Guest Blogger: Mark Rittman,
Well I’m writing this blog post just before my last ever ODTUG board meeting, after having served for the last two years following being elected in 2009. It’s been a fun two years, with a lot of hard work thrown in as well. I’ve stood down from the board this year due to family commitments, but I’ll still be working as a volunteer and co-chair (along with Kent Graziano) of the ODTUG BI&DW SIG (you can join our group on LinkedIn).
In my first year on the board, I “learned the ropes” and generally worked to represent the BI community within ODTUG. This year, I’ve continued those tasks, and also took on the responsibility of being the ODTUG treasurer, giving me responsibility for the user group’s finances, including the conference budget, which contributes the vast majority of our revenue. With my BI background, I worked with Kathleen and the YCC team to streamline and simplify the financial reports we produce each month, highlighting key ratios, changes year-on-year and month-on-month, and focusing on some key performance indicators that helps us understand, at a glance, if we’re on track for the year. I’d say this is probably my proudest achievement, and thanks also to Wendy at YCC, and to the finance committee, for their advice and help over the year.
Apart from being treasurer, my general ODTUG board duties included a monthly board meeting call, where we discuss upcoming events, initiatives to better serve the members, and any issues arising from the running of the user group. Twice a year there are face-to-face meetings, where we take a couple of days to think about the long-term goals for ODTUG, and again focus relentlessly on making sure we serve you, the members, in the most effective way possible.
So I’m saying my farewells to the board now, but I’ll still be around and definitely at KScope 12 in San Antonio, where I’m presenting a couple of papers and I’m also bringing my family to the wonderful JW Marriott hotel. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to stand again for the board, once the kids grow up, but until then, I’m sure ODTUG is in very safe hands …!
