Well, it’s September again and time for Collaboration University in Chicago and London plus a visit to Sweden and the family there. This year I have to leave my family, here in Kansas, for 18 days. Not something I like to do but with work the first 13 days and then being so close to Sweden make it almost impossible not to go there. Cheap airline tickets with Ryan Air doesn’t hurt either.

I’m very excited about CU this year. Showing the new Lotus Quickr 8.2 features in Troy’s, Rob’s and my sessions, together with sessions about Lotus Sametime 8.5 with the new WebSphere-based Meeting Center and Lotus Connections 2.5 are not short of amazing. If you are attending this year, it will not be disappointing.

I hope to CU in Chicago, London or maybe Sweden!

I made it easy for myself and I’m presenting the same topic at both conferences:

Make IBM Lotus Quickr sexier

In the session, I’ll introduce you to some innovations that make Lotus Quickr even more valuable to your teams, including tagging and integration with external sources using Adobe Flex and Air.

These together with the two Collaboration University conferences kick off the conference season that ends with Lotusphere in January 2010.

Hope to see you there!

The podcast was sponsored by Collaboration University.

Keynote:
Lotus Software 2.0: Success and Strategy for Quickr, Sametime, and Connections

Show Then Tell:
Your Speakers Share Results First: So You Have the Goal in Mind

Underlying Technology:
Introduction to DB2 (Yes, you need to know!)
Single Sign On, LDAP, and Other Fun Acronyms

Sametime:
Customizing and Extending the Sametime 8.5 Meeting Center
Customizing and Extending the Sametime 8.0 Meeting Center
Using and Customizing the Sametime 8.5 Web Client with the new Proxy Server
Sametime 8 and 8.5 Toolkit Overview, Differences, and Examples *
Sametime Telephony Overview – TCSPI, Plugin and Unified Telephony options
Deploying Sametime 8 on Linux – Getting to the Root of the Install
Sametime 8.5 Infrastructure – How all the Pieces Fit Together
New ST Client features and New “zero download’ client; Working with the new Sametime Proxy *
Installing and working with Sametime Community server 8.5
Installing and working with the new Meeting server
Websphere Administration for Sametime
Managing your Infrastructure with the Sametime Solutions Console – Installation and Use *

Quickr:
Installation and Configuration of Quickr 8.2 – Best Practices
Open Your Eyes – Development Possibilities with Quickr: Three Complete Solutions Deconstructed
Themes Part 1 – Extending the Standard Theme Server-Wide and Custom Themes by Place *
Using Forms & Placebots for Automation: Three reusable examples *
Quickr 8.2 Performance: Getting More from your Server and Clients
Top 10 Quickr Support Issues 2009
Quickr Data – In. Out, Everywhere: A wide array of approaches and tools
Themes Part 2 – Adding Functionality With JavaScript
Quickr & Domino Integration Strategies & Concepts
Sizing for Quickr Servers: Load Testing and Deployment Planning
REST and Web Services APIs for Quickr *
Quickr & Sametime Integration – Beyond the Basics

Connections:
Installing and Configuring Lotus Connections 2.5
Your First Lotus Connections 2.5 Customizations Made Easy
Lotus Connections 2.5 Integration with Sametime, Quickr, and More

Strategy:
Collaboration Strategy: Applying your Skills and Collaboration Tools to Enhance the Business

Wrap-Up:
Futures and Strategy for Lotus Collaborative Documents
Bringing it All Together: All the Speakers’ Best 10 Minutes!

Hands-On Workshops:
Developing Collaborative Applications for Lotus Quickr – Zero to Hero in Three Hours
Quickr for Domino Administration – Deploying, Updating, and Troubleshooting the Environment and Applications

*These Sessions have Hands-On Lab Content

Hurry up and register while discounts and great IBM-sponsored hotel deals remain!

http://CollaborationUniversity.com

From Rob Novak’s blog:

I’m pleased to welcome two new faces to Collaboration University 2009 to help us kick off the most exciting year we’ve ever had for CU! With Sametime 8.5, Connections 2.5, and Quickr 8.2 all hitting the streets this year – and with the major technology changes there and in the near future, it’s great to have IBMers back this year to keynote the event and give us a heads-up on Lotus’s  strategy in the Web 2.0 space.

In Chicago, we’ll hear from Louis Richardson, Lotus Worldwide Sales Executive for Lotus Collaborative Document Services. Louis, at IBM the past five years, has been instrumental in helping get the word out about Collaboration University inside IBM, where all the events, dates and even links on the IBM website are helpful. I’ve known Louis for several years and know he will be an exciting and insightful speaker. Besides, anyone who gives me a picture on a sailboat has to be cool.

In London, we’re joined by Darren Adams, Messaging and Collaboration Business Unit Executive for North East Europe. Which, as it turns out, includes the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria (fairly south and west for northeast!). Many of you know Darren from his blog at http://www.dadams.co.uk where, among other things, he shares his insights on Lotus software. Darren was recently promoted to this very long title, so please congratulate him when you see him in London! Dareen’s a long time friend of Collaboration University, having helped out with arrangements a little more each year.

Please join us in Chicago and London to learn about the strategy and direction of Lotus’s Web 2.0 lineup of software – Quickr, Sametime and Connections!

Ability to change the drop zone image

Just updated PandaBear to version 0.53. This version adds a feature many of you have requested. The ability to select another drop zone image. In this first version of this new feature we have added two more images on top of the default panda head.

Where PandaBear is aimed at end users for uploading, downloading and locating files from/to your Quickr server, Flippr is aimed at administrators. The application makes everyday Quickr admin tasks a breeze. Some of the functions that you can accomplish with Flippr are:

• Lock and unlock places
• Create and remove places
• Archive places
• Add persons and groups to places
• Rename person and groups in places

Flippr is using a friendly interface including type ahead for selecting places, people and/or groups from the server or LDAP directory. It also features three intuitive screens.

• On the Commands screen, you get tree-style navigation of the most common QPTool commands.
• On the XML screen you create your own XML to upload to the server. For the advanced cases where you want to do send in many commands at the same time.
• On the Settings screen, set up your connection to server(s), check for updated versions and check the latest release notes.

Designed on the Adobe Air framework, Flippr runs on Windows, Mac or Linux using the same application code. Just as PandaBear, Flippr features automatic check for newer version and will download and install it with a one click operation.

Flippr is free during beta, and is not time-locked or disabled in any way. Post-beta plans are still under consideration.

To download now with your QuickrTemplates.com ID (a new one takes just a minute), visit http://flippr.snapps.com

Designed on the Adobe Air framework, PandaBear runs on Windows, Mac or Linux using the same application code.

Use cases for PandaBear include:

• Quickr places designed primarily for file sharing
• Organizations with Mac and/or Linux desktops
• Transient users of Quickr, who just need access to files
• Archiving folders, rooms, or even entire places full of files
• Your unique use case!

PandaBear features three intuitive screens.
On the Download screen, you get tree-style navigation of servers, places, rooms, folders, and files. Highlight a file, folder, room or place, and you can download the file contents to your machine. Double-click a folder and you have a temporary “drop zone” for uploading files. Just drag and drop files or folders over the drop zone and they’re uplaoded to your Quickr place.

On the Favorites screen, set up a list of places where you will commonly upload files, then double-click them to open the drop zone(s).

On the Settings screen, set up your connection to server(s).

PandaBear is free during beta, and is not time-locked or disabled in any way. Post-beta plans are still under consideration but will include a free version with all the capabilities of the beta version.

To download now with your QuickrTemplates.com ID (a new one takes just a minute), visit http://pandabear.snapps.com

From Rob Novak’s blog:

As we enter our fourth year, Collaboration University is evolving, just like the collaboration software we know and love. With new versions of Sametime and Quickr released in the past 12 months, the release of Lotus Connections 2.5 (which we’re covering as well), this is going to be a great year to come to Collaboration University in September. The dates are:

Chicago: September 14-16 at the IBM Innovation Center
London: September 21-23 at IBM South Bank

There are 250 CU Alumni and 200+ people who requested personal notification from the CU website. They’ve been notified personally, but I though I would add this to my blog as well. Registration will open Tuesday, May 12 at 12:01 AM. Plus, there are some great Alumni discounts and discounts for registration by June 20.

We have even more speakers this year – see the previous blog entry – with five participating partners and four special industry guests. We are covering Lotus Quickr 8.2 and Sametime 8+, and are adding Lotus Connections 2.5 content.

Here’s where your investment pays off. Not only are we not raising the 2009 registration fees, but in addition to the Early Bird registration discount of $200 and up to $150 discount for Alumni:

I am extending a $100 “DAY ONE Discount” to anyone registering on Tuesday, May 12.

Head over to Collaboration University and register today!

From Rob Novak’s blog:

I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be producing Collaboration University 2009 at the great venues we found last year in Chicago and London.

In Chicago we’ll once again be at the IBM Innovation Center, located on the Chicago River a few blocks from Michigan Avenue. It is a great place to have the size and type of conference we produce – last year we sold out, the venue size and food were terrific, and the location was central to a lot of Chicago activity. In London we return to IBM South Bank, just a few blocks from Waterloo station, Marriott County Hall, the London Eye, and accessible from all over central London. Our dates (both start on a Monday and run through Wednesday):

Chicago: September 14-16, 2009
London: September 21-23, 2009

We’ll open registration next month, and even though we sold out both venues last year we will not be raising the fees! In fact, for alumni we are continuing last year’s introduction of a discount per year of attendance so your fees may even go down. More details will be available when we open registration, or you can email info@collaborationuniversity.com or me directly for budget planning purposes.

So head over to the Collaboration University website and sign up! See you there!