I've always wanted to attend an SAP event outside of Bangalore : Germany and the United States. Not for the reason that they had more sessions that they do in Bangalore, I'm not a fan of attending sessions in any event. Don't get me wrong here, these sessions are pretty awesome but I'm just not the sort of a guy to remain patiently seated and listen to someone speak for an hour without me saying anything π I'm just not that patient.
I wanted to attend them because I wanted to meet my friends from all over the world who have touched my life in some way or the other, hang around with them and thank them for being there for me. It was the numero uno item on my Bucket List. And then Sapphire Orlando happened and it was the best four days of my life... ahem... other than the day that I got married I mean π
Jim Spath, whom I had met in Baltimore, helped me not only with the pre Sapphire activities like hotels and travel information but he along with Jon Reed, meeting whom was like meeting a friend whom I had known for ever, perpetually had my back for the next four days, every time without fail.
Marilyn Pratt, Sue Keohan, Karin Tilotson & Gretchen Lindquist greeted me like family, with a warm hug or a peck on the cheek but also did not let a chance go to pull my leg whenever the opportunity arose.
Mi amigo Blag, my brother from Peru who I finally got to meet and hang around with for the most of the event had a nice Blagbert T-Shirt for me and was my partner in crime for the most crazy things that I did there, liking walking up to Hasso and asking him if he would like to take a picture with us to which he obliged π
Martin Gillet was a blast to hang out with, his repertoire of repartees was endless and had us in splits most of the times. And so was Aslan Noghre-Kar, ever smiling and ready to go along with the most atrocious of acts that we could think but at the same time taking stellar care of the Mentor Wolf Pack which he has done so well in the past.
The enterprise Geeks : Eddie Herrmann, Thomas Jung, Rich Heilman & Dan Mcweeney who have been my idols for a long time. Not only did I get a unique perspective of the happenings at Sapphire from their objective analysis of things, but they also are the most welcoming, accommodating friendly and extremely awesome bunch to hang out with. I had some of the best moments of Sapphire with them.
Greg Chase whom I had been following on twitter before he became a Mentor recently was someone I was quite impressed by. Never afraid to speak his mind but also approachable and forthcoming with advice when asked, we had developed quite a bond by the end of the event.
Anne Katherine Petteroe who I got to meet again after TechEd Bangalore last year and it was like meeting an old friend after a long time π Yeah 6 months is a long time π
Dennis Howlett, James Governor & Tom Raftery whom it's been a pleasure to know and follow on twitter and then to finally meet at Sapphire. Dennis with this twitchy middle finger, James with his outspoken nature and Tom the shutterbug, relatively calm and composed but very firm when making a point made it a special occasion for me.
Susan Scrupski & Matthias Zeller were amongst those who I had wanted to meet for a long time and though I had some really good moments, I wish I got more time to hang around with them. There's always TechEd 2010 π
I owed a lot to Mike Prosceno back from my SAP Days and when I got to finally meet him I immediately regretted the fact that I had not got a chance to meet him earlier. Helpful and charismatic, he never let go a chance to pull my leg too π And so was Stacey Fish, always on her toes, she left no stones unturned to ensure that we had a really good time at the event and we did !!!
Gail Moody-Byrd, Natascha Thomson & Christine Godek were an awesome company too whenever I could find them out on the vast Sapphire floor π
Mark Yolton & Chip Rodgers, always busy but never let go of a chance to ensure our experience was as stellar as it could be.
And last but by no means the least the herder of the Mentor Wolf Pack : Mark Finnern who ensured that we could maximise our effectiveness at Sapphire setting up meetings with the SAP executives and also taking good care of us.
I was Skyping with my wife from Sapphire and she said that my friends here are a wonderful bunch and they love me and care for me a lot may because they do not get to see me so much. If they did then maybe it will be a different story π Maybe... but the theme that emerged from my interactions with the SAP Mentors was one of Unity. We were divided by geography, time-zones, borders, languages & cultures but our love for SAP technologies and mutual respect & admiration binds us together. An unsaid sentiment that was echoing throughout these interactions was the fact that we were family and like a family we take care of each other.
ALL for ONE and ONE for ALL !!!
