It's done and in the books.

I've started this blog post about 300 times in my head I think.  The run downs has been posted about what an incredibly awesome OGS it was last Monday morning and what an incredibly odd CGS on Thursday.  No need to repeat it here, so I won't.  Lotusphere, in name, still remains.  They even announced at the end of the OGS the dates for Lotusphere 2013.  I speculated on here that this would be the last one and next year the event would be under a different name.  I was wrong.  It will still be Lotusphere.  Which is a good thing because I think after what was shown last Monday, the community is on fire.  More so then in years previous I think. We'll have to see how things look a month or two from now.  I know I have a lot of work to do to make sure that we look towards where the product is going.  No promises on the social aspects.  I would love to see it.  I just need to come up with a strategy to sell it.  Put myself out there a little more, but in the right way, to show it's worth.  We'll see.

But for me personally, this was the year I felt like I put myself out there and won.  My session killed.  I can't thank Tom Duff enough for all his mentoring and support.  Also, Marie Scott for her advice and guidance.  Of course, I would be wrong not to mention Gab Davis for her giving me the nudge to do it in the first place.  I said it in the Gurupalooza session and I'll say it again here.  If you have an idea of a session you want to do at Lotusphere, do it.  Submit an abstract.  If you are not sure about it, network with others in the community.  Ask for help.  THEY WILL HELP YOU.  Still not sure, do a session at a local or regional user group to try your idea out.  It can be done.  Don't be afraid of it.  The one song I listened to all week leading up to my session was Eminem's Loose Yourself.  The first lines of the song say it all.

 

"Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, In one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?"

I seized it, I captured it.  I lost myself in the moment, I owned it and it's a feeling I never want to let go.  I got over my fear of public speaking.  So will I put in for another session next year?  Don't know.  We'll have to wait and see.  But don't let a moment like that slip from you, ever.  Taking that leap out of your comfort zone can sometimes land you on your feet feeling fine.  It did for me.