As part of the Blogger program, one fun thing we got to do was follow around the Lotus CTO Awards judging process.

From IBM's site, the CTO Awards are as follows:

Chief Technology Officer Innovation Award (CTO)

The CTO Award recognizes those visionary IBM Business Partners who are leading the technology charge by exploiting Lotus' and WebSphere Portals latest capabilities in innovative, leading-edge, and exciting new ways. These ground-breaking solutions are positioned to be drivers in tomorrow's new markets, fostering innovation and at an ingenuity level that stands out above their peers. Special consideration will be given to first-time nominees.

We met outside the speakers' lounge, and I finally got to meet Erica Topolski, the coordinator for the program. She greets us an explains the process. Pretty much the only rule - stay out of the way of the judges. In usual blogger style, we ask if we can heckle, throw things, jest, anything of that nature. Erica pales, and I'm wondering if she's wondering if this whole Blogger program was a bad idea.

"You're a rowdy bunch", she comments as we head downstairs.

We head down to the show floor, where vendors are still setting up. We've already lost Catherine, our guide, and the judges. Erica is there to point the way to the first stop of judging. Each stop is where the vendor is on the show floor.

For what is probably the first time ever, the bloggers are being very quiet while we listen.

Some contestants have planned presentations, some just speak. Most look nervous when the judges approach - this is a very big deal for them. The judges are smiling and jovial when the introduce themselves to the finalists. Some finalists made the judges laugh, some spoke so quietly I couldn't hear a thing.

There are some amazing products that do amazing things - best of luck to all the candidates we saw on the show floor. You must be doing amazing things or you wouldn't be there!

-Jess

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