Lotus Collaboration and Portal Technical Conference, Sydney, September

July 2 2008

My colleagues down under have announced a technical conference to be held in Sydney the week of 15 September....

Image:Lotus Collaboration and Portal Technical Conference, Sydney, September

On the 15th, they'll hold the annual "Lotus Collaboration Summit", which is a free product/strategy event similar to those which were done worldwide last year in the second half of the year.  Then, from the 16th to the 19th, they'll hold the Lotus Collaboration and Portal Technical Conference, a four-day, deep dive event with five separate tracks of deep dive technical sessions.  The price is AU$2990 per person, but the Aussies have put in place a buy 5, get one free discount as well as a discount for IBM business partners.

There has been a lot of demand from the ANZ market for a local event on the size and scope of Lotusphere, or the Lotus Fusion event from years past.  While not a full week freebie, this set of events will deliver on both the strategy and on the technical content that you've asked for.

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Lotus  Add/View Comments [25]

Post a Comment

  1. 1  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 7/2/2008 3:40:08 PM

    How do I get myself on the speaker list :-) Australia in September is nice.

  1. 2  Paul Mooney http://www.pmooney.net | 7/2/2008 3:54:16 PM

    Carl - surely we could do something together??!

  1. 3  Rob Novak http://www.LotusRockStar.com | 7/2/2008 4:09:28 PM

    You're both making me feel very nervous here... ;-)

  1. 4  Rob McDonagh http://www.CaptainOblivious.com | 7/2/2008 4:13:58 PM

    Wow. Love to be at *that* one. Where DO they get their speaker list? heh...

  1. 5  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 7/2/2008 4:25:57 PM

    @3 Rob, I'm sure by then we will have come up with a way to do physical replication. Perhaps in the process I could lose a few deletion stubs and have a compact done.

  1. 6  Mike Brown  | 7/2/2008 4:56:21 PM

    Will you be there, Ed?

  1. 7  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/2/2008 5:27:33 PM

    Mike, I don't know yet. I have also been talking with the UK LUG folks about being in London then. I've asked my local counterparts for advice on whether I would be helpful at the event -- it seems more technical (at least the paid-for stuff is) than I could assist with.

  1. 8  Graham Dodge  | 7/2/2008 6:10:40 PM

    wot??? nothing about Lotus Foundations :(

    I might have to set up a stand outside the convention and do demos for the crowds trying to get tickets at the door.

  1. 9  Rav  | 7/2/2008 7:28:35 PM

    Carl, I hear you - I helped the team with putting together the various sessions and tracks but missed out on presenting as I'm transferring to London in two weeks !

  1. 10  Colin Williams  | 7/2/2008 8:26:02 PM

    Probably a bit rich for our blood but I'll pass this by the boss...would be so cool to attend!

  1. 11  Glenn Irvine http://www.thelotusposition.net | 7/2/2008 9:51:33 PM

    Hi Ed... We're looking forward to this one! It was loosely named "Mini Fusion" as we all wanted to see an event of that calibre again.

  1. 12  Giulio http://www.buzznotes.com.au | 7/3/2008 10:47:42 PM

    Ed,

    Good to hear IBM is going to make an effort in Sydney, but $3k is very steep against other comparable events. Also, there is not much detail about tracks, venues, early bird offers.

    Can you shed some light here ? This may help justify the cost. I think in the current economic climate the pricing is prohibitive, considering you could buy a full-price ticket to Lotusphere 2008 for $2195 (USD), which is a presentation panacea, where as this is only a regional event with a limited agenda.

  1. 13  Dave Harris http://www.wavysworld.com | 7/4/2008 2:57:55 AM

    We have the SE Asia event here in KL next week, so there'd be no transport or hotel costs for me - still can't get it past the boss though, cos it's not free.

  1. 14  Colin Williams  | 7/4/2008 5:46:41 PM

    Well its officially too expensive for me, even though its just "across the ditch"; My boss flatly said "No" and I simply can't afford to go it alone.

    At the risk of sounding negative when the fact the event is being held is good positive news; I can't help thinking that its wrong to charge so much for a vendor showcase - doesn't it ultimately help out the vendor as much as the attendees?

  1. 15  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/4/2008 8:07:00 PM

    Colin (and others),

    The first day is free -- that's the "marketing event" on the 15th. The 16th to the 19th are technical sessions, more along the lines of an admin or developer-focused conference. The budget should be from a training perspective moreso than a simple "go see what the vendor's up to" perspective. Was trying to convey that by indicating that I won't be there myself -- the presenters will be consultants, IT specialists, product managers, etc.

  1. 16  Colin Williams  | 7/6/2008 6:13:33 PM

    Fair comment Ed...I didn't think of the training take on things. A week long course here in NZ costs around $2500-3000 so I guess based on that, its not quite so bad. Maybe I'll have another crack at the boss!

  1. 17  Anthony Holmes http://www.workingcollaboration.com | 7/6/2008 7:38:52 PM

    I work for IBM and I'm involved in some of the preparation for this conference. I'd like to reinforce Ed's comment @15.

    For those of you who are concerned about its cost and/or content, please note how we've called it a 'Technical' conference. A very significant proportion of the sessions will be hands on Labs, where you will be able to install and learn to use new software and features in a guided fashion. Slideware and demos are great (and we'll have some of that too), but the organisers are taking the view that you'll get enormous benefit from a 'hands on' approach.

    Depending upon the sessions you choose, you'll install new software, you'll perform upgrades, you'll play with new features in application design. You'll get guidelines on building highly available, scalable infrastructures.

    For that reason, it's logical to consider this conference as a form of intensive (and broad ranging) training.

  1. 18  Tony Palmer http://palmerweb.blogspot.com | 7/6/2008 10:05:44 PM

    Ed/Anthony,

    Any idea when we can have a look at the full list of sessions, speakers and what the BP discount is. The information on the website is somewhat brief.

    Tony.

  1. 19  Anthony Holmes http://www.workingcollaboration.com | 7/7/2008 6:35:03 PM

    Tony (@18) You should almost certainly expect to see more details on the sessions within a week.

  1. 20  Nathan Chandler  | 7/9/2008 12:18:46 AM

    Is there going to be much content for us Admins?

  1. 21  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/9/2008 2:40:07 PM

    @20 Yes...again, the agenda details will be available soon

  1. 22  Angel Ioannou  | 9/2/2008 8:51:24 PM

    Yes its a great time of the year to be in Sydney and whoever makes it down can look forward to a free catchup beer from me and many others, I'm sure.