Category Archives: Lotus Notes

IBM Social Business User Community – Where all the Cool Kids are going

Well that didn’t take long…

After my previous post about SocialBiz User Group’s site getting retired, I received a couple of responses on my Facebook page from Wannes Rams and Oliver Busse about the launch of the IBM Social Business User Community, the NEW and IMPROVED place for the IBM Social Business (and user group) community to go. It’s slick, and IBM will be giving it the continuing love and attention sites like this need!

Because it’s part of the whole DeveloperWorks environment (which is based on IBM Connections), that gives all of you ANOTHER reason to join us over there if you’re not already a member! Once you are a member, head over to the IBM Social Business User Community and become a member!

SBUC-SocialTile

I’ll see you all there! #IBMSocialUG

Goodbye and Thank YOU SocialBiz User Group

Received this sad news this morning:

SocialBizUGorgLogoDear Community Members,

It’s with great sadness that we announce the closure of the SocialBiz User Group. As a member, you’ll have access to the community through February 22, 2016.

User Group Leaders: Please make sure to download any files or resources you may have added to your user group community page.

Newsletter subscribers: Chris Miller will continue to write a newsletter for Notes/Domino administrators and host his archived Admin Edition Newsletter contributions.  You can sign up for his ongoing Sys Admin Tips Newsletter to stay on top of the latest Notes/Domino news for admins.

It has been a pleasure serving this community and the user groups for over 10 years! Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future. Until next time…

Best wishes,

The SocialBiz User Group Management Team

It’s sad to see this site go away, but it’s understandable. I want to thank them for providing so much useful information to the community at large, and for allowing me to appear on the site a couple of times. I also want to thank them for giving the Detroit Notes Professionals User Group a ‘holding spot’ for all this time until I can figure out the best way to revive it. YOU WILL BE MISSED!

Heading to MWLUG 2013? Don’t forget your best homebrew or favorite local brewery’s beer!

It’s not too late to sign up for MWLUG 2013, the Midwest ‘Lotus’ User Group Conference, in Indianapolis. Register HERE now!!!

One of my ‘brothers in beer’, Gregg Eldred, was scheduled to coordinate a new event this year, but due to scheduling/work conflicts, it’s been passed along to me. This gives you an opportunity to show your homebrewing skills! You don’t make your own beer? Why not? Seriously, if you have a beer from a microbrewery/brewpub by your house that you think is awesome, that will count also! Bring some to MWLUG 2o13 and compete. Here is the information from the website:

MWLUG 2013 Charity Brewfest Competition

04:00 PM – 06:00 PM – Conrad Room

Do you think you have created a great home brew or wine!!! Do you think your local micro-brewery beer is out of this world!!! Then bring them with you to MWLUG 2013 and lets find out.

We are happy to announce the MWLUG 2013 Charity Brewfest Competition. It will be held on Wednesday August 21, 2013 4:00 PM just before the MWLUG Wednesday Exhibitor Showcase Reception. This competition is open for all attendees. We would like to thank our sponsor CDW for making this event possible.

Ray Bilyk and his panel of experienced judges will taste the different entries and select the winners of this competition. [Original organizer] Gregg [Eldred] has selected some interesting prizes for this competition.

In order to participate in this competition, the submission fee is $10 with all proceeds benefiting the MWLUG Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund. You can submit as many entries as you would like. For each entry, please bring at least two 12 ounce bottles. All competitors will need to sign a waiver. All nationally distributed micro-brewery beer do not qualify. Registration for this event will be on Wednesday.

For every dollar that we raise in this event, our sponsor Phora Group will match a dollar. We are working with other sponsors for additional matching funds that will all benefit the Oklahoma residences that have been devastated by the recent horrific tornadoes.

Thank you to CDW and Phora Group for sponsoring and matching funds raised from this event! Thank you also to organizer Richard Moy for trusting me with this. I hope to live up to the high standards that Gregg set. Thanks also to Gregg Eldred for getting the prize for the big winner.

Hope to see you all there… Cheers!

LotusBeers / IBMSocialBeerz – Detroit

Detroit Notes ProfessionalsI cross-posted this at SocialBizUG.org‘s Detroit Notes Professionals Community… If you haven’t joined the community (or SocialBizUG.org), now’s the time to join! (SocialBizUG.org is the website formerly known as LotusUserGroup.org)

The concept for ‘LotusBeers’ (now IBMSocialBeerz… thanks Stuart McIntyre!) is simple… we get together at a central (or near-central) location after work one day and have a couple of beverages… notice I did not say “have a presentation”, “workshop”, “seminar” or even “conference”. I’m just talking about the concept of ‘social’ in its purest and original form… SOCIALIZING!

If you are interested, let me know where you work so a ‘near-central’ location can be picked via emailDM or by leaving a comment.

Hopefully this can be the rebirth of DNP!

SNTT: Thank you, IBM! Sometimes it’s the little things…

Yup… it’s been a long time since a Show-n-Tell Thursday Wednesday, but this is a quick one.

From time to time, I need to know what version of the template is installed with a version of Notes/Domino. For that, I can take a look at the database properties (usually). IBM made life simpler for some of us when we need information on multiple databases.

IBM Technote: Template versions shipped with Domino 8.5.3 (Reference #1620941 – dated 2012-12-19)

Thank you, IBM!!!

IBM Connect and Lotusphere 2013 – Call for Abstracts Deadline Extended to November 7, 2012!

Received an email this morning:

News from IBM Connect 2013!

Be more than an attendee at IBM Connect 2013. Be a speaker! The Call for Abstracts deadline has been extended to Midnight ET on November 7, 2012. Act fast to submit your abstract for consideration! Learn more about submitting an abstract.

For any of you last minute types, get it in QUICKLY!

Also, they still have a $100 discount for Lotusphere ‘Alumni’…

Please enter promotion code ICFHJN when you register as a full conference attendee and receive an additional $100 USD off the prevailing rate. Register now to save!

If you have registered yet, now’s a good time (especially since you’ve already voted…. You DID vote, right?)

SNTT: Lotus Notes–How to prevent return receipts from being sent in Mail

This is a quick tip, but a nice one. Thanks to my colleague, Jessica Daniels, for showing me.

We had a situation where we had to look at a test mailbox, but all of the messages inside had the ‘send return receipt’ flags enabled. We didn’t want to send out all of these receipts when we opened the mail messages, but we still needed to open and see the contents of the message. (Previewing wouldn’t work in this case…)

To accomplish this, all that needed to be done was to add the user (ourselves) to the ACL with READER ACCESS but with NO privileges or roles (especially the ‘Write Public Documents’ privilege.)

image

Make sure you close and open your Notes client (just in case)…

MWLUG 2012 – My perspective

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend the Midwest Lotus User Group (MWLUG) 2012 Conference, which was held in Pittsburgh, PA. I was also honored to speak at the conference this year. My presentation was entitled “How to Be a Domino Administration Superhero”. My slides and video can be found here.

I took ‘my pride’ (family) with me, as they didn’t really get a vacation this year due to my change of employers this year. In reality, my wife and kids really enjoy attending MWLUG… everyone that attends the conference are really nice to them, and it gives them a chance to see in person all of ‘Daddy’s Lotus friends’. My kids especially look forward to seeing Richard Moy… a quote from one of my kids, “He’s so nice!” – I agree!

We drove to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, and started bumping into friends even before checking in. The hotel, the Omni William Penn, is beautiful, and the staff was very nice. They even provided the kids milk and cookies each night, plus a ‘Kids Pack’ that normally cost $8 each for free. (That’s goes a long way to insure repeat business!) Once we checked in and unpacked, we ran to a nearby Arby’s for a quick bite, and then came back so I could attend the Welcome Reception. Thanks to Sherpa Software for sponsoring this! The beverages and hors d’oeuvres were very tasty! I visited some of the vendors that were in attendance and bumped into more and more friends, especially “Uncle” Devin Olson. After a quick walk and a cigar, a few of us went to the hotel bar, where I enjoyed more of everyone’s hospitality. Before I knew it, I was back in my room getting a few minutes of sleep.

On Thursday, I came down to get breakfast and attend the opening general session. Kathy Donatelli and Louis Richardson did an outstanding job! (Lindsay Patross spoke at lunchtime, and was great as well!) All of the keynote speakers kept me entertained and informed. Many times, you leave a keynote not getting anything out of it, but this was not the case for any of them! I hope to see them speak again. After the opening session, I attended BP102 – NOTES.INI Secrets, presented by my new friend, Jalpresh “JT” Tailor, which was had some overlap to the session I was presenting on Friday, but with more than enough differences to be informative. (I even took a few notes for my presentation. Thanks, JT!) Right after that, it was back to the main hall for lunch and Lindsay’s presentation. The rest of the day seemed a blur, but before I knew it, it was over, and I was back in my room tweaking my presentation for the next day.

On Friday, I got up early and lead a BOF (Birds of a Feather) for the Detroit Notes Professionals User Group (DNP), which unfortunately had only a couple of people attend due to the time and other BOFs going on at the same time. (It was noted that there was not a lot of people from the Michigan region at the conference, which is a shame.) Following the DNP BOF, I swallowed some more coffee, and then got ready to present my session. What started out as a couple of people turned into a full room. After my session, which was well received by those in attendance, I attended Kim Greene’s session, “Be a Domino Detective – Tackling Your Toughest Performance Issues”. If you have a chance to attend any session Kim gives, do so… you won’t regret it! Next, I attended a session on IBM SmartCloud for Social Business presented by Rupert Clayton from CDW. I honestly didn’t expect to get a lot out of it, but not only did I learn a lot, but there was some great discussion during the session. Due to a work commitment, I had to grab the pride and our luggage, and head back to Detroit early, but not before dropping off some gifts, courtesy of just a few of Michigan’s finest brewers.

I want to thank Richard Moy, Gregg Eldred and the rest of the organizing group that made MWLUG 2012 possible. There were over 180 attendees, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I’ve organized conventions and other major events before, and it seems to be a thankless job, but believe me, I appreciate all of your efforts! I also want to thank the committee for selecting me to speak. I always enjoy speaking in front of people and sharing what I know. I hope to be able to do more of that in the future!

I also want to thank the sponsors of MWLUG 2012 who spent their hard earned money to give us a first class conference for next to nothing. Take a look at these companies, and check out their services. You will be glad you did!

I want to thank my employer and colleagues for allowing me to attend this conference. Without them, it would not have been possible.

I also want to thank my family for coming with me to this event and giving me the time prepare for my session and to meet up with friends (even until the wee hours of the night). I know that they had a great time in Pittsburgh, and know that they are already planning a trip back there soon. (Maybe this time, I can see the sights with them… LOL!)

Thanks go out to the conference hotel, the Omni William Penn Hotel, for treating my family with class. This hotel is beautiful, and that staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. If you are planning a stay in Pittsburgh, try to stay here.

Finally, thanks go out to those of you that attended the Detroit Notes Professionals BOF and my session. I hope that you got something out of it, and just remember that ALL OF YOU ARE SUPERHEROES!

Next year’s conference, MWLUG 2013, is scheduled for August 13-16, 2013, in Indianapolis, Indiana. I admit that a few of us were campaigning for the conference to come to Michigan (#MWLUGinMI), but I trust the committee with their decision making process. (It also doesn’t hurt to have Sam Bridegroom wanting to quarterback.) I’ve already got it on my calendar, and you should too! I hope to see you all there!