Story Telling, Oracle and Diving - #JoelKallmanDay

When my beloved Tim reached out for contributions to the Joel Kallman day, he suggested that personal topics were welcome. So I thought I would combine my 2025 diving odyssey and the work I do in the Oracle space as a storyteller.

I have been an Oracle partner for approaching 30 years and one of my skills is taking the facts of an implementation or project and telling it as a story that resonates with other customers. Not simply 'we implemented fusion cloud for customer X', but what is their business model, how do they interact with their customers and staff and what were the challenges they were looking to overcome with the implementation and then add a heavy dose of project highlights and low lights to make it real. I think I do it well and have had a good career on this basis. The question I asked repeatedly when building a story is "why? why? why?".

 

But this week I have learned more about storytelling from a real master Steve Backshall, who is a famous TV documentary maker for the BBC and his highlight show is Deadly 60 which is aimed at children, a real adventure program.

I had the privilege of meeting Steve earlier this year when he came to the same remote part of Indonesia where I was diving. He was actually trying to film a sugar glider that had the worst case of stage fright I've ever seen. Steve and his team had spent the previous week in Lembeh Straits where I was going the following week to learn to muck dive and his team had also filmed the whale sharks the day before that I and the group I was with did the next day.

Steve about to give up

We were asked not to talk on social media about the show until it was released and this happened just a couple of weeks ago and last night I sat down to watch the two episodes of Deadly 60 (series 6, episode s 2&3) that covered this.

 

The sugar guilder never got a look in, obviously not enough footage but part of the episode on sharks included the whale shark and a wobbegong and then there was a whole episode on oddball creatures which was the muck diving in lembeh.

I saw each and every one of those animals an ornate woebegone, the whale sharks and if you look at my photo of the whale shark right down by the tail, that speck diver is me. In Lembeh I saw the flamboyant cuttlefish, the mimic octopus, the bobbit worm, the hairy frogfish and my favourite the coconut octopus. I too went diving with Ben their guide. In fact Ben is the resort photographer and will help anybody who dives there, improve their photo skills regardless of what equipment they have.  

These are my efforts:

coconut octopus

Bobbit Worm

Woebegone Shark

Hairy Frogfish

Flamboyant Cuttlefish

Mimic Octopus

The two episodes which are on BBC iPlayer which you can easily download them in the UK and they will eventually turn up on their Youtube channel for those outside of the UK.  Having watched his episodes the way he told those stories to appeal to his audience of children and excite them by the wild world in which we live, reminded me that is not my story or the story of my customers and their projects I need to tell, but it's the story that engages those new customers and potential customers need to hear, what particularly are they looking for and where can I find something in one of my story books that will resonate with them.

 

I know this is not quite the Oracle blog that you might have been expecting but one about the soft skills I use in my job every day and a chance to share some of the photographs from my amazing trip this year. I am such a lucky person and this was all about my passion and going back to Joel community was his passion.

 

Happy Joel Kallman day

LAOUC 2025 Tour - The Extras

 

I said at the start of this tour that it was my sixth visit to LAOUC and what a privilege.

I like stats so here are mine for LAOUC:

That's 30 events in 17 cities, spanning 14 countries over 6 tours. Thankyou Oracle ACE Program for giving me these amazing opportunities.

The tours are full on, and very little time to see a lot but we try. If there is a spare day we will attempt a tourist day. Personally I try to add things to the trips, often diving, like Panama 9 years and this year in Mexico before the tour starts. I went to Machu Picu with Tim Hall in 2015 after that tour. Spent a lovely weekend in Cartagena on my first visit and great hosting from local user group leaders in many of the cities.

Deiby Gomez who I met many years ago from Guatemala and was their first ACE Director,  who's taken a break from speaking at conferences whilst he completed a degree in law, joined us for the Guatemala dinner and then hosted myself, Emmanuel Guzmán Rojas and his girlfriend for a day to Atitlan lake. I have been before to the top tourist place Antigua so this was a fantastic opportunity to see more of this beautiful country.

We started early in the morning as it is a long drive through the mountains but worth the journey. We arrived in time for breakfast overlooking the lake. There are several villages around the lake with the only realistic travel being by boat. Deiby had us a private boat and it was an amazing day, the villagers are used to tourists and have set up co-operatives to share their skills in coffee, bee keeping, cotton weaving and chocolate. We got to experience several of these as well as climbing to the viewing platform. I was even persuaded to do a couple of tuk tuk journeys, I am getting much braver in my old age.

I couldn't do the whole tour, just the first 4 countries but I did stay a night in Heathrow on the way back so I could meet up with Ronald Bradford and his family, Ronald who was a MYSQL ACE Director who I had previously travelled with on LAOUC tours and even attended his wedding and his family have visited me in N. Ireland.

I have made amazing friends over the years with the LAOUC tours and the wider ACE program and many are still friends today. With such a break since my last visit it was great to catch up with those I have not seen since, although most welcomes went "Welcome back to .........., it's great to see you again and where is Tim (Hall)?"

I don't intend to leave it so long next time and fit in perhaps one more tour before retirement and I promise I will try to take Tim with me but I can't guarantee it.

Return to Tour Reflections

LAOUC 2025 - Tour Reflections as an Oracle ACE

The tour isn't complete yet, but my contribution is. I only had 2 weeks available, which meant just the first 4 legs. Mexico City, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala.

I have been involved in user group events for over 25 years and have heard most feedback before but on this tour I met many first time 'tour' speakers, local, Oracle and ACE participants and thought I would share my thoughts.

ACE Director Funding:

This isn't a negative, in ANY way, just clearing up a few myths:

I am incredibly fortunate to have funding from the Ace program for many events. For participating ACE Directors they pay for flights and hotel, for the night before and off any sessions I deliver. It doesn't cover any extras, and often not what I actually pay for these two categories, but you know in advance, and it is your choice to participate at that point. I am not complaining, it is a generous contribution, and has enabled me to speak all over the world and experience many unforgettable events, make real friends, and visit places I may not have visited otherwise.

Other ACEs are not funded by Oracle, they may be lucky and have employer funding, and in the past I have benefited from this, but many are contractors or their own small business and this is not only direct costs but also non billing days.

For the usergroups:

When the individual uaergroups that make up a tour, they determine the dates. If they want speakers to do multiple legs, especially if funded under the ACE program (ACE Directors only), then they need to be close together, but that also needs to be feasible.

We did Panama one day and flew onto Guatemala the same day. That makes the day incredibly long for the participants, and means the usergrpoup cannot host the speakers after the event if they want to.

The tour organisers need to set up a group chat, we used WhatsApp on this tour which is great, and doesn't cause issues for people from overseas. But it should be setup at planning stage, not just for the actual tour. It is really great to travel in small groups, share rides and know you aren't the only one on a flight. You don't all need to travel and stay together, people have favourite airlines and hotels, but by sharing information you get nice sociable travel packets.

I travelled with Alex Zaballa, I have done several LAOUC tours with Alex when he was an ACE Director but now he is at Oracle itself. He was also joined by two other speakers from Brazil,  Gilson Martins and Mario Barduchi. Alex and I became travel mentors to Gilson who was on his first tour. I hadn't met Gilson before in person but he did interview me for his GoldenTalks Women's Day video. Alex was our foodie and most of his restaurant picks were awesome but don't mention "spoon' in Costa Rica (not his best).

Hospitality is really appreciated, it gives the speakers a chance to meet with each other, especially those only at that event. ACEs should be encouraging local speakers to join the program and help those who are trying to progress to the higher levels. This is a great time to do that. Often there are Oracle Product Managers speaking and that gives a chance for new relationships to be formed.

It is helpful if the local event can recommend hotels, including corporate chains, and give an indication (real not optimistic) traffic times. Most foreigners rely on Uber and what we didn't factor for in Mexico was the time it takes to actually secure an Uber. We don't want to be late but equally don't want to unnecessarily give up any  sleep :)

At the locations we are not overly needy but we do need good AV systems with on sight people to help if there are problems. Internet is also a must, we want to demo systems and that requires connect ability.

Audience Expectation:

Often events are held in universities, but this doesn't always mean the audience is students. They may be local users and just in a university because they are cost effective. There may be a lot of students and there maybe a mixed audience. All variables are good but speakers need to know. We need to adapt our content for heavily student audiences.

Personally I love speaking to students, they want to know about careers that use the technology they are learning. Those universities like Mexico and Panama that are already linked to Oracle are a great opportunity to encourage them to do more. Access to Oracle learning is so much easier now with Livelabs so they can take up more learning and gain even more interest in Oracle which is what we all want.

One student in Panama came up to me later in the day and said she only came to my session as her boyfriend suggested it, but she liked the way I talked about Oracle and was really impressed and will look at it more. Speakers live for comments like that.

Being part of a tour is such a privilege and real fun. I have made so many friends on tours where you really get to know people, and have stayed friends like I said on my 'extra's post.

LAOUC 2025 Guatemala

We arrived in Guatemala about midnight their time, which is an hour behind Panama where we came from. So we were really tired and the event started early, so little time for sleep.

Up early the next day for the conference. Not sure why but I had 3 back to back sessions, which kept me busy, then it was lunch and I went back to hotel for some sleep before a wonderful speaker's meal.

The extra session I did here was my All You Need To Know About Oracle, and for again a mainly student audience it is a great session. Oracle want students to think of Oracle as a viable option and remembering a funny story is a great way to instal that thought process.

In one of my sessions there were two APEX developers who work for a bank. It is there first job out of university and they had never really considered why some organisations are so dependant on legacy systems. My roadmapping session, albeit generic for the audience, made sense of the strategy that they have found in their employer.

Return to Tour Reflections

LAOUC 2025 Tour - Panama

Quick flight from Costa Rica to Panama and onto the third leg. We arrived at lunchtime and went off to find an incredible but a very reasonable restaurant.  

Then I retired to the hotel, where I had an upgrade to a junior suite overlooking the ocean. I have stayed at this hotel before wish we had longer. it was by far the best hotel of the tour.

This really was an in an out stop, I didn't even go out again in the evening as I knew I tomorrow was going to be a long day, a full covariance and then fly to Guatemala for the next leg.

I gave my two presentations and again there was a larger percentage of students, and I will talk about that again in my summary blog. When I gave the EBS Roadmapping session the user group leader said he wished one of their big organisations had been there, a food and beverage company. Two arrived after lunch so I gave them a private run through.

The event was held at the Univeridad del Valle or UVG, and like the one in Mexico, it is an Oracle Academy university. That means they have lecturers like Paulo below are trained in Oracle technology (SQL, Java and APEX) and are given a curriculum and resources to teach. When a student gains certification they get points towards their degree. These students were really keen to learn how these skills are used in the outside world.

The day finished quite abruptly as a thunder storm erupted and the university lost power, but it only affected the last session of the day. 

Big thanks to Edardo and the usergroup team and Thankyou for the gift 

Then it was a panic to get an uber to the airport due to the weather but when he did turn up he was obviously sent by a higher power.

Return to Tour reflections

LAOUC 2025 Tour - Costa Rica

The second leg of the Latin America tour was Costa Rica. 

I arrived with most of the other speakers on Saturday late afternoon and we had Sunday free before the event on Monday. We did think about visiting a volcano but the trip is pretty full on and stressful and we just didn’t get around to looking at it early enough, so we downloaded an audio app of places of interest and just went walking, listening to the app like a guide. The city of San Jose is quite compact but full of green areas and parks with lots of museums and spectacular monuments. It was a really enjoyable morning. 

We went to an Argentinian restaurant for lunch and it was amazing.

The event on Monday started quite early although it was a much less stressful Uber ride to the university and then after a kickoff at 8:45 am, the sessions followed. I again did my roadmapping talk to a room mainly students and again adapted it for them. After lunch which was provided by Pythian sponsorship, I gave my talk on AI comparing it with between EBS and Fusion applications. There wasn’t really a large audience but what I did have was a great conversation with fellow speakers about what is required to make applications work with AI on premise.

At 6 pm when the sessions were over, all the speakers Again became a panel for the audience to ask AI questions. 

This session was deliberately aimed at the students and over 65 stayed right to the end at gone 7pm. We had the obvious questions. 'Will AI take the jobs?' etc but we also had a few thought provoking questions like 'did we think AI would stifle music?',' Did we think that our thirst for AI would use up what precious resources we have left'. 

After this there was a speakers reception so a very long day but so worthwhile thank you Eddie Molina for having us back and for me my fifth visit to Costa Rica.

Return to Tour Reflections

LAOUC 2025 Tour - First Stop Mexico

I wrote about my excitement of joining the Latin America Oracle User Community tour this year not having been part of it since before Covid.

The tour started in Mexico City. I arrived early the evening before having taken the opportunity to go diving in the north of Mexico prior to the event, so not too long ago flight from Cabo San Lucas. A number of speakers were staying in the same hotel and we all met at breakfast before boarding Ubers to the university where the event was being held. Mexico City has a population of about 22 million and I think all of them were out in cars at that time. Eventually #3 at the university and guess what - we were not at the right one, so another quick Uber to navigate a sprawling university and we were there.

I was on in the first session time slot and set up included finding a rather old projector with a VGA connector and whilst we had HDMI adaptors it was a little temperamental. My first presentation was my roadmapping session and I had made an effort to translate the content into Spanish. Unfortunately the projector wasn’t helping people to be able to read it! After my session the AV people did manage to improve the presentations so the rest of the day was better.

I’m always worried at events where English isn’t the attendees first language, what effect this has on the audience and when an event is held in the university, what the mix of actual users and students will be. I shouldn’t have worried, it was mainly students in this first session about 3/4 of the room and those that were Oracle users were in the main consultants so I actually talked about why organisations have on premise applications still in use and not just the shiny new applications or technologies that the students are learning about at the moment and we had a very good conversation.

One audience member said that Costa Rica you can do an internship in Cobal and if successful and get a job, you’ll earn four times the national wage in your first job. I think this was a great discussion and a lesson for the students that many of the organisations they may work for will have some older but mission critical systems. My roadmapping is relevant to them all, what factors should they be looking at.

Just before an amazing lunch there was an Ace Director panel where we discussed our experiences with AI. It was very well done with questions being asked across the panel. We’re five of the 78 directors were Spanish speaking and then when the English speaking myself and Kai Yu, the user group leader Ronaldo Carrasco translated although most of the audience didn’t need it.

My second presentation was comparing AI in E Business Suite and Fusion applications and I spent some time beforehand thinking about how I could make that more generic if my audience was again student centric as it had been in the morning. However I had a smaller audience but most were EBS users and we had a great discussion as I gave this presentation. 

After the event which was such a success for ORAMEX the Mexican user group. It was time to go back to our hotels and a large group of speakers went out to a local taco bar for dinner.

Next up is Costa Rica. Many are travelling today although some are spending an extra day in Mexico City to see some of the sights.

(Thanks to Gilson Martins for many of the photos).

Return to Tour Reflections

LAOUC 2025 Tour - Excited to be back

 

One of the first Oracle ACE tours I took part in was Latin America in 2011, and I fell in love with the hospitality. As a nation they thirst for knowledge and they welcomed the ACE speakers who came to talk to them.

I quickly realised that they had their own amazing speakers and user group leaders and over time the ACE program encouraged then to join the program. Many are still my friends today.

I was privileged to take part 5 times.

2011 https://debrasoracle.blogspot.com/2011/07/highlights-and-thoughts-from-otn-latin.html

2012 https://debrasoracle.blogspot.com/2012/07/latin-america-north-otn-tour.html

2014 https://debrasoracle.blogspot.com/2014/08/laotntour-2014-latin-america-north-tour.html

2015 https://debrasoracle.blogspot.com/2015/08/2015-laotn.html

2016 https://debrasoracle.blogspot.com/2016/08/otn-latin-america-tour-2016.html

The ACE program is split into regions and I am EMEA so it is even more special to be supported by them in Latin America and I thank them for sending me again, 9 years since my last visit. I look forward to meeting up with those I have met before through to new Oracle users attending their first conferences.

I am speaking at the first 4 legs of this year's LAOUC Community Tour , Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala.

At all four events I will be giving my Roadmapping talk for on premise customers and then Comparing AI  in EBS to Fusion Applications and why I think AI may be the tipping point for on premise.

In a couple of events I will also be giving my All You Need to Know About Oracle for those new to our world.

I can't thank the ACE program enough for supporting me and for the individual uaergroups for inviting an Apps non Spanish speaking individual to their events.

Link to Tour Reflections

Looking Back at the US Conference Season

The  conference season in the US is over and I am getting around to the blog. If nothing else this gives me a list of where I have spoken to look back on.

I try to be involved in 3 US user events, ASCEND, BLUEPRINT 4D and KSCOPE. This year the events all happened in a 2 week period and that made it impossible, and I had to miss Blueprint, but I hope I will be forgiven and that I can be part of 2026.

ASCEND for me is mainly about the E Business Suite, and I spoke 4 times, twice in their pre conference webinar series and then twice on site. 

First up was a conversation with Mia Urman from Auraplayer on Modernizing EBS, I always love speaking with Mia, her passion for EBS and getting the most out of it is infectious and no surprise she was announced as member of the year for OATUG. We have also just heard that we will speak again on this subject at Oracle Cloud World.

Then I did part one of AI in EBS and comparing it to Fusion. This was based on an earlier webinar that was so well received we split it into two. Part two was one site in Orlando. I also wrote about the topic here.

Finally I spoke with Mohan Dutt and Soumit Roy on Juicy Opportunities with Gen AI: Squeezing the Full Potential of Oracle E-Business Suite. Definitely a popular topic.

Important for me was understanding what people are doing with EBS, so as well as attending some sessions and meeting with both our customer's I asked lots of users what they are doing, and this will shape some of our upcoming webinars and services.

I also wrote a blog about how I interpreted the messages and what I learnt.

ASCEND also covers Fusion but with a smaller audience, as expected there was a lot here about AI as well. From Oracle the main message was about the soon to be released AI Agent Studio. I attended pre training a few weeks ago and the possibilities are endless. I came away with 2 immediate use cases. I always say you should be looking at challenges it can help resolve rather than just the new technology. At Ascend I spent time with Nancy Estell Zoder, giving feedback and explaining these use cases. Part of the ACE Director role is feedback to development and this was an excellent opportunity.

I love the chance to catch up with old friends and make new friends and  the loviest thing happened this year. Floyd Teter is an amazing advocate for Oracle applications and I knew was not going to be at ASCEND but after one of my sessions a delegate came up to me and introduced himself as Floyd's son. He is just starting his EBS career. 

Then it was a quick flight to Dallas to KSCOPE and I cover that here in another blog. I am on the board of ODTUG and so KSCOPE is my personal priority, and where I learn about the technology underpinning and enhancing the applications.

However between the two, at early o'clock on the Saturday morning, I took and passed the Fusion AI Agent Studio exam, which went live on the day before. User organisations need to know their partners are trained and certified in these new technologies.

My attendance at ASCEND was sponsored by Oracle through the ACE program and I have another post about that too.

Dates for next year:

Blueprint 4 D - May 4 - 7 Dallas

Ascend - June 8 - 11 Orlando

KSCOPE - June 14 - 18 Denver

KSCOPE 25 - Now I have finally recovered!

 

I love KSCOPE, but you would expect me to say that, I am a current board director for ODTUG, looking for re-election.

But I do love it, I am an applications person, but its success is the technology it is based on and how we can use technology to extend them. KSCOPE is where I come to learn about that. I attended my first KSCOPE in 2007 and have only missed one since.

This year KSCOPE was in Dallas, and although it started on the Sunday, the board arrived the Thursday before, for a full day of meetings on the Friday. 

The meeting started with a quick update on the conference but the rest was about ODTUG, we published a strategy earlier in the year and we each have areas to deliver on. Kurt Mayer and I are responsible for communities, and one area we have worked on is the OCI Community that was announced at conference. This is especially important to me as this is where we extend the Apps. Where we use APEX there is a vibrant community, but Visual Builder, Integration and other OCI services do not have a clear home. We have had content but they have been streams and more recently tags in the Database Track. So we pitched for and had approved by the board an OCI Community. I hope this will not only deliver for OCI but give more focus and clarity to the Database Community. We asked Basheer Khan if he would be interested in leading the community and he stepped up, and in the run up to the launch, organised a series of webcasts.

Monty Latiolas was the KEO for KSCOPE 24 & 25 but has handed the batten over to Sara Beth Good for KSCOPE26 and planning has started for that already.

After a very full day, Saturday started with a session to determine what we need in our mobile app, creating a purchasing document when the team is so technical means we often run down solutioning rabbit holes but as ever Jackie McIlroy our President kept us in order. However I did get up even earlier to take an Oracle AI Studio Exam! There was a welcome reception for volunteers in the afternoon.

Sunday is our Symposiums, where Oracle Product Managers who support KSCOPE in force. Many delegates come in early especially for these, I floated between a few and welcomed people to the event.

Then we had welcomes for speakers and newcomers in the exhibition hall before the first networking session. Conferences would be unaffordable for delegates if we didn't have sponsors and exhibitors. This year the exhibition was fun and lively and in no small way thanks to Elizabeth Ferrell who unfortunately had to miss the conference due to a virus. 

The theme of a state fair worked well with lots of fairground attractions, and money was raised for a local charity Cook Childrens including a very generous contribution from our top sponsor AppliedOLAP . One of those stalls was a dunk the board tank. I volunteered ahead of time, but when I saw it I almost pulled out, but my favourite quote is "Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the mood in which you said it has gone" - so I had a sneaky go when no one was looking to make sure I could actually get back out again. 

Some people enjoyed this just a little bit too much - you know who you are! Thank you Connor McDonald for the video.

Monday started early with rehearsal for the general session, and then I facilitated a panel session on Visual Builder v APEX. This is my bailiwick, and the discussion was really interesting. Both products are strategic to Oracle and the APEX team shared how they are working even closer with the SaaS development teams.

At lunch time it was the Women In IT event and I was a table facilitator, There was a good sprinkling of men in the room which I love and my table had a great discussion on how they saw themselves in the work place.

The general session was excellent and started with an opening video the board were very proud off. We recorded our parts individually (mine from a hotel room when travelling) and the team at YCC our management company did the magic with a sprinkling of AI and came up with the final clip. I loved it.

There was information, a thank you to Monty, a lifetime achievement award for Edward Roske who has finished his time on the board and stepping away a bit from the Oracle world (but I don't believe that). Videos for both of these are on our youtube channel.

I made the announcement of the OCI Community here with Basheer. So pleased we have delivered. We made the plea for more volunteers and if you are interested sign up here.

Each year there are two awards, one for volunteer which for the first time was a repeat recipient, Karen Cannell. In the last year amongst many things she has done for ODTUG she took over from me as lead for the Innovation Incubator Committee (new ideas), and was the leading light for both the ACE Alliance launched just before conference but in full swing in the ACE lounge, and the APEX Boot camp initiatives. Her partner in crime on the boot camps, Product Manager Jayson Hanes was awarded the Oracle Volunteer Award. Both so well deserved.

Then there was a magician, or rather Keelan Leyser is a World-leading Tech Magician, Mentalist, Digital Illusionist and Optical Illusion Expert. I was a bit sceptical as I don't like magic as I need to know how things work, but I actually really enjoyed his show. 

Back to sessions and then the evening there was more networking (and dunking for me), the ACE Dinner (more about ACE activities here) and then community events such as Open Mike and the very popular Silent Disco. Obviously there was also the traditional Werewolf games played into each night.

Tuesday and Wednesday plenty of education content starting very early, I don't get the opportunity to attend as much as I would like as the board try and meet with each Product Management group whilst they are on site and look at what they can improve and work on together over the next year. This is so important as these relationships are key to our success. I truly believe that improving what we do between the conferences in the communities will make the annual KSCOPE even better.

The special event Wednesday evening is something everyone looks forward to. This year the theme was Stars over Texas and there were many interpretations from celestial goddesses to 4th of July. I went for the later. Love this picture from the official photographer of myself with Wayne Van Sluys.

My board task for the evening was to get everyone who wanted to go back to the resort on the buses. Easier said then done when everyone had had such a great time. The venue was inspired, food and drink flowed and the drone show was magic. 

Thursday morning, had yet more sessions but more community focused and then we had a final session where top presenters were acknowledged. A tradition from KSCOPEs before that had been missing for a while. Back by popular demand. Monty, you and your team delivered a great event.

Now, if I can just get elected again for next year......

If you want to know more about KSCOPE this is the video for you.

ACE DIrector Duties / Fun

I am very proud of being an ACE Director but sometimes I wonder if we look to others like an elitist group of speakers just having fun. So I thought I would share my last few weeks as an ACE Director during a couple of user group conferences, ASCEND and KSCOPE. 

The ACE program, in my words, is an advocate program run by Oracle recognising those with Oracle knowledge that share it.

The official description - "It recognizes, rewards, and promotes technical experts and community leaders for their amazing contributions to the Oracle community".

There are currently three levels which recognise the varying contributions to the community, which can be blogging (technical), Articles, webinars and presentations, books etc. ACEs are also recognised for their contributions creating the community, user group leaders etc. Your contribution is reviewed each year. 

I am an ACE Director, the top level which requires a constant flow of sharing, it cannot be crammed in to get over the requirements line. The number of ACE Directors is just under 100 but varies as people come and go, often by going to work for Oracle itself. You can see who is in the program here.

One benefit at ACE Director is some funding towards attending events. There are strict rules and it doesn't cover all the costs but much appreciated. My attendance at ASCEND was partially funded by the program. They also sponsored some at KSCOPE but as I am on the board and they rightly exclude sponsorship for board members.

At most conferences there is an ACE dinner, for all ACES, and at ASCEND we left the resort and a big thanks to Jen Nicholson who runs the program for Oracle and Connor McDonald who is responsible for the group photos on this post.

AT KSCOPE we stayed on site, and had a great evening.

Sometimes we also have ACE Adventures, a fun outing where there are a number of ACEs attending. At ASCEND conference our ACE Adventure was to the Kennedy Space Centre. I was hoping it would be more than a theme park and didn't really know what to expect, and I was surprised at how interesting I found it. The area I enjoyed most was the area remembering astronauts who have died. For each one there was a display of things important to them, not just their space program credentials. Very human.

Then we did the Shuttle Launch Simulator, and I didn't want to do it. I hate rides, but with gritted teeth I got into it. It was pointed out to me that there were children under 10 on it so it couldn't be too bad, and that made me realise i was being daft. Actually it wasn't too bad, a bit like a flight in economy with a child kicking the back of your seat the entire time!

These social events are fun, but they are also a chance to discus what we are up to and innovation in Oracle technology dinners. There is no fluff, these are experts, I can ask people questions in other areas without feeling stupid and they ask me application questions.

When the event also has Oracle Product Managers, the ACE Program try to arrange an ACE only briefing, no marketing, deep technical and open questions. KSCOPE which attracts more Product Managers than any other conference is an obvious place to have these.

Where possible there is an ACE session at events, the opportunity to encourage new people to join the program. I wasn't officially on the panel at ASCEND but attended to support and found myself upfront sharing my thoughts. Jen Nicholson who runs the program, attended both events so was able to talk to so many people who are interested.

At KSCOPE there was an Oracle area in the exhibition hall and included an ACE lounge where people could come and chat to ACES on duty about the program and see how they can get involved. I had several conversations with people who want to support the community this way. One gentleman took his photograph at an ACE poster which he says he will share when he reaches his ambition and gets into the program, it is seen as valuable. ACEs are expected to recruit others, look out for those they think are contributing and encourage them to look at applying. ODTUG has recently launched our ACE Alliance to support those wanting to join, but also help those who want to move through the levels. 

Two ACE members who have benefiting from ODTUG are Sarah Dow and Lydia Maksoud and here they are celebrating their recent promotion to ACE Pro at the KSCOPE special event.

Obviously I need to keep up the contributions, the speaking which I love, so in between the fun, I had many presentations to deliver and at KSCOPE with my other board members busy behind the scenes. No rest for the wicked!

If you have any questions on the program, look at the information available and feel free to reach out.