Thursday 24 May 2012

Shoukran

Je dois remercier chaleureusement les marocains qui ont assiste au seminaire sur la haute disponibility des systems. Vous etiez des participant tres sympathique. Shoukran!

But I am going to lazyly, and safely, write the rest of this in english.

I am sure you all got the main messages about how "Simplicity" is your friend, and how you should avoid needless complexity - no matter what the salesperson tells your boss.

And after a brief chat with the folks from Omnidata I have one more piece of advice for you: Start a Usergroup.

Between the audience we had today, I think you have enough knowledge and experience to do some Interesting Exchanges. Why not start with some informal luch or dinner meetings and see which topics come up. And you can start giving presentations amongst yourselves.

You dont always need to fly-in some flashy-trendy foreign "consultant" to give you the lowdown. You can also chat amoung eachother in french, or any language you prefer (Frenglish when you mix in the IT jargon). 

A usergroup is good for knowlege exchange, and it is also great for networking. And you may find more sponsors then  you think. I think  Omnidata is interested already. And Oracle will probably want to participate as well.

If you need help, I'm sure the UKOUG or OUGF can offer you more relevant advice then I can type here. Feel free to contact Debra Lilley or Heli Helskyaho for all you need to know about running a usergroup.

It would be nice to find that next year you have a OUG going. I look forward to visiting the MOUG (Moroccan Oracle User Group) or GMUO (Groupe Maroccain d'Utilisateurs Oracle). Or even NAfOUG (North African Oracle User Group).
Disclaimer: I have no idea whether those sounds mean anything in your local languages, but I trust you to pick a name that doesnt sound like a Q in french.

Good Luck!

And one more Thanks for making me practice my business-French.
Like I told some of you, my wife and my 2 teenage kids are my main french teachers and I realize my french may sound a little youthly with a large anglophone influence and a dutch accent.
But I believe the main messages got across.