I attended my first Oracle Open World many years ago, and attended every one since, and every year I blog about how busy I will be and every year it gets busier. This is my 18th consecutive event.
At this point in the run up to the event, I am trying to sift through sessions, meetings, off piste activities and colour code them with priorities. I love mobile apps but I want one that will update my calendar so that the two are in sync, if you have worked it out please tell me! Not that it matters much, if I manage to attend the sessions I am delivering I will have done well.
I have 3 sessions. Very Exciting. Two on the use of Visual Builder and a theatre session on the showfloor for Apps Unlimited
Extending Oracle Fusion Cloud Apps—What We Learned [PAN1434] Tuesday 2:00 PM - 2:45 PM a panel session of experts helped out by me
An Introduction to Extending Oracle Fusion Cloud Apps [LRN3050] Tuesday 5:00 PM - 5:45 PM assisting Jeff Price
Applications Unlimited Customers—Put an End to Cloud Confusion [THR1383] wednesday 3:20 PM - 3:40 PM
I will be doing my bit as an Oracle ACE Director and be at their lounge Tuesday & Thursday over lunch time, come by if you are interested in the program.
With my company I have customers to meet up with, Oracle executives to meet and share information, and colleagues sessions to support. We also have a stand (#25).
Las Vegas is a city that never stop and that is what my dance card thinks - I have breakfast meetings and pre breakfast meetings and there are receptions every day
So my tips for managing your time:
Colour code your calendar with MUST, WANT, CATCH UP ON DEMAND, INTERESTED
Don't delete any of the above as your time will be dynamic, if that MUST meeting is cancelled or moved what is your next priority.
If you are non US, don't forget adapters and small bills for tips
For presenters - there is a whole Know Before You Go document but my #1 is make sure you have a backup
If there is a session you want to attend and it is free, perhaps hover, many people book a session they want to go to and don't make it for just as many reasons, so there may be a space
And most important:
If you see me and say hallo and I look lost, tell me your name and make an old lady very happy
So Kscope23 was the last of the three global user groups in the summer season in the US and as I said in my last blog my favorite, although I may be biased as I am on the board of directors.
Kscope is the ODTUG flagship event, ODTUG stands for Oracle Development and Technology User Group, and this is the event where people come to learn from the best.
This year Kscope was held near Denver in the Gaylord Rockies. This resort hotel had plenty to do outside but I only managed once before the conference and once after; it was a very busy week.
As a board member we had meetings before the event, so I threw flew out on the Thursday for those.
At ODTUG we pride ourselves on how close we work with Oracle development bringing new technology and functionality to users direct from the people responsible. The user group has four main communities APEX, EPM, Analytics and Database and we are constantly revising to ensure that we meet the requirements of the user group and that the members are served.
This year the APEX community held an APEX boot camp where those with little or no experience in APEX came to learn the basics from the very best. I joined the start of this boot camp and was really impressed at both the students’ enthusiasm and the Oracle syllabus put together for the event and by the end of the week this group were whizzing through hands on labs and excited to go back to their organizations to use their newfound skills. This is something we will be repeating.
Another new venture was my own stream for extending Oracle SaaS Applications, for a long time these applications were locked with no way to extend apart from complex coexistence, this is all changed and there is a lot for SaaS practitioners to learn and ODTUG makes a great home for these people ,so we had sessions around when you should extend, how you should extend, how to actually use Oracle Visual Builder and how does this compare to APEX which has been more traditionally used for extending. We had two customers Elizabeth Ferrell from Kroger and the State of North Carolina who shared what they were doing to extend their Oracle SaaS investments. Luc Bors, Bashir Khan, Gustavo Gonzalez and Peter Koletzke shared their experiences and had just how far Oracle have come in this discipline. We will be following up this event with web casts starting with Lynn Mussenger on the Redwood platform later this fall. Numbers were small, but this is a new community and to be honest drew people curious from other streams but we hope to build on this community so that next year we can be even more successful.
In this stream I spoke on what technology does for Oracle Applications to set the scene for the week and then finished with the discussion on Oracle Visual Builder and APEX, this last session was very well attended and a very interesting discussion around skills and use cases.The panel was Blaine Carter from Oracle Visual Builder product development, Karen Cannell and Gustavo Gonzalez. I'm currently contributing to an Ace Program book where my chapter is on this very very topic.
Me, Blaine, Karen & Gustavo - APEX - VB Panel
As a member of the Ace Program, I also had the opportunity to take part in some of their Content. There was a database panel session facilitated by Cary Millsap were I was able to contribute far more than I expected. I love it when I can talk about the value technology brings to the applications.
I also managed to do several videotapes sessions with Lauren Cohn who will create amazing videos I just don't know what for yet. I spent time with her at Oracle cloud world just answering general questions and she made two great videos one on my perspective of the ace program and one on the benefits it has given my career thank you
I was also videoed by Connor McDonald for his 60 seconds with series which was very weird as on the first take I couldn't think of any answers this second take there's not much better from my perspective but as ever a great video from Connor check out the other aces he managed to talk to at the conference on his YouTube channel.
As with any conference there needs to be more than just educational content at the general session we said good bye to Tim German and Karen Cannell who are stepping down from the board this year having completed their term limits, there were videos to say goodbye to them which were very emotional but highlighted all they had done for the community over the years.
The keynote speaker was a deviation from external speakers and actually talked about sports analytics from Carrie Nielsen and Dr Abby Giles-Haigh, their presentation was entertaining and educational. Abby as well as being a data scientist and ace director is also a soccer coach and uses the is analytics not just for customers but also for her team. Carrie talked about how Oracle analytics are making such a difference in many sports most notably Formula One and brought along an F1 simulator for the Oracle stand which proved very popular. Having recently had the opportunity to visit Oracle Red Bull at their MK7 headquarters in Milton Keynes I really appreciate how the analytics are being used.
Kscope always kicks off with community service on the Saturday before the main event starts this year we helped at a community centre for the temporarily homeless teams did deep cleaning and weeding although with my broken shoulder I was a bit limited and just fed people pizza this is a great tradition where ODTUGers give back to the city that's welcoming us for our event
The ace dinner was a great place to catch up with Jen Nicholson who runs the program and all the old and new members of the program.
photo again from Lauren
The special event was at Denver aquarium, and the dress up theme (I love a dress up) was rockabilly.
2023 ODTUG Board
Back in February when we were onsite planning KScope I had the opportunity to actually go in the tank with the sharks. As a keen scuba diver I loved it, but I didn't know then it would be my last dive for a while, breaking my shoulder just a few weeks later (I am hoping to be back in the water October.
Thursday finished with Hands on Labs and Blaine did an Oracle Visual Builder with Redwood - it was great to see people from other steams come and have a go. SO I was pleased with my stream, the overall conference and we are already thinking about 2024 in Nashville.
I think of April, May, and June as the US Oracle conference season. We have Blueprint 4D, Ascend and KSCOPE, and I'm lucky enough to speak at all three.
KSCOPE starts this weekend and as I am on the board of the ODTUG usergroup, I'm obviously biased that this is the best. And what makes KSCOPE so special is the in-depth learning and amazing feelings of belonging.
But before that starts let's have a quick look back at Blueprint 4D and Ascend. These are my personal thoughts based on how I see it as an outsider, and I am sure there are things that I am not aware of.
I presented at both events, learnt more myself and loved the user interaction, but whilst it may be a little controversial have the following observations.
Prior to COVID there was Collaborate, this was a conference that had been running for over a decade and comprised of three separate user groups:
·OAUG (nowOATUG) who serviced traditionally E-Business Suite, some PeopleSoft.
·IOUG whose serviced technology especially the database communities
Collaborate events were successful but there was little overlap between the communities to start with but with the introduction of cloud applications this started to change. At the same time IOUG found a home within the QUEST organization itself and then the decision was made that these two organizations would return to separate events.
COVID was a bit of a false start and whilst modest events happened in 2021 it would be unfair to judge the new way on that year. 2022 saw both events back-to-back in Vegas the biggest advantage and or disadvantage of this was for vendors who found themselves at 2 trade shows and no opportunity to follow up on leads from the first one before the second one started. Although most vendors preferred only having Collaborate.
This year they were a few weeks apart Blueprint 4D being in Dallas in May and Ascend being in Florida just last week. This was much better for exhibitors and for speakers who may be attending both, but conferences are not just about exhibitors and speakers it's all about the delegate experience.
If you were a JDE, EBS or any other Apps Unlimited organization happy where you are, looking to be platformed on Oracle cloud or even moving to cloud applications, these events are perfect, you can find other organizations who have been there and sharing their story, their tips and tricks, but I can't help wondering that if you're already a cloud applications customer, would you not benefit from more organizations who are there the combined populations of these two events. The benefit may have been diluted.
Let me explain that further, after the Collaborate separation, OAUG now called OATUG, joined forces with OHUG for the new Ascend conference series. OHUG services all Oracle HCM users whether they be on premise or in the cloud. This is the direct overlap of OATUG who have Oracle e-business suite and some PeopleSoft HCM and cloud HCM, so by joining forces they are enlarging the populations of each of those constituents rather than diluting.
In the same way KSCOPE covers technology and database and is the now much smaller IOUG also suffering from the same dilution of communities.
In person events have been dwindling for many years, not a COVID specific phenomenon and should user groups be working tog to find a new model
I want more women to have a voice, I want to encourage them in and into our industry but I am not about quotas. So when I was asked to take part in an ANDOUCInnovation by Women with Oracle Technology techcast panel in early December, my first thought was are they were struggling to find enough women in their own community?
ANDOUC is the Analytics and Data Oracle User Community, which I am very aware of but not my bailiwick, but as I was asked by the host and dear friend, Edelweiss Kammermann to take part, and I would never say no.
The idea was that the speakers, Maria Colgan, Jean Ihm (who replaced Melli Annamalai at the last minute), Heli Helskyaho, Abi Giles-Haigh and myself would each talk about our Oracle highlight of the year. I didn't know Jean ior Melli before the techcast but I love the others and have spent lots of time with them over the years, and what a great time we would have together (including Jean and Melli), so have chosen to call this, ladies that lunch.
I spoke about how the applications benefit from the enhancements in the technology. You can see my portion here or the full playlist, well worth the watch, here.
It was such fun to do, both the prep and the actual techcast. And if I am invited again, I won't think twice.
As in any household it is down to the mum to send out the holiday greetings. So here is the one from my Oracle Family.
It has been a better year, we have got out a lot more but haven't all managed to catch up with each other.
I saw my sister and father in law in January when I had the chance to visit San Francisco, it was still very much social distancing, so we had lunch out by the coast.
At Oracle Cloud World I caught up Maria again, the children and many of our wider ACE family.
Tim didn't appear out until the end of November, as the only person in the world who liked lock down, getting out was a challenge for him. He did join the ACEs for their evening at Breakthrough 22 but I wasn't there and neither of the children were either.
He must of missed the rest of us as a week later we decided to extend the family, so welcome Amy.
I think I was missing him and was feeling especially emotional towards him until he then posted this:
I won't see him for a while so hopefully I will have forgiven him by then.
As the Football World Cup kicks off, I want you to suspend your disbelief* and imagine I am a footballer.
Imagine I am a footballer at the top of my game, my club have won everything this year, and I’ve been a big part of that.
Like every other footballer, I dream of playing in the World Cup. I’ve played in many tournaments before and done really well so when I didn’t get called up for this World Cup I was devastated.
denial - Oh why not? Surely it’s a mistake, I am at the top of my game!
anger - yes I got angry so very angry
bargaining - I'm not beyond begging after all this is the world cup!
depression - I feel so alone, everyone is talking about being part of the event
acceptance - I can't change it
The reason I’m so upset is my passion for the game and for this tournament, it hurts, it really hurts and I can’t watch my team without it hurting more. I can’t look at my social media and see them arriving, enjoying the local sites, the hotels and then there’s the matches themselves, so I’m switching off my social media and I’m going into self inflicted hibernation until it’s all over.
But underneath my hurt, I’m still passionate about the game and I want my country to do well and to succeed even if I can’t be part of it, so I wish them success.
OK, I’m not a footballer, but I am a speaker, a successful speaker and ACED director and recently had a very successful Oracle Cloud World so I was devastated not to be successful in getting a place or a session at UKOUG's BREAKTHROUGH event.
I’ve been through my stages of grief, and I finally arrived at acceptance, but it STILL hurts and so on Saturday I’m going to indulge my other passion, taking myself away for a week diving to cushion the blow, (well hibernation is a bit boring).
Just like myself the footballer. I still wish for a successful UKOUG and that everyone who does attend has the most wonderful experience and for me there’s always next time.
*The footballer analogy came to me as the World Cup is everywhere I look, but if you attended the recent ERP Today Awards you know this is possibly an analogy too far.
In fact, that conference was my first Covid casualty, when cancelled just a few weeks out in March 2020.
With the relaunch of the ACE Program over the summer there was an opportunity to take part in EMEA Community Tour. I submitted a few papers and was pleased to be accepted by OUGN and LuxOUG. Unfortunately the logistics of Luxembourg to Norway were complex and as I was really busy getting ready for Oracle Open World I accepted just OUGN as I felt I had a commitment to them.
Those logistics were a challenge for many and in the main OUGN lost out as many speakers travelled direct to Croatia from Luxembourg, skipping the Norway leg, which made it more straightforward. I hope that one day I will get to LuxOUG but in the meantime happy to do a webcast anytime.
I had 2 papers accepted by OUGN and Ann Sofie the Chair from OUGN asked if I would do a Q&A panel as well. I love answering questions, this is how I learn. However as we got closer to the event, there were not enough experts for a panel so I agreed to do three talks relevant to applications and make it a very interactive afternoon.
I arrived the day before and Ann Sofie took me to the new National Museum which was amazing. I especially loved the clothes through the ages and looking at the quality of them, mainly and made.
The conference day started with a presentation from Julian Dontchef on which was to be an early run of his Oracle Cloud World presentation, on What if you are considering leaving the Oracle Database. It was, as ever a great presentation from Julian, with well thought our arguments. As a post script poor Julian got Covid and missed OCW, although I am pleased to say it was a mild case.
My afternoon was fun, not the biggest audience but a good mix. The ever present discussion on which cloud, OCI or SaaS an EBS customer should take, and this is what I love, the discussion around real organisations and why the obvious 'it depends', depends on what they are trying to do. I recently wrote an Inoapps blog around this presentation.
Then we looked at Oracle HCM Journeys and My Experience, and finally extending SaaS. We talked a lot about APEX as those still on EBS are using APEX and that sets them up for when they do move to SaaS.
I did tell everyone that the last 2 sessions would be expanded after OCW. I knew we had won the Oracle ME competition and the announcements that would be made around extending. But that is what makes this world so exciting, the innovation that cloud allows. And that is why the post was a bit late.I hope to present these updates at other user groups should they be accepted.
Thank you Ann Sofie and OUGN for having me, and hopefully I can come again in the Spring.
Thank you to the ACE Program for making this happen.
