UKOUG Techfest19

05/12/2019

I’ve just returned from Techfest19 – the UKOUG Flagship Oracle Tech conference – and it was simply excellent.

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Amazing Sunset from the Grand

It was held at The Grand Hotel in Brighton, and it was grand. If you missed it, you really missed out. 250 mostly amazing  presentations.

I did 2 main ones about Oracle Statistics, and also MC’d the Jonathan Lewis Optimizer Panel, alongside Martin Widlake. The highlight of my conference was asking a left-field question of an Oracle Architect about Full Table Scans, which has resulted in the potential for a change to the code to make them (possibly slightly) more efficient. Thank you for listening Roger!

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Oracle ACE Dinner

 

 

 

 

If you missed my 2 sessions on Database Statistics, you can find a webinar and a Blair-Witch style video of each of them here on my website:

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UKOUG Guest Speaker, before the party

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Oracle Tech Conferences

16/11/2019 Leave a comment

It’s mid-November 2019. The leaves have mostly fallen and the nights are drawing in. That can only mean… it’s time for Europes 2 biggest Independent Oracle User Groups to have their conferences.

The first, starting Tuesday 18th November, is DOAG – the German Oracle User Group – in Nuremberg.nuremberg I’m flying out there a couple of days beforehand as I have meetings, and it’s nice to travel and chill out too. This year I’m speaking about Oracle Database Statistics at both conferences, but I only have time for the “basics” talk at DOAG so I’ll try to get some Unconference time to talk about when it gets harder.

Then, from the 1st to the 4th December, it’s the UKOUG Techfest 2019. This is slightly different this year as we have split the main conference, comprising Tech, Business Apps and JDE into 3 separate components at different times of the year. The Tech-only conference has stayed in the December slot (with Business Apps moving to June).

We have also moved the conference to Brighton. New location, Great town.

I’ll be talking about  Oracle Database Statistics, but this time in 2 slots, Database Stats #1. Doing it Right, the Easy Way (Monday 2nd December 09:00), then in a bit more depth I’ll do Database Stats #2. Doing it Right, When it’s Harder (Wednesday 4th December 11:00)

For a UKOUG “conference survival guide”, I recommendbrighton-autumn UKOUG Techfest Survival Guide 2019. All you need to know about getting the most out of 3.5 days of Tech shenanigans. Turn up, learn, but also try to meet people and have fun! I hope to see you at one of both of these conferences, maybe have a coffee or somethings stronger – easy on the stalking though (read Martins Survival Guide first)

If you have not registered for Techfest 2019, you can do that here: UKOUG TechFest 2019!

There a full agenda of around 250 Oracle-related Tech talks. The problem isn’t trying to work out if there’s enough to see, but trying to work out how to prioritise all of them!

See you there!

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UKOUG Oracle Conferences – why bother?

21/11/2018 1 Comment

The excellent DOAG Oracle conference is currently taking place in Nuremberg in Germany.

I’ve been thinking about the UKOUG Conference due to take place in Liverpool on 3rd-5th December 2018. About 2 weeks away.

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Why would you bother paying to attend these conferences? Why should I, or my company, use our money to attend? Oracle provide free conferences and 1-day events around the world talking about the Oracle product set. Oracle Partners also provide free events with their speakers too. They are FREE! FREE! FREE!

I only need to convince my boss to take time out of the office. They don’t need to raid their budget – they just need to let me out!

BUT! Those events are effectively a sales pitch. If you are not paying in cash you are paying in other ways, with partners and Oracle looking for you to adopt them and pay them via licensing, support and consultancy. I’m not saying those events are not without worth; learning about Oracle’s new product and partner offerings certainly has value and I would encourage people to attend those events. But what are they not offering? Running those events isn’t free and large corporations are not known for their philanthropy.

An Independent User Group, like the UKOUG, doesn’t do sales pitches. It has speakers from around the world coming to share their SUCCESSES AND FAILURES! They talk about what worked, and what didn’t. They talk about the limitations and the excellence of the software and services which you are being sold.

If you want to know what happens AFTER you’ve bought the software. AFTER you’ve seen the amazing new features and where they ACTUALLY WORK or FAIL, you need to talk to people who are doing it, not those who are selling it.

liver buildingAnd you can talk to them, and me, at the UKOUG. There are networking events; you can look into the eyes of the speaker who just told you something was great and ask them a question about how they know it’s great and how it could be great for you! And the networking events are, above all, FUN. It’s not all work. It’s also play. Have a drink, a meal, a chat, a coffee, a beer with like-minded individuals.

The event is in Liverpool, well known as somewhere to enjoy yourself as well as seeing the historic buildings and great sports teams. It’s just over 2 hours to get there on the train from London. Not as far as you might think!

 

 

 

See past the sales? See you there!

 

UKOUG Applications 18 conference image link

 

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Off to Spain!

21/09/2018 Leave a comment

Next week I will be in Madrid to speak at the Spanish Oracle User Group – SpOUG!

I am really looking forward to this. Great content, an opportunity to look around Madrid – somewhere I have not been for 26 years – and catch up with fellow techies, some of whom I have not seen in thousands of miles.

I have never been to SpOUG, and I’m afraid my Spanish is barely enough to order 2 beers and some tapas so I will be speaking in English.

I hope you can make it there too, and help send your career soaring to new heights – this conference is taking place in a vertical wind tunnel where you can don a special suit and fly! It’s like sky diving without the 2 mile plummet to the ground (I’m never doing THAT again!)

¡Te veo allí!

 

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POUG18

18/09/2018 2 Comments

So that was POUG18 – the Polish Pint with Oracle User Group. This is the 3rd annual conference (and the 4th event) I have attended. IMG_4748A new location, many new speakers but the same vibe, energy and level of fun. Taking place in Sopot on the Baltic Sea, it was simply excellent and has to be the most fun Oracle conference in Europe. Its just a good size. Not too big, not too small.

We were lucky with the weather, which was mostly warm and sunny – this always helps lift events!

 

 

But the conference was again simply excellent. Great work by Kamil and Luiza (and everyone else involved!)

IMG_4762Packed rooms, amazing presentations from excellent speakers and personalised beer. What’s not to like!

Pretty much the only thing missing was POUG fixture Martin Widlake.IMG_4761

 

So as the sun sets on another POUG, we look forward to the next one. Where will it be this time? Front runners are the unpronounceable Wrocław, Poznań,  Łódź or maybe in somewhere the mountains.

Thank you for inviting me.

Next… SpOUG – the Spanish Oracle User Group Tech Day next week. Hurrah!

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Off to Poland…

04/09/2018 Leave a comment

This week I will be speaking at the Polish Oracle User Group annual conference in Sopot, Poland. It looks like a beautiful location for what is a really fun conference. As well as being surrounded by some of the most knowledgeable and excellent technology speakers in the world, there’s also plenty of fun and dancing taking place.

If I am extremely unlucky, I’ll end up swimming in the Baltic Sea. If you are unlucky, you’ll see me swimming in the Baltic Sea. Where I am from in the England there is an expression “It’s Baltic”, which means it is very cold outside. Very cold. So it is because it’s cold, OK. 🙂logo

I hope I’ll see you in Poland – fantastic place to visit with lovely people.

And don’t forget the parties and the dancing. Oh yeah!

And don’t believe all you hear about the vodka and axes, it’s much worse than that!

 

 

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Riga Dev Days 2018

03/06/2018 Leave a comment

rigaLast week I spent some time in Riga, Latvia. It was unusually warm, much to the consternation of the locals who wanted it to return to more normal sub-20C instead of the current 27C. Riga is a long way North.

It is also beautiful, friendly, and hosts a great conference! RigaDevDays is a Development conference, talking about Architecture, programming paradigms and also databases (which is usually where I fit in). img_4003-e1528018968617.jpgI was speaking about Oracle Optimization. I particularly enjoyed watching presentations about technology where I have little or out-of-date knowledge – it can really open up new thought processes, but it also tends to show that there’s nothing really new and nothing that somebody else has not tried before. It’s also good to see technology trends, see how our industry is evolving.

Attending conferences is a fabulous way to be educated, with awesome levels of expert knowledge on-tap. As well as learning new things, you can discuss how to resolve your problems and get fresh ideas about the best way to solve your business dilemmas.

Here’s a few photo’s from Riga! Attend a conference, learn from each other – it’s great!

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UKOUG Call For Papers: Tech18, Apps18 and JDE18

28/05/2018 Leave a comment

The call for papers for Tech18, Apps18 and JDE18 is now open until Monday 4th June at 09:00. You have until then to submit an abstract for whatever you would like to talk about!

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What would you like to talk about? You’re telling me you have nothing? I don’t believe you. Everybody has a story to tell. Your work has value an your experiences and wisdom will help others avoid your mistakes and follow your successes.

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Telling others about your experiences will help your career and enhance your knowledge – the only time I learn more then preparing a talk is when it’s all broken (after which I usually do a presentation about why it was a problem, how we fixed it and what we have done to prevent it happening all over again!)

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And don’t forget, you only need to submit an abstract today – a couple of paragraphs describing the presentation. You only have to actually write the talk if it gets accepted! 🙂

Yes, I know you’re a bit nervous, standing up in front of people. So am I. That’s normal. Don’t worry! We are here to help. First time speaker? Got a talk accepted and would like some help? I can put you in contact with an experienced speaker to provide some guidance and reassurance. You can do it! What are you waiting for?

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See me in Riga!

18/05/2018 Leave a comment

I will be speaking about the Oracle Optimizer in Riga, at Riga Dev Days! The biggest tech conference in the Baltic states takes place on the 29th/30th/31st May – click on the logo below for full conference details.

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I really hope to see you there

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UKOUG Technology Day

13/04/2018 Leave a comment

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We have organized a UKOUG Technology Summit in Leeds on 16th May.

It’s really a small Conference!

This is available to UKOUG Members and will cost 1 SIG Pass – even Bronze memberships come with 1 SIG pass, so all members could attend at no cost.
Non-members can pay to attend, but you should take out a Bronze Membership instead as it’s about the same price!

Come along, network with your peers, and listen to some amazing talks about all aspects of the Oracle technology product set; the Database, RAC, Engineered Systems, Development, Apex, DevOps, Solaris 11.4!, and more. Learn how Oracle interacts and works with Kubernetes, Docker, Apache Kafka, Apache Impala, Chatbots, and  just about everything else! 30 amazing talks!

Plus a keynote address from Oracle Executive John Abel and a social afterwards too!

All that, just 2 hours from London on the train!

You can find the Agenda here 

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