Lotusphere 2011 - Monday Wrapup: Sending the elevator back down

02/01/2011 12:53 AM by Chris Toohey

Lotusphere 2011 Monday was -- at least for me -- an amazingly motivating day.

My company bringing 500 college students [many participating in up to three XPages development contests] to Lotusphere, packing the OGS (and marking the most new blood to attend Lotusphere since the very first conference) was immediately given more weight when this year's guest speaker [Kevin Spacey] took the stage.

While you may hear complaints about today's OGS, consider that it's weakest points were illustrated by Spacey's command of his message and his apparent absolute heart-felt belief in his words [which very much like Alistair Rennie did not completely originate from the teleprompter].

A brilliant presence, he motivated me more with what he said than any demo, product announcement, or added feature ever could.

Sharing advice imparted to him by Jack Lemmon:

[When you make it to the top], send the elevator back down.

The strength of Lotus products has - in my opinion - never been the technology. Of course any given Lotus product (from Lotus Notes to Sametime to Connections, et al) is itself an amazing product... but it is the community surrounding the product that empower it.

500 college students who will soon enter the workforce [most in the IT field] saw not only an overview of upcoming solutions but also witnessed an assembled community empowered by the all-embracing midi-chlorian-infused atmosphere of Lotusphere!

GBS embraced that message today before it was ever said by the amazingly entertaining showman by sending back down the elevator, and with it, exposed 500 career-bound students to the true power of this community.

And this is no new concept to this community.

There is not a day that passes that a forum post, blog entry, tweet, email, or instant message is not responded to in an attempt to help your fellow IT professional address their given need.

There is not a day that members of this very community give up their own time to evangelize the solution that they believe in.

And there is not a day that passes that we all couldn't do even more.

I was/am motivated by what Kevin Spacey said to the capacity crowd this morning, and I plan to send the elevator back down [even if it's a only single floor].

After the OGS -- where #FamilyJewels will make me smirk -- I had lunch with those same 500 students, and answered some of the questions asked by those sitting at my table the best I could.

Charged from imparting my wisdom to what could very well be the Lotus professionals of tomorrow, I headed off to the GBS booth where I met some of my closest friends [many for the first time], readers of this site [THANK YOU!!], and Notes Shop customers looking for answers to their business and technology questions.

Finishing the night with a team meeting dinner [Paul, Tim, Devin, Luz, (and special guest Russ) -- you guys rock!!], I hobbled my aching body back to the room... but am still too jazzed to turn in.

Tomorrow I'm attending sessions, will be interviewing vendors at the product showcase, and will be SpeedGeeking "10 Things You're Not Doing".

And, of course, a personal highlight of the day...