Tuck this UKLUG away as another “how the heck did they do that??” event.
Community-organised, community-delivered and community-presented (with a few notable exceptions – thanks Ed!), UKLUG 2008 was a hugely impressive two day affair. Held in a beautiful and historic building (Church House, home of the Church of England General Synod ad war-time location of the UK Government), with great hospitality (awesome food, folks), generous sponsors, headline speakers, impressive customer case studies and a cracking attendance (200+), this was the best UK user group meeting ever. UKLUG has a completely different feel to ILUG despite having almost the same organisers, being much more customer focused and featuring more end user speakers, and whilst smaller than the Irish event (it is in its second year compared to the 3 years of ILUG) it is just as important in the Lotus calendar on this side of the pond.
Highlights for me were Ed Brill’s keynote, the excellent case study from Cardiff University, the large numbers of sponsors exhibiting their wares, and put simply, the energy and commitment of the organisers. Warren Elsmore and team did an amazing job once again.
On a personal note, I really enjoyed getting up on stage in the last session of the event to co-present on Lotus Connections with Neil Burston and Peter Thomond. It was the first time I’d presented to a User Group audience and I must say I really enjoyed the experience, hopefully the audience did too! Perhaps that abstract should go in for Lotusphere?