TexasSwede
texasswede@gmail.com
  • About this blog
  • My Website
  • My Resume
  • XML Export Tool
  • Photos

Connect 2014 – Let’s be social!

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Karl-Henry Martinsson Posted in Connect, IBM/Lotus, Lotusphere

As I mentioned yesterday, Lotusphere/Connect is not only technical or marketing/strategy sessions, it is also a very social conference. This was that case long before IBM started talking about “Social”.

Over the years, there have been a number of social activities. It started with the Turtle Party at ESPN, people meeting up Saturday night after they got in. It is named after Scott “The Turtle” Wenzel, a long-time Lotusphere attendant who no longer work with Notes, and thus was not at Connect last year. It is (like many other social activities) not organized, just a bunch of attendees and friends getting together, having drinks, food or just talking. It usually starts around 7pm.

As people started coming in earlier, a spontanious meeting at Big River Grille on the Boardwalk created another long-time tradition, BALD. It stands for Bloggers Annual Lotusphere Dinner, but you don’t need to be a blogger to show up. It is just a bunch of geeks, having a few adult beverages and something to eat after arriving to Orlando. It has been compared to a family reunion, which is a very good description. Reminder: bring cash, the waitresses will appreciate not having to run dozens of credit cards…

Part of the Lotus community/bloggers meeting for BALD at Lotusphere 2011.

Part of the Lotus community/bloggers meeting for BALD at Lotusphere 2011.

Sunday evening IBM arranges the traditional welcome reception on the beach between Dolphin and Swan. Be social, make some new friends, and have some food. You need your badge (or a guest badge) to get in. Afterwards, people often head to ESPN or Kimonos.

Kimonos is the sushi restaurant and karaoke bar in the Swan hotel. For many years it was the place where everyone from geeks to IBM executives were hanging out, having some drinks and perhaps singing some songs. The last few years, Kimonos have been more crowded than usual, as more and more attendees have heard about it. This spawned the unofficial Nomonos, a bunch of geeks hanging out at different places on different evenings, often outdoors if the weather allowed it. The activities included beer tasting, smoking cigars, having apple cake shots, and just talking and hanging out.

But Connect/Lotusphere is not all about drinking and partying. There is also sports, even if that activity often include some adult beverages as well… Between 2009 and 2012, Mitch Cohen arranged Blogger Open, a mini golf tournament at the Fantasia Gardens across the road from Dolphin. This tournament took place after the closing session, and was a great way to decompress and have some fun (and some beer). In 2013, Disney put an end to it, as they could not (or did not want to) grant exclusive access to the course for an hour or two, despite the beer sales in a few hours exceding what normally is sold in months. Bill Malchisky quickly stepped in and organized Soccer Saturday as a replacement in 2013, and this event returns again in 2014. It takes place Saturday before BALD, starting at 10am and going on for 2 hours. This year, Joe Litton is making an appearance as Guest Mai Tai Master. In the past, Joe have hosted a Mai Tai party/reception in a hotel room one evening during Lotusphere.

Other social events are all the national parties. There is a Nordic dinner I often go to, and you also have the traditional UK Night, as well as Australia Night, Canada Night, etc. There is also a showcase reception Monday evening at 6pm, and of course the traditional Wednesday night party, which now have been moved to Tuesday night instead. This year it takes place at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

But you can be social and connect in many other ways. At breakfast and lunch, don’t just sit with your friends or co-workers. Talk to new people! Go to the labs, talk to the IBMers that staff them, learn more about the products and get answers from the people who actually created the tools you use!

 

 

« One month until Connect 2014 – Don’t miss the Sunday sessions!
Happy New Year – My Year in Review »

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stack Exchange

profile for Karl-Henry Martinsson on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites

Recent Posts

  • Domino 14 is now available
  • Domino 14 Early Access Program
  • Announced: Engage 2024
  • Integrate Node-RED with Notes and Domino
  • Notes and Domino v12 is here!

Recent Comments

  • Theo Heselmans on Announced: Engage 2024
  • Lotus Script Multi-thread Message Box [SOLVED] – Wanted Solution on ProgressBar class for Lotusscript
  • Viet Nguyen on Keep up with COVID-19 though Domino!
  • Viet Nguyen on Keep up with COVID-19 though Domino!
  • Mark Sullivan on Looking for a HP calculator? Look no further!

My Pages

  • How to write better code in Notes

Archives

  • December 2023 (1)
  • October 2023 (2)
  • September 2023 (1)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • April 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (1)
  • August 2020 (3)
  • July 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (2)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (3)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • November 2018 (1)
  • October 2018 (5)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • April 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (4)
  • December 2017 (3)
  • November 2017 (2)
  • October 2017 (2)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (2)
  • July 2017 (6)
  • May 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (4)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (2)
  • June 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (3)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (4)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (4)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (2)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (5)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (3)
  • February 2015 (2)
  • January 2015 (10)
  • December 2014 (1)
  • November 2014 (3)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • September 2014 (13)
  • August 2014 (6)
  • July 2014 (5)
  • May 2014 (3)
  • March 2014 (2)
  • January 2014 (10)
  • December 2013 (5)
  • November 2013 (2)
  • October 2013 (5)
  • September 2013 (4)
  • August 2013 (7)
  • July 2013 (3)
  • June 2013 (1)
  • May 2013 (4)
  • April 2013 (7)
  • March 2013 (8)
  • February 2013 (9)
  • January 2013 (5)
  • December 2012 (7)
  • November 2012 (13)
  • October 2012 (10)
  • September 2012 (2)
  • August 2012 (1)
  • July 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (3)
  • May 2012 (11)
  • April 2012 (3)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (5)
  • January 2012 (14)
  • December 2011 (4)
  • November 2011 (7)
  • October 2011 (8)
  • August 2011 (4)
  • July 2011 (1)
  • June 2011 (2)
  • May 2011 (4)
  • April 2011 (4)
  • March 2011 (7)
  • February 2011 (5)
  • January 2011 (17)
  • December 2010 (9)
  • November 2010 (21)
  • October 2010 (4)
  • September 2010 (2)
  • July 2010 (3)
  • June 2010 (2)
  • May 2010 (3)
  • April 2010 (8)
  • March 2010 (3)
  • January 2010 (5)
  • November 2009 (4)
  • October 2009 (7)
  • September 2009 (1)
  • August 2009 (7)
  • July 2009 (1)
  • June 2009 (4)
  • May 2009 (1)
  • April 2009 (1)
  • February 2009 (1)
  • January 2009 (3)
  • December 2008 (1)
  • November 2008 (1)
  • October 2008 (7)
  • September 2008 (7)
  • August 2008 (6)
  • July 2008 (5)
  • June 2008 (2)
  • May 2008 (5)
  • April 2008 (4)
  • March 2008 (11)
  • February 2008 (10)
  • January 2008 (8)

Categories

  • AppDev (10)
  • Blogging (11)
    • WordPress (5)
  • Design (5)
    • Graphics (1)
    • UI/UX (2)
  • Featured (5)
  • Financial (2)
  • Food (5)
    • Baking (3)
    • Cooking (3)
  • Generic (11)
  • History (5)
  • Hobbies (10)
    • LEGO (4)
    • Photography (4)
  • Humor (1)
  • IBM/Lotus (178)
    • #Domino2025 (14)
    • #DominoForever (8)
    • #IBMChampion (46)
    • Administration (7)
    • Cloud (7)
    • CollabSphere (9)
    • Community (49)
    • Connect (33)
    • ConnectED (12)
    • Connections (3)
    • HCL (15)
    • HCL Master (1)
    • IBM Think (1)
    • Lotusphere (46)
    • MWLUG (25)
    • Notes/Domino (99)
      • Domino 11 (7)
    • Sametime (8)
    • Verse (14)
    • Volt (3)
    • Watson (6)
  • Life (8)
  • Microsoft (7)
    • .NET (2)
    • C# (1)
    • Visual Studio (1)
  • Movies (3)
  • Old Blog Post (259)
  • Personal (23)
  • Programming (84)
    • App Modernization (11)
    • Formula (4)
    • Lotusscript (47)
    • NetSuite (4)
      • SuiteScript (3)
    • node.js (4)
    • XPages (4)
  • Reviews (9)
  • Sci-Fi (4)
  • Software (24)
    • Flight Simulator (2)
    • Games (4)
    • Open Source (2)
    • Utilities (6)
  • Technology (37)
    • Aviation (3)
    • Calculators (2)
    • Computers (6)
    • Gadgets (7)
    • Mobile Phones (7)
    • Science (3)
    • Tablets (2)
  • Travel (7)
    • Europe (1)
    • Texas (2)
    • United States (1)
  • Uncategorized (16)
  • Web Development (50)
    • Frameworks (23)
      • Bootstrap (14)
    • HTML/CSS (12)
    • Javascript (32)
      • jQuery (23)

Administration

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Tracking

Creeper
MediaCreeper
  • Family Pictures
© TexasSwede 2008-2014