Lotusphere 2009 - Getting to WOW
Yesterday was the deadline for
Lotusphere abstracts, so I hope you got your ideas in. I'm really excited that there seems to be such a buzz around the conference this year (even more than normal, it seems). One of my former colleagues submitted a couple of ideas too, so I'm hoping he gets a chance to get up there and show off his stuff.
I actually ended up with two entries thrown into the hat and one Birds of a Feather idea. Both of the session submissions are with a couple of fantastic speakers, and as always, I'm honored to have the opportunity to present with them. I'll hold off on announcing one of them until I know he's cool with it, but I'm thrilled to tell you that the first session abstract was submitted along with
Tom Duff! Tom has a great, casual speaking style and has become a beloved presenter at Lotus conferences. I hope if we get picked that I can live up to his expectations! This session will actually be quite complimentary to one of his other ideas. I, for one, am really looking forward to seeing the
Moving From Plumber To Painter presentation.
Our proposed session is entitled:
Getting To Wow...Interface First Design For Lotus Notes Developers. If you'd like to check out the abstract or help influence whether or not we get to do this session, please click the link above and vote over on IdeaJam. Many of the other proposed sessions are there and the fearless leader of the Best Practices track,
Mr. Mac Guidera, is watching this space with interest. Looking through the list of ideas submitted so far, I think we are in for an incredible round of sessions in 2009!
Hope to see you there...
Labels: conferences, Lotusphere2009, speaking engagements
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Lotusphere 2009...Should I Even Try?
So
Lotusphere time is upon us again in a few short months and people are getting all hyped up and excited since registration opened yesterday. This is always a fun time, as the folks in the blogging community start talking about some of the sessions they hope to submit, while others keep their thoughts very close to the vest.
I'm currently wondering what, if anything, I should submit as an idea this year. Are there any topics that you'd specifically like to see at Lotusphere based around the stuff I do here? If you think of something, please feel free to comment or
send me an e-mail.
One idea I had (pretty vaguely defined at this point to be honest) is to walk you through the process of doing an application redesign. There are *tons* of applications out there in Notes land that still work great going on 10, 15 years old (or even older!) but the UIs of these applications leave much to be desired. It's important to keep the UI up to date in order to meet the ever increasing demands and expectations from our end users. It might be beneficial to show one of these applications and the methodology you can use to update the UI without a lot of rework of the underlying code. I'm thinking best practices, short cuts, quick wins, etc. It's a balancing act, really, as sometimes many people think these UI things are too "touchy feely" and that we should only be talking about writing code. I don't know...what do you think?
Also...if you've got any really cool ideas and would like to possibly team up on something, let me know that too. As
I said yesterday on Twitter, I'll even let you do all the work! ;-D
Labels: conferences, Lotus Notes, Lotusphere2000, speaking engagements
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ILUG...The Question of the Day
So...the question of the day is:
How do I convince my boss to let me go to ILUG? In my current role at IBM, I'm in technical sales for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas. Thus, it seems a little hard to justify that heading over to
Dublin in June will help me sell Lotus software here at home. Then again, I would be "expanding my thought leadership". :-)
Hmmm...what do you guys think? Perhaps I could give out his address and we could all spam him! ;-D (Just kidding...I know he's started reading my blog now).
Well...either way, it's going to be one heck of a conference this year. Go if you can!
Labels: conferences, ILUG2008, speaking engagements
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Hey...Get Some Free (inter)Face Time
As mentioned by
Chris and
Mary Beth today, the UX lab is doing something very cool and very unique at Lotusphere this year. Read on for details...
The Lotus UX Lab is going to offer a one-time opportunity for our customers at Lotusphere 2008 - "The 15-minute Usability and Design Evaluation" - in the User Experience Lab, Rm. Asia 4. We'll only be doing this from 1-5 pm on Monday afternoon.
Here's the deal: you can bring in one application, working, and with data ideally, (Notes, Web, Sametime, Portal, Quickr, Connections, Expeditor, any Lotus product) and we'll have someone look at it and make suggestions for 15 minutes. The benefits to you are threefold:
1. You can get some quick feedback with practical suggestions from our expert user experience design team.
2. You can take away a handy list of "things to look for" in the form of a guide with some knowledge about how to apply them at home.
3. While you are in the lab, you can sign up to provide US with feedback about many of our products.
Now, to be honest, there's only so much you can do in 15 minutes, so don't expect a complete re-design! However, our aim is to set you on the right path by showing you how to approach the process of creating satisfying user experiences in your applications. The best thing to do is to be ready to show us your app in less than 5 minutes and keep an open mind. If it's a large application, then you might want to narrow down the area that is giving you a particular problem.
Summary
What: The 15-minute Usability and Design Evaluation
When: Monday, Jan 21, 1 - 5 pm. First come, first served. Time strictly enforced.
Where: Dolphin, Asia 4 - Lotusphere 2008
Why: Take home some quick tips to make your users happy and productive.
Since I'm not a designer, I'm going to be on hand as the resident tech weenie. That means I'm the killjoy who says "Nope...can't do that in Notes". ;-D Just kidding...I'll really be there to help confirm that it CAN be done in Notes or offer suggestions from the technical side of things. Should be fun and a great opportunity for you to meet with the folks with the real talent, the UX team.
Thanks to Chris for asking me to participate and my manager Gary for letting me get out of some sessions! ;-)
Labels: conferences, Lotusphere2008, User Experience
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Lotusphere 2008...I'm A Returning Alumn
For the second year in a row, I have the honor of speaking at Lotusphere and in this case, presenting with two excellent gentlemen. If you find some time in your schedule, please join me and
Bruce in:
or me and
Nathan in:
Sharp-eyed readers will note that the Interface Matters sessions are back to back. That's right...2 whole hours of UI goodness! :-) Nathan and I are getting the old team back together. We've reprised some info from last year and will be showing several new techniques and ideas.
BP214 with Bruce is new and of course based on the venerable "Worst Practices" sessions introduced by Messrs.
Buchan and
Mooney. I can't promise we'll be nearly as funny ('cause let's face it...their accents just rock), but Bruce is a great presenter and I'll learn a lot from him. The session is chock full of good information about what *not* to do when designing your interface, so I hope you can stop by.
As I mentioned last year, if you catch me in the hall or sitting in the lobby or something, please stop by and say hello. I love talking about all aspects of Notes development (as well as all other sorts of geekery), so don't be shy.
17 days to go. I can't wait! :-)
Update: Whoops...forgot that the BoF from last year is back again too. Hopefully Nathan and Bruce will join me in co-moderating.
Labels: conferences, Lotusphere2008, speaking engagements
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IBM WebSphere Portal Technical Conference - Orlando
Hi all...I'll be attending the
IBM WebSphere Portal Technical Conference next week in Orlando, Fl. If you are going, please try to find me and say hello.
Should be a lot of great information to soak up! I wonder if there will be any UI sessions? ;-)
Labels: conferences, WebSphere portal
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Man, I'm Beat! (Or...A Post Of Miscellania)
Wow...between
ILUG,
Lotus Developer2007, jet lag, and basic lack of sleep for the past two weeks, I am done for. On top of all that, my oldest turns 13 today, so I am now officially the parent of a teenager. THAT is a scary thought! Plus, that means I am getting old!!! :-(
What follows is just a bunch of random thoughts from the past few days...
Thanks to all of the people who attended my sessions at the View conference. I really enjoyed talking with all of you and hope you got some useful content out of it. I think the most fun was my Advanced Interface Techniques presentation on Monday afternoon. It must have been pretty successful, since I got several people to stay around an additional 10 minutes after the end, showing them some stuff I didn't have time for. The kicker was that it was 5:30 and there was FREE BEER available and they still stayed. Way cool! :-D
The conference as a whole was amazing. So many talented speakers and attendees that really seemed happy to be there. The WIS staff does a super job of making things run smoothly. It's always a pleasure to see them all. The one weird thing about the conference...how it just ends. They don't have a closing session of any kind. You just get out of your last class and that's it. I think a short closing session just to wrap things up might be nice. Hanging out after hours is always fun too. I hope to see you all again next year!
For those of you looking for some of the downloads I promised, please give me a couple of days and they will be available. I plan on adding the non-Domino based javascript and css examples here. Most of the other stuff I showed is in the take-home database. For ease of use, I combined the JavaScript and CSS examples into one database. Also, I ran out of time in the Advanced UI session and didn't get to show the "Super Burrito Configurator". There's some cool ideas there, so check it out!
I got delayed flying from Cleveland to Boston, so I had time to write part 1 of my "intro to usability testing" article. Look for that as soon as I get a chance to type it up (yes...I actually used the ancient art of writing on paper...really nice to do that sometimes, especially in a nice crisp
Moleskine with a good pen).
Some very interesting items came to light in the last few weeks that I haven't had a chance to comment on but are certainly worth reviewing from a collaboration perspective, most notably
Microsoft Surface and
Google Gears. Surface looks amazing...I hope to get some time to jot down my thoughts on this innovative interface. Speaking of "jotting", I love the
Jott service. Being able to use my cell phone while driving (with headset, of course)to deliver notes to myself via e-mail has been invaluable. More on that later as well.
I am really drooling over the iPhone and its UI but I am still unsure of a device without physical buttons of any kind. Unless they've got something else up their sleeves, the iPhone is certainly a two hand device, which in some ways reduces its utility. Perhaps this could be rectified with bluetooth-based voice controls or something similar.
Best thing about coming home (besides seeing my family, of course): The new
Dream Theater album (see, I'm showing my age by using that term) was waiting for me. The special edition packaging looks sweet and I can't wait to hear the 5.1 version down in my home theater!
Well..I guess that's all the ramblings for today. Almost time to kick off the weekend. Have a great one!
Labels: conferences, General, Lotus Developer2007
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Boston Bound...
As I'm putting the finishing touches on all the chores around here and hanging with the fam before I head to the airport, I thought I'd get my schedule for Boston (
LotusDeveloper2007 if you didn't know) out here in case any of you want to come by and razz me. :-)
I'm actually really looking forward to Monday, since I get to do two of my interface sessions. The morning one ends up being a great introduction to the general concepts I talk about all the time, while the afternoon one takes those concepts and runs with it. We'll look at many advanced techniques which I think can add a lot of value to your applications. It's all about simplifying and improving the user experience, and I'm excited to present this one.
Anyway, here's where you can find me the next few days. If you get a chance, please stop by and say hello...
Monday, June 49:45 am – 11:15 am: Interface Matters: Design Your UI for the Ultimate User Experience (Gardner)
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm: Advanced User Interface Techniques for the Notes Client (Hampton)
Tuesday, June 510:15 am – 11:45 am: Advanced CSS Techniques for Domino Web Applications (Gardner)
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm: Overcoming User Interface Design Issues and Challenges (Back Bay D)
(This is a Birds of a Feather session)2:00 pm – 3:30 pm: Securing your Domino Web Environment (Hampton)
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Ask the Experts (Constitution Ballroom)
Wednesday, June 610:15 am – 11:45 am: Applying Best Practices and Advanced Techniques to Your JavaScript (Back Bay D)
Labels: conferences, Lotus Developer2007
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ILUG 2007 Recap
Well...it's 10 PM here in Dublin on Saturday night and I am sitting in the lobby thinking back over the crazy last few days.
ILUG 2007 has truly been an amazing experience and one of the best conferences I have ever attended. The entire ILUG staff (
Paul,
Eileen,
Kitty,
Tom,
Bill and
Warren) are to be commended for a job very well done. From the looks on the faces of the attendees as they exited the closing session Friday afternoon, I think the conference was a resounding success. I have to thank the ILUG team for the opportunity to present my little session. It was truly an honor and a privilage to come to Dublin and speak to the attendees. I met a lot of great people and I look forward to chances to meet again in the future.
I always feel like the dummy in the group when I'm looking over the speaker list and I'm still amazed I'm even up there. It's really energizing, though, when people tell me how they've been inspired by my techniques (or even better...they show me a db where they are trying them out)!!! I started this blog because I like to write and I like to teach, so I thought it would be a good outlet for those interests. That it has translated into the opportunity to get up on stage and speak about this topic I'm passionate about with the community that I love so much is really special and I thank everyone who showed up for giving me the opportunity!
As for the conference itself, it was just amazing from start to finish.
Alan and
Mary Beth kicked off the show with an inspring look at IBM's strategy and with some of the ideas about decisions for Notes 8 and how they were made. From there, the sessions started. The technical content was brilliant and indeed we were very lucky to have the opportunity to see this stuff...AND FOR FREE!!! Tom Duff got the ball rolling with an introductory AJAX session that set the stage for a couple of other AJAX sessions later in the show. The technical level was perfect for the beginner and Tom has a great, relaxed delivery style that's fun to watch. While Duff got the "jazzed up on caffine after coffee break" crowd, I was up after lunch. I was afraid I was going to send everyone into the post-lunch food coma much quicker than normal, but we had a packed room and I didn't see anyone nod off. It must have been the dancing nuns! ;-)
Bruce,
Vince and
Kevin were giving an
OpenNTF presentation next door and were able to successfully throw me off with a rousing cheer of "Hi Chris!" from the room next door. I decided I couldn't even try to compete with that, and after frantically trying to remember what I was talking about, we got back on track. I had a great time...thanks if you came by!
Other excellent sessions I attended included
Rob McDonagh and Bruce's OpenLog talk,
Deborah Latter's decision-making presentation (complete with ringmaster costume and real bull whip!),
Sean Burgess' Domino blogging template overview, and
Grégory Engels' "Pimp My App With Ajax". Last but not least, the man who went the farthest to buy the delegate love...
Mr. Rob Novak's Free Code and Beer session, where he placed an order for 80 pints of Guiness(!) to be delivered and enjoyed while we watched him and his Ajax code magic. You all did a spectacular job! The only bummer was the fact that I couldn't get to the other equally deserving (and I'm sure just as excellent) presentations that were going on at the same time.
Speedgeeking was a blast! I've never had to talk so fast and so much in such a short time, but everyone seemed to love it. The open bar from IBM probably helped here too! :-) I presented 5 techniques with layers staring Shrek and the gang ('cause onions have layers, ogres have layers and Notes has layers!). If you are looking for the sample database, I have to get it ready for download...keep an eye out in the next couple of days.
Rocky did a great job as MC. I hope I have the chance to participate in Speedgeeking again sometime soon.
Thank you also goes to the sponsers and ILUG team for all of the off hour events, such as the drinks reception, Geek Dinner and so on. The Geek Trip was a perfect way to wind down the event, although it looked like most of the people on the bus were ready to collapse due to lack of sleep! :-) It was very nice to meet so many of the delegates to the conference as well. Thanks for saying hello.
Finally, to
Mr. Bruce Elgort, my hat is off to you sir. You truly are THE MAN!
Now just a few days rest and it's off to Boston for
Lotus Developer2007. Whew!
Labels: conferences, ILUG2007
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Interface | Matters World Tour 2007
Conference and user group season is in full swing, so here's an update on my upcoming speaking gigs. Of course, we kicked off the year in style at Lotusphere, where I was very honored to be chosen to present in the Best Practices track (thanks
Rocky!) and it was doubly cool since I got to do it along with
Mr. Freeman.
 I forgot to mention the Northeast Ohio User Group Meeting on Feb. 22nd. Thanks for all who attended and listened to me drone on. In case you were looking for it, my presentation can be found here.
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 This Wednesday (03/07), the good folks at the Central Ohio Notes/Domnio Users' Group asked me to come down to Columbus to give the modified version of BP101 from Lotusphere. I say modified since it combines elements of my sessions from the View as well as the Lotusphere one, minus the really cool demos that Nathan showed (proprietary client stuff). Check out the full agenda for more.
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 In May (24th-25th), it's across the ocean we go for ILUG 2007! I'm sure most people know about this by now, but if not, hurry to the website and register while you can. This is a FREE event featuring some of the best speakers in the Notes community. Somehow, through a gross error, I got included on that list as well! :-) It's like a mini-Lotusphere in Dublin...how cool is that!!!
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 Finally, at least for now, is the Lotus Developer2007 conference in Boston June 4 - June 6. This is another excellent event and is being held in conjunction with Admin 2007. I'll be presenting five four sessions including "JavaScript Best Practices", "Creating Dynamic Domino Applications with Advanced CSS", "Leveraging Interface First Design for Top-Notch UIs", and "Advanced Lotus Notes Client UI Techniques" (session titles subject to change).
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I hope to see you all at one or more of these events. If you make it, please stop me in the hall, at the dining tent, in the elevator, etc. and say hello.
Update: I'm combining two of my sessions into one for Lotus Developer2007, which leaves me with four sessions total.
Labels: conferences, speaking engagements
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