Olympic Spirit at IDUG

Earlier on this year I was fortunate enough to spend several days at the Olympics. Other than watching Usain Bolt retain the 100M and witnessing Mo Farah win his second gold medal of the games, a more generic highlight for me was the friendly atmosphere and camaraderie at the Olympic Park. With the many events running concurrently, the Olympic Park was full of spectators from all corners of the globe, all proudly wearing their national colours, costumes and flags and all excited to be at the Olympic Park.

At this year’s IDUG EMEA in Berlin, I have found a similar spirit and of course DB2 experts and customers from all round the world, some travelling from as far as Australia & New Zealand. At the Triton party Monday evening I lost count of the number of nationalities I chatted to. And likewise the presenters on day two of IDUG were from a myriad of countries from every continent.

One of the success stories of the London Olympics were the Volunteers. The organisation and logistics of the Olympic would not have been as smooth and trouble free had it not been for the many volunteers many of whom were not visible but their sometimes seemingly mundane tasks behind the scenes were vital to the success of the Olympics.

In much the same way, a successful IDUG conference relies on volunteers such as Moderators and the CPC (Conference Planning Committee). Without them there would be no IDUG. And even though I noticed several of the CPC still enjoying the Triton party into the early hours, they still managed to be bright and lively early the following morning to ensure the conference ran to plan.

So if you’ve ever attended an IDUG conference and wanted to know how you can help then please just contact a member of the CPC.