SAP Runs SAP @ SAP TechEd: Three Questions for Martin Lang

Martin Lang is an SAP TechEd veteran, with ten TechEd notches on his belt. Of these, he has attended seven as an SAP Mentor. I sat down with Martin for five minutes and asked him three questions.

So Martin, what distinguishes this year’s SAP TechEd && d-code from the many other TechEds you’ve attended?

Martin: Well, the name says it all: this year there is a lot more code at TechEd, and a lot more technology. We’ve opened up spaces, such as the Code Jam space and the Hacker’s Lounge, so that we can bring code right onto the showfloor. Yesterday Julia Lakatos’s ‘Build a SAPIU5 app’ session drew over 150 people. It was extremely technical, all about code, with no Powerpoints, and there were people sitting there with their laptops open, coding along with her.

You’ve been working the SAP Runs SAP booth for the past five days. What’s the number one question you’ve heard?

Martin: Well since I’m the mobile guy, I’ve mostly heard mobile questions. The difference between this year and last year is that – thanks to the work of the SAP Mentors – Fiori is now free to customers. So I’ve had a lot of questions from customers about how they can get started with Fiori.

What is it like attending TechEd as an SAP Mentor?

Martin: It exposes you to a lot more opportunities to socialise. We have the Mentor Room right here on the showfloor and three or four times a day, we have meetings with executives. Our external SAP Mentors are extremely outspoken and refreshingly direct, so the discussions can get quite lively.

The mentors are a great bunch. They are all very passionate abou their role and about what they do. They come from a broad range of disciplines – some are community advocates, others are designers, while some are deep techies – and from many different countries, so they have diverse interests and viewpoints.

Follow Martin on Twitter: @MartinLang