I'm sitting in the "General Session" listening to the mayor of Denver tell vaguely relevant technology stories. He actually sounds technology-oriented more than most politicians I've seen (and apparently, prior to becoming mayor, he ran the largest brewpub in America). I figured that while he's selling the crowd on why they should move their companies to Denver, I would catch up on my blogging.
Charles Phillips just came out. I doubt he'll say anything Hyperion-related. If he does, I'll write immediately. In the meantime, let's continue recapping the day.
Today has been a whirlwind. The three presentations I gave were all standing room only. In two of them (How Essbase Thinks and Hyperion Reports Tips and Tricks), they closed the doors and wouldn't let anymore people in. The Reports presentation had so many people that couldn't get in, that Katie Miknis from OAUG asked me to repeat the presentation on Thursday at 9:45AM in room 302. Glutton for punishment that I am, I agreed. I'll regret that, I'm sure.
While I'd like to claim that my presentations were huge draws, the real problem is that the rooms were tiny. Two of my presentations had rooms that only held 175, and one of them held around 130. I have no idea why these rooms are so small. Maybe there are more Hyperion people here than they planned? My only other complaint about the presentations is minor: there were no wireless microphones. I hate being tied to a podium. I like wandering through the audience (and on a related note, I want to be Oprah when I grow up).
Lunch today was horrendous. It was the cheapest, classless, tasteless meal I've ever paid for at a conference. First of all, it was a cold box lunch, for crike's sake. Each person was only allowed one box and one soft drink. There wasn't water or ice tea at the tables. I asked about water and was told that only soft drinks were available. The "meal" consisted of a small sandwich (all bread and no middle), 3 Oreos, and an apple. Solutions gave out a boxed lunch, but it was only on the final day so that people could take it with them to the airport. Honestly, this is the most low-rent conference I've ever seen. It's not like they don't charge enough per person to pay for decent food! It's obvious that someone's trying to make a profit on COLLABORATE.
These people could really learn something about putting on a conference from the Hyperion Solutions people.
About 3PM, I went to visit our interRel booth (963, if you're at Collaborate). While our booth is complete, the exhibit hall looks like a construction zone. As of 4:15PM, carpet wasn't even finished being put down. We're supposed to have dog prints (yes, dog prints; it's a long story) leading from the entrance to our booth. It's hard to lay dog prints, though, on non-existent carpet. The hall opens at 6PM, so I'm anxious to see how they're going to pull it off in time. Speaking of, I should head to the booth.
