In the lead up to an IDUG EMEA Technical Conference the Triton office can seem a bit fraught. The technical team are usually tweaking their presentations whilst I’m finalising plans for the Triton and DBI Software drinks reception. This year was no exception. It was going to be my first year attending an IDUG Conference, which also meant the first time attending our event. So no pressure!
In keeping with tradition the main stress occurred prior to the event thanks again to our chosen despatch company, mention no names, of course. Five out of six boxes containing all our party invitations and promotional gifts arrived safely in Portugal, the sixth landed in Poland! Thankfully the final box made an appearance the morning of the reception. We are yet to have a year when the Triton boxes (or suitcases) don’t go awry.
Once landed, the Sunday evening began with a few members of the Triton team exploring the streets of Lisbon, checking the Geocaching clues in preparation for the competition. The weather was hot and the temperature was forecast to rise. We began questioning how many delegates would actually leave the comfort of an air conditioned hotel to complete the DB2 geek quiz. How keen were the IDUG contingency on winning a Roomba robot hoover? Only time would tell. The following day was spent promoting the competition and event on social media and at the IDUG Welcome Reception.
The crowd started building in the foyer of the IDUG reception and there was a real buzz in the air. I met with Scott and Chad from DBI Software, one of Triton’s business partners and set up the IDUG mobile app ready to start my scanning responsibilities. I was completely unaware that the majority of the people behind the ceremonial ribbon were planning on making a beeline to the DBI stand in order to pick up an invitation to our party later that evening; I knew we limited guest numbers but I didn’t realise invitations were in such high demand.
The drinks reception itself went down a storm. Everyone I talked to really enjoyed the evening, not only the food, drink and competition but also the networking. Congratulations to our competition winners, particularly Roland Schock who was crowned the Geocaching Champion and got to take home the Roomba robot.
So what were my first impressions of an IDUG conference? Well, they couldn’t have been more enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed the buzz of scanning delegate badges and what was so great about the whole IDUG experience was finally putting faces to all the names that I have connected with on the various social networking sites over the past six years.
It was also great to know that I wasn’t the only IDUG fresher at our party; there were quite a few fresh faces in the crowd and good to hear some young mainframers coming through the ranks too.
It’s amazing how quickly the days went. Before I knew it I was back on the plane to the UK. I’m already looking forward to planning next year’s event, so much so that we have already had our first planning session.
Thanks Lisbon, thanks Triton and thanks to the IDUG EMEA Conference Planning Committee for a fantastic few days.