I have been asked by a few different folks about evaluations for the conference, both from an attendee perspective and for speakers as well. For previous conferences conference attendees filled out evaluation forms before leaving the site (that’s how you got your conference t-shirt). For the GBN conference we didn’t do that. From what I hear, conference attendees will be soon receiving an email with a link to an online survey, at which point you will be able to provide any feedback about the overall conference.
I don’t know how much of the details for the conference feedback will be made public. Business Objects did not release the overall conference evaluation numbers to the public. I do know that every single comment will be read, categorized, and evaluated. This was the first year for a GBN-run conference and I think everyone recognized that there were some differences. The opportunity before us will be to sort out which differences were important, which should be repeated, and which should be fixed.
For example, one bit of feedback that I intend to provide is related to the room configuration. The room I was scheduled to speak in was quite large, and fairly deep. I don’t know how many rows of chairs there were, but it was more than a few. Yet there was no raised platform for the speaker in the front of the room. I am sure that impacted how visible I was in the back of the room. I imagine everyone could hear me, but hearing is not the same as hearing + seeing at the same time. I think for larger rooms we want to make sure we have elevated platforms next year.
Speakers, on the other hand, will be waiting a bit longer to get our feedback. I don’t have exact dates, but I am told that each speaker should be getting an email soon with more details on when we can expect to see our results. I know I look forward to seeing the numbers. I have had some great comments over the years, and I do strive for the best overall ratings that I can get.
Survey response percentages are typically very low. If you attended the conference and you’re reading this, I would encourage you to fill out the survey once you get the link. The function of the steering committee is to “steer” or guide in the desired direction. It is your voice that should determine that direction. Let’s hear it. 🙂
I have posted my presentation from the 2008 GBN Conference. I have also posted placeholders for my other conference (or user group) presentations and will really try hard to get the rest of them loaded before the end of the year.
Conference Presentations Download Page
I have already published on extended post based on one of the tips from this presentation, and have several more ready to come out over the coming weeks. If you went to the presentation then these blog posts will help you remember what I talked about. If you were not able to attend the conference, then these posts will hopefully help you get more out of the slides.
Introducing the Translation Manager
Translation Manager is a new tool that allows you to extract information from your universe, provide translations, and then store that translated information back into your universe. Anything that the user can see can be translated, including class names, objects names, descriptions, and even prompt text. Things the user cannot see like table names and joins are not translated, which makes sense. The data itself is not translated by this tool. Once the universe is published, the user’s location can be used to deliver a language-customized version of the universe. In the United States I’m not sure how often this would be used. (“Texan” is not recognized as a language, y’all. 😆 ) But for international companies it certainly makes sense.
No Custom Languages
One thing that I have suggested to the Designer product team is the ability to set up custom languages. And no, I’m not doing this because I want to translate my universe into Texan. 😛
Imagine this scenario: You are a company with a product that requires reporting support. You have selected to bundle Business Objects along with your product. But each client that you sell to has the option to customize your application, including custom naming for various elements. You would like to be able to deliver that same custom name as a part of the universe.
Today you can do this with the @Select() function and by setting up a hidden class with source data, client-specific classes with their renamed objects, and security restrictions. But this is complicated. If you could create a custom language file and distribute it with your universe, wouldn’t that solve this problem in a very cool way?
This feature was one of several mentioned in my Designer Essentials presentation delivered at the 2008 GBN conference. This particular feature was on page 7.
Part of my recent presentation on Universe Designer was a listing of new features for XI 3.0. I will be writing about each of these features individually in some upcoming blog posts. But there is one change that I didn’t include in my presentation, and it involves the passing of an old friend that has been with us since 1996.
I am talking about this: 
Continue reading “The Passing of an Old Friend”
As the saying goes, “The king is dead, long live the king!” The first GBN-sponsored conference closed yesterday afternoon and I think it was a success. There are things that can be improved, of course, and I hope that folks will share their suggestions and experiences with me or any of the steering committee members. I was way too busy in the days leading up to the conference (not to mention during) that I didn’t get to do the “daily updates” that I have done for the past several conferences. I plan to address that by posting about my experiences during the conference over the coming days.
I haven’t drawn the winner for the cup either, so that’s coming soon. 🙂
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