COLLABORATE 2009

COLLABORATE 2009, the Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle Community, will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida from May 3, 2009 through May 7, 2009.

Volunteers from the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG), the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) and Quest International Users Group (Quest), spend close to a year in planning to deliver this annual conference of the users, for the users by the users of Oracle Applications and Technology. Oracle Executives and Product Managers have a strong presence at the COLLABORATE conferences, bringing interesting keynotes, important announcements, future directions and strategic perspectives to share with the ever growing user community . The conference brings exceptional value to the attendees in terms of actual user experiences and educational content delivered from a practitioner's perspective.

I have attended all three COLLABORATE conferences since these major user groups decided to join forces in 2006 and look forward to the next in 2009. I have been fortunate to participate in most of the OAUG Connection Point conferences since 1996. I initially started out as just an attendee and progressed to presenting white papers, coordinating OAUG Special Interest Group meetings, participating on expert panels, and moderating panels.

I have had the privilege of serving on the OAUG Conference Committee for several years in various roles: Geo/SIG Meeting Scheduler (2003), Panel & Integration Track Chair (2004), Paper Selection Co-Chair (2005), Agenda Chair (2006), Conference Co-Chair (2007) and it was an honor to be the OAUG Conference Chair at the very successful COLLABORATE 2008 Conference in Denver. It takes a lot of effort and outstanding teamwork, from both the volunteers and staff alike, that you get to deeply appreciate when serving on this committee. Overall, the experience has been very rewarding.

So, why am I writing this today? To remind potential presenters and panelists of the upcoming deadline (October 31, 2008) to submit papers for inclusion in COLLABORATE 2009. If you are a procrastinator like me, now is the time to act and submit a proposal for the paper you have always been hoping to present. Just follow the link to the COLLABORATE 2009 Paper Submission page. 

I continue to appreciate the tremendous educational value this conference provides to users. Where else can we learn so much in such a short time? And, not just from the Oracle product specialists and industry experts, but also from peers, other users like you who bring their best practices, tips & techniques, lessons learned and success stories to share! So, if you do not have a paper to present, I encourage you to at least consider attending, to learn, experience and benefit from the wealth of information this forum provides to the Oracle Applications user community.

Hope to see you at COLLABORATE 2009 in Orlando!

Welcome to my blog

So I have started my own blog. Been thinking about doing it for a long time now, and have procrastinated it even longer (now that can't be, can it?).

Most folks I hang out with at conferences are bloggers. Well, I have blogged on other sites before including OAUG's Knowledge Factory and Oracle's OTN (more about these later). The tipping point was when Oracle gave me a "Blogger" ribbon at OpenWorld - that is when I decided to start my own blog.

After that, all I needed was an auspicious date! So why today? Today is the 3 year anniversary of Innowave Technology,  a professional services firm that I founded in 2005 to provide unique, innovative solutions using Oracle Applications and Technology, specifically leveraging Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Oracle Fusion Middleware. It has been an exciting three years of growth and several successful projects. Innowave was recently recognized and awarded the Oracle Excellence System Integrator of the Year award at Oracle OpenWorld. More about Innowave later.

I realize that blogging is all about commitment. A commitment to constantly keep you abreast of the things that interest you. This blog though, given my 20+ years of working with Oracle products, will be dedicated to all things Oracle: technology, products, applications, solutions, innovations, programs, initiatives, users, success stories, user groups, conferences - pretty much anything to do with Oracle. So if Oracle doesn't interest you, this is not the blog for you :o)

As I write this first post, it dawns on me that I have so much to share.  I do plan to come back often and I hope, so will you.