This year MWLUG was held in Austin, TX.

I gave a presentation on Best Practices for Administrators Before, During and After a move to SmartCloud Notes.  Here are my slides:

Some great things that stood out from this event are:

• The Hotel: This set the bar to a standard that will not likely be surpassed anytime soon.  It was held at the Four Seasons Hotel.  The easiest way to describe the service is to say it was just like the hotel in the movie “Pretty Woman”.  This hotel caters to people like actor Pierce Brosnan (James Bond) who was even seen hanging out in the lounge. Yet we got our rooms at a steal of a price thanks to Richard Moy and his negotiators.
• The location: Many interesting things to see from Bat Fest to the state capitol building.
• The presentations: Excellent speakers. I focused on the admin track.  What was most noteworthy was the increased number of sessions related to Connections Cloud.
• The announcements: The biggest one was from Scott Souder regarding Verse on premises coming by the end of the year, though they are targeting mid November. Look for an early Christmas present.
• The IBM Champions: Over 20 IBM Champions for Social Business attended. Most were also presenting, which certainly contributed to the quality of the presentations.
  

  IBM Champions at MWLUG

• The entertainment: The bus ride to San Antonio to see the Alamo and the river walk area (complete with downpour); the visit to the IBM Design Center; the brewery tour and dinner; what was perhaps the highest density of bars within walking distance I have ever seen; and the great music in the lounge on Friday night with a cameo performance by our own very talented IBMer and champion of IBM Champions, Amanda Bauman.

• The weather: Clouds, cooler temperatures (85 degrees), and 95% humidity arrived just in time for the conference with torrential downpour and local flooding as I stood waiting for a bus that never came to take me to the airport.
• PACLUG: I announced the re-forming of a user group in the west.
• MWLUG 2017: Next year MWLUG will be held in the Washington DC area.
• The organizers:  In spite of numerous opportunities for things to fall apart, like the badge holders weren’t delivered, the chartered bus operator left a day early, the beer tap failed; Richard Moy handled every crisis with amazing finesse to keep things running smoothly.
• The people:  All the stuff above is extra.  It’s always about the people.  Once again, the real value of gatherings like this is the connections that are made.  No amount of social media can outperform face-to-face connections.

Next up is ICON UK, September 15, 16. It will be held in London.