Dave's Adventures in Business Intelligence

Wow, a five day conference (more specifically four days + Community Day) makes for a long week. Yesterday I had lunch with Giles Farrow (from Business Objects an SAP Company). Those that have been speakers in the past might recognize his name as he has been the coordinator for the Insight conferences these past few years. Giles used to work for Guinness (the beer company, not the book of records people) and tells some interesting stories. It was nice to catch up with him.

After lunch I went to the Community Clubhouse where I talked with Brian Bischof for a while. I had been introduced to Brian the night before; he is a well-known author, having published several books on Crystal Reports. He also has a series of articles on his web site (end of post for link) that talk about his experiences with self-publishing that I found very enlightening. I enjoyed the talk.

Last night I had dinner with several of the folks I had met for the first time here at the conference. Again, the conversations were very interesting, including some of the inside gossip that you can’t get anywhere else. For example, I heard from one person that there is a specific cap on the percentage of R&D dollars that can be spent on SAP integration of the Business Objects products, and the rest is to be spent on future improvements, existing product integrations, and new ideas. That comment was kind of a “throw-away” remark and I can’t share where it came from (protecting my source, so to speak). But it does make me feel better because a lot of the Business Objects sessions here at TechEd seemed to be all about the SAP integration.

Of course this is an SAP conference, so that’s probably to be expected. Still, hearing about the plans for future R&D was reassuring as a “legacy” Business Objects partner.

After dinner it was on to a private reception for SAP Mentors, and from there to the concert by the Black Crowes. Yes, I have a picture. Yes, it’s from my cell phone. Yes, it’s a terrible quality picture, but I will post it when I get home. And yes, they were loud. This morning my head still hurts, and I did use the free earplugs they provided.

This morning I am probably going to get to the convention center and have a few final conversations and then head to the airport early. Hurricane Ike is bearing down on Texas, and I would like to get home. Today.

If I had to pick my favorite part of the conference, I think it was easily the first day, the Community Day. I got to see some really interesting projects, talk to some fascinating people, and meet folks from around the globe that are as passionate about community, openness, and information sharing as I am. The rest of the week was good; day one was fantastic. I look forward to interacting more with my new friends online, no matter where they are. 8)

Related Links

• CrystalReportsBook.com