Business Objects User Conference in Orlando

[dgillz]

I'd love to be there but I am at a client that day. Maybe next year.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

 

[hilfy]

It's a deal - I'll see you guys there!

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[IdoMillet]

Report from the Conference:

The usual suspects were rounded up, and we had lunch... )

One of the benefits of going to the conference is the ability to drop by the tech support room and have your questions answered on the spot. This time around, while they have about 10 Business Objects tech support staffers in that room, no Crystal Developer tech support staff is scheduled to be there throughout the conference.

Cheers,
- Ido

Visual CUT & DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[kenhamady]

So what did you guys think? Did they make it worthwhile for a Crystal Reports user to attend?

Ken Hamady, On-site Custom Crystal Reports Training & Consulting
Public classes and individual training.
Guides for Formulas, Parameters, Subreports, VB, .NET, Tips and Tricks

http://www.kenhamady.com/

 

[IdoMillet]

I think going to a local Crystal User Group meeting can be a better use of time & money for Crystal users in many cases.

It may make sense to evolve "regional" user group meetings by turning some of the local user group meetings into "super" (full or half-day) meetings that can attract people from a larger radius.

Cheers,
- Ido


Visual CUT & DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[Storyteller]

Hello All,
CDUGBC (

http://www.cdugbc.org)

has been mulling over the idea of a regional user conference. At this time it is still in the early (way early) stages.

The reality is that we all have regular jobs and taking on a 1-2 day conference is big committment. Mind you I think it would be a blast.

Say. . . to help us with initial planning stages what type of sessions/topics could we offer?

I think I will make this a new thread, but let's get it started here.

Regards,
Michael

 

[IdoMillet]

You can look at session topics from past conferences and get plenty of ideas. Business Objects can also give you access to past session evaluations.

I think it would be importent to keep the registration fee to a minimum (many Crystal professionals work for small to medium sized companies...). Perhaps a large local company would be willing to provide the meeting space.

It may be useful to allow attendees to post job offers and resumes ahead of time to faciliate recruiting.

Cheers,
- Ido

Visual CUT & DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[rhinok]

If I had gone for the sole purpose of attending breakout sessions with Crystal Reports content (I didn't), I would have been sorely disappointed. That being said, I did attend some sessions I found valuable.

Please note,however, that for attendees like Ido, Brian, Bruce and myself, we are longtime experts with the tool and there wouldn't be that much at any conference or user group that we could glean from a technical perspective (in general - I always say I learn new things everyday from forums like this).

Overall, there was less of a BOBJ bias than in previous years. I suppose this is due to the fact that Enterprise is the web-based platform for all BOBJ products from this point forward. There is still, however, a very heavy bias towards large clients than small clients. The conference did include ~30% more Crystal Content than last year, but it could have been improved in the following ways:

1) Identify the technical level of the sessions in both the mini and full-sized agendas. This would have helped tremendously, since most technical sessions seemed to be for novice - to - intermediate level attendees.

2) Identify whether the content was specific to Crystal or Business Objects software. There were many sessions that looked interesting, based upon their descriptions, but didn't actually apply to Crystal attendees.

3) Business Objects should more closely audit the content of the sessions so that they actually resemble the descriptions. The worst offender I attended (for about 10 minutes) was something called 'How do I do that in Enterprise XI). The session was basically a remedial breakdown of CR features (paramters, dynamic parameters, etc...) without actually addressing 'How to' like issues indicated by the description of the session. I know Ido walked out of this one, too, as did several other expert-level attendees.

What were other things that I felt could have enhanced the conference?

1) Hold industry-specific and product-specific breakout sessions for the purpose of networking. It would have been great, for example, if there were Healthcare Industry or Enterprise-specific networking breakout sessions with specifically scheduled times. I was able to network, of course, but typically it was only by accident as I overheard other conversations or questions posed during breakout sessions. Networking, in my opinion, is one of the best reasons to attend a conference like this.

2) It's not over until it's over. As silly as this sounds, the quality of the food declined day-by-day until we were given sack-lunches on the last day. Additionally, there should be drinks (coffee, tea, water, etc...) available all day, not just at certain times.

3) Make it easier for small vendors, especially education partners, to attend. I didn't see a single primarily education partner that I recognized from previous conferences (either CDUGNA or BOBJ). All of the vendors appeared to be primarly technical parters from larger companies.

4) Swag - seriously. Once again, as silly as this sounds, most attendees look forward to getting chintzy little freebies at vendor fairs and conferences. I remember bringing home stess-reliever squishies, calculators, pens, balls, etc... from previous conferences. This year, there was virtually no swag, however, there were at least five raffles for iPods (proving the dominance of that entertainment platform)). Granted, this is up to the vendors, not BOBJ. I do have the same beef with BOBJ, however. Two years ago, in Scottsdale, every recipient received a great, high-quality convertible (messenger bag to backpack) laptop backpack with embroidered logos from the major fair partners. I still use this bag today, because it is that good. Last year, BOBJ gave out 128MB pen drives. This year? Nothing (unless you count the sucky canvas bag, which they also gave out last year)...

~Kurt

 

[MJRBIM]

I enjoyed my whirlwind 24 hours at CDUGNA 2004 in New Orleans, but wasn't sure what to expect with a BOBJ-run Conference.

If I had only been attending the BOBJ Conference as a Crystal Reports user it would have been a waste of money - but I'm also an independent Crystal Enterprise/BO-XI consultant also, so it was a worthwhile conference.

There's was a lot of marketing stuff in many of the breakout sessions. At one point I expected them to tell us that BO-XI R2 will "paint your house" and "get the weeds out of your lawn"...

Decent technical content was available if you planned your day, and were willing to walk-out of a badly picked session in the first 15 minutes to find another one.

Best four things about the conference -

1.) Question & Answer time at the end of each session (and in the Product Panel "Game Show").
2.) Networking time with other BOBJ users (and Tek-Tipers)
3.) Trade Show - Many 3rd party products in one room.
4.) On-Site Tech Support (waaaay better than sitting on hold)

My biggest issue was that the third-day was a bit of a let down. No Trade Show, No On-Site Tech Support and bag lunches...the whole event just kind of petered-out.

That being said, I'm planning on going to next year in San Fransico - and my wife wants to know if they're a French company why don't they have a conference in Paris...?

 

[IdoMillet]

Actually, for 2006 they are planning one conference in Europe and one in the USA.

Cheers,
- Ido

Visual CUT & DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com