DOAG 2013 was Very Good - Danke Schön !

Back from DOAG2013 and I can say it was One of the Best Conference Ever.

The organisation is near perfect, the venue is very suitable, DOAG has free public transport arranged. And there is good food all day long. (Good, Tasty, and free!). And the Mercator Lounge provided Exellent Coffee too.

Needless to say the content of the presentation was Excellent (and I've learned a bit more Deutsch as well). And I met up with  many old + lots of new friends.  (could insert long list of names, facebooks, blogs, and twitters...)

Learned a lot of useful stuff and also many hig-tech items. And Still need to investigate a lot of the notes I made. (I suppose there is a download option for ppts as well.. I want to re-read some).


If there is anything to remark, maybe two small things:
1. Tip: Gently nudge the audiences to fill in pieces of paper with remarks (ask UKOUG!). That way the speakers get comments from those who dont want to talk directly. And both the organizer and the speaker  Learn a bit extra. Some surprising feedback I've had too (possibly a blogpost someday)
2. Wifi... It didnt work for my laptop most of the time (slow, bloated, corporate box, so maybe "duh"), but also worked only half the time on the Nexus7. We all know WLan is difficult in public venues, but still.
Oh and: the time+again ticking of a box and clicking a button is .... childish and annoying.
(but most venues do it, probably for legal reasons...).

Please dont take these two points negative, because the total Conference was GREAT.
Please give me the excuse to visit again: Just accept one of my silly abstracts, put me in some graveyard timeslot and I'm a happy bunny.

Danke Schön !

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.