Collaborate 08 Hyperion Track - 1,300+ Attendees

I just uncovered that the Hyperion track at COLLABORATE 08 now has around 1,300 attendees. It's kind of difficult to determine the exact number, because Hyperion attendees could register under OAUG, IOUG, Quest, or through a special Hyperion link. Unless they registered through the Hyperion link, they had to mark that they were interested in Hyperion presentations. If they forget to do this, they're not counted in the ~1,300. Suffice to say that COLLABORATE won't be the size of the Hyperion Solutions conference, but it will most likely be the largest "Hyperion" conference of 2008.

I'm supposed to leave for the COLLABORATE 08 conference first thing Sunday morning. The only potential problem is that I'm on an American Airlines MD-80, so if I don't make it to Denver, please tell my family that I love them. Assuming my flight isn't cancelled (and that I land safely), I will be writing about all of the significant Hyperion events at the conference. Since my days are pretty full (I have 10 presentations to deliver), the blogging will usually happen daily between the hours of 3 and 5 AM, so check back then!

The first Hyperion event of note is at 1PM on Sunday: the OAUG Hyperion SIG meeting. Ed Delise was going to be heading up the meeting, but since he's home anxiously awaiting the birth of his new baby, Kristin Newman from Hitachi is going to be chairing the meeting. My role in the event is fairly minor (I'm reviewing the Hyperion presentations that are going to be delivered at the conference), so I should have time to write about anything else interesting I hear. Kristin and I went through all the lists of COLLABORATE Hyperion presentations we could find and came up with 98. We'll be handing out the complete list of ones we were able to find at the meeting.

I did hear that Rich Clayton will no longer be the keynote speaker. He's been replaced (but not in our hearts) with Fred Richards, Oracle's Senior Director of BI Product Marketing. Fred's a friend of mine: we gave a joint presentation on Essbase successes at OpenWorld in 2007. I swapped e-mails with Fred, and he said he's going to be presenting on the new vision of EPM/BI at Oracle and how Hyperion integrates that vision. Time permitting, he'll talk through some of the recent Hyperion roadmap changes (there will be an in-depth Hyperion roadmap talk at 8AM on Monday).

Well, it's time now to go pack. Hopefully, I'll get to nap a little too in advance of the sleep-deprivation exercise that is a software conference. Usually these events are so busy that I plan on not sleeping from the time I arrive until I leave. This is why my presentations are far more lively at the start of the week (and why I tend to fall asleep while talking towards the end).