Kaleidoscope Conference

Hi Everyone,

I am currently in San Antonio, Texas for the ODTUG Kaleidoscope Conference and I have had quite a week... And it's only Monday!

I flew out yesterday afternoon and was extremely surprised to find that I was bumped to first class on not one, but both of my flights out to San Antonio! I have never even flown first class before, let alone twice in one day. As if that wasn't enough, when I checked into the JW Marriott in San Anotonio (see the beautiful picture below), I found out the hotel was out of single bed rooms so I was bumped to an executive suite. Not just a suite, these rooms (notice room is plural) are HUGE. I guess yesterday was my lucky day... I should have bought a lottery ticket! 

Beyond the fun and lucky stuff that has been happening, the conference has been such a great experience. This morning I went to a hands on session about OBI (Oracle Business Intelligence) which was taught by Charles Elliot of Rittman Mead Consulting. He did a really great job and I would love to continue learning more about OBI. Maybe it's just the headstrong personality in me but I would love to be handed an OBI project and just be told to run with it. I really thought the OBI tool was extremely interactive and user friendly.

Later during lunch I was able to watch some of my colleagues networking at our booth. I was able to learn so much from Chip Rosales, Lynn Brading, Bud Burwinkle, and Darren Hites just by watching them hard at work. One thing that particularly stuck with me was when you are in that type of environment, and you don't really know what to say, the best thing to do is just ask the client questions. Once you've engaged the potential client in conversation, it's easy to go from there. Thanks Chip for the advice!

After lunch I attended "An Intro to ODI in the Hyperion Environment" which was taught by Matthias Helios of Mindstream Analytics. I had the pleasure of sitting by Matthias during my morning class and he did an excellent job presenting and explaining ODI, despite the fact that the content was a little bit (okay a lot bit) over my head.

Throughout the conference I have been networking as much as possible and have been able to meet some really great people. 

Finally I would like to say that I am so fortunate that I am working for a company that would even consider sending a new college grad to this conference. I am so thankful for this opportunity Crown has given me. I'll keep everyone posted as my week goes on.

Goodnight from the Lonestar state!