Working in EPM? Live in South Florida? Not going to the South Florida EPM Meetup? Why?

Why indeed

Just what is a meetup?  Given EPMers’ technological bent, it is surprising to me that we don’t readily cotton on to the concept of a meetup.  That’s a pity because they are a great way to (danger ahead:  a geek who thinks he’s witty) meet up with like-minded individuals.  Think of them as a social media tool involving living, breathing meatware, using their collective wetware, all occurring in real life.  Isn’t slang wonderful?

What does that all mean in Plain English?  

Here’s a good definition, a meetup is “a meeting, especially a regular meeting of people who share a particular interest and have connected with each other through a social-networking website”.    

Have you been to an ODTUG-nurtured EPM meetup?  Hardworking (given her ODTUG volunteer workload it’s more like insanely hardworking) Janice D'Aloia heads that initiative within the ODTUG EPM community.  A note about these meetups:  ODTUG encourages them through funding and support but at the end of the day a meetup is owned by its members, not ODTUG so please don’t think attendees are taking any orders from what-is-likely-the-best-Oracle-user-group-ever.  It’s all part of ODTUG’s service to its community members and yes, it is pretty noble sounding and it just plain is.

If you are interested in getting help starting up a meetup in your area, please contact ODTUG at erin@odtug.com to start the meetup ball rolling.  ← That’s an idiom, not slang, but aren’t idioms just as wonderful as slang?  Discuss.

South Florida EPM Meetup

And that brings us to a specific meetup, namely the upcoming South Florida EPM meetup.  It’s  occurring on Thursday, 18th February, 2016 at Dave & Buster’s Hollywood, Florida location from 3:30 to 6:30 (or later if you’re having that much fun) pm.

What’s on offer?  The very things that make meetups so much fun:  education in form of a Special ODTUG Surprise (And no, I do not qualify as a surprise, or at least not a pleasant one.  There will be a projector, and a laptop, and a demo.), a super geeky-cool game, and the opportunity to meet your fellow Floridian EPM practitioners.  What’s not to like?

It’s easy-peasy to register – you can do this on ODTUG’s EPM meetup page right here.  Meetup.com provides a lovely confirmation screen once you’ve registered.

And Bob’s your uncle, you’re set to attend.  You are going to, right?  You should if you’re not.

And to whom to do we owe the pleasure?

As I noted, ODTUG is an enabler but meetups are intrinsically grassroots.  They are founded and led and staffed and attended by you, the EPM geek.  The organizers are just like us – people who live, breathe, and eat EPM.

In the case of the South Florida meetup it’s Jessica Cordova of ARC EPM and Kris Calabro of Tyco International.  Jessica and Kris make meetings like this possible and we’re all in their debt.  Meetup organizers, whether they be hiking enthusiasts, British sports car owners (make mine a Sunbeam Tiger with Minilites), or yes, even EPM practitioners do it because they love whatever the passion is.  Benefit from their enthusiasm if you’re in the South Florida area on 18 February, 2016.  Join us, won’t you?

Be seeing you.