April 14, 2008

Collaborate 08 Hyperion Track - Monday

I had to leave Charles Phillips' presentation about 15 minutes before the end. He hadn't mentioned Hyperion yet (although there are 1,300+ attendees here for Hyperion). I think that he was probably going to spend the last 15 minutes on Hyperion (and I also think that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings).

I walked up to the exhibit hall at 5:45PM and was absolutely astounded to find that everything was complete. I followed the blue paw prints back to our booth (yes, I'm serious). We have a nice position right on the main back walkway. We're also next to the "Mile High VIP" oxygen bar. I have got to figure out a way to get in there. I think I'm suffering from oxygen-deprivation here in the Mile High City. There are also some very nice appetizers (macaroni and cheese martinis!) which compared to the prison food they served for lunch, is a welcome relief.

The exhibit traffic was minimal. We got a lot of people stopping by asking either "So what is Hyperion?" or "Tell me about your Essbase product that you're selling." I've previously written that Oracle hasn't been communicating terribly well to the Hyperion community about the changes to Hyperion within Oracle. Now, I'm not terribly sure Oracle has done a great job of explaining the Hyperion acquisition to the existing Oracle clients. I know that as quickly as Oracle is gobbling up companies, there's no way anyone could keep up, but you'd think a $3+ billion acquisition would warrant some major customer education.

After the hall, I had a nice dinner hosted by one of my very generous/appreciative clients at Kevin Taylor's at Hotel Teatro. They didn't have a single vegetarian option on the entrée side of the menu (there was ONE vegetarian salad), so I told the server what I could and could not eat and told her to surprise me. The chef astounded me. He brought out the most creative 4-course vegetarian meal I've ever seen. I'd like to list the items, but I don't think most of the things they made up had names. I took a picture of the dessert, so I might post it her: everything was beautifully presented.

At about 11:30PM, I stumbled my way back to the hotel to prepare for the marathon of Tuesday: 3 presentations, a book signing, and a client appreciation event.

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