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As I've written about previously, now is really the time to boost your skillset as a Lotus professional. The economy is causing layoffs and downtime for even the best employees, so you need to set yourself apart. But, it's hard to get training when you don't have a budget for it.

That's where Lotus user groups come to the rescue.

Typical User Groups

If you look around, chances are you can find a local user group in your area. User groups generally meet either monthly or bi-monthly, and can cover a variety of subjects at each meeting. You may have speakers who train on new features, or vendors may come in to show off their product capabilities. These groups are generally either free, or have a small yearly set of dues. Either way, it's well worth the time you invest to glean new information and keep your skills up to date.

To find user group information for your area, one great place to start is LotusUserGroup.org. LotusUserGroup.org is an online community and information source for Lotus user groups worldwide. It can help you find a group to join, and if there's nothing in your area, you can be a part of the "virtual" user group on their site. They often have webinars and other great content, so you can definitely hone your skills that way.

The Emerging Trend

In recent years, we've seen a new trend in user groups, and that's large several day conferences. It all started with the Irish Lotus User Group, or ILUG. A couple of years ago, the brains behind ILUG decided that they wanted to bring a Lotusphere-like atmosphere to Ireland and give much of the same training that you could get at Lotusphere.

The catch? There were going to do it all for free.

It was a huge undertaking by the organizers, but they got sponsors, vendors for the showcase, and some of the best speakers in the Lotus community. ILUG was free for attendees, all they had to do was pay their own travel and lodging. A curious thing then happened, they got attendees from all over the world, not just Ireland. ILUG turned out to be a huge success with two full days of some of the best content, from the best minds in Lotus land. And it didn't cost four thousand dollars to attend. It was free.

ILUG has done this a couple of years now, and is taking 2009 off, but will hopefully be back. But in it's place are several other events hoping to do the exact same thing.

IAMLUG

IAMLUG (www.iamlug.org) is the name given to a conference happening in St. Louis, Missouri in the US in early August. It's a play on words from the old Lotus “I AM” commercials, and the fact that the conference organizer, Chris Miller of Connectria, goes by the online brand and username of IDONotes.

IAMLUG is following in the same footsteps as ILUG by getting a Who's Who of speakers and making the whole experience free for attendees. There are sessions on Connections, XPages, Data Migration, Integration and Coexistence with Microsoft Office, Mobile applications for Blackberry, Interface Design, Administration with AdminP and much more.

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