My First ODTUG Meetup Experience in Miami: August 18, 2016

The Doubt
We drove 3.5 hours from Orlando to Miami for the South Florida EPM Meetup so we could learn from others who are using EPM technology. I have to admit that I questioned whether this Meetup would be worth the long drive. I am happy to share with you that our time on the road was time well-invested.

The Deciding Factors
1.    Cameron Lackpour’s presentation “On-premises Planning vs. PBCS.”
2.    An opportunity to learn from our peers
3.    A great networking opportunity

The Return
Presentations by Cameron Lackpour, Ron Moore and Ludovic De Paz are exactly what we were looking for. Our organization is at the cusp in deciding the path of our EPM environment: on-premise vs. the cloud. Do we upgrade or stay on the same version? I must say that Cameron’s presentation “On-Premises Planning vs. PBCS: Common Administrative Tasks Compared, Contrasted, and Recommended“ was informative and a great learning experience for us. It was well worth the hours in the car to Miami from Orlando! I have learned new things about EPM cloud and its future direction. This knowledge will help my organization decide our own direction and EPM roadmap.

Making the Connection
The speed networking ice breaker activity was fun and a great way to connect with our peers. I recommend adding additional time to the ice breaker/introduction activity to learn more about our peers. Allocating extra time for this activity would help us further develop relationships within the community and seek help/direction from one another in the future.

The Prize
I have to share this: I normally do not win anything in any sort of raffle drawing, but when I finally win a raffle drawing for the first time, I win Cameron Lackpour’s “Developing Essbase Applications: Hybrid Techniques and Practices.” Ok, so I won a technical book – it is not just any technical book. I prefer winning a technical book written from a top notch Essbase/Planning technical developer that I can put to use. Thank you very much and I am enjoying this book a lot.

Three Reasons Why I Recommend Attending a Meetup
1.    EPM Meetups give us opportunities to learn from other EPM professionals within our community who work with the EPM suite on daily basis (i.e. anything from implementation to administration).
2.    Fun to meet people who share similar challenges
3.    Network! Network! Network!

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