Lotusphere was an American annual conference hosted by Lotus Development Corporation (which later became an IBM software brand) 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 trivia , Richard Schwartz's blog, May 3, 2005 Lotusphere was held in late January. It started with a reception party on Sunday night and continued on through the closing session on Thursday afternoon. The conference was 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 (1997) and then in Berlin (1999).
"Lotusphere Comes to You" (LCTY) 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. LCTY was held in over 50 countries around the world. Since 2007, LCTY in Sofia, Bulgaria was organized by IBS Bulgaria with the support of IBM Bulgaria. The event covered news around Lotus Development Corporation as well as sessions emphasizing on local business needs and Lotus Domino development. These events were later replaced by local LUG (Lotus User Group) events like IamLUG (later Icon US), MWLUG, ILUG, UKLUG (later Icon UK) 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 Lotusphere Lore, C.U.L.T. 2008 Lotusphere Wiki Year Location Attendance Theme phrase Top messages Host Opening General Session guest(s) Closing General Session guest(s) Sunday night reception Wednesday night party CULT shirt 1993 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 2300 Working Together Don Bulens Geoffrey Moore Disney-MGM 1994 No Event 1995 Orlando, Florida, U.S. The Right Event. The Right Solutions. Right Now. Disney-MGM 1996 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Release The Power Notes R4 Work the Web None Cirque du Soleil Universal Studios Florida The Neville Brothers 1997 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Pool of Knowledge Don't compete with, embrace the Web. iNotes Web Publisher Domino Ray Ozzie Avery Brooks Magic Kingdom The Doobie Brothers 1998 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Cultivate Your Senses Notes R5 Steve Beckhardt (?) Jamie Clark Alan Hobson Bill Nye Disney-MGM Earth, Wind & Fire 1999 Orlando, 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 2000 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 10000 Looking Forward/Forward Looking Raven Domino Access for Microsoft Outlook Jeff Papows > Al Zollar Walter Cronkite The Raspyni Brothers Universal's Islands of Adventure Chicago Notes World Order 2001 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 10000 In 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 2002 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 6000 Proof Positive Notes/Domino 6 "Lotus Software" brand J2EE "two-lane highway" Al Zollar Ben Stein Kevin Nealon Disney-MGM Fellowship of the Domino Ring 2003 Orlando, Florida, U.S. The Essential Human Element NextGen DB2 Al Zollar > Ambuj Goyal Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani Bounce (dancers) Dr. Ronan Tynan Magic Kingdom Just-Us League & Collaboration League 2004 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 5273 The Workplace For Innovation Ambuj Goyal Patrick Stewart Richard Jeni Universal Studios Florida CULT SHIRT ON HUMAN 2005 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 5800 Envision Decisions Notes and Workplace convergence Ambuj Goyal John Cleese Ray Ozzie Steven Wright Country/Western Universal's Islands of Adventure Zen of Collaboration 2006 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 6000 FutureInSight Workplace Activities Sametime 7.5 Mike Rhodin Jason Alexander Jim Gaffigan Poker tables SeaWorld CULT Man Group 2007 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 7000 IT 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 Tyson Disney's Animal Kingdom I AM _____ 2008 Orlando, 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 Orlando Symphony Orchestra Alton Brown Beach Party Universal's Islands of Adventure Pirates of Collaboration 2009 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Resonance LotusLive Lotus Notes 8.5 for Mac Alloy (SAP + Lotus Notes) xPages DAOS ID-vaultBob Picciano Dan Aykroyd Blue Man Group Benjamin Zander Universal Studios 2010 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Lotus knows why. Lotus knows how.Bob Picciano > Alistair RennieWilliam Shatner Nuttin' But StringzBrian Cox (physicist)Hollywood Studios 2011 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Get Social. Do Business.Alistair RennieKevin Spacey Mass EnsembleWatsonWizarding World of Harry Potter, Islands of Adventure 2012 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Business. Made Social. Alistair RennieMichael J. Fox OK GoAndrew ZimmernSeaWorldNo CULT Shirt 2013 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Get social. Do business. Alistair RennieJoe Gordon-Levitt They Might Be Giants Steven Strogatz John HodgmanUniversal Studios FloridaNo CULT Shirt 2014 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Energizing Life's work. Craig HaymanSeth Meyers American Authors Dave Lavery Hollywood StudiosNo CULT Shirt 2015 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 3000 A new way to engage IBM Verse IBM Connections CR2Jeff SchickPhilippe Petit Arthur T. Benjamin Beach party n/aNo CULT Shirt2016 Orlando, Florida, U.S. Hilton 2000 Make Every Moment Count Project Toscana Jeff Schick Jason Silva Erik Wahl Universal Studios No CULT Shirt2017 San Francisco, CA, U.S. Moscone Center 2000 Redefine work with Watson IBM Connections Pink IBM Watson Work Services Inhi Cho Suh Dr. Sheena Iyengar Eric Whitacre Exploratorium No CULT Shirt
References
External links Spreadsheet of Lotusphere Events Video: Lotusphere 2008 in 60 Seconds, a 68-second recap of major announcements made during the Opening General Session at Lotusphere 2008