Lotusphere


Lotusphere was an American annual conference hosted by Lotus Software from 1993 to 2017. In 2013, Lotusphere was re-branded as IBM Connect.
Except for the first conference, which took place in December 1993, Lotusphere is held in late January. It starts with a reception party on Sunday night and continues on through the closing session on Thursday afternoon. The conference is held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels. Most years it has used the additional space at Disney's Yacht and Beach Clubs.
In addition to the annual conference in Florida, between 1997 and 2000 there was also an annual Lotusphere Europe conference, first in Nice and then in Berlin.
"Lotusphere Comes to You" events were for a few years held by local IBM Business Partners, where some of the information presented at conference was presented and business partners could connect with local users who were not able to attend the big event. These events were replaced by local LUG events like IamLUG, MWLUG, ILUG, UKLUG and many others.
Toward the end of 2012, IBM stopped using the Lotus brand and renamed the conference to IBM Connect. It was renamed again in 2015 to IBM ConnectED, but changed back to IBM Connect in 2016. The venue changed from the Disney Swan and Dolphin to the Hilton in Orlando. In 2017 the conference was moved to the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, and the date of the conference moved to the third week of February. In 2018, IBM Connect, along with several other IBM conferences, was merged into the IBM Think conference.

Agenda

The typical agenda started with an opening general session on Monday, followed by breakout sessions through the rest of the morning and afternoon where different presentations occur simultaneously in different conference rooms, allowing attendees to choose which one they want to go to. Each breakout session was typically an hour long, with pauses in the schedule to allow attendees to mingle and walk to their next choice of breakout session. Tuesday and Wednesday also had six or seven of these breakout sessions throughout the day.
Originally, Thursday was the last day of the conference, with a few breakout sessions in the morning, then a large "Ask the Developers" session where attendees are allowed to ask questions directly to a panel of IBM/Lotus employees involved in making the software. The last event of the conference is a closing session.
Starting in 2014 the conference was shortened one day, ending on Wednesday instead.
The opening and closing sessions typically had a form of entertainment and a guest speaker, as well as executives and key employees sharing news and demonstrations of what was planned for the near future.

Breakout Sessions

In 2008, there were 197 different presentations scheduled during the breakout sessions, scheduled across 18 slots, giving attendees an average of eleven choices per session slot. Each breakout session lasted about an hour. Breakouts were split into several categories called "tracks". Common tracks were:
; 1) Futures and Innovations : Glimpses of technologies and innovations coming out of IBM and Lotus Research Labs.
; 2) Application Development : Presentations on custom application development, ranging from paper prototyping to application development techniques specific to Lotus software products.
; 3) Planning and Managing Your Collaboration Infrastructure : Information for administrators and decision makers on architecture, features and capabilities, deployment, and system management.
; 4) Best Practices : Tips and tricks for developers, administrators, usually technical and tactical.
In addition to these four tracks, there was sometimes a fifth track with a title and content around "Customer References" or "Sponsor Sessions". There were also "Hands-on" and "JumpStart" sessions.
; Hands-on : These were hands-on classes lasting 1¾ hours, taking place in rooms set up in a classroom style with tables and computers. Attendance was limited such that there are one to two attendees per computer.
; JumpStart : JumpStart sessions were offered during the day on Sunday, usually lasting about 1½ hours, giving an in-depth presentation on a topic.

History and Statistics

YearLocationAttendanceTheme phraseTop messagesHostOpening General Session guestClosing General Session guestSunday night receptionWednesday night partyCULT shirt
1993Orlando, Florida, U.S.2300Working TogetherDon BulensGeoffrey MooreDisney-MGM
1994No Event
1995Orlando, Florida, U.S.The Right Event. The Right Solutions. Right Now.Disney-MGM
1996Orlando, Florida, U.S.Release The Power
-Cirque du Soleil
  • Universal Studios Florida
  • The Neville Brothers
    • 1997Orlando, Florida, U.S.Pool of Knowledge
  • Don't compete with, embrace the Web.
  • iNotes Web Publisher
  • Domino
    		• Ray OzzieAvery Brooks
  • Magic Kingdom
  • The Doobie Brothers
    • 1998Orlando, Florida, U.S.Cultivate Your SensesNotes R5Steve Beckhardt
  • Jamie Clark
  • Alan Hobson
    		• Bill Nye
  • Disney-MGM
  • Earth, Wind & Fire
    • 1999Orlando, Florida, U.S.LOTUS: A Part of Every Solution
  • Notes R5
  • Knowledge Management
    		• Jeff Papows
  • Jim Lovell
  • Gene Krantz
    		• Marc Salem
  • SeaWorld
  • The Pointer Sisters
    • 2000Orlando, Florida, U.S.10000Looking Forward/Forward Looking
  • Raven
  • Domino Access for Microsoft Outlook
    		• Jeff Papows > Al ZollarWalter CronkiteThe Raspyni Brothers
  • Universal's Islands of Adventure
  • Chicago
    		• Notes World Order
    2001Orlando, Florida, U.S.10000In The Know
  • Lotus K-Station
  • Lotus Discovery Server
    		• Al Zollar
  • Senator Al Franken
  • Francis Ford Coppola
    		• Umbilical Brothers
  • Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex
  • Brian Setzer Orchestra
    		• Domino Survivor
    2002Orlando, Florida, U.S.6000Proof Positive
  • Notes/Domino 6
  • "Lotus Software" brand
  • J2EE
  • "two-lane highway"
    		• Al ZollarBen SteinKevin NealonDisney-MGMFellowship of the Domino Ring
    2003Orlando, Florida, U.S.The Essential Human Element
  • NextGen
  • DB2
    		• Al Zollar > Ambuj Goyal
  • Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani
  • Bounce
    		• Dr. Ronan TynanMagic KingdomJust-Us League & Collaboration League
    2004Orlando, Florida, U.S.5273The Workplace For InnovationAmbuj GoyalPatrick StewartRichard JeniUniversal Studios FloridaCULT SHIRT ON HUMAN
    2005Orlando, Florida, U.S.5800Envision DecisionsNotes and Workplace convergenceAmbuj Goyal
  • John Cleese
  • Ray Ozzie
    		• Steven WrightCountry/WesternUniversal's Islands of AdventureZen of Collaboration
    2006Orlando, Florida, U.S.6000FutureInSight
  • Workplace
  • Activities
  • Sametime 7.5
    		• Mike RhodinJason AlexanderJim GaffiganPoker tablesSeaWorldCULT Man Group
    2007Orlando, Florida, U.S.7000IT Revolves Around You
  • Notes/Domino 8
  • Notes moving to Eclipse
  • Quickr
  • Connections
  • Save The Notes Client, Save The World
    		• Mike Rhodin
  • Neil Armstrong
  • Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra
    		• Dr. Neil deGrasse TysonDisney's Animal KingdomI AM _____
    2008Orlando, Florida, U.S.7000+Emergence
  • Notes/Domino 8.01, 8.5
  • Domino Designer in Eclipse
  • Lotus Mashups
  • Lotus Foundations
  • Lotus "Bluehouse"
  • Lotus Symphony
    		• Mike Rhodin
  • Bob Costas
    		• Alton BrownBeach PartyUniversal's Islands of AdventurePirates of Collaboration
    2009Orlando, Florida, U.S.Resonance
  • LotusLive
  • Lotus Notes 8.5 for Mac
  • Alloy
  • xPages
  • DAOS
  • ID-vault
    		• Bob Picciano
    • Dan Aykroyd
    • Blue Man Group
    		Benjamin ZanderUniversal Studios
    2010Orlando, Florida, U.S.Lotus knows why. Lotus knows how.Bob Picciano > Alistair Rennie
    • William Shatner
    • Nuttin' But Stringz
    		Brian Cox Hollywood Studios
    2011Orlando, Florida, U.S.Get Social. Do Business.Alistair Rennie
  • Kevin Spacey
  • Mass Ensemble
    		• WatsonWizarding World of Harry Potter, Islands of Adventure
    2012Orlando, Florida, U.S.Business. Made Social.Alistair Rennie
  • Michael J. Fox
  • OK Go
    		• Andrew ZimmernSeaWorldNo CULT Shirt
    2013Orlando, Florida, U.S.Get social. Do business.Alistair Rennie
  • Joe Gordon-Levitt
  • They Might Be Giants
  • Steven Strogatz
  • John Hodgman
    		• Universal Studios FloridaNo CULT Shirt
    2014Orlando, Florida, U.S.Energizing Life's work.Craig Hayman
  • Seth Meyers
  • American Authors
  • Dave Lavery
    		• No CULT Shirt
    2015Orlando, Florida, U.S.3000A new way to engage
  • IBM Verse
  • IBM Connections CR2
    		• Jeff Schick
  • Philippe Petit
  • Arthur T. Benjamin
    		• Beach partyn/aNo CULT Shirt
    2016Orlando, Florida, U.S. Hilton2000Make Every Moment Count
  • Project Toscana
    		• Jeff SchickJason SilvaErik WahlUniversal StudiosNo CULT Shirt
    2017San Francisco, CA, U.S. Moscone Center2000Redefine work with Watson
  • IBM Connections Pink
  • IBM Watson Work Services
    		• Inhi Cho SuhDr. Sheena IyengarEric WhitacreExploratoriumNo CULT Shirt

    Lotusphere Europe

    Lotusphere Comes to You, Sofia, Bulgaria is a local continuation of Lotusphere in Orlando. LCTY is held in over 50 countries around the world. Sofia, Bulgaria is one of the cities where local Lotus Software users gather. Since 2007 LCTY in Sofia has been organized by with the kind support of IBM Bulgaria. The event covers news around Lotus Software as well as sessions emphasizing on local business needs and Lotus Domino development.
    Lotusphere Comes to You, Sofia, Bulgaria gathers Bulgarian Lotus Software customers, end users, system engineers and developers. LCTY is an interesting and useful event for managers, analysts, IT professors, journalists and many more who want to understand more about collaboration and communication.