Pythian Group

Michigan OakTable Symposium (MOTS) is a unique event taking place just before Oracle OpenWorld — 16-17 September. Why unique? This is the first conference (is it not?) where all presenters are members of OakTable Network, a group that gathers number of like-minded IT professionals with scientific approach to Oracle database technology and to the life in general.

It happens in Ann Arbor, Michigan — a place I wanted to visit for a very long time. For those of you who are cost conscious and don’t have much in their education budget, this conference is a great value priced at a third of the Oracle OpenWorld pass and I can assure you that quality of presentations is on par with or higher then the top Oracle OpenWorld sessions. The conference is organized by volunteers from OakTable Network and few good friends as a non-commercial event so you will hear no marketing crap whatsoever.

Unlike, huge OpenWorld crowd, which has always intimidated me a little bit, MOTS is going to be a cozy event with strictly limited cap of only 300 participants – ideal size to support peer networking and opportunity to mingle with some of the folks you’ve been dying to talk to.

I especially enjoyed this video promotion: Read the rest of this entry . . .

RMOUG Training Days 2010 are in the full swing today with the University classes ongoing and that’s also the day most of my friends arriving here at Hyatt and when all the fun begins. Now that my stomach is full and Debra is off to her hotel room and Lisa is sleeping, I can finally do a quick blog post.

The flight Ottawa-Denver was quite enjoyable as it’s one of the rare direct flights from Ottawa. RMOUG volunteers pick up their guest speakers personally, which is a very nice touch, and with all this my travel to Denver feels just like a short drive to work. And that’s important if you know what we are up for tonight…

Few Oracle ACEs divers are going to jump into the pool with sharks at Denver Aquarium and show them who’s the boss. I’ll pretend to be a diving ACE as well (sh-h-h-h… don’t tell anybody I’m not). Unfortunately, it does mean that we will be late to the RMOUG speakers reception but we have to sacrifice something.

I’m sure you are dying to know what happens to us and if anybody gets eaten. If so, join us tomorrow, Wednesday 17-Feb, at the Read the rest of this entry . . .