
Managing your Infrastructure with the Sametime Solutions Console – Installation and Use *

Quickr:
Installation and Configuration of Quickr 8.2 – Best Practices
Open Your Eyes – Development Possibilities with Quickr: Three Complete Solutions Deconstructed
Themes Part 1 – Extending the Standard Theme Server-Wide and Custom Themes by Place *
Using Forms & Placebots for Automation: Three reusable examples *
Quickr 8.2 Performance: Getting More from your Server and Clients
Top 10 Quickr Support Issues 2009
Quickr Data – In. Out, Everywhere: A wide array of approaches and tools
Themes Part 2 – Adding Functionality With JavaScript
Quickr & Domino Integration Strategies & Concepts
Sizing for Quickr Servers: Load Testing and Deployment Planning
REST and Web Services APIs for Quickr *
Quickr & Sametime Integration – Beyond the Basics

Connections:
Installing and Configuring Lotus Connections 2.5
Your First Lotus Connections 2.5 Customizations Made Easy
Lotus Connections 2.5 Integration with Sametime, Quickr, and More

Strategy:
Collaboration Strategy: Applying your Skills and Collaboration Tools to Enhance the Business

Wrap-Up:
Futures and Strategy for Lotus Collaborative Documents
Bringing it All Together: All the Speakers’ Best 10 Minutes!

Hands-On Workshops:
Developing Collaborative Applications for Lotus Quickr – Zero to Hero in Three Hours
Quickr for Domino Administration – Deploying, Updating, and Troubleshooting the Environment and Applications

*These Sessions have Hands-On Lab Content

Hurry up and register while discounts and great IBM-sponsored hotel deals remain!

CollaborationUniversity.com

Jul 072009
 

From Rob Novak’s blog:

I’m pleased to welcome two new faces to Collaboration University 2009 to help us kick off the most exciting year we’ve ever had for CU! With Sametime 8.5, Connections 2.5, and Quickr 8.2 all hitting the streets this year – and with the major technology changes there and in the near future, it’s great to have IBMers back this year to keynote the event and give us a heads-up on Lotus’s  strategy in the Web 2.0 space.

A picture named M2 In Chicago, we’ll hear from Louis Richardson, Lotus Worldwide Sales Executive for Lotus Collaborative Document Services. Louis, at IBM the past five years, has been instrumental in helping get the word out about Collaboration University inside IBM, where all the events, dates and even links on the IBM website are helpful. I’ve known Louis for several years and know he will be an exciting and insightful speaker. Besides, anyone who gives me a picture on a sailboat has to be cool.
A picture named M3 In London, we’re joined by Darren Adams, Messaging and Collaboration Business Unit Executive for North East Europe. Which, as it turns out, includes the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria (fairly south and west for northeast!). Many of you know Darren from his blog at www.dadams.co.uk where, among other things, he shares his insights on Lotus software. Darren was recently promoted to this very long title, so please congratulate him when you see him in London! Dareen’s a long time friend of Collaboration University, having helped out with arrangements a little more each year.

Please join us in Chicago and London to learn about the strategy and direction of Lotus’s Web 2.0 lineup of software – Quickr, Sametime and Connections!

May 122009
 

Today we opened the registration for CU 2009 with a special Day One discount of $100. That is in addition to any Early Bird and/or Alumni discount you may qualify for.

From Rob Novak’s blog:

Rob NovakAs we enter our fourth year, Collaboration University is evolving, just like the collaboration software we know and love. With new versions of Sametime and Quickr released in the past 12 months, the release of Lotus Connections 2.5 (which we’re covering as well), this is going to be a great year to come to Collaboration University in September. The dates are:

Chicago: September 14-16 at the IBM Innovation Center
London: September 21-23 at IBM South Bank

There are 250 CU Alumni and 200+ people who requested personal notification from the CU website. They’ve been notified personally, but I though I would add this to my blog as well. Registration will open Tuesday, May 12 at 12:01 AM. Plus, there are some great Alumni discounts and discounts for registration by June 20.

We have even more speakers this year – see the previous blog entry – with five participating partners and four special industry guests. We are covering Lotus Quickr 8.2 and Sametime 8+, and are adding Lotus Connections 2.5 content.

Here’s where your investment pays off. Not only are we not raising the 2009 registration fees, but in addition to the Early Bird registration discount of $200 and up to $150 discount for Alumni:

I am extending a $100 “DAY ONE Discount” to anyone registering on Tuesday, May 12.

Head over to Collaboration University and register today!

Mar 172009
 

Today we are announcing 2009 Collaboration University. Just as last year our venue cities are Chicago and London in September.

From Rob Novak’s blog:

I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be producing Collaboration University 2009 at the great venues we found last year in Chicago and London.

In Chicago we’ll once again be at the IBM Innovation Center, located on the Chicago River a few blocks from Michigan Avenue. It is a great place to have the size and type of conference we produce – last year we sold out, the venue size and food were terrific, and the location was central to a lot of Chicago activity. In London we return to IBM South Bank, just a few blocks from Waterloo station, Marriott County Hall, the London Eye, and accessible from all over central London. Our dates (both start on a Monday and run through Wednesday):

Chicago: September 14-16, 2009
London: September 21-23, 2009

We’ll open registration next month, and even though we sold out both venues last year we will not be raising the fees! In fact, for alumni we are continuing last year’s introduction of a discount per year of attendance so your fees may even go down. More details will be available when we open registration, or you can email info@collaborationuniversity.com or me directly for budget planning purposes.

So head over to the Collaboration University website and sign up! See you there!

Sep 252008
 

After almost three weeks I finally got back home to my family last night and it was great to see my kids and wife again. Three weeks is a really long time to be away. But wow what a three weeks it was. First a very successful Collaboration University in Chicago and then repeated in London the week after. I had three sessions on Themes, Dojo & JSON and Tags & Categories inside Quickr. I got positive reactions on all of them but maybe mostly on the Tags & Categories session. More on that in a later posting.

After CU I flew over to Västerås, Sweden to visit my family over there. 5 days of visiting with my father and mother and siblings was just great. In only a few days I managed to eat both moose, Swedish craw fish and Swedish roe deer. All superbly prepared by my sister and sister-in-law. The chanterelle sauce that we had with the roe deer was unbelievable.

Monday evening I left Sweden and flew back to London where Carl Tyler picked my up at the airport and I got to spend a couple of nights with his parents outside London. Tuesday we went to Oxford where we walked around for a few hours looking at the old universities there. Very nice. Thank you Carl (and Carl’s parents) for a couple of wonderful days.

It is great to be out on these speaker engagements and visit friends you only see a few times a year but boy is it nice to back home with family again.

Sep 052008
 

Collaboration University 2008 - Chicago & London

So I’m off to Collaboration University after the last few weeks being very hectic. Wrapping up a few customer projects needed to be finished before it all starts and of course the CU slides and demo code as well. I’m out for almost 3 weeks straight this time, first Chicago and then off to London for the repeated event there.

The last few days I get to back to the old country (Sweden) and visit with my family there. I’m also visiting with a couple of old friends preparing for our football trip to New York in October-November. More on that later.

I have three sessions at CU this year:

  • Quickr Custom Themes: What a Difference a Version Makes!
  • Leveraging the Dojo Toolkit, JavaScript, and JSON in Quickr
  • Tags and Categories in Quickr: How to Add, Use and Present

I’m really looking forward to Collaboration University this year. Record attendance and great locations are going to make a great conference.

CU there.

Aug 132008
 

We have updated the agenda and speaker pages for Collaboration University, both in Chicago and London. It’s all done in a very “Web 2.0” fashion by combining Domino, JavaScript, JSON and the Dojo Toolkit. Dynamic link, using Dojo Tooltip, to the speaker with photo.

CU Agenda - with Carl Tyler

Go over to Collaboration University and click on Sessions and Speakers pages and roll over things, change days, play around – it’s a very cool data-driven Domino application.

May 282008
 

Collaboration University opened it’s new website today with a brand new fresh look. Registration also opened for the event. This year we will be in Chicago and London. This event is a deep focus on Lotus Quickr, Lotus Sametime and new this time Lotus Connections focused on on integration and APIs.
From Rob Novak’s site:

In Chicago we’ll be at the IBM Innovation Center, located on the Chicago River a few blocks from Michigan Avenue. I have visited the building twice this year, and folks it is a great place to have the size and type of conference we produce. In two weeks I’ll be in London visiting our venue there, IBM South Bank. Just a few blocks from Waterloo station, Marriott County Hall, the London Eye, and accessible from all over central London. Our dates (both start on a Monday and run through Wednesday)

Chicago: September 8-10, 2008
London: September 15-17, 2008

This year we are also trying a brand new workshop concept

For our workshops this year (Wednesday afternoon post-con), we’re trying something different. We’re going to give you a month’s experience in 3 hours! The workshop will focus on Quickr Domino development and administration. Developers will go to one room and work on an application – with significant help – for 90 minutes, while the admins will start with a “bare bones” install of Quickr and apply best practices security settings, modify LDAP, configure notes.ini and qpconfig.xml, and set up MSSO. Next, each developer will pair up with an admin to deploy the application and test it. If that’s not real-life enough, your resident business client (me) will request a critical change in the application so everyone – developers and admins alike – can learn what choices you have to make when deploying changes to a production Quickr environment.

Visit collaborationuniversity.com and look around and register early for discounts. We also have a discount for past Alumni this year.