Snap Judgement-SAP Inside Track St. Louis

Just wanted to put together a little blog to track the events of SAP Inside Track – St. Louis 2010.  We’ll go in chronological order.  I find I like narratives that way, the backwards episode of “Seinfeld” notwithstanding.

Quick aside (breaking, naturally, from chronological order).  I want to take a second to thank our sponsors.  Thanks, sponsors.  SenseCorp for providing our space and drinks throughout the day, into the evening, and with any luck until the break o’, break o’ dawn.  ASUG for its promotion and general support.  SAP for its support, including food throughout the day and web broadcasting technology and moderation.  Finally, I want to thank the speakers who all paid there own way here for the love of community.

Breakfast / Networking

Is there a better way to start a day than free bagels?  I don’t think so.  In fact, the awesomeness of free bagels may be the lynchpin of my next blog.  Because the only thing better than free bagels is writing about them. The crowd was riding so high in fact that I had to give a totally lifeless presentation on ASUG just to bring them down a little bit.  In short: ASUG is awesome.  Go join.

SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap by Kevin McManus

Kevin did a great job (and got a lot of great questions) (which he answered in case that wasn’t clear) on the SAP BusinessObjects product suite Roadmap.  When Kevin wasn’t discussing the long overdue death of SAP’s BI solution, he was talking about name changes within the toolset.  Web Intelligence is now “Interactive Analysis”.  Voyager is now “Pioneer”.  Free bagels are now “low-cost baked deliciosity”.  Kevin is still “Kevin” but in the next release he’s going to have an umlaut.  Kevin did do a great job directing us through this murky landscape.

Hitchhikers Guide to CRM Middleware by Desmonde Thomas

Not gonna lie.  I spent most of this session prepping for lunch.  But I could literally smell the people getting smarter THROUGH THE WALL.  It smelled a lot like pizza and big sandwich.  I’m typically not a big fan of this sort of thing being virtual, but Desmonde and the local moderator (Stephen Johannes) did a great job keeping the crowd engaged.  

I’d also like to take a second to complain about the MacBook I am working on (I’m sort of between work and therefore between work laptops).  Steve Jobs, would it really have been so tough to make “Delete” mean the same thing it does for Microsoft (wiping the character to the right of the cursor).  You are a self-important a-hole.  Thank you.

Lunch / More Networking

Lunch smells a lot like people getting smarter.  To event planners out there – don’t assume that a catered salad will be vegetarian-friendly.  It was delicious.  Sorry, folks.  At least I thought to have order a mushroom pizza instead of another pepperoni.

On the networking, conversations are really starting to heat up.  Just heard about a meeting in Chicago on October 1st where the ASUG chapter and the ASUG Enterprise Architecture SIG are going to have 5 tracts going (ASUG.com for more info).  

ABAP Freakshow by Tom Jung

Tom Jung is a multi-faceted talent.  Early riser, engaging speaker, ABAP freak and he sports a glorious head of hair.  What can’t this guy do?  I don’t even CARE about ABAP, and I’m riveted.  Honestly.  I hate to say it, but he may be the Dave Rathbun of the SAP world.  Dave still leads this league in beards, though.  Point, BOBJ.

This Hello World demo is really impressive.  And, if that is all you are going to do with SAP, expensive.

CRM Laundry List by Stephen Johannes

Stephen has been working around the clock to pull this thing off.  Honestly not even sure how he has had time to pull a presentation together, but the assembled group seems pretty happy with it.  You know a presentation is good when it stands between people and a reception and they aren’t even looking at their watches.  This time, these people smell like chicken fingers, toasted raviolis and queso dip when they get smarter.

Big Wrap Up

Monkeys and Chocolate highlight the door prizes.  The atmosphere in here is titillating!

In sum, I’d have to say this was a successful event.   40 people in person got to witness the speaking stylings of our expert presenters, even more watched online, they were recorded for posterity.  And of course, free bagels.

Just to be safe, I’m filing this report before they turn the tappers on.  Don’t want to see any photocopied butts in this Flickr group.  If you missed any of it, the presentations should be available on SCN pretty soon.