February 7th, 2006
On the notion of a need for a Lotusphere in Europe
In several of the post-Lotusphere discussions,
I’ve seen a lot of comments from those unable to join us in Orlando last
month. The logic applied tends to say
- Lotusphere is a great conference
- We can’t travel to Orlando
- There should be a Lotusphere in [Europe,
Asia, Australia, etc.]
I would
love to be able to run multiple Lotuspheres again. But making it
happen is a challenge, and based on some of the data, not necessarily one
that makes sense.
Let’s look at the European scenario.
Lotus ran several Lotusphere Europe events, with the 1998-1999-2000
versions held in Berlin. I am not sure if the attendance numbers
for those conferences were published but it was in the 2-3000 range…far
smaller than the US equivalent those same years. A variety of reasons
were cited for the lesser attendance…location, travel expense, time of
year, depth of event, etc. I don’t buy all of those, but I can understand
that the event’s perception was different from the Orlando version.
If we look at 2006, there were about
6000 at Lotusphere in Orlando. It would probably surprise many of you to
know that somewhere around 20% of that number were Europeans. I was
incredibly impressed to learn how large the European contingent was in
Orlando. I suspect there a lot of reasons for this — Lotusphere
being a premier conference in the industry, the “bootcamp” and
other improvements in the technical depth of the conference, even the fact
that off-season trans-Atlantic airfares are relatively low. So, I’m
officially no longer accepting the complaint that it’s too [difficult/expensive]
for Europeans to get to “the” Lotusphere.
But OK, there’s a need to do some things
in Europe. The Lotusphere
Comes to You 2006 events have
started (check that link for updated dates/locations), and I know my Nordic
colleagues are booking me up solid for the week of March 6 [and my Asian
colleagues are asking me to extend my mid-April trip]. These events
help.
Upcoming, too, is the second instance
of the joint venture between IBM and the Deutsche (German) Notes Users
Group — the May
DNUG/IBM Lotus Technical Forum.
The 2005 event in Hannover was quite successful. More importantly,
I want to reiterate how much support IBM is giving to this event — similar
in scope to the support given to Lotusphere Europe back in the day. The
executives all attend and speak (in English). Developers travel and
do panels and labs. Major new product announcements are made.
So, for Europe, there are options. See
the Lotusphere Comes to You events. Come to Germany in May for the
DNUG event. Or mark your calendar now, as many of your fellow Europeans
have, for Lotusphere 2007 in January in Orlando. You may find that
justifying the trip for any of these is easier than you expected, that
you just have to ask.
For Asia and Australia, the Lotusphere
Comes to You events are a great local option. I know there continues
to be interest in trying to “bring back Fusion” in Australia….
don’t think it will easily happen, but keep asking.
Originally by Ed Brill from Ed Brill on February 6, 2006, 7:11pm
