The schedule of sessions is available on the Lotusphere Web site (go check http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/events/govfor.nsf/wdocs/ls2006home for more details). The claim this year is that there are more sessions with more technical content and deeper technical content, and certainly a quick review of the session abstracts would back this up. There's a fair number of 'Sphere regulars, and which I'm sure have been updated.

Ed Brill is back with Libby Ingrassia on selling Notes within your Organization. Wes Morgan is back with his session on Network design. Bill Buchan is talking again about Object Oriented LotusScript, and this time they have put him on on Wednesday afternoon, instead of Thursday morning, right after the party. But he's not got away with that, his new session with Paul Mooney on Worst Practices in Domino is, you guessed, 08:30 Thursday.

All the established sessions and attractions are back; the certification labs, the various developer labs, the Ask The Developer session and Gurupalooza, both on Thursday afternoon. These two last are worth staying to end for -- not only are they where you get the chance to put Lotus developers and a bunch of Notes gurus technically to the test, but it they are also highly entertaining sessions.

And there's more -- this year there is a small track of half-a-dozen "Meet the Geeks" sessions where you can go along and discuss details with the people who designed and wrote the code. How many companies let you get so close technically to the developers?

Also new is BootCamp: the 'Sphere Web site introduces this thus:

"The Lotusphere 2006 BootCamp program is a conference-long curriculum consisting exclusively of highly technical sessions, with a heavy focus on practical application. Designed as a series of technical "deep dives" organized by topic, you can drill down from hands-on workshops to corresponding breakouts, certification prep courses, and "Meet the Geeks" discussion groups led by subject matter experts and members of the product development teams.

The sample list of sessions shown certainly look detailed, but the star rating is not shown. In the conference guide that you get at registration, all the session abstracts are marked with one, two or three stars as to technical content.

So, plenty to do at the coming Lotusphere, more than last year. Even a new party, the JAMfest, Monday and Tuesday evenings -- reading rather like an enormous karaoke session. About the only thing that isn't yet divulged is where the Wednesday night party takes place, though of course, Sod's Law says that by the time you read this, the location has been announced.

Unlike some previous years, where 'Sphere sold out in 3 hours, there's space still available. If you haven't registered, what are you waiting for? If you have, you can start planning your timetable. Go look at the Lotusphere Web site to see all the things going on in more detail -- and read the piece where Mike Rhodin talks about the change in slant with more technical content than ever before.

And as ever, DominoPower will be there -- look out for us and say "Hi". This year, half the editorial team really has no excuse: Dave and Denise have moved to Florida, and are based only an hour or so from Orlando!

[Hey, our excuse last year was we'd just gotten married. It only works once, but it was a heck of an excuse! We'll definitely be there and are really looking forward to seeing everyone! -- David]

We love talking with our readers, and finding out what you think of DominoPower and what you'd like us to cover. See you at the 'Sphere.

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise, has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com.