Couldn’t make it to Lotusphere this year? Or were you lucky enough to attend but couldn’t fit all the sessions you wanted to attend into your busy schedule?

LotusUserGroup offers recaps of some key sessions, so even those who didn’t attend can find out what was discussed, what demos got the audience excited, and what features and products you can look forward to in the coming months.

• Day 2 Keynote Session: Accelerating Social Business Leadership

• Spark Ideas, Featured by the Nerd Girls

• User Blast with Mat Newman

• What’s New in IBM Lotus Notes 8.5.2 and Beyond

• What’s New in IBM Sametime

• What’s New in IBM Lotus iNotes Release 8.5.3 and Beyond

• What’s New in IBM Connections

• GURUpalooza

If you missed the OGS at Lotusphere 2012, we've got two resources for you.

1) Check out our interview with Andy Pedisich, Chris Miller, and Rob Axelrod immeadiately after the keynote. Listen in as they discuss what was said, what was shown, what wasn't, and what you need to know about the session.

2) David Stephens of Avnet recaps the whole Lotusphere Opening General Session in an article here including some great pics.

The Lotusphere team must have an agenda to top each previous year's opening general session, and this year was no exception. The detailed, in-depth recap of yesterday's OGS is up on LotusUserGroup.org. Check it out here. 

Michael Chui of Mckinsey & Company on stage with Rhodin (oops. Mike Rhodin left the stage).

Chui outlines how Mckinsey&Company are seeing companies implementing social technologies and where they're finding benefits, sometimes in surprising places they were not considering.

Finding htat over 90% of those who are actually using the technologies are reporting actual business benefit. Most people, currently derriving justr a small amount of benefit. But a small group of "fully networked" organizations are seeing large benefits.

Check out the report he's talking about here: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_social_technologies_are_extending_the_organization_2888

New Notes home screen. Worlkflow built in. Embedded applications. activity strream and forums directly form Connections.

Integration of sametime meetings into iNotes client.

New Notes browser plug in gives you access to Notes apps even when you don't have the Notes client installed.

Jeff Schick with the first Demo

The ability to share anyplace, out of the box simplicity, easy. IBM Connections Next. Embedded apps and quick actions for files, activity stream, keeps user up to date on information and easily share information and files.

Edit documents inline right from browser.

Real time group video (partered with Polycom)

Integration with ECM. Share ECM libraries inside a community.

Be more responsive to customers with Related communities feature, that allows you to associalte various communites together.

New for mobile, filter all contest in a new easy to use format (eg blogs can be read in a newspaper format).

Alistair Rennie: Any process that rilies on people isn't likely to change. It will. Even if "Social" isn't what we're talking about in 5 years, it's what we'll be doing.

The technology realy does matter, but may not be the ONLY thing that matters. A core platform for social business, linking many styles of communication into a cohesive whole. Productive tools have the potential to be overused and abused. IBM will take email to the spa for a makeover.