Community spirit
Category ibm lotus ILUG
Sitting in Dublin airport, and have just finished a giant plate of "traditional" Irish breakfast. Before the bacon, sausages, eggs, hashbrowns, beans, white pudding (what IS that stuff?), toast and black pudding actually kill me, I wanted to jot down some thoughts on what I've just experienced, and been part of, over the last few days.
The ILUG2008 team - of which I am privileged to have been a small part - has achieved something that most sane people would have written off as impossible before even trying. To stage a free-to-attend technical conference, over 3 days, with 4 parallel tracks, 400 delegates, and a list of speakers the equal of any you might see at the major paid-for conferences, is a fantastic accomplishment. By the way, I am absolutely not bragging or feeling any pride in this, as I would neither claim nor accept credit for "organising" this event: that credit goes primarily to Paul Mooney and Eileen Fitzgerald, who have given so generously of their time and efforts. They are closely followed, of course, by Warren and Kitty Elsmore, Bill Buchan, Matt White, and a host of others.
What this event has shown, however, is the incredible spirit and camaraderie that exists in some communities, including of course this one. That spirit cannot be created: it happens because like-minded people look after each others interests, and view the wider long-term interests of the community as a whole as equally important to their own individual short-teen gain. The spirit can, however, be easily destroyed or polluted. The fact that the Lotus community has survived, over the years, the destructive efforts - both idiotically deliberate and cack-handedly unintentional - of the very organisation that should value it most highly - IBM - is testament to the strength and depth of the community itself. I for one am proud to be associated with it, and look forward, after 15 years of Lotus Notes, to another 15 years of working with some of the great software that Lotus has once again started to produce.
Onwards and upwards.
Sitting in Dublin airport, and have just finished a giant plate of "traditional" Irish breakfast. Before the bacon, sausages, eggs, hashbrowns, beans, white pudding (what IS that stuff?), toast and black pudding actually kill me, I wanted to jot down some thoughts on what I've just experienced, and been part of, over the last few days.
The ILUG2008 team - of which I am privileged to have been a small part - has achieved something that most sane people would have written off as impossible before even trying. To stage a free-to-attend technical conference, over 3 days, with 4 parallel tracks, 400 delegates, and a list of speakers the equal of any you might see at the major paid-for conferences, is a fantastic accomplishment. By the way, I am absolutely not bragging or feeling any pride in this, as I would neither claim nor accept credit for "organising" this event: that credit goes primarily to Paul Mooney and Eileen Fitzgerald, who have given so generously of their time and efforts. They are closely followed, of course, by Warren and Kitty Elsmore, Bill Buchan, Matt White, and a host of others.
What this event has shown, however, is the incredible spirit and camaraderie that exists in some communities, including of course this one. That spirit cannot be created: it happens because like-minded people look after each others interests, and view the wider long-term interests of the community as a whole as equally important to their own individual short-teen gain. The spirit can, however, be easily destroyed or polluted. The fact that the Lotus community has survived, over the years, the destructive efforts - both idiotically deliberate and cack-handedly unintentional - of the very organisation that should value it most highly - IBM - is testament to the strength and depth of the community itself. I for one am proud to be associated with it, and look forward, after 15 years of Lotus Notes, to another 15 years of working with some of the great software that Lotus has once again started to produce.
Onwards and upwards.
Comments
To be fair, IBM hasn't exactly ignored the community. OpenNTF and LotusUserGroup.org have had BoFs and sessions at Lotusphere for years. IBM has sponsored DNUG for the last four years. And IBM has sponsored ILUG this year and last, and sent several speakers to these and many other similar events. Your last paragraph sort of portrays the ILUG event as despite IBM, when the reality is we funded 20% of the budget for it and had a number of speakers/staff present.
OK, having said that, the community is what made the event happen, and I'm proud of that for you all. See you next time
Posted by Ed Brill At 18:36:52 On 07/06/2008 | - Website - |
Actually the point of the post - even the two sentences that pointed out (hardly news) that IBM doesn't always act in the best interests of its own customers - was to commend the resilience of the Lotus community in the face of a lot of pressure, from all sorts of sources, that could have broken a less strong-willed* bunch.
* Or opinionated, or arrogant, or annoying, or just downright strange ... supply your own adjective ...
Posted by Julian Woodward At 09:01:50 On 09/06/2008 | - Website - |