Kaleidoscope 2010 Selections December 14, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG.add a comment
There are a lot of comments I’ve seen or heard about ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 and the program that we’ve put together. Just thought I’d put a few thoughts down on paper (or in and electronic format) about the program that we’ve put together and some of what goes on in the selection process.
As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog, we had content teams put together to solicit and put their recommendations down as far as the presentations they would like to see in the conference in 2010. These teams did a great job, and the conference committee tried to incorporate all of their suggestions. Unfortunately, there is no way that we could select all of the submissions.
We received over 500 abstracts and were only able to accept around 180 of them. Consideration was given to the potential attendance for each presentation. Another item that factored in was previous presentation experience, and previous experience speaking at ODTUG. Unfortunately, this is somewhat of a thankless task, as we cannot make everyone happy.
The number of presentations for each topic area are influenced by the total number of submissions in that topic area, and the overall attendance expected in these topic areas. Some people think our mix of topics may not reflect what they’d like it to be. As I wrote previously, it is not possible for us to make everyone happy.
We hope that you will appreciate our choices, as we think that the program this year is perhaps the strongest ODTUG has ever put forth. The abstracts were outstanding, the choices were tough, and we hope that you’ll agree that Kaleidoscope 2010 is the place to be.
Registration will be opening soon…stay tuned!
I welcome your thoughts and comments at any time. Feel free to contact me at mriley@odtug.com at any time.
And now for something completely different… December 10, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, Travel.add a comment
While at the recent ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 planning meeting in Washington, DC, I was able to fly in before anyone else arrived, and decided to take in some of the sights. I had not been to Washington, DC before, so I thought that I needed to find a unique way to see the city. Enter Capital Segway, billed as Washington DC’s only Segway Authorized Tours. While on the tour, you have an earpiece that allows you to hear the tour guide’s comments as you go along.
The tour was scheduled to last 2 hours, and includes a short time in a park to get acclimated to the Segway. While I thought I might have some trouble riding a Segway, it actually turned out to be a fun experience.
One of the first sights that we saw was where Abraham Lincoln was shot. While we only got to see the exterior (no stopping on the Segway Tour) Ford’s Theatre still brought a chill to my spine.
Ford's Theatre
Next up, we got to see Japanese Crane monument at the National Japanese American Memorial. This memorial is pretty new in Washington, being dedicated in 2002.
Japanese American Memorial
Next up, the Library of Congress…
Library of Congress
and the Supreme Court Building…
US Supreme Court
These are right next to the US Capital. On my Segway tour, there were only three tourists. The other two gentlemen that I was with were both from my home state of Illinois, and while we drove around the Capital, we saw one of our Congressmen, Jerry Costello (second from right). I was able to get my picture taken with him in front of the Capital. Amazing, traveling to Washington just to meet up with three other Illinois residents…
US Capital
Next up, on the other side of the Capital, I got my picture taken while on the Segway in front of the National Mall. You can see the Washington Monument far in the background, and the national Christmas tree is being put up right behind me. The Christmas tree lighting ceremony was to be held that same evening.
National Mall - National Christmas Tree
Riding down Pennsylvania Avenue, we arrived at the White House. How many people do you know that get to have their picture taken while riding a Segway in front of one of the most recognizable residences in the world?
The White House
The last picture is of the steeple of the church that Abraham Lincoln announced the end of the Civil War in (per the tour guide). Five days after this announcement, Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theatre.
Church Steeple
We then returned to the shop at the end of our tour. A great way to spend two hours. I had a memorable time, and highly recommend this tour to anyone else visiting Washington, DC.
Wait a second, isn’t there a conference in Washington, DC from June 27 – July 1, 2010?
I welcome your thoughts and comments at any time. Feel free to contact me at mriley@odtug.com at any time.
Kaleidoscope 2010 Planning Meeting Concludes December 6, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, User Groups.add a comment
I write this as I’m returning from the ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 Planning Meeting. We spent two and one half days working on putting the program together for the conference, scheduled for June 27 through July 1, 2010.
The “We” in the above paragraph is the Kaleidoscope Executive Conference Committee. The members this year are: Jeff Jacobs, Conference Chair, Monty Latiolais, Program Chair, Mary Santry, Barbara Morris, Edward Roske and yours truly. Organizing and keeping us focused were our Executive Director, Kathleen McCasland and Crystal Walton, both from Your Conference Connection (YCC). We went through about 500 abstracts and pared them down to about 180 or so outstanding presentations. Congratulations and thanks to all of the above for a long weekend of hard work and hard choices!
Edward Roske, Jeff Jacobs, Monty Latiolais, Barbara Morris and Mary Santry
The program this year underwent some changes, as we recruited leaders for the various content areas from some of the world renowned experts in their fields. As a result, we had the experts actually helping the planning committee select the best content for us to present at the conference. While we’ve always had a strong program, I truly believe that 2010 will deliver the best technical conference and training opportunity for your education. If you haven’t already started making plans to attend Kaleidoscope next summer, then I’d suggest you should re-think your position and plan on attending.
Social networking will be emphasized this year, as we have enlisted Eddie Awad to help us come up with a plan to make this fun and exciting to all who participate. You can find out more about Eddie here. Look for more details on this in some upcoming posts on the blog, through Twitter (@Mike_ODTUG), or even in some email blasts.
I welcome your thoughts and comments. Feel free to contact me at mriley@odtug.com at any time.
What’s Up? November 23, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups.add a comment
It’s been quite a while once again. I’ll try and post some stuff a little more frequently. I promise (at least I promise to try…).
The two items I’d like to briefly touch upon in this post are the ODTUG Board of Directors election results, and the recent OPP/APEXposed conference.
Board of Directors – It is with both great excitement and also some sadness that I announce the results of the ODTUG Board of Director’s election. Incumbents that were elected to serve another two-year term starting in January are: Jeff Jacobs, John King, and Bambi Price. These three have devoted considerable time to benefit ODTUG, and I look forward to working with them in the upcoming year. ODTUG faces both challenges and opportunities in 2010, and I know that these three are up to the task.
Two new directors were elected this year. Monty Latiolais and Mark Rittman bring a new energy to the Board this year. Each has considerable qualities that they bring to the organization. I look forward to working with both more closely than I have in the past, as each has already played a significant role in the success of ODTUG. Thanks for stepping up to the plate, gentlemen!
Now for the sad part. With two new directors elected this year, the result is that two incumbents seeking re-election will not be on the Board in 2010. Jerry Ireland, ODTUG Vice President, and Tim Tow, ODTUG Treasurer, were not re-elected to the ODTUG Board. Both have served ODTUG tremendously well, and will be missed. I expect that both of these individuals will continue to play key roles for ODTUG in 2010. Thanks for your service, Jerry and Tim!
OPP/APEXposed -
Two words: Great education…
I had the good fortune of being able to attend OPP/APEXposed 2009 in Atlanta, GA. Close to 200 attendees took advantage of the great opportunity to learn and network with the “best of the best”. Some of the notables included content chairs Steven Feuerstein, OPP content chair, and Scott Spendolini, APEXposed content chair. Other notables included Mike Hichwa, Bryn Llewellyn (thanks for educating me about Edition-Based Redefinition, the “killer” new feature in Oracle Database 11g Release 2!!), Kris Rice, Anton Nielsen, Francis Mignault, Patrick Barel, John Jeunnette, and John King, just to name a few. Hurricane Ida influenced the weather in Atlanta, as it was raining hard for almost the entire time. But you know what? No one cared. Everyone was interested in maximizing their learning opportunities.
Talks are already underway for when and where to hold OPP/APEXposed 2010. Do you have any suggestions, questions, or comments? Send them to me at mriley@odtug.com and I’ll try to answer them.
I hope my next blog posting won’t be quite so long in coming…
Cast Your Vote! October 20, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, User Groups.add a comment
One of the member benefits (responsibilities??) of being a paid member of ODTUG is your right to vote annually in the elections for the Board of Directors. This is your chance to influence the future of ODTUG by casting your ballot for five of the eight candidates nominated for election for the term of 2010 through 2011.
The incumbents are (in no particular order): Tim Tow, who serves as Treasurer for ODTUG this year, Jerry Ireland, who serves as Vice President, Bambi Price, who serves as Secretary, Jeff Jacobs, Kaleidoscope conference chair, and John King, Web Chair. Three other candidates have submitted their names for consideration as well. Once again, in no particular order: Monty Latiolais, Kaleidoscope 2010 Content Chair, Mark Rittman, and David Schleis, Kaleidoscope Conference committee member.
Who should you vote for? That is up to you to decide by casting your ballot. I will give you no recommendations on this one. For information on each of the candidates, please visit: http://www.odtug.com/apex/f?p=500:250:0.
I will tell you one thing: I consider each and every one of the candidates to be well qualified. They are all my friends, and I’m proud of their decision to submit their names in this election. The Board of Directors are great examples of the volunteers that are required to keep ODTUG running, and help determine the direction of ODTUG initiatives.
Good Luck to all of the nominees!!
Your vote will need to be cast by November 2 to be counted.
OPP/APEXposed 2009, Awards, and Oracle OpenWorld 2009 October 19, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups.add a comment
Wow! It’s been quite a while…There have been many things happening in the past month, some of them fun, some not so fun.
There are still some openings for ODTUG’s Seriously Practical conference, this year November 10 and 11 in Atlanta, GA. OPP/APEXposed 2009 should be a tremendous training value and an opportunity to get all of your questions answered. Visit http://odtugapextraining.com/ for information on APEXposed 2009, and visit http://www.odtugopp.com/ for information on OPP2009. Of course, you can attend sessions from both conferences for the registration price of one conference.
Some congratulations are due…in the most recent edition of Oracle Magazine, there are several award winners that deserve our round of applause as well. Here’s the link to the online version of the article: http://www.oracle.com/technology/oramag/oracle/09-nov/o69awards.html.
In no particular order, here are just a few of the award winners:
Edwin Biemond – Java Developer of the Year. Edwin presented at ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2008 in New Orleans.
Chris Muir – Oracle ACE Director of the Year. Chris is ODTUG’s Fusion Middleware SIG Leader, is leading ODTUG’s track at the upcoming AUSOUG conference, and presented at Kaleidoscope 2009 in Monterey.
Dimitri Gielis – Oracle Application Express Developer of the Year. Dimitri has been a great friend to ODTUG, and despite his absence at Kaleidoscope 2009, his influence was still present. He helped organize the Oracle Application Express tracks at the conference, and won Best Speaker Presentation and Delivery for his presentation at the Kaleidoscope 2008 conference in New Orleans.
Congratulations to these and all of the other winners in the current issue of Oracle Magazine!
Oracle OpenWorld 2009 is in the books!
ODTUG participated at Oracle OpenWorld 2009 in San Francisco this past week. We had 16 sessions in Develop, the conference within a conference, 5 other sessions within the main conference, and hosted or co-hosted 4 different symposia on Sunday, also known as User Forum Day at Oracle OpenWorld. ODTUG, the home for Oracle developers, is the perfect user group to contribute sessions for Develop. While at Oracle OpenWorld, the ODTUG team introduced speakers representing ODTUG, met with other user group leaders, met with Oracle product managers, and met and answered questions of hundreds upon hundreds of attendees that wanted more information about our user group. Terrific job to all those that represented ODTUG at Oracle OpenWorld this year.
Unfortunately, I was NOT among those representing ODTUG this year at Oracle OpenWorld. The flu bug paid a visit to my house, and I unfortunately answered the door. However, I did have the good sense to stay home and try to prevent my spreading of this virus to all of my friends. So, while I missed seeing all of you, I’m quite certain you are all better off by not seeing me last week.
Congratulations to Oracle for putting on a tremendous show! I was able to listen to the keynotes and listen to some interviews via their live feeds. This helped me feel like I wasn’t missing everything. Great job on the interviews and the coverage by everyone, including Justin Kestelyn and the team from OTN. Thanks to everyone!
And the Nominees are… September 20, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, User Groups.add a comment
The ODTUG Board of Directors annually elects around half of the Board for a new two year term. This year, there are five slots open, and 8 outstanding nominees. We have 5 incumbents that have re-submitted their names for consideration: Jerry Ireland, Jeff Jacobs, John King, Bambi Price, and Tim Tow. There are three additional nominees interested in serving on the ODTUG Board: Monty Latiolais, Mark Rittman, and David Schleis.
Who would I like to see on the Board? While I won’t share my personal choices, I think all eight nominees have impressive credentials, experiences, and viewpoints to bring to the Board. They obviously have the desire, drive, and determination in which to represent the ODTUG members. In the end, there are no bad choices. I’d be proud to serve alongside any of these eight nominees. Jerry, Jeff, John, Bambi, Tim, Monty, David, and Mark – I wish you all the best of luck. This should be a great election.
How do you find out more about these candidates? The best way is if you already are acquaintances of these nominees, and talk with them. You can find out a lot of their interests and goals for the organization by talking with them. Their campaign statements and biographies are located http://www.odtug.com/apex/f?p=500:250:0.
Voting is now open through November 2, 2009. For the first time ever, the process is available on-line. On-line voting should enable more people to respond and vote, and will greatly simplify the tabulation process. Many thanks to Wendy Fletcher of the YCC staff, and to Scott Spendolini of Sumner Technologies to implement the change. As it states on the website, if you have any questions or problems when voting, please contact wendy@odtug.com.
One caveat to this voting process is that you must be a paid ODTUG member to vote. This is your opportunity to help shape the Board of Directors for the next two years. It is your responsibility to vote, and if you think that your vote does not matter, well, you’re sadly mistaken. I know that in the recent past there has actually been at least one tie in the voting results. As in any democratic process, your voice will be heard if you submit your vote, so get out there and do it!
OPP/APEXposed (http://www.odtugopp.com/ or http://www.odtugapextraining.com/) registration is going great! Don’t miss out on this amazing training and educational opportunity. Your next best opportunity will be at our annual Kaleidoscope conference next year (about 7 months beyond OPP/APEXposed). Can you afford to wait that long to get the answers that you need on that mission critical project? I didn’t think so…
Later…
Nominations and other tidbits… August 27, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups.add a comment
ODTUG (www.odtug.com) annually elects directors to serve on the Board of Directors. The people that are elected are expected to devote a considerable amount of time in support of the organization. We have monthly conference calls, and up to two face to face meetings per year. We are responsible for the leadership and planning for the group. If elected, the term is for a two year term. For more information, please click here. If you think you have what it takes, I look forward to seeing your nomination. The deadline for submissions is just over a week away, so please hurry.
In a recent announcement from Oracle, one more hurdle has been cleared in their bid to acquire Sun Microsystems. The U.S. Department of Justice has approved the acquisition, and it now faces one more hurdle: the European Commission. This governing body is expected to make an announcement concerning this acquisition in the very near future.
Oracle Open World 2009 is nearly upon us. ODTUG has 16 presentations that will be included within the body of Oracle Develop during Oracle OpenWorld. I hope that if you are attending that you will be able to head to one of our sessions, and sample just a little taste of what you can expect out of each and every session during our conference, ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010.
Speaking of ODTUG Kaleidoscope, our conference committee has already started meetings concerning the 2010 version of the conference. I look forward to sharing some of the details as soon as possible with you, just not quite yet…
20 years and counting… August 12, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups, Work.3 comments
I celebrated my 20th anniversary today at my work. I think that my length of service is an anomaly in the industry today, and a testament to the kind of company that I am proud to be employed by. Their support allows me to grow both personally and professionally, and without this support, I would not be able to volunteer for ODTUG in the fashion that I do now. Thanks for a great 20 years, Hortica Insurance and Employee Benefits. I look forward to the challenges that each and every day bring to my job! Let me know, you faithful readers, what your longest stint with a single company has been in your career up to this point. Please leave me a comment.
ODTUG’s SP Conference (here) or (here) is moving right along. The agenda is fairly well set, 5 tracks for PL/SQL and 3 tracks for Application Express. Keynotes by Steven Feuerstein, Bryn Llewellyn, Scott Spendolini and Mike Hichwa. Registration is already going well, and we anticipate another crowded house (no, not the band). Get your funding for registration, reserve your seat on a plane, and make your hotel registration now to ensure that we have space for you at this event. You won’t regret it.
Oracle OpenWorld 2009 is fast approaching. Lots of great sessions. Lots of great networking opportunities. A great, fun, and culturally diverse city. Oh, and by the way, one of the best user groups in the world will be present and in the User Group Pavilion. Many of our Board members will be present during the conference, some of them presenting sessions that you will be able to choose from. I hope to see you there in October.
Kaleidoscope 2010 planning is continuing. Look for an announcement soon on both the location and the opening of the abstract submission process. We are looking for the best of the best to present at Kaleidoscope 2010, and look to improve on our critically acclaimed Kaleidoscope 2009 conference.
Rolling on… August 1, 2009
Posted by odtug in ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups.add a comment
All seems quiet, but ODTUG continues to roll on…
In July, we have continued to work on the evaluation process for ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2009, in preparation for Kaleidoscope 2010. We always take a close look at the evaluations each year. This effort is continuous, as we are always trying to improve the conference. Regardless of how good of a job we think we did, there are always things that we can do better. Jeff Jacobs will be the conference chair for Kaleidoscope 2010, so he is taking an extremely active role in this process. I know that Jeff is focused on doing the things that will make your conference experience tremendous. Expect frequent updates about Kaleidoscope 2010 on this blog, including an announcement soon about the location for 2010. Our Executive Director, Kathleen McCasland has been planning site visits to various locations in order to secure a place for Kaleidoscope.
In the middle of July, Kathleen and I attended the North American President’s meeting in Atlanta, GA at the Oracle offices. This is a semi-annual meeting of the leaders of the major North American user groups. Oracle provides us the location and is always a wonderful host. Mary Lou Dopart and Tina Weiss do their best to make this experience as productive as possible for all involved, both Oracle representatives and user group representatives. Thanks Mary Lou and Tina!
Planning for Oracle OpenWorld 2009 also continues. This conference will be held in San Francisco from October 11-15. ODTUG will once again have a presence in the User Group Pavilion. I look forward to renewing our relationships with the other user groups, with our friends at Oracle, and with you, the members and friends of ODTUG. If you are planning on attending, please stop by our booth and say ‘Hi’. I look forward to the Appreciation Event, held on Wednesday October 14th on Treasure Island, this year featuring Aerosmith. I’ve seen Aerosmith a few times in the past (including once on a double bill program with KISS), and they always put on a tremendous show. I hope to see you there!
ODTUG has announced our Seriously Practical conference for 2009, OPP/APEXposed 2009, to be held in Atlanta, GA on November 10-11. Registration is now open, so you should make your plans now to attend. Steven Feuerstein and Scott Spendolini have put together a tremendous program for this conference.
There are many more things that ODTUG is planning and working towards. We are always focusing on bringing forth more value for both your membership dollar and your conference(s) registration fees. I’ll let you in on our plans as soon as I can.
Sorry for the short post, but I’m preparing to head out on a family vacation. Monterey was great this year, but I only got to see the conference hotel property, and Old Fisherman’s Wharf. I was too busy for really relaxing much. The family and I need to recharge our batteries, as the kids head back to school in less than 3 weeks.
A special Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife Lisa today!
