Saturday 31 December 2011

Looking Back on 2011, Forward to 2012

Professionally 2011 has been a great year for me.

January the Fusion UX Advocates Program kicked off after another successful IOUC meeting.

I then stayed in the US, working from home in Chicago until the RMOUG conference in Denver.

March we had the UKOUG elections and I was appointed Chairman and Lisa Dobson Vice Chairman. We had our Irish Conference .

In April it was Collaborate in Orlando, but I left early to speak at Miracle Open World in Denmark, which was followed by UKOUGs first Exadata event.

May, I spoke at the DOAG Apps Conference in Berlin and UKOUG was very busy working on its reorganisation.

June we had our Scottish Conference in the Oracle Linthithgow offices, Hyperion conference and Fusion Applications finally went on controlled release.

July is always busy at UKOUG, but first of all I was at Kaleidescope running the SOA Symposium, rushing back for the a UKOUG  board meeting, volunteers day with AGM and then paper selection day. This year even more important than ever because we proposed our re-organisation which was unanimously accepted and the first thing that happened was I stood down as Chairman, but then immediately appointed as President.

Then it was back across the pond in July to take part in the first of the two OTN Tours of 2011. This was South America and I loved it, despite it being a little colder than I expected.

August I was asked by Oracle to talk to their Marketing and Sales about what customers are saying about Fusion Applications. This is really important to me as my role within Fujitsu means I need to understand Oracle Strategy and help customers see the value to theirs, so being recognised by Oracle to have those skills is very reassuring. I was also very busy helping Fujitsu to reach Diamond Status in teh Oracle Partner Network.

September was all about preparation for Oracle Open World. UKOUG held a Security event in Bletchley Park, and I spoke at the Slovenian Oracle User group.

Oracle Open World was as ever really busy with Fusion Nation kicking off the General Release. Beforehand, like at Kaleidoscope there was also more UX training, and two days of ACE briefings.

October saw the 2nd of the OTN tours, this time to Asia, NZ and Australia, starting in Tokyo the home of Fujitsu. 

In November I was a keynote speaker for the 2nd time at the UK Oracle Application Days. Then it was all ready for UKOUG conference at the start of December.

Obviously a lot more goes on at UKOUG then I listed here, but it is a community effort and I can't attend all of them. I also spoke in the Netherlands for the Belgium User Group and met in Prague for the EOUC meetings. 2011 was a very busy year.

2012 will see more change in UKOUG as the reorganisation reaches its first annual cycle. I am up for re-election in March, and hope that I get everyone's backing and am re-elected by the user group to the council and then as President. I am not sure what speaking I will do, but as long as Fujitsu still give me the time, and OT continue to support I hope to uphold the ACE Director program and share my knowledge with others.

I hope everyone has a great 2012.

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