I had alluded to this on This Week In Lotus last week (episode 20 I think), but the call for Lotusphere 2011 abstracts page is now linked off the main LS page. Mind you, you only have 3 days to get them in. There are some new tracks too so here is a full break down:

Image:Lotusphere Abstracts due Oct 8th - too close to submit or just right?

Plus the BoF section that is not listed here.

In my somewhat humble opinion this is some serious piss poor planning by IBM. I believe the first link to abstracts was posted by Stuart on the Lotusphere Blog on Oct 1, so even if you're Johnny on the spot, you only have 8 days start to finish to submit them. If you are only just reading this post now you have 3. Not good. Nor are there any pages outlining what each track is. Has someone lost their mind?

Incidentally, I added a BoF for "Meet the 'casters" where any and all can meet the current crop of pod and screen casters and ask all your burning questions like:
  • Why we do it
  • How do you set it up
  • What do you use
  • How to you pick subjects
  • Do you edit stuff out
  • Anything else you care to ask

Hopefully it will be approved and I am lining up some good folks, including (but not limited to) Dave Leedy, Bruce Elgort, Chris Miller, Stuart and myself. That's not an exhaustive list by any means. Oh, and we may even record it and make it into a TWiL
Darren Duke   |   October 6 2010 01:55:16 AM   |    lotusphere    |  
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Comments (5)

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1 - LongLiveLotus       10/06/2010 4:06:08 AM

Totally agree with the above comments, well said.

Examples - information on the blogpage incorrect (it's 2011 not 2010 sphere), 1 week is a joke, comments not replied to, no track information, etc

At best, it's not been thought through and actioned from the humble consumers perspective.

At worst, it sends a big message that IBM is not really commited to this thing.

Regretably my viewpoint is changing to more of the latter...

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2 - Martijn de Jong    http://www.socialsoftwareblog.nl    10/06/2010 4:10:02 AM

If we have to we have to, but I don't think it'll be good for the quality of the abstracts. It at least gives me very little time to properly think about the subjects I'd like to present.

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3 - Peter Presnell    http://www.yellowverse.com    10/06/2010 8:17:05 AM

Hi Darren,

I'm not sure I fully understand. LS is at the same time each year. In fact this year it is a couple of weeks later than normal. Isn't it a bit like Christmas shopping. For those that plan ahead, its just another year. For those that leave things to the last minute, every year it is a last minute scramble no matter what. Track managers started blogging about how to write a good abstract for LS back in August. If you started preparing an abstract back then (as I did), all that would remain when the submissions start being accepted is a 30 second cut/paste.

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4 - Peter Presnell    http://www.yellowverse.com    10/06/2010 8:18:31 AM

Hi Darren,

I'm not sure I fully understand. LS is at the same time each year. In fact this year it is a couple of weeks later than normal. Isn't it a bit like Christmas shopping. For those that plan ahead, its just another year. For those that leave things to the last minute, every year it is a last minute scramble no matter what. Track managers started blogging about how to write a good abstract for LS back in August. If you started preparing an abstract back then (as I did), all that would remain when the submissions start being accepted is a 30 second cut/paste.

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5 - Keith Brooks    http://www.vanessabrooks.com    10/06/2010 8:43:56 AM

I submitted an abstract, didn't get a reply.

Submitted a Speedgeeking abstract and got a reply.

So do I resubmit?

Agreed it is a short window, but maybe IBM doesn't want the 1,000's of submissions they got last year?