IDUG EMEA 2014 – Day 2

The sun has been shining and the weather mild so far in Prague for IDUG EMEA 2014. (Who says the British only talk about the weather?) However last time I was in Prague the temperature was -20C and I was knee deep in snow. It just shows that nothing is certain. This was echoed by the excellent ex-poker player Caspar Berry during the opening keynote to IDUG EMEA 2014. The message I took from Caspar’s entertaining presentation was that we should embrace change. We cannot predict the outcome of events for certain, but we can plan to mitigate risk and plan what to do in the event of an unexpected event. Don’t expect for certain that a DB2 version upgrade or deployment of new application code will go exactly according to plan. Great if they do, but plan for the unexpected.

Following Caspar’s keynote and the news from IDUG CPC Chair Cristian Molaro that this year’s attendance is the largest for many years, attendees exited to the main conference hall and every direction I turned people were greeting their fellow IDUGers that they hadn’t seen for 12 months since IDUG EMEA 2013 in Barcelona. “Have you planned your DB2 11 z/OS upgrade yet?”, “Are you using DB2 BLU?” Lots of noise and lots of questions. With increasing numbers in attendance there is a real buzz about IDUG EMEA this year. There are also more First Time attendees than I have seen before, perhaps down to the successful Mentor programme.

Talking of numbers and buzz, there were also record numbers at the Triton Monday Evening event this year. Crowds of people were quickly taking on the DB2 Geek Geometric quiz, challenging even the most experienced of techies. A lot of head scratching and puzzled looks from every table. For some the quiz was too testing and so instead tried out the DB2 Geek life size cut out for size. Well done to all those that attempted the Geometric challenge and especially to our prize winners. There are a few sore heads around this morning but soon forgotten following some entertaining and insightful technical sessions. And more of the same tomorrow.

Hard to believe we’re nearly on day 3 of IDUG already and it will soon be over with everyone already looking forward to IDUG EMEA 2015 in Dublin. Nothing is certain of course, but I will certainly be doing my upmost to make IDUG again next year. The best DB2 education event there is.