Ed Brill

As eventually happens each year, my schedule for Lotusphere is now falling into place.  I'm happy to share, since of course I'm looking forward to finally meeting many of you in person during the show.

• Saturday:  Penumbra group dinner, followed by the Turtle gathering at ESPN club.
• Sunday:  4 PM presentation at Business Development Day (BD Day attendees only, please), and of course the welcome reception.  I'll try to find the "blogger gathering" that Julian and Volker set up...  and am likely to be in Kimono's in the Swan after the reception is over.
• Monday:  No sessions of my own, will attend a few, and have some press interviews.  Despite Bruce's pleadings, I won't be able to make the OpenNTF Birds-of-a-feather.
• Tuesday:  Again no sessions of my own, though my evil twin Alan and I will be hosting a Birds-of-a-Feather Tuesday evening on Lotus Notes and Microsoft Office integration.  One press interview.  I'll be attending sessions most of the day, I think.  Plan on making my usual walk through the product showcase as well.
• Wednesday: My session is at 10:30,  rest of the day, I'm attending other sessions.  Universal.
• Thursday: Working with the team on putting together the closing session comments; start planning the next event. :)

Now, everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I -- here are my helpful hints for surviving Lotusphere.  Some are the same as Rocky's ... you would think we had been going to the same show for a number of years, huh.

• Don't expect to see and do it all.
• Ask questions -- we are there for you, not for our own benefit.  I may not wear the staff shirt, but you can always stop me in the hall and ask questions.  Heck, I think I'll again have one of those coolio radio things that the core staff has, so you can always find me.
• Find the middle of the road -- this one is important.  There's nothing that bothers me more than people at either extreme of this equation... one end is the person who seems to feel the need to suck up to the Loti.... we're all just doing our jobs, folks, as cool as you might think they are.  The other extreme is the person who kept all their unanswered tech support questions, and marketing recommendations, locked up in their head all year and have come to Orlando to unleash it all and save the world.  We're all human, and we're all here to work together.  Take that approach and anyone will make time for you.
• Spend time in the product showcase.  These vendors are the ones really supporting this industry, give them the time and respect they deserve.
• Visit the labs -- meet the developers, the research lab, the Workplace lab for sure.
• Network.
• Have fun ... Alan and I did a couple of years back ...