2018 has entered like a lion, and is rushing by for myself. COLLABORATE 18 is just around the corner. For the third year I’m again acting as the IOUG conference chair for COLLABORATE. This is also the 25th anniversary of IOUG. April 22nd through April 26th will be some of the most packed days of Oracle technical training available in North America!
To start with there are three user groups that come together to bring the best user presentations. The Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG), Quest user group, and the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG). As I represent the IOUG side of this triangle, lets go through some of the great things we have lined up for this event.
IOUG has 201 education sessions scheduled from Monday to Thursday covering many topics for the modern data professional. Thats over 196 hours of in person sessions with some of the brightest minds with real world experiences. Looking to move to the cloud? We have sessions on that. Trying to decide which cloud is right for you? Looking to use new in memory database features, or NOSQL? Yep we have those also. Thinking you need more database security, need to catch up on patching, or upgrade? Those topics are covered as well.
One of the topics that IOUG is always proud to bring to COLLABORATE is professional development. Again we have 13 sessions covering everything from how to improve your presentation skills, making your role more visible, and even what it takes to become a CEO / CTO.
Is BIG DATA / BI your thing? Well we have that covered as well. Learn all the new features in modern SQL, or maybe see how you can use NOSQL platforms to get the most out of your data. Perhaps your more of a developer, well we have a number of sessions on DEVOPS, using docker with Oracle projects, and of course sessions on performance tuning your databases as well as data model design.
So you might be thinking this is all talking and not much doing. Well that’s not true, on Sunday the 22nd we have 5 hands on labs being put on by Oracle and AWS. This is your opportunity to try Oracle cloud and AWS cloud yourself. Leave with real hands on in person experience with these technologies. Not into the cloud? How about a hands on training of Python for Oracle DBA’s? Or Oracle 18c upgrade hands on lab? Even a lab on javascript notation for Oracle 12c and above. Finally a lab on Hadoop and Kafka in conjunction with Oracle Database allows us to cover just about anything you would want to know about modern database technology.
Beyond that we are also excited to have Oracle Education working with us this year. They will have a prominent spot in hall by the education sessions on the 3rd floor. They will be there to talk to you about Oracle Education opportunities outside of COLLABORATE, as well as certification and testing opportunities. If you’re trying to advance your Oracle career, we are pleased to have them on site to help.
Don’t forget all the networking opportunities, not just in the hallways and in sessions. We have a welcome reception on Sunday at 6pm for all IOUG members. There will be drinks and appetizers, as well as some ice breaker games. For first time attendees we have a sessions right before at 5pm to introduce you to the conference, the user group, and meet some of the people that help bring this all together.
Which reminds me, I would like to extend a huge thanks to the team from IOUG that helps put the conference on. There is only a few paid staff members that coordinate all the venue and on-site items. Everything else is done by a team of 51 volunteers that do everything else from reviewing proposals, working with new speakers, setting up on-site events, coordinating with vendors, and much, much more. Really, this yearly event would not exist if it wasn’t for the hard work of the team. If you see someone at the conference wearing a conference committee hat, please say “HI”. Feel free to ask them your questions, they should be intimately informed on all things COLLABORATE.
Also a big thanks to our 168 speakers. Thank you for taking the time to work hard and hone your skills, and then going the extra mile to want to train others and explain the gory details. The committee might bring the skeleton of the conference together, bu the speakers put all the meat on the bones.
Don’t forget the vendor floor reception on Monday after the educational sessions end. Be sure to stop by the IOUG booth. Finally we have the thank you party on Wednesday night, for everyone to gather, meet, and have fun!
Really, this is one of the most jam packed COLLABORATEs we have hosted in years. I’m proud to be a part of it, and extra proud of the entire team that brought this all together. I hope to see you in Las Vegas, at Mandalay Bay hotel from April 22nd to April 26th 2018! Please feel free to say Hi if you see me.
Gary
