Life After Demo Jam

2 Weeks Since Holding the Trophy!

It’s been a couple of weeks since Al Templeton and I were on stage at Demo Jam at SAP TechEd holding the crystal trophy (albeit briefly), and I’m only just now starting to come down from the high of winning. It’s definitely life changing being involved in Demo Jam, but to be honest, I’m still trying to take stock to understand the exact change. I was barely coming to grips with my recent SAP Mentor title and all that goes with that; then with the DemoJam title…I was just blown away!

Side note: It was even more daunting on the night when we saw a couple of the Demo Jammer’s approached in what will surely result in some multi-million dollar deal for them. Just like in American Idol – winners don’t necessarily score the big deal.

So no multi-million dollar deal for us as we’d committed to making our demo available to the community for free (though I’m sure Al’s company will gladly help you out if you want), but in fact, that’s the bit I’m most proud of. The fact that YOU can develop your device independent online or offline app within 4.7 ERP or greater today with just a little HTML, JavaScript and CSS knowledge on top of your ABAP skills. If even one person is inspired by this, then hey – that’s awesome. Maybe even Bill was watching this and thought – why do we need Silverlight anymore – let’s go with HTML 5!

Note – Credit goes to Matthias Steiner for his great DemoJam action shot I’ve used. 

Show us the Engine!

Now we’re just getting over some technicalities like getting Al signed up for Code Exchange which Rui has just sorted out for us today (Thanks Rui – but here’s hoping for the click through agreement in the near future) and logistical issues like finding time to write blogs but I promise it’s all coming over the next 1 or 2 weeks (look out for a joint blog from Al and I shortly). We’ve captured a lot of our journey on video and have lots of learnings to share, but it takes time when this is all done in your own time.

Why the Challenge???

So during an Enterprise Geeks podcast interview and with the win fresh in our minds, yes we did throw down a challenge to the ABAP Freak (Thomas Jung) and Ed Herrmann (The most famous retired DemoJammer along side Dan McWeeney) to a Demo Jam showdown in Australia at Mastering Technologies in Sydney next year.  Some of you may be wondering why…

Well firstly, we have Al (and a bottomless cup of coffee 🙂 ).  He’s the wild card for Team Australia, and will keep Ed and Thomas on their toes.  I’ve known Al since High School, we studied Engineering together at the University of Tasmania, we’ve worked together for a number of Companies, and he was even a Groomsman at my Wedding – I definitely know what he is capable of.

Secondly, it should be awesome fun as it’s all about doing cool stuff with SAP technologies that may not have any real business case (the WII hands are still the most classic thing I’ve ever seen at a Demo Jam event).

Lastly, it’s like we’ve put together a fantasy league for Demo Jam. i.e. Yeah – let’s pick Ed (no offence Dan), and put him together with Thomas – that would be awesome! If we get thrashed (which we won’t) – then who cares. It’s like having the opportunity to play ice hockey against the LA Kings. Being on the same rink being thrashed is still an awesome experience but imagine just getting one goal against them! It could even turn out like Mystery Alaska!

If you want to see the challenge, Dennis Howlett captured the event on video and you can see it here.

Demo Jam Bangalore and 2011

Firstly, good luck to the finalists for Bangalore. I’ll definitely be watching and voting online…One thing I can recommend is “Enjoy it!” It’s pretty daunting but great fun if you can get past the nerves.

Lastly, we heard Craig on stage talk about all the SAP entries and the complaints raised about the number of SAP finalists, but here we have a couple of guys from an SAP customer and partner who in their spare time decided to compete and ended up getting their names on a trophy which sits in Palo Alto.

In other words, I’m sure there are a huge number of customers and partners doing some very cool things out there with SAP either at work or in their own time and we need to see these things on stage. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount of work (more engine, less chrome was one quote that I recall). Craig is extremely helpful with feedback in the early stages and can definitely get your demo in shape prior to submitting the video to the selection committee.

And if you make it to Demo Jam – it’s absolutely all worth it.