It’s the second official day of IOD but I have already done so much!   I was invited to a special reception for VIPs (thanks Crysta and David!) that included a tour of the Expo as it opened Sunday evening, got to see the colorful balloons in the Arrow Education booth where Arrow’s Carolann Kohler is doing a wonderful job of promoting our classes (back in biz, yay!), attended the Break Free Forum yesterday and then…best of all…our champagne tasting, where I was able to catch up with so many friends and colleagues.  Many thanks to Donna Dordai for her help making it all come together while I am in meetings and sessions, and Tara and Paul for the great food and service last night.  Locavore is awesome and they were doing Baltimore proud!

I am far from a great photographer but some pictures are on The Fillmore Group’s Facebook page.

I had intended to do this earlier, but catch-up from being away and the sheer volume of follow-up items after the conference have just permitted me to pen this summary.

Rob Thomas, IBM VP of Information Management Business Development, said that Information On Demand (IOD) 2010 – with over 10,000 attendees – was not only the largest IOD, but probably the largest IBM conference ever.  If you tried to get a Mandalay Bay elevator as sessions were ending, you won’t argue.

There are a few resources for those who weren’t able to attend.  Steaming video from various sessions and perspectives can be found at:

• LiveStream
• YouTube
• ChannelDB2

I had the opportunity to contribute my views here.

My colleague, Kim May, delivered a technical survey of IBM replication technologies “Putting Data Where You Need it: The Options”.

iod-2010-2708-putting-data-where-you-need-it-the-options

My colleague, Kim May, was interviewed at last year’s IBM Information On Demand Conference.  If “brevity is the soul of wit”, Kim’s summary of The Fillmore Group’s philosophy and the value of the IOD conference is soulfully witty indeed!

Kudos to Kim.

I am back from IOD in Las Vegas.  It was a great conference, but clearly priced beyond the budget of many Information Management software users.  For those of you in the Mid-Atlantic area, here’s another option that will give you a better understanding of IBM’s Information Agenda and where it can benefit your organization.  If nothing else, it will help you understand the products subgroups -Optim-InfoSphere-Filenet-Cognos-Data Servers.

The session is titled, “Unlocking the Business Value of Information“, and will be held Tuesday, November 17th at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in DC.  It’s *free* but you must register on the IBM site here.    Hope I will see you.

I asked the 25+ people that attended the last Baltimore/Washington DB2 Users Group LUW track meeting if anyone had ever submitted a proposal to speak at either IDUG or IOD. The response? No one! Ever!

The call for presenters at IOD is out and proposals must be submitted by next Friday, May 29th. Please don’t say, ‘oh no, not me…’ – this is a great opportunity for anyone, at any organization using DB2, to be heard. Go for it!! It is worth it – see the note from Amit Patel below. By the way, Amit is the champion of Data Champions – something else everyone should consider becoming.

“…the call for speakers for the IOD Global Conference is open at the enclosed URL. The deadline to submit proposals is May 29. I have attached below the information on Speaker Entitlements for IBM Customers presenting at IOD. Thanks.

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/conf/speakers.html

Speaker Entitlements:

Customer Speakers
Customer speakers who are selected to deliver one or more Business Leadership or Technical Skill Building educational sessions will receive complimentary conference registration valued at USD $2,195. Conference registration entitles admission to all conference meals, education sessions, EXPO Solution Center, entertainment events and programs Sunday evening through Thursday. Customer speakers will also receive 3 nights (single room rate + tax) at an IBM-designated conference hotel if the customer is based in North America or up to 4 nights if the customer is based outside of North America. No other hotel or travel expense entitlements will be offered by the conference organizing committee. Only one customer speaker per session qualifies. The only exception is for a pre-approved customer panel, in which case prior written approval is required from Nancy Kreps, the conference education manager.

Customer speakers from government or public sector organizations must sign a document verifying that they are aware of IOD conference expense entitlements for customers and whether their organization allows them to accept. This documentation must be received by the conference team prior to IBM extending the conference fee or hotel night waiver.

Business Partner Speakers
IBM Business Partners who are invited or selected to speak are not entitled to registration, hotel or other expense entitlements offered by the conference organizing committee.”