Italian Lotus user group DominoPoint‘s
second annual Domino
Day conference ("DDay2")
was a huge success by all measures. The one-day on October 10 event
included two tracks, fourteen speakers, approximately 400 participants,
and a dozen vendors. Like Paul Mooney’s ILUG and Warren Elsmore’s
UKLUG, this free event to attendees was entirely sponsored by vendors.
Free admission drives up attendance, and then everyone wins.
Event planning
The organizers (Giuseppe Grasso, Daniele
Grillo, Claudio Meregalli) worked the budget magically to cover everything,
including hired help for most of the onsite labor. Thanks to Davide
Pannuto and his IBM team for covering speaker hotel rooms. Even Lotusphere
doesn’t offer that perk. DominoPoint also covered a very impressive
lunch, even by Italian standards. Easily the best food in the Lotus
conference community. By the way, I learned that when talking about
food Italians qualify each type of food with the specific region of Italy
from which it originated. And at the speaker dinner I learned —
and should have already known from my past travels — that some restaurants
serve upwards of 8 or 9 courses! I was warned of this when, at about
course five, it became apparent to others that I was not pacing myself
very well! But that was one of the best dinners I’ve had in Italy,
and I’ve had quite a few.
Language challenges
The fact that it was entirely in Italian
(except for my session and one vendor session) made it one of the most
unique Lotus events I’ve attended. This was truly the quintessence
of a country-level users group conference. The all-Italian participant
roster represented every region of Italy. And it’s the only major
Lotus event in Italian. By the way, in light of that factor, I am
particularly thankful to my fellow
speakers who, whenever we were
hanging out, were quick to translate to me or switch to English!
The peninsular country of Italy doesn’t
get a lot of "thru traffic", so Italians tend to understand less
English than do people from central and north western Europe. However,
the good news for an English speaking presenter such as myself is that
Italian Lotus developers and administrators all understand at least some
English. This is because, despite the Italian Notes Client, the Designer
and Admin Clients and their help doc are available in English only. Here
are my tips
for presenting in English as a foreigner.
Personal note
Some of the DominoPoint bloggers have
since referred to me in their post-conference write-ups as their "guest
star" at DominoDay, but I’m no different than them. I have my
specialty, and like to present on it. The difference is that they
were willing to let me speak in some foreign language : ). So for
that reason, it was a real honor and privilege to be the only non-Italian
at the event. The speakers and attendees were all very friendly,
and I have a bunch of new friends in one of my favorite countries. Special
thanks to Giuseppe Grasso for scouting me at ILUG, asking me to speak,
and making it happen. I had a great time, and next year I’ll definitely
be interested in speaking again.
Below are my DominoDay slides on Fixing
Domino Application Performance. Key points are in Italian (thanks
to translation help from Daniele
Vistalli and Cristian
D’Aloisio), but most of the details
are in English. Also, here is an all-English
version that includes these same
slides and more.