Lotusphere 2009 Sessions

The Lotusphere 2009 Breakout Sessions have been posted and I wanted to say from my perspective that this is a huge relief! I can truly say that being a track manager is hell. I'm not saying that I haven't enjoyed it, but coming up with the right mix of sessions to have in the Best Practices track is a very, very hard job. There were over 300 submissions in the Best Practice track. Some of them stunk and some were so so, but most were great.

As I poured over the abstracts, I found it difficult not select too many for the track. It got harder and harder to whittle down the list and get to a point where I could bring forward my recommendation to the team. The amount of variables in making the final decision is ludicrous. However one variable that helped a great deal was what the community put forward on IdeaJam. Thanks to everyone who participated there, it was a big help!

If your session was not selected this year, please don't take it personally. I can say honestly, that I did not even consider speaker names until later into the cycle. My advice for next time (yes, there is a next time) is to shop your idea around more within the community, build up a strong case, and be very articulate in what you want to present and why when submitting your session. Find a topic that will be a benefit for a majority of the attendees at Lotusphere and then sell it in a way that will blur the thought of those uncomfortable conference chairs.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit and abstract. The Best Practices track is unique within Lotusphere and truly is dependent on your participation.

Also, I wanted to say thanks to Rocky for his hard work on this track as well. He's great to work with and I enjoyed his excitement and experience in all things Lotusphere. Thanks Rock!