2015 LAOTN - Summary - Was it Worth it?

I am often asked if the ACE tours are worthwhile? Are the numbers high enough? Is it good value for money?

Don’t judge them as individual events, think about what they are trying to achieve and look back at them.

I have done 4 Latin America tours and I can only say, yes they are worthwhile.

The numbers have increased over the years and the level of local participation is what I really like, more locals taking part in the running of the groups and speaking. The ACE Directors are the minority of the speakers at the events and that is great to see.

I am not sure if it is in the job description but I believe part of our role is to recognise, nurture and encourage the local talent, and when you see those who are now in the ACE program themselves; it makes me feel great.

Most user groups are technology based, and speaking about Apps is almost like being ‘second cousin’ but I don’t mind. I would rather have a small audience who are interested, but throughout Latin America I got bigger audiences than I expected, there is real interest in both my presentations that I gave in all locations. ‘Do Fusion (Cloud) Applications Really stack up?’ and ‘PaaS4SaaS’ – Brazil has just opened its own datacentre to cater for the need in Latin America.

There is a real interest in using Cloud, although for a lot of attendees it is about understanding the offering and the reality. Tim Hall talked about some of the other Cloud offerings and his findings show Oracle still has some way to go to achieve what they want in all areas of the Cloud.

Personally, I get to share knowledge, learn from the audience and fellow speakers, make new friends and catch up with old ones. I do make the effort to see where I visit and can't thank the ACE Program enough for the opportunity.

I also want to thank the user groups that select my sessions and to my employers Certus, who have always recognised the value to them in supporting me.