ywywywyw.com | INUG....

Sunday 18th, June 2006

INUG.... 08:24:58 AM

Written By : Mrs DoyleCategory : None

Location : Craggy Island

What a day ..what an event .. and what brilliant people...

You have to give it to him, Paul Mooney really does deserve congratulations for organising an amazing event , the fantastic calibre of people that presented is a testament to his standing in the Notes community. People kept using the word Mini - Lotusphere, the energy and the buzz was contagious. I'm wary of even trying any summation in case I accidentally miss someone who contributed, soo many people gave their time, energy and knowledge so generously to make this event happen. But here goes anyway ....

And Kitty was a star, organising name badges, meeting and greeting people as they arrived, putting the pack together, and countless other critical activities that helped pull the day together.
Once again, Ed Brill presented the opening session, as per usual very informative, what was really great in this session was because of the smaller scale compared to other events that I have seen Ed present at, the INUG forum allowed for more interaction during the presentation and this was generously encouraged by Ed ( as I'm sure you are well aware the Irish are renowned for being a shy retiring race, so Ed really had his work cut out to get them to speak up ) . The presentation covered loads , Web Blog templates native to R7, Nomad Notes clients on USB ( admin and designer can be installed but are not supported) Domino Client for Linux and Mac ,interesting times ahead.
and Volker Weber (who very generously helped sponsor the event) went from session to session taking photos and interacting, I shall be very interested in seeing his comments ( and photos ) of the event. As an experienced and seasoned technologist and journalist some of his initial comments on the event were very encouraging and it will be fun to see how this develops.
The highly caffinated , Tom Duff presented his excellent presentation on Jump start Java and event managed to rope in some assistance. What this mans obsession is with drenching himself I'm not really sure.. But he is sure in the right country for a soaking.
Daniel Nasheds session on Domino on Linux was excellent, loads of content and information. The presentation was basically a preparation script if you are considering migrating your notes environment to Linux.
The Feedback on Rob Novak from the developers in the audience was excellent, and it was interesting ( to put it mildly) how he managed to include loud boxers and beer in a very technical and informative session.
A very detailed session on Domino Domain Monitoring was presented by Kathleen McGivney , very ably ( and scaringly) aided by Paul. After that session, Pauls customers ran off to check their logs if fear of having Paul chase after them.
Richard from 6W Systems gave a great presentation on their reporting products and were one of the events Sponsors.
The Irish Prison Service & Probation and Welfare service gave an overview of how they have utilised the workflow in Lotus Notes to improve their business processes and remove paper from the equation. This is an perfect example of how to use the workflow in Notes to electronically chart and record business processes.
Mark Wallace from IBM (IBM sponsored lunch and sent a load of technical representatives, the audience were spoilt for choice) presented a very detailed presentation on Workplace designer.
Wild Bill aka Bill Buchan (another generous Sponsor) presented two very popular sessions, on their product FirM which helps reduce admin overhead, empower the service desk and improve security and his infamous quick fire Dev tips. if you ever get the chance to see Bill present you really really have to go, I do not think that I have ever seen anyone present such a detailed level of technical knowledge, in such a humorous , informative and concise manner. You are informed and entertained all at the same time. Its a rare skill to have people learn technical detail while laughing. Bill helped out in numerous ways with this event, but an BIG thanks for the programme, it looked great.
Elsmore himself, Warren , aside from doing loads of odds and ends to help out with the event, presented a really good and comprehensive session on how to secure your servers. I really would advise any administrator to get their hands on that presentation and use it as a guideline to auditing your own systems.
Simon from Team Studio ( another Sponsor , thank you very much ) presented on how to use their product to migrate your applications to R7. What was really interesting about this session was that customers in the audience were under-utilising their installation and Simon covered a lot on how to really use Team Studios products and maximise your investments.
Brendan presented on MailMeter an innovative product from Waterford Technologies, another generous sponsor. MailMeter helps corporations meet their Email retention requirements while reducing the TCO.
Ed and Libby , presented their session on how to sell Notes in your organisation. As per usual this session was superb and not only did it 'do what it said on the tin' . The session served to underline and reinforce why we work with Notes and why we believe so strongly it in.
Thank you very much to Libby and Ed and everyone .. for organising the presentations at the end, they were unexpected and very much appreciated.
And then Paul did the closing session and we went to the pub.

And then there was the social aspect , I am constantly amazed at what a great group of human beings the Notes community are, and it really is a community where people help each other out and just get on well and have good fun. ANY gathering of Notes geeks is guaranteed to provide loads of information sharing and laughs and this gathering was no exception. I'm sure that other bloggers will be expanding on what a laugh we have over the weekend , but some key highlights for me were

Duffbert putting his foot into it again and again and again , there is a quotes list being compiled from the weekend and Duff features heavily on it.
Sitting between Rob and Roy during the geek dinner. Both are very very dry and witty individuals .
The DeBarbi code ( Bill can explain)
The commentary from the bus driver on the BusTour of Dublin ( with Poor Duff being given the alternative version by me)
Calling peoples mothers and grandmothers and singing them happy birthday (YES WE really did ) nice touch but I'm not too sure what the recipients of these birthday greetings thought of it.
I'm still recovering from Voker taking loads of photos and the flash from his camera.
Just in general having a great time with great people.

Thank you to everyone for making it such a great day.

Comments :

1. Comment posted by Paul Mooney18/06/2006 17:22:18
Homepage: http://www.pmooney.net

Fitzy... you don't give yourself the credit you deserve for this event. You ran the show like clockwork... and were a great host to the guests that flew over.
I have not posted my review of the day yet... but will get it done tomorrow.
p.