Come to the ODTUG Philly meetup, meet the elite EPM & BI geeks, and win a free Kscope17 pass

Back in your own back yard

Are ODTUG-sponsored meetups not awesome?  They are.  I write this not because I am (for the rest of MMXVI) an ODTUG board member or because I’m presenting at Kscope16, but because so much of what I do professionally has changed for the better since I first attended ODTUG’s 2008 Kaleidoscope.  I know that I tend to be something of a cheerleader for the What Is The World’s Best Oracle User Group Extant (WITWBOUGE – Surely there’s a village somewhere in Flanders with this name?) but as I wrote in the first sentence of this missive, it’s that good.

A small, intimate, and highly focused first conference was the ideal introduction to the awesomeness that is ODTUG.  But you can’t go back in time – come to think of it I can’t either – to try to catch the lightning in the bottle that was the Essbase Room in New Orleans.*  Kscope has gone from strength to strength since 2008 but that first conference for EPMers will always be special to me.  What you can do is attend an ODTUG-sponsored local meetup.  The same closeness, the same passion, the same element of sharing and excitement is but a local hop, skip, and a jump away.  

Where do all the EPM and BI geeks meet?  118 Chestnut Street

South Street?**  Surely not.  Instead, try Buffalo Billiards at 118 Chestnut Street on June 15th, 2016 for what will be, I hope, the first of many Philadelphia EPM meetups.  Dave Anderson is heading this endeavor and I’m confident that Philly can support, sustain, and grow a strong EPM community.

Free as in beer

The first meetup is the toughest – will people come, will they be enthusiastic, will they return next time round – and the best way to get traction is to spend marketing dollars.  ODTUG is committed to nurturing the Philadelphia EPM and BI meetup.  To that end, we’re throwing in a free Kscope17 pass.  That’s right: show up, give Dave your business card, I will draw a lucky contestant’s card from the pot (or hat or beer mug) and whoever that is will have his Kscope17 conference fee gratis.  That really is free-as-in-beer.  Whoever that lucky person is will still have to swing the flight, hotel, various and sundry T&E expenses but the big nut, the conference pass, is free, free, free.

Now do I have your attention?  See, ODTUG meetups really are awesome.

See (and sign up) ODTUG’s meetup.com page for further information and to give us a feel for how many people will attend.

Join us, won’t you?

Errata #1

* Yes, that really is current board member Mike Riley’s pitch to geeks cut adrift by Hyperion Solutions’ purchase back in 2008.  Each and every one of we EPM developers and users who have benefited and enjoyed and really learnt to love ODTUG are obliged to him for his vision.  We truly stand on the shoulders of giants.

Errata #2

** South Street?  I almost rented an apartment right off of South – it had glow in the dark stars embedded in the bedroom ceiling.  The enthusiastic landlord insisted on demonstrating this fascinating home furnishing addition; they worked as advertised.  Shudder.  Where the hippies meet, indeed.