How’d You First Get Involved with ODTUG? - Part 7

I wanted to know how people first got involved with ODTUG so I sent out an email to some of my fellow ODTUGgers. Due to the sheer volume of responses I'll be posting multiple blogs to share their experience with you. Today's post highlights Gary Crisci, John Jeunnette, Scott Eaton, and Alex Nuijten

Gary-Criscu.jpg I first got involved with ODTUG in 2008.  This was soon after Oracle acquired Hyperion and they were no longer holding the Solutions conferences.  I had attended Collaborate in 2008 with a colleague and we were extremely disappointed.  I met up with Edward Roske and Tim Tow on the last day of Collaborate and they suggested I come to Kaleidoscope.  They actually asked me to give a presentation on MDX.  I agreed and headed to New Orleans.  It was by the far the best conference I had been to and I was hooked.  
I became more involved by volunteering for the Hyperion SIG user group and continued over the last few years to be a presenter and take on additional roles with the conference committee.  ODTUG is about the users, I had never seen that before, there was no ulterior motive, it was not a veiled marketing scheme.  These people were serious about driving a user based community for developers and they have exceeded my expectations many times.  That is why I volunteer, to do my part to make sure ODTUG continues to deliver amazing content to developers in this field.

Gary Crisci
@garycrisci

jeunnette.jpg I was doing full time Oracle Forms development in the early nineties and was looking for information on ways to create better applications with Forms and Reports. My initial connection to ODTUG was via the e-mail lists where folks could post a question or comment and get suggestions or comments from the community. Eventually, I started going to conferences and volunteering to assist with organizational activities.

John Jeunnette

I first got involved with ODTUG 3-4 years ago when I was doing dashboarding work for the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University.  I do not remember how I was directed to ODTUG’s website, but I went there and browsed a little bit.  The information I found there I thought I could apply to my job so I talked to my manager and asked about joining ODTUG.  She gave her okay and I went back to the website and joined.  After joining, I found out about the ODTUG Technical Journal and Kscope.  Both provided me with excellent knowledge I could and did use on the job.  The two Kscope conferences I attended were experiences I will never forget.

Scott Eaton

The first time I got involved with ODTUG was through my colleague Lucas Jellema. He told me about the yearly conference and suggested to send in an abstract to present.

As this was the first time presenting and writing abstracts, it was quite a struggle. Weeks I spend on writing an abstract.  Each time I finished writing the abstract I would send it over to Lucas to get feedback. At first they were way too long (two pages), next they were too general, finally I got it right. Really pleased with the abstract, I submitted it. Only to find out that I was not accepted. Quite a disappointment, I can assure you. Because of all the effort I put in to getting an abstract together, my employer allowed me to go to the conference after all. As I was going to the conference, Lucas offered to do a joint-presentation: “See Water Burning: Oracle Quiz on SQL and PL/SQL”. Even though I was very nervous during this presentation, I really enjoyed the experience and presented multiple times at ODTUG.

Alex Nuijten
nuijten.blogspot.com
#alexnuijten

 

 

 

Recent Stories
Journey to Conference Chair: My Story

The ODTUG Board of Directors Elections Are Now Open!

Board Is Not the Only Way to Volunteer