UKOUG Conference Series - Update

Hard to believe after all the planning but the first of our conference series is over.

The Irish Conference took place last week and with 170+ was a great success.
We used a new venue which was very good and worked well and they gave us lots of support. Feedback from delegates was very positive and we had 3 spontaneous volunteers to assist with SIGs, etc.

SO what is next? Well it is the PeopleSoft conference and if you are a PeopleSoft user I urge you to attend. Feedback from past years is you want your own event and UKOUG have not only listened but acted.
I know that we are all under careful scrutiny of costs currently but if you have UKOUG membership there is no additional cost and the value of the conference is easy to justify. You will learn from your peers about what you can do with your systems today, network with people like yourself and understand more about Oracle's plans.

So I urge you to think hard about the event, look at the agenda and plan your visit. And if you are not a PeopleSoft user look at the other events in our conference series and see what we have in your area.

UKOUG Conference Series 2009 – One Conference, many events

Just a photo

Its All in the Communication

What ever the project if you look at the top three challenges one of them will be communication.

User groups are no different and it is a constant challenge, how do you keep your existing members informed and attract new ones. You cannot allow yourself to go stale.

Then communication itself is always changing, my daughter has no idea about writing letters, thinks email is old fashioned and can't imagine how our house would function without 'Post It' notes on the fridge!

I started 'Debra's Diary' in Oracle Scene our UKOUG Publication to try and keep our members informed as to what was involved in being a director and what I and the rest of the board got up to, on the first entry I said it was as close to a blog as I would get and yet within a year I had started this blog, and it is good to see that other users groups are doing the same now, because at first I worried about being the only Oracle Blog that was not product focused in its content (note I did not say technical).

I cant quite bring myself to twitter yet, it isn't that big in the UK although Stephen Fry famously twittered when stuck in a lift (I wonder if he had read my blog on the subject and stolen my idea?).

But today I have decided to try a video clip. Miracle had all their presenters last year give their extracts this way and my favourite ones are Cary Millsap and James Morle. Robyn Sands did quite a serious one, but her daughter edited an 'outtakes' version which is hysterical and I wish was available on youtube. Quest have a video clip contest for Collaborate.

The quality one my video is poor and I will have to perfect how I do it but at least I have started. I used a web cam that Oracle gave away at a recent architects club for this my first video blog.On the clip I am talking about our conference series, I mentioned them before but the first one Ireland is just days away. Good luck to everyone involved and I know it will be a great sucess.

You can watch me or simply close your eyes and just listen. Does the concept work? Let me know? What other methods of communication should I try?

Oracle and User Group Volunteers

Working with Oracle is something users groups strive to do. We are all very independent and not simply vendor puppets but when we work well with Oracle we can use it for the good of our members.

Two weeks ago OAUG held a Connection Point in Dubai in the Dhow Palace Hotel and I went along as a speaker. Oracle Dubai was very supportive and it was a great success. But user groups need more than just Oracle on their side; they need volunteers from their membership. Each user group has professional people to run the events and logistics but it is the volunteers that drive the content, the agendas and ultimately the success, and the fuel for the volunteers is enthusiasm.

In Dubai 7 / 8 people volunteered afterwards to help with a Middle East user group and I hope they can continue what has been started there. These volunteers are in their infancy but Dubai as saw an example of the ‘old timers on the block’. The Product Development Committee I run in the IOUC has quarterly question times with Oracle on Fusion Applications. The latest one with Steve Miranda was at 1am on the first night (or rather 2nd morning of the conference), and 4 of us attended the call, Bashir Khan, Michael Rulf, Nadia Bendjedou and myself (and of course Stanley). What dedication! Not only did we all stay up and make it through the 60 minute call but it was so good we then stayed up talking about it for another 35 minutes.

The morale of the story is that working with Oracle whilst staying independent is a very important part of user groups success but most important is the volunteers.

Thankyou to you past, present and future (?) volunteers

OK I'm semi techincal!

I started this blog by saying I wasn't very technical. In the office they laugh at me and say I am pretty technical and when I presented at RMOUG I even had a slide to say I wasn't but now I am.

What motivates me to speak. Not sure really, I do get nervous but only in the few minutes before a session when I panic no one will turn up. Once at Collaborate a few years ago I was on my way to my session and was telling a friend this, someone who I didn't know tapped me on the shoulder and said they were coming to my session because I have a 'lovely English accent', I wish it was the content but I am not fussy and will take what I can get.

What does motivate me is people understanding how something Oracle does relates to them, originally this would have been around E Business Suite or Discoverer, and then my main area of expertise Fusion Applications, and nothing pleases me more than when someone tells me my presentation made sense of something they didn't understand before.

SO back to the technical title, it started on my birthday which I spent with many friends after RMOUG up in the Rocky Mountains, my friends mainly other Oracle speakers are very technical and many are the top names who always draw a crowd. They told me I had to stop the 'I'm not technical' and I started trying the 'I'm not very technical'.



Then two things happened to turn it around completely, first I gave my first ACE FMW demo of SOA and EBS in Sweden for the Nordic Oracle Applications User Group. The feedback from delegates was really positive, then I gave the same demo to the technical team at Fujitsu and I can tell you that was the most nervous I have been for any demo.

Then last weekend i read the online scoring from RMOUG. My score was really high and that pleased me but several people said the worst thing was my constant apologising for not being technical when I obviously am. So I guess I am technical enough to understand what is going on and then can explain it to others.

I must go now I have to write 'I am Technical!' 1000 times before I give my next FMW demo in Dubai this week.

Catching up with Friends

Last year I promised Doron from ilOUG the user group in Israel that I would speak at his Apps Day, when he had to change the date it clash with a previous committment so I had to miss it, but this year I kept my promise and attended.

I gave a joint presentation with User Group favourite Nadia Bendjedou author of The Evolutionary Path: Things You Can Do Today to Prepare for Oracle Fusion Applications and I talked about the Future Applications Planning Tool we are releasing with the IOUC and how Fujitsu measured up.

Dorian arranged a private tour of Jerusalem for us after the event and Nadia and I had a great time

Busy Time for New and Old UKOUG Directors

I am so busy this year I haven't had time to post anything so am hoping to put that right now.

Our new conference series means a lot more planning and budgeting and we had a session for that at the end of January. The in February we had our Annual staff and directors day, the idea originally was that this followed strategy setting but it now comes before the strategy setting day so that UKOUG staff get a say and more importantly give their ideas, and finally the Strategy Day itself. Three very full meetings with lots of reading and calls between time.

But that is not all we have already called for papers, judged them and set the agenda for the Irish Conference and paper judging for the Hyperion and BI conference closed today. The conference series will be a continuous program of planning and execution. Make sure you contribute and share your experiences with the rest of your community.