OOW Day 3

I am surprised I have even managed to atend anything, 43,000 people keep stopping me to ask if I am the Elevator Girl. Yesterday I was interviewed by Oracle about it, Mix is fun and really being used here at OOW and this has made a great story. Put 'elevator oow' and see how many hits you get, I believe there is also a video. Everyone wants their five minutes of fame and boy have I had mine.

As for the real content of the show, I went to Thomas Kurians keynote yesterday and saw a slick story board of part of the product set, still thinking about what I want to day but will be probably about Saturday when I sober up.

OOW Day 2

So it is the end of day 2 and I am exhausted. I still haven't unpacked and I ahve been here since Saturday!

My famous elevator event is still the talk of twitter mix-to-the-rescue and this morning Judy Sim asked if it was true and not just a 'wind up'.But remember I wasn't on my own I had Mike Riley of ODTUG with me. We have set up a group on Oracle Mix called 'stuck in an elevator @ OOW' and someone has asked to join!





This morning started with a breakfast meeting and then I attended the keynote until I had to go to the Michael Phelps Meet and Greet, and then I did my Open Hours in the OTN lounge. Not many questions but it was good to see a lot of friens from the ACE Director community.

At 2.30 I had my first presentation of the day where I talked with my boss on 'Extended the E Business Suite with Hyperion' and we discussed the challenges and benefits of both Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning. It was well attended mainly by EBS customers who are seriously considering these products.

Then a quick sprint but to Moscone West to my last presentation of 3 '10 Things you can do to prepare for Fusion Now' with Nadia. At the end I demonstrated the web tool users groups have commissioned and validated to help you our members to start the thought process. I will blog about this in more detail after Open World but I really urge organisations to start the thought process.

Then it was off to the round of receptions and dinners and I so wish I could go to them all but now I am back in my room, fighting the jet lag and thinking about tomorrow.

Special Guest at OOW

Charles Phillips opened his keynote with a great overview and then introduced Michael Phelps, Olympic Gold Medals Winner.

This guy had a dream to be the best and achieve something no other person had ever done, and he did it. hats off to him for the dedication and achievement. As a mum who drove her daughter to swimming training until other interests took over I have a small insight into what personal sacrifices he and his family must have made.

I was honoured to be asked to attend a meet and greet brunch with Michael and he was such a nice individual.

During his talk with Charles he said that whilst many millions saw him on TV he had not actually had 4000 in the same room so OOW was his biggest audience to date.

Great motivation speech for us all.

Day 1 OOW

Who would have thought so many people read my blog? I have had so many ask me about the lift experience having seen either Oracle Mix or the blog itself. So now I know I have an audience I will have to actually think about what I write.

Yesterday was User Group Day and OPN so for me very busy. But I was also invited to the Oracle Inner Circle. I have previously said how user groups have contributed to the Fusion Applications process and as leader for that along with other involved groups were given an update and demonstration of what has been acheved.

Unfortunatley it is all under Non Disclosure so I can't give you details, I had hoped more would be said in the main OOW but now I am not so sure. What I do know is I had previously seen bits I had contributed to, and it was the same for all other attendees, but at yesterday's event, Steve Miranda demonstrated for two hours a selection of the entire product suite. That is NOT vapour ware.

Over lunch they played a number of videos with comments from the different participants, (I was in one about input from customers), and everyone was as enthusiastic about it as Floyd and I who have already blogged our excitment.

After Steve got his breath back then Thomas Kurian answered questions. It was an excellent session.

What I came away with was a question? As a user the experience is excellent truely a single view of the enterprise, but as an enterprise it will be much more difficult to clearly appreciate the different technolgies underpinning that experience and i should be asking now, am I prepared?

Luckily Nadia and I are addressing a small part of that this afternoon at 4pm in Moscone West. Come along and at least find out the questions you should be asking.

Serious Stuff Starts Soon

It is 7am in San Francisco, hopefully I have done as much UK work as I need to and now I am about to get ready for my first session.

I am attending extending OBIA an IOUG session at 8 (how keen is that) and then at 9 the EOUC sessions. I give an update at 10 about what we have been doing in EMEA and then it is off to have a chat about Fusion.

This afternoon, quick change and I am Fujitsu at the OPN event. Will tell you what I learnt later

Free at Last

We were rescued after 92 minutes by a very nice guy from OTIS, once he got the door opened they passed down a chair to let us climb out.

The hotel manager could not have been nicer but it was great to be out.

The Oracle MIX moderator even phoned the hotel, so I don't care what anyone says 'Oracle DOES listen'

Off for a well deserved sleep

Party On

Now there is Kathleen, Larrissa, and Jerry from ODTUG, Bambi is on her way and Ronan is there as well. Rick from the hotel is great, he has never left us since we first reported this.

No, No, No they are going, their restaurant awaits, but OTIS have arrived, this could be it, we may get freed.

I have checked out the Oracle Mix page on oracle.com and said I would like to be rescued, so please vote for this.

I have also set up the 'Stuck in the Elevator @ OOW' Group and only Mike and I can be members.

Battery is dying

This could be my last blog, and the power is dying on the laptop. Rick says 'hang on in there' and we are still smiling but still stuck.

There are lots of things I thought I would do this week but this was not on the list but at least I am having fun.

I think we should call Mary Lou Dopart as this is definatley a job for Global Customer Programs.

When they said make sure you have an elevator pitch for Larry I didn't think I would have this long to rehearse it :)

Bye till I get power (the lead is in my room)

Hotel Staff at the Marriott

Apart from telling us the lift gets stuck 2 or 3 times a month by being overweight (yes I'm Big but not that big and there are only 2 of us), the hotel staff have been great, we have Rick outside on floor 11 and the hotel manager keeps ringing us to check up on us. He promises us a drink in the bar of our choice, once we get out.

We are still in good spirits and it is now fast approaching 50 minutes, people have come along and said hallo, and then got bored and left, so we do need that party.

Apparently no fireman yet, they will try OTIS first.

So why am I in an elevator with Mike?

My really nice hotel room has high speed internet and I have so much work to do, but it wont allow VPN access, so I went down to the lobby to see if it would work and it didnt, so I got into the elevator, not very happy and came upto my floor and Mike got in, we had a quick hug and the doors closed so Mike put his hand out to stop it and the lift moved and now we are between the 10th and 11th floor.

SO if you are in San Francisco patiently waiting for OOW to start the party is here, car#11 somewhere between the 10th and 11th floors. Bring a bottle and a straw and we can join in. This could be the best party all week.

Mike has a camera in his cell phone so we will have photos later

Best Place to be in San Francisco

Where do you think this blog is being sent from?

Moscone Centre, Hilton, Marriott Bar, Union Square or Fishermans Wharf? No I am in a special user group meeting in the Mid Rise Elevator of the Downtown Marriott! Myself from UKOUG and Mike Riley from ODTUG,Security can't help and OTIS will be 45 minutes.

I dont have that much battery left on my PC but we can chat till then.....

Last time I saw Mike was at ODTUG in New Orleans in the summer and I wanted a Big Yellow School Bus and now all I want is a San Francisco Fire Department (Hunk, good looking please).

It is 0138 hours UK but 1738 SFO time, we have a mobile phone and currently are still laughing but Kathleen from ODTUG suggested i sent a blog so here you are, if I'm not ready for my first presentation you know why....

Ready, Steady, GO!

Well I am writing this from the Virgin Lounge at Heathrow, waiting for my flight to San Francisco for this year's Oracle Open World.

My diary is so full I had to pay excess luggage, but I will try and get the most out of the week and then I am staying the weekend to chill and relax.

Sunday is OPN and User Group Day, I want to do both but am privileged to have been invited to the Fusion Inner Circle which is also on tomorrow. Party wise there is the OPN event and an Oracle ACE reception, so again I am spoilt for choice. Busy, busy, busy. My boss from Fujitsu is also here and it will be the first time he has witnessed me at OOW so post nice things about me please.

I am giving an update on EOUC activities in the User Group program and hope to be at the OAUG Fusion Council Panel Discussion and Q&A, Sunday, September 21, 2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m., room 2016, Moscone West, if only to find out who is going to try and fill Floyd's shoes.

Monday is my busiest day (except Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). I have 2 presentations I have already blogged, one on Hyperion with EBS (Telegraph Hill, Intercontinental Hotel 2.30 - 3.30), and then really exciting the Fusion Readiness Session with my good friend Nadia (Room 2024 Moscone West 4pm - 5pm). Not only will you learn about getting ready for Fusion but i will be launching a 'how ready are you' tool put together for everybody in collaboration between users groups and Oracle, come along and see it.

Well time for some pampering before my flight, speak again when I arrive.

How busy can one person be??

My diary is full, so full I am not sure I will be sleeping in San Francisco.
I thought I would stay the weekend after and enjoy the US, but now I think I will just sleep.

No time to write anything else, but will try and tell you what I am upto before I go

Thinking of Fusion

So after the distractions of last week its time to get ready for Open World. My slides have to be in by Tuesday so I need to concentrate on them.

Like my friend Floyd I too have been privileged to have a ‘sneak’ preview of Fusion Apps. It is all under non disclosure so I can’t give any details but what I saw I liked, I loved!

What blew me away was the vision, all of the technology is here today and I could identify with it all, but it was all together in a single place.


So if the technology is available today, could I build it? Well not me (I’m not technical enough), but yes if I had the resources, the investment and above all the vision I could, but the problem with visionaries is we don’t take them seriously. Remember how we all laughed at the first mobile phones?

So Oracle has the vision and I hope that in no small way part of that came from listening to users. I know I saw what I wanted and what user group members have been telling us since the concept started.

I expect we will hear a lot more at OOW and then we can talk more. And Fusion is a journey, think back to that mobile phone, when we started to use them we always wanted the next model, I want Fusion v1 and I hope that Oracle will continue to listen to users as they think about future releases. A great opportunity for a proper Oracle enhancement process…

Another Great Dane

Two blogs in one day and both about Great Oracle Danes (GODS?), but please DO NOT think this blog is anything what so ever to do with the earlier one. Perhaps they should get a listing here :)


You may well have heard today, the Oracle rumour mill has been very busy, that Jesper Andersen has resigned from Oracle.

I have been in touch and he tells me he is going to Cisco to head up their Network Management team.

Jesper has been the executive sponsor of the IOUC Product Development Committee from the start of the PDC and his decision to work through a single channel for Fusion was the catalyst for this committee representing all user groups globally to come and work together and achieve all that we have for our respective members. I want to thank Jesper for the encouragement and support he has given our group and ultimately our members.

Personally I want to thank him for his presentation and engagement style. Whether he speaks to a large audience or a single customer, he manages to explain clearly the subject and leave everybody with a better understanding. In my own user group UKOUG he received the highest possible scoring last year and won the praise of our Financials Special Interest Group leader which is an achievement in itself. We will miss him.

There is NO truth in the rumour that him leaving it is related to him being accidentally introduced in Paris recently as a different kind of Scandinavian when he said ‘Make the most of this presentation, I won’t be back’.:)

I will always think fondly of Jesper and think of him as "Mr Fusion" and wish him well in the future.

Weird Oracle Related Videos

Please read this carefully BEFORE you click on the links.

Work should be fun, and the best 'experts' I know are the people who laugh and make me laugh and yet educate me at the same time. All the people I know who are involved in user groups are like that and I have said before how much I am honoured by being part of the ACE program, they are too.

But some people need a special mention, in fact as we would say in the UK, some people are just 'special'. And one person who certainly needs this tag is Mogens Nørgaard of Miracle. This is a man who owns a very successful IT company and openly states all profits go into his brewery.

You may have heard of his youtube video 'The Oracle Nose Job' where he has Oracle installed by a colleague wearing a straight jacket using only his nose and you may think that is the video I am highlighting here, well yes I am but yesterday he went further. A local radio station wanted to interview him today about life in his office, and someone made a joke which in true Mogens style he followed through.

Can I ask that you listen to this video first, listen to the laughter and then and only then watch it? Please remember the radio listeners could not see the video, so to get the full effect you must not watch the video until afterwards. And when you do make sure there are no children, vulnerable adults or pets anywhere near your computer.

If you want to meet Mogens 'in the flesh' he is presenting at OOW (S300479 - The Danish Experiment: Oracle Database 11g Shock Upgrades and Massive Workload Reduction via COBS, Thursday at 9am) , MOOW and UKOUG over the next few months but that will be another story.