25 AUSOUG Perth

This was my fourth visit to Perth, having been with AUSOUG there in 2011, 2015, 2017 , but I also attended Australia Insync in 2009 and 2010 which didn't travel to Perth.

Whilst AUSOUG was the most important thing happening in Perth it was not the only event bringing in tourists as the Ashes cricket also happened to be on. Perth was buzzing.

I am travelling this year to scuba dive my bucket list and December has long been planned as the Great Barrier Reef. There were a few things I wanted to do in Australia first so I flew out late November and has a few days in Sydney. After this was planned AUSOUG published their event days I could manage Perth but Melbourne would mean I would miss my boat, so I only went to Perth.

One of the amazing things about speaking at global events and the ACE program is the number of people I have made friends with around the world. Whilst in Sydney I met up with Bambi Staverley. Bambi used to look after user groups in APAC for Oracle but left in 2012 and now runs an amazing hair products company. Meeting with her and her husband was a great opportunity not to be missed.

In Perth I stayed with Penny Cookson and her husband who used to be a local Oracle partner before retiring. I was lucky she hosted me as the cricket made finding an affordable hotel in Perth almost impossible. Many of the presenters flew overnight to Melbourne for the next leg as hotels were so unavailable. 

Anyone who has travelled with me knows but a terrible car passenger I am and taxis are included. Having had another issue in South Africa just 10 days before, Connor McDonald who does actually have a home between events, and is a local to Perth, offered to be my Uber driver and he brought along Bailey his famous dog for me to meet in person.

The night before the event there was a speakers dinner thanks to the committee. Before the dinner I met up with another long time usergroup friend Arnold Wong. He left the Oracle world many years ago but saw on Linkedin I was to be in Perth and reached out. I cannot tell you how much these friendships and connections mean to me.

The dinner was on the banks of the Swan river in South Perth and Penny and I travelled by train and ferry so I felt quite a tourist in Perth. As the sun set we had an amazing view over Perth and then apparently perhaps for the Cricket there were fireworks laid on. Perfect.

The event stated early on the Monday, a single day event and most people stayed the whole day. There were 3 streams with great content. The keynote was on AI and Oracle Apps so I did my EBS roadmapping session to a full room and they all came back later for the AI in EBS compared to Fusion. The keynote speaker joined my last session which gave me the opportunity to refer back to his content.

I was also honoured to be give an AUSOUG Master award presented by Penny. This means a lot to me because from way before the ACE Program came along and made it easier, I have always loved presenting at all user groups and sharing my experiences and supporting them. I may not have been in Perth for a while but have done a few webinars for them and happy to continue to. 

I left as the event wound down with a reception and went off to the airport to continue my journey. It may be just domestic travel in one country but Australia is a big country. I started in Sydney, flew to Perth for the conference, but then had to get to Horn Island for my boat, a bit of cross crossing and an extra 15 hours flying. My flight was delayed by an Ash Cloud over Africa. Not because I was being routed that way, but because Qantas had 2 flights to Europe and delayed them until it was clear what routing they needed and Perth being a little airport didn't have enough staff, so we had to wait till they had left. It didn't cause me any issues just a little stress for shortened connections.

So thank you to everyone in Perth, The ACE Program and all my old and new friends. I hope to be back again one day.

25 SAOUG Our Own ACE Adventure

In the main post I talked about the South Africa conference, but this is more the travelogue. Whilst not an official ACE Adventure I can say we all had a great time and it would never have happened if we were not part of the program.

As ever I had a layover in Heathrow before my flight and Dr Abi joined me as she flies in from Newcastle. We had a few hours to kill so enjoyed the First lounge which may be our last chance as under the new British Airways frequent flyer program I will never get elite status again :(

The flight was ok, went quite fast and we had good seats for economy. I slept well although am pleased you can't see the photo of me Abi took. We landed in Johannesburg early which was good as Connor was waiting for us, as was his taxi. we arrived at Misty Hills just before noon.

We had a little wait for our rooms but not too long and I had an upgrade to exactly the same room as last year. Thankyou SAOUG. Sarah, Lydia and their boss Marc arrived a couple of hours later and they were no sooner in their rooms then we were off on a game drive arranged by Marc. Two of their graduates Methembeni and Ed drove us in their own cars which was so nice of them. Local help is always appreciated to get the most out of a destination.

We went to Dinokeng Reserve and our guide was Olivia. Before getting in the trucks we saw a family of monkeys. First spotted were Rhinos and Wildebeest. Then as we drove around a bend we met a pride of lions, so exciting. 

So within 30 minutes along with various impala, Eland and Springbok we had seen more than most do on a single game drive. Olivia told us she could hear elephants but if we went looking for them there was no guarantee and we would potentially miss other things. We trusted her and went looking for the herd. Almost an hour later we were rewarded with so much elephant life. More than a dozen of all sizes. Pure Magic. As the sun set we had to leave the reserve. We had missed the drinks but no one cared, and twice we had to reverse as our path was blocked by rhinos lying on the path as it is warmer than the grass at night. Our final sightings were a few young Jackals. What a way to start the trip.

On the way back Marc took us to a steak restaurant he knew from growing up in South Africa and it was amazing. We almost missed out as we arrived within 5 minutes of the last orders due to our extended drive. We got back to Misty Hills about 10.30 all very very tired, remember the previous night had been spent on aircraft, but no one was complaining.

Sunday a few made breakfast but not everyone, and we had our ACE Dinner at midday, in the Carnivore restaurant. I had been before many years ago and remembered what an experience it was, so when so many ACEs were confirmed I asked if we could have an ACE Dinner there. Thankyou to them for saying yes. Carnivore does what it says on the tin, and we got to experience meat we would never otherwise have. We were joined by Ahmed Jassat the local and only SA ACE and then Ron Ekins who also came from the UK but a day later, he literally arrived and joined us.

Sunday evening there was a reception for the user group and the mandatory South African Braai. The final ACE Raja joined us and although we didn't eat a lot more meat (there is a limit) we loved it. 

Monday the event kicked off and after the sessions (which I covered in the last post) there was a party, with a dress code of African Sheik. 

I had managed to fashion a jacket from scarf fabric and was very pleased with the result. There was a live band and a great DJ and even I got up to dance once. However this old lady hit a wall about 11pm and went off to bed but some of the younger ones kept going till 1.30am when it stopped.

Tuesday sessions kept going till 6pm, but Abi, Ron and I had to leave at 5.30 to get to the airport for our overnight flight home. We had booked a taxi from the hotel, but it didn't turn up and when chased was going to be another 20 minutes. However since we had Ron with us we voted to get the unrecommended Uber option. Our driver was excellent, drove quickly but not too fast and obeyed most rules of the road (not all South African's do). We arrived at the airport with time to shop, which is always important. If you know Connor, ask him about his taxi back to airport, more exciting than ours! And ask Abi about her room mate!

Having shopped until there was no space in our hand luggage which probably didn't matter, Abi and I met a man buying a 4 foot tall wooden giraffe going on our flight in one shop. The flight wasn't actually that busy and again I managed a decent amount of sleep.

After a quick breakfast Abi and I had our flights home. 

South Africa delivered again and I hope I can manage again next year. Thank you again Penelope and Debs for all your help.

2025 SAOUG Hello Africa

Last year my trip to SAOUG was a whirlwind, and my attendance doubled the ACE presence, with Ahmed Jassat being the only ACE in South Africa.

This year I was back with a few friends and an extra day – bit the travelogue is the next post.

 

SAOUG promoted the ACE team well, and Oracle sent Connor McDonald, ACE Alumni and Database Advocate. We were ready to add to this great event.

 

The conference was held at Misty Hills again and the main area was in a very large room known as the tent. The exhibition was opposite and below the tent and the breakout rooms located around the resort that is set on a hillside, so lots of steps and running between sessions.

 

There were a series of keynotes, first Demetris Skourides, an x oracle employee who is now Chief scientist of Research innovation and Technology of the Republic of Cyprus. He gave the government view, challenges and opportunities of AI.

Then the country lead  Sandhya Ramdhany and  Gomedi Makhongoanafrom Oracle South Africa talked about Oracle promises of AI and the local view.

 

I was meant to be next but as I was speaking about how AI technology is embedded in Fusion Applications and how people are adopting it,  I thought it would be better to swap with the last keynote of the day, Connor. It meant the messages flowed better but what an idiot to go after the world’s best speaker! I cant list how many speaker awards he has, and when I was runner up to him at UKOUG a few years back I was honoured.

 

Connor talked about data and AI, which I was able to refer back to both in my keynote and AI in EBS session.

So the morning flowed really well and the delegates were well educated.

Then after lunch it was into streams where I talked about AI in EBS and it was a great conversation. I also collected more submissions for my EBS survey so wil be doing a followup webinar for SAOUG.

Then I was interviewed for SAOUG YouTube.

The next day we had a recap and Deetris had another AI session followed by Abi who talked about story telling with data and captivated the audience. 

 

I then hosted the customer session on Digital Transformation in Africa. I had chatted to the 6 companies before hand and was able to weave a story across technology, apps, maturity and industries and amazing examples of oracle in Africa making a difference.

Back into streams and I did my All Y Need To Know for the student track. Actually they were interns many at Orace but some from other companies, Abi saved the day as I went from doing my panel to this session which was a long trek in zero time. Abi set the session up for me. I failed a bit in my execution of the quiz but it got everyone involved and talking. I also got to explain the Apprentcie ACE program level to them all.

My favourite session of the day was two graduate trainees from Brovanture talking about how they were learning EPM and being valuable to customers. The students were captivated, this was their people explaining their journey into our industry. Well done Edzisani Nematoka and Methembeni . 

Finally it was back on stage for the ACE panel, SAOUG had me down to facilitate this too but I passed the baton to Connor who did an excellent job. Then all too soon it was time to leave.

Thanks to all at AOUG for an excellent conference, engaged delegates and an amazing agenda.