Security
I was worried about what the increased security would mean for getting around the conference, but I found that, aside from having bags checked before entering the opening and closing sessions and the product showcase, things were pretty much the same as they've always been. And I didn't see any embarrassing incidents like the one that happened last year, as you can see in Figure C.

FIGURE C


Security wasn't nearly as tight this year as it was for Richard at last year's Lotusphere. Roll over picture for a larger image.

To avoid having any hassle whatsoever, though, I carried only my Sony CLIE in my shirt pocket and my camera on my waist. It was actually very liberating, and I was surprised more people didn't decide to just rely on a PDA and leave the bag at home. It also was a great excuse not to have to take brochures from vendors in the product showcase.

Sunday night party
It was amazing how easy it was to get into the Sunday night party. I remember waiting in a huge line last year and then getting in only to find a Tokyo Subway Car buffet. This year I breezed in at 6:05 with nary a glance from the gatekeepers, as shown in Figure D.

FIGURE D


The entrance to the Sunday night party was wide-open at 6:05. Roll over picture for a larger image.

From there, I was able to fairly easily make my way around the party. It would have been nice if we could have had the Super Bowl the same day, but maybe that's something to look forward to for next year.

Opening session
Ben Stein was a great choice for the opening session guest. I really liked his line "God bless you all, you really must love your Lotus." While I thought Al Franken was funny last year, Ben Stein was both funny and appropriate, which helped to get the conference off to a more positive start.

Closing session
I've skipped out on the closing session in years past, but I decided I wanted to go to it this year. I'm very glad I did. The special guest was Kevin Nealon from Saturday Night Live, and he was hilarious. I especially liked him playing Hans and Franz with Al Zollar at the beginning of the session. He also used a lot of the other bits he's done as well, such as doing a Lotusphere version of Weekend Update and even re-enacting the Mr. Subliminal character, calling Microsoft Exchange a rip-off.

This year's catch phrase: Contextual Collaboration
It seems like every Lotusphere has a catch phrase that explains the bulk of what Lotus is trying to communicate. This year that phrase was "Contextual Collaboration." This is something that really interests me. The idea is to provide the end user with a richer and more productive collaborative experience. It ranges from doing such things as using Sametime to let you know who else is viewing the same page you are, to using the Discovery Server to help you find an expert on a subject you selected on the page and how to contact them.

I realized right when I saw this sort of capability demonstrated in the opening session that this was obviously the direction that I was headed; I just hadn't given it a name and thought of it in broad enough terms. But the idea just clicked, and it's helping me to tie together all of the different Lotus software I'm working with and all of the different projects I'm working on. It's kind of like the mortar that holds all of the Lotus collaboration bricks together to help you build a path to the future.