RE: [U2] Is U2 University worth going to? YES!
Is any one else going to San Francisco's U2 University. I'll be there. When you have a change to take a business trip to San Francisco you should talk advantage of it. It is the last conference so I hope it doesn't get cancelled. Tom Dodds -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stevenson, Charles Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 12:02 PM To: u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Subject: RE: [U2] Is U2 University worth going to? YES! I'm planning to attend the San Francisco edition, late November. I was at IBM's huge conference last year and we (U2) just got lost in the mix. This is a much better format. I suppose if you have AIX and U2 and Tivoli, last year's CAAOC (Conglomerated Association of Affiliated Organizations Conference) was ok, because you could talk about all three in one place, but I only met a few other u2 users when milling about. I think users of non-U2 IBM products had the same frustration. I think IBM ended up limiting the number of U2-related breakout sessions too. We could have used more. And it was expensive. I'm guessing half the attendees were IBM employees. Maybe we had to pay for them. What did we get for that extra grand, pooling our education dollars with the disparate dollars of diverse disciplines whose only commonality was the vendor? (a) A roped off section of Disneyland for an evening with music so loud that my ears rang & I couldn't network anyway, even when I could find some fellow u2-ists in the crowd; and (b) Gladys Knight and the Pips. Big whoop. (Tho I like Susan Joslyn's suggestion of Bono & U2.) I'm looking forward to this year's conference. See you in SF, Chuck Stevenson --- u2-users mailing list u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/ --- u2-users mailing list u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
RE: [U2] Is U2 University worth going to? YES!
I'm planning to attend the San Francisco edition, late November. I was at IBM's huge conference last year and we (U2) just got lost in the mix. This is a much better format. I suppose if you have AIX and U2 and Tivoli, last year's CAAOC (Conglomerated Association of Affiliated Organizations Conference) was ok, because you could talk about all three in one place, but I only met a few other u2 users when milling about. I think users of non-U2 IBM products had the same frustration. I think IBM ended up limiting the number of U2-related breakout sessions too. We could have used more. And it was expensive. I'm guessing half the attendees were IBM employees. Maybe we had to pay for them. What did we get for that extra grand, pooling our education dollars with the disparate dollars of diverse disciplines whose only commonality was the vendor? (a) A roped off section of Disneyland for an evening with music so loud that my ears rang & I couldn't network anyway, even when I could find some fellow u2-ists in the crowd; and (b) Gladys Knight and the Pips. Big whoop. (Tho I like Susan Joslyn's suggestion of Bono & U2.) I'm looking forward to this year's conference. See you in SF, Chuck Stevenson --- u2-users mailing list u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
[U2] Is U2 University worth going to? YES!
Louie asked, "...has anybody gone to a U2 University before? Any clues as to its worth?" I'm taking off my IBM employee hat to answer this one... :-) Throughout my career, User Groups and Conferences have been the mainstay of my continuing education (outside of reading manuals). The U2 User Groups provides these things: a) This listserver provides immediate answers to your problems at hand. Super Hot! Super Important! b) The U2UG organization provides extremely valuable insights into what should be included in the next releases of the products (see Better & Better for more details). c) The U2UG Knowledge Base d) The U2UG Learner Pack e) and much more Why is the U2 University so incredibly valuable? #1 - And this point is off the radar screen important - This is THE place to meet others that are going thru the exact same thing you are going thru, ie Networking!!! You get other people names. You know where they work and the kind of issues they are going thru. You can ask people specific questions about what they are doing. Advanced Technical Support (ATS) personnel and U2 Engineers will be there so you can ask them your questions. You will meet the U2 engineers that are solving the problems that we are all working thru. You'll meet people (like me) that have "Been there, Done that!". Got the bumps and scars to prove it too! They call that experience. #2 You will be able to learn about stuff that you may wish to implement in the future (and this year, there is a boat load of new things you can use). SOAP servers, eclipse, WEB/DE, etc. etc. etc. I propose that U2 University is education in a highly compressed format. You will be interested in attending more sessions than you will have time for. #3 You will be exposed to things that you didn't know about that are important. (Remember that phrase, "It's what you don't know that will kill ya!) You'll be exposed to super new ideas and how they will assist you or adversely impact you if you don't take action now. (humor here...) You will learn to DUCK before the Baseball Bat hits you in the head! #4 It's blasted cheap. Last year the IOD conference was $1,875 USD. The U2 people heard that price was WAY too High. This year it's less than 1/2 of that and only $875 USD. This year's price is still in alignment with what we charged back in 1989-92 (adjusted for inflation). We even are presenting them around the world so people don't have to spend as much money traveling to get there. There is one company that is sending Five of their employees. Enough said. If you can't send your whole IT staff, send as many as you can. You need (want) to be there! Send this e-mail to your boss. I ask that you register NOW for any of the conferences. http://www-306.ibm.com/software/info/u2/university/index.jsp Steve Stephen M. O'Neal U2 Lab Services Sales Specialist Information Management, IBM Software Group --- u2-users mailing list u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
