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20 May 2014
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Get thee to KScope14 in Seattle!

Once again it is that time of year when the who’s-who of Oracle development geekdom gather for their annual festival of education and networking.

Yes it is time for ODTUG’s annual event KScope14 to be held in Seattle,Washington from June 22nd – 26th. As always this is the not-to-be-missed independent Oracle user conference for users by users. This year includes 52 Oracle ACEs and ACE Directors, plus Oracle Corp Product Managers, and a host of other great speakers. Check out the entire list here.

As always there will be ample opportunity to network with the presenters and other attendees including breakfast with the ACEs and the popular Lunch and Learn panel discussions.

If you can make it to Seattle early, lend a helping hand and participate in the Annual KScope Community Service Day. This is the only event of its kind where the user community gathers to give back to the host city. This is now an annual tradition for ODTUG going back to helping in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Then there is the ever popular Special Event on Wednesday night. This year we will visit the world renowned Experience Music Project. (You do not want to miss this!)

As in past years, I will be giving several presentations myself, and running my now-annual Morning Chi Gung classes for those that want to start the day with this ancient Chinese health practice. I will holding these sessions each morning (Sunday – Thursday) at 7 AM.

If you need more convincing, check out ODTUG President Monty’s interview with Oracle Database Insider.

Ready now? Okay, go register here  and you can still get the early discount rate!

See you in Seattle!

Kent

The Oracle Data Warrior

Posted in ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
20 Aug 2013

Technical Content is King: ODTUG User Group Sunday at #OOW13

Yes boys and girls, it’s that time of year again.

Time for Oracle Open World 2013 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco USA.

Time to gather with 50,000 (or so)  of your closest Oracle pals in the city by the bay.

Time to catch up on all things Oracle.

Big things I expect to hear about this year?

More Oracle 12c, SQL Developer 4.0, and of course…

BIG DATA

and

THE CLOUD!

(There is also a pretty good chance we will here a lot about The America’s Cup finals and Team USA)

And of course my good friends at ODTUG have put together another stellar lineup of Oracle ACEs, ACE Directors and all around Oracle guru’s to kick the week off with the best technical content about Oracle and Oracle tools in the known universe (seriously that is not an exaggeration).

There are sessions on database development, APEX, Hyperion/EPM, ADF, and the Oracle BI applications.

It will be an awesome day of learning.

Check out the full agenda and details here.

Then click on the OOW button on the upper right to register for the conference. Rooms are going fast and you do not want to miss this.

See you in San Fran!

Kent

The Oracle Data Warrior

p.s. As usually the music line up for the annual appreciation event is amazing too!

Posted in ODTUG, Oracle and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
26 Jun 2013
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KScope13 Day Three: Crossing Over in New Orleans

Well Tuesday was another fun and fact filled day at the annual ODTUG KScope conference in New Orleans.

As we do each morning, the first event is Morning Chi Gung. This morning the group grew again to 22 participants who met at 6:45 AM (yes it is early) to walk down the street a few blocks to get in some morning moving meditation. Today we even picked up a few “strays” who joined us (folks not part of the KScope event).

Only in New Orleans would people wander by and join an Ad Hoc exercise and meditation class.

I consider that a sign of success. 🙂

After that is was back to the hotel, breakfast, a quick shower, then my first session.

Hands-on Lab

To start off I went to the SQL Developer Hands-on Lab run by Oracle Product Managers Jeff Smith and Ashley Chen. We had a very nice lab (downloadable from OTN) on how to use SQL Developer for Tuning database queries.

It was very education and useful for me. I even learned a few new options in the tool I had not seen before.

Lunch and Learn

Next, after writing yesterday’s blog post, I got to participate it an ODTUG annual session – the BI Panel Lunch and Learn.

This year they improved it by allowing 30 minutes first for everyone to eat before we started the discussions and questions. Much better (at least for us panelists!).

Quite a good audience for the Oracle ACE BI Lunch & Learn Panel discussion

Quite a good audience for the Oracle ACE BI Lunch & Learn Panel discussion

We had a great and interactive session with lots of give and take and a few somewhat controversial comments from Dan Vlamis to liven things up a bit. Our esteemed moderator, Mark Rittman, did an excellent job of prompting us with relevant questions and controlling the flow of the conversation so everyone had their say. Rounding out the panel was Gurcan Orchan, our resident ODI expert (amoung many other things)

Data modeling sessions

After the panel I went on to see my friend Ashely Chen introduce people to SQL Developer Data Modeler in her Data Modeling 101 session.

Oracle Product Manager Ashley Chen presenting Data Modeling 101 with SQL Developer Data Modeler

Oracle Product Manager Ashley Chen presenting Data Modeling 101 with SQL Developer Data Modeler

Ashley dd a great job setting the stage by showing people what is meant by data modeling and how it fits in the life cycle of developing a database. She then showed many of the basic features of Oracle Data modeling tool.

After Ashley’s session then I had my final presentation on my Top 10 Cool Features in SQL Developer Data Modeler. Ashley and Jeff Smith both attended along with 20-30 other folks as I ran down my list of things I use and like in the tool.

The talk went well with some good questions about the product and how to use it (except for the fact I kinda ran out of time and had to rush the last 3 features). I got some great feedback from Jeff and Ashley on the talk and an excellent suggestion for my next talk. 😉

The Hyperion Crossover Session

This was a KScope first -sessions about topics aimed at people on the other side of the fence. So this session was for database people who know nothing about the Hyperion and Essbase products that Oracle acquired a few years back.

It was an excellent session, even if not highly attended (something about being after the happy hour in the exhibit hall perhaps?).

Andy Jorgenson conducts the first ever Hyperion 101 Crossover Session (for database people)

Andy Jorgenson conducts the first ever Hyperion 101 Crossover Session (for database people)

I learned that they are solving many of the same problems as we database people do but just with a different technology. Some of the terms are used a little differently. For example what they label as BI is much broader than I tend to think of – to them it is basic reporting against an ERP. I tend to associate BI with a data warehouse or a data mart (but the data comes from an ERP or operational system originally).

We also got a full list of some of the pre-packased applications that Oracle provides in this space. Very focused on financial solutions.

During the Hyperion 101 session, Andy discussed all the pre-built packaged analytic application that Oracle offers.

During the Hyperion 101 session, Andy discussed all the pre-built packaged analytic application that Oracle offers.

The really cool thing I learned was what Essbase stands for:

Extended SpreadSheet dataBASE

Very telling!

After that it was off to another fine dining experience in the French Quarter.

Probably not going to lose weight on this trip!

C’ya! Tomorrow I should be reporting on our big event!

Kent

Posted in Chi Gung, Data Modeling, Fitness, ODTUG, Oracle, SQL Developer Data Modeler and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
23 Jun 2013
1 Comment

Welcome to the Biggest KScope Conference Ever!

Day breaks over the Mighty Mississippi

Day breaks over the Mighty Mississippi

Day one at ODTUG’s KScope13 was awesome as always with a great set of symposiums and networking events.

At the speaker meeting we learned that there are 1,400 registered attendees, 30 countries represented and over 50 exhibitors making this the largest event and largest exhibit hall in the history of the Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG).

So we must be doing something right to attract such a large crowd.

Part of what we do right is getting the top Oracle developers, consultants, and Oracle ACEs in the world to present. And we get stellar participation from the Product Management and Development teams at Oracle Corporation.

Even though it was Sunday, there was a tremendous turnout for our free Sunday Symposiums. In the Symposiums we had rooms dedicated to specific topics so attendees could stay in one place all day and get a series of related talks.

After conducting my now annual Morning Chi Gung class (had nine attendees!) I spent the day in the DB & Developer’s Toolbox Symposium. It had quite a line up.

First I attended Jeff Smith’s session  on SQL Developer 4.0 which will come out later this summer.

SQL Developer Product Manager, Jeff Smith of Oracle, introduces new features in the upcoming 4.0 release

SQL Developer Product Manager, Jeff Smith of Oracle, introduces new features in the upcoming 4.0 release

Got lots of great tips and trick which I am sure Jeff will be blogging about at ThatJeffSmith.com in the near future.

Next was Oracle Technologist Tom Kyte who spoke about many new features and enhancements to SQL And PL/SQL in the upcoming Oracle 12c release of the database.

Tom Kyte (of AskTom.com fame) introduces attendees to new SQL and PL/SQL features in Oracle 12c

Tom Kyte (of AskTom.com fame) introduces attendees to new SQL and PL/SQL features in Oracle 12c

And last for my day of learning was Maria Colgan discussing changes to the Oracle Optimizer in 12c.

Oracle Product Manager, Maria Colgan, discusses the Evolution of the Oracle Optimizer: Rules based to 12c

Oracle Product Manager, Maria Colgan, discusses the Evolution of the Oracle Optimizer: Rules based to 12c

As always, Maria provided so much information my head was ready to explode from information overload. And later in the week she has a second session on this topic with even more new features to discuss. If every Oracle DBA could attend one of her sessions, all of our databases would run better!

After the sessions it was time for formal and informal networking. There was the speakers meeting and the official welcome reception in the exhibit hall. I got to attend an official Oracle ACE dinner cruise on a steam powered paddle wheel river boat complete with live jazz band. Very much in the spirit of New Orleans.

Stay tuned for more reports as the week progresses.

Kent

The Oracle Data Warrior

P.S. I got to do a little touring as well and visited the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the United States. It is quite a beautiful church inside and out.

The beautiful St Louis Cathedral near Jackson Square in New Orleans

The beautiful St Louis Cathedral near Jackson Square in New Orleans

Posted in Chi Gung, ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
19 Jun 2013
1 Comment

See you at KScope13!

Are you ready?

It is almost time for the annual ODTUG KScope conference in New Orleans. It starts with the Community Service Day on Saturday June 22nd and runs through Thursday June 27th at the Sheraton Hotel right on the edge of the French Quarter.

For my readers that are attending, I will be giving three talks this year, leading morning Chi Gung classes,  as well as sitting on the BI Lunch and Learn Panel.

My talks will be:

Five Ways to Make Data Modeling Fun – Monday at 9:45 AM

Using OBIEE and Data Vault to Virtualize Your BI Environment: An Agile Approach – Monday at 3 PM (with Stewart Bryson)

Top Ten Cool Features in Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler – Tuesday at 12:15 PM

And on Wednesday at 10:45 AM you will find me in Social Media Lounge getting interviewed about Data Modeling, ODTUG, and KScope.

If you are joining me for Morning Chi Gung, I believe we will meet in the hotel lobby at 6:45 AM so we can walk to the river front park where we will hold our class. It is only a 30 minute class right before breakfast so please give it a try and get energized for a long day of learning and networking! Follow me on twitter @KentGraziano for any updates to the location and meeting time.

Don’t forget to download the new KScope Mobile App so you can keep track of your schedule and not miss any of these sessions.

See you in New Orleans!

Kent

The Oracle Data Warrior

Posted in Chi Gung, Data Modeling, Data Vault, Data Warehouse, Fitness, ODTUG, Oracle, SQL Developer Data Modeler, User Groups and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

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