Which Conference Should You Attend?

At the recent IOUC meeting at Oracle Headquarters in Redwood City, I was asked by one of the Oracle people to write a short blurb for the Oracle website that will help Hyperion users understand which conference they should attend. Here is what I drafted for them:

With Oracle Corporation’s acquisition of Hyperion Solutions, the popular Solutions conference is no more, and the content formerly available at Solutions has been folded into three different Oracle-oriented conferences. This has created confusion within the Hyperion user community. This guide will help you understand the content offered at the three major Oracle conferences: Oracle Open World, sponsored by Oracle Corporation; Collaborate 09, sponsored by the Oracle Applications User Group, Independent Oracle User Group and Quest; and Kaleidoscope 2009, sponsored by the Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG). Each conference targets a different audience.

Oracle Open World is a celebration of all things Oracle and features keynote presentations from all major Oracle executives, extensive sessions on Oracle technology and its future direction, and multiple exhibit halls full of Oracle partners and vendors representing the wide spectrum of Oracle’s offerings. If you want to learn about the vast solutions Oracle offers, Oracle Open World 2009, October 12 to October 15, in San Francisco, California is the place for you.

Collaborate 09 is the conference affiliation for the Oracle Applications User Group, which has an active Hyperion Special Interest Group (“Hyperion SIG”). The Hyperion SIG focuses its efforts at Collaborate on how to better leverage Oracle Essbase, Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Financial Management, and the other Hyperion products that comprise Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). If you want to know which Hyperion products you need and want to see case studies of how other companies have maximized their ROI in Oracle EPM, you will find what you want at Collaborate 09, May 3- 7 in Orlando, Florida.

Kaleidoscope is the annual conference presented by the Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG) and is focused on the technical user. Kaleidoscope features intensive, technically-oriented training for the Hyperion developer with tracks dedicated to Oracle Essbase, Hyperion Planning/HFM, Oracle EPM, and an exclusive Hyperion Hands-on Lab. The conference kicks off with a full-day Hyperion Symposium featuring presenters from the Oracle Hyperion Development group. If you want to see the nuts-and-bolts of how to implement, automate, or optimize Hyperion products, don’t miss ODTUG’s Kaleidoscope 2009, June 21 to 25 in Monterey, California.

Fellow Oracle ACE Edward Roske has also spent a bunch of time trying to let users know which conference best suits their needs. He has a couple of webcasts scheduled that go into more detail and where you can ask specific questions. For more information on his webcasts, please read his blog post here.