ODTUG Kscope 2011 abstract schedule

The best is yet to come

The best being KScope 2011, of course.

What do I mean by that?  Of course the very best place to see super cool (really, just keep reading on) content is going to happen.  What’s the big deal?

The big deal is that after much thought, consideration, and debate, the very best Oracle EPM and BI presentations you have ever seen have been selected.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the official schedule here and see the invited speakers.  Jump to the bottom of this post to get a more detailed view of the presentations.  Yep, this is going to be a great conference.

The pain and the agony

The ODTUG Hyperion SIG puts a huge (let me tell you, three hour Saturday afternoon conference calls are not fun, but for you, oh KScope 2011 attendee, we do it with a song in our heart) amount of effort into the abstract selection process.  We’re passionate, even obsessive, about quality, and I think you’ll agree that the sessions reflect that concern about the best of the best.

Each and every submitted abstract was individually reviewed and assigned a numerical rating by the content selection team.  We then met in multiple conference calls by track culminating in several overall Hyperion SIG meetings to evaluate every single one of those presentations (there were over 200 on the EPM side of it) and determine if it was in or out.

Many good abstracts were rejected because the level of competition was so high.  This may sadden or frustrate some who were rejected and I’m sorry that everyone who wanted to share knowledge didn’t have a chance to do so this year.  It’s commendable behavior and I hope you try again next time.  There are other opportunities other than the conference such as ODTUG Webinars.  Please contact us and see where you can contribute.

If everyone could agree that Kaleidoscope should be a two week long geek fest, then all of the deserving presentations could occur.  Sadly (?) I’m probably the only nut that would or could do it (realistically, two weeks away from work with hotel, travel, and lost income wouldn’t even work for me, but it’s a nice thought) so it isn’t really on but is humbling to realize that many people submitted quality abstracts.  Kaleidoscope is the place for quality, and the EPM and BI world knows it.

Not the square peg in the round hole

Oracle’s BI and EPM offerings are large and diverse, to put it mildly.

KScope 2011’s BI/EPM content chairwoman (and my good buddy), Natalie Delemar, had an inspired idea – instead of trying to be all things to all men by being the judge, jury, and executioner for presentations (I put that sentence into my patented Metaphor-O-Matic and out it came, unencumbered by the thought process), she instead reached out the Oracle BI and EPM community and got the experts in their respective areas to solicit and review abstracts before the Hyperion SIG, overall content chairman Monty Latiolais, and conference supremo Edward Roske put their final imprimatur on the schedule.  See, ODTUG is just full of good ideas.  And long sentences.

Below is that august group of geeks, by content review area.

BI

Holger Friedrich

Kevin McGinley

Shyam Varan Nath

Mark Rittman

EPM

John Booth

Chris Barbieri

Jim Malseed

Josie Manzano

Hyperion SIG (and a few friends)
Joe Aultman

Gary Crisci

Natalie Delemar

Monty Latiolais

Al Marciante

Mike Riley

Edward Roske

Yr. Obdnt. Srvnt.

Glenn Schwartzberg

Brian Suter

Tim Tow

Crystal Walton

Angie Wilcox

We owe them all a lot – many, many hours were spent on this, especially by Natalie who spent untold hours making the schedule work – 3 am emails asking my opinion on a abstract scare me, especially when we’re in the same time zone.  They did a tremendous service to us all by soliciting, reviewing, and selecting the best of the best.

How do you want to slice the pie?

There are four ways to view this conference:  track, not for just beginners, physical room, and business end users. 

The tracks are broken into:  case studies and panels, HFM, Essbase, Planning, Keeping It All Running, Reporting, OBIEE/DW, and of course Hands On Labs.

There’s also a beginner view – yes, Kaleidoscope isn’t going to leave those of us (like me, sometimes) starting out in a technology. 

Or you can view it by room, if you are of a sedentary nature.

And lastly, there’s even a map for business end users in case this all gets too geeky for you. 

If you want to just download the whole thing to geek out over during your free time, click here.

Whoever you are, whatever your interests, wherever your technical level lies, there’s a place for you at KScope 2011.

And the result is…

One awesome conference and in my opinion, the very best Kaleidoscope, and hence the very best “Hyperion” conference ever.  It’s that good.  Book those tickets, reserve that room, purchase that conference registration.  You won’t regret it.  See you in Long Beach.