FIGURE F


Remind me again why I moved from warm California to cold New Jersey. Roll over picture for a larger image.

In case you're curious, you can see one of the food tents in Figure G.

FIGURE G


You can't have a great convention without great (or at least tolerable) eats. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Climate-controlled in a perfect climate
When we got back from the perfect 72 degrees of Orlando, we were immediately hit by an ice storm. So if I keep returning to the idea of the weather down there, you'll understand. Now, the thing is, most of Lotusphere takes place inside, where the Dolphin kept the temperature at a climate-controlled 72 degrees as well. All in all, it was pretty comfortable, no matter where you went. That said, the good stuff, for the most part, was happening inside.

So what do the Lotus faithful do when they get away from their computers and arrive in paradise? Well, most of them (all the DominoPower folks included), rush to the nearest connected computer, as shown in Figure H.

FIGURE H


I need my Internet fix! Roll over picture for a larger image.

Lotus set up a mammoth network of over 1,000 ThinkPads and most were in use, most of the time. Lotus even set up computers in the various connecting corridors, as shown in Figure I.

FIGURE I


There were ThinkPads running along the walls of most of the convention corridors. Roll over picture for a larger image.

And just in case you didn't like the computers Lotus provided, many brought their own, like this fellow in Figure J.

FIGURE J


One showgoer demonstrates the Thinking At Screen yoga position. Roll over picture for a larger image.

In fact, as you can see in Figure K, there are a lot of interesting new yoga positions being demonstrated.

FIGURE K


If you have a Lotus bag, is it the Lotus position? Roll over picture for a larger image.

The really nice thing about Lotusphere is the atmosphere of congeniality. Whether you're on the show floor, in conference sessions, or in one of the special breakout rooms, shown in Figure L, attendees are all having a pleasant time and learning about new technologies.

FIGURE L


Would you like some popcorn with your software? Roll over picture for a larger image.

Some fun pictures
Across all three articles, you've probably now gotten a great feel for Lotusphere 2001. Now, I'd like to wrap up with a few pictures that were just plain fun.

First, of course, there's Figure M, the Lotusphere…well…sphere.

FIGURE M


It's a sphere, all right. Roll over picture for a larger image.

As I walked the exhibit floor, I kept returning to the Lotusphere theatre. And each time I came back, the woman in Figure N was still there.

FIGURE N


This is Disneyworld. I'm not leaving until I see Mickey, Donald, and Goofy! Roll over picture for a larger image.

As I walked the floor, I also encountered one sad looking security guard, shown in Figure O. I'm convinced he wanted to out in the sun sooooo bad.

FIGURE O


I didn't know there were this many geeks in the entire world! Roll over picture for a larger image.

Finally, the guys at The View seemed to sum it up so well, as you can see in our final picture, Figure P.

FIGURE P


Just say Notes! Roll over picture for a larger image.

That about wraps it all up for me. I hope to see you all next year.

Greg Neilson is a Senior Notes Architect at a large IT services firm in Australia. He is a Contributing Editor for Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine and the author of the forthcoming book, Lotus Domino in a Nutshell for O'Reilly (see http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/domino).