This year’s conference, coming up September 21-25, will be no different and I’ll be there all week to meet as many new friends as possible (that’s you), see some old friends (that might be you too), and share a few of my technical and community bits of knowledge with anyone that shows up at my sessions (hopefully you). I’ve already glanced through the schedule builder and picked out a lot of sessions that interest me, so pulling myself away from those to perform other presentations or fulfill other duties will be challenging, as usual. First, let me list where you’re certain to find me (you should add these sessions to your schedule using the Schedule Builder to ensure your seat in the sessions):

• Saturday, September 20 (my birthday!!), 8am: Scuba diving in Monterrey Bay
• Sunday, September 21, 10am: Building an Oracle Real Application Clusters Environment on VMWare for Free (IOUG) (S301003)
• Monday, September 22, 11:30am: So, You Want to Be an Oracle ACE? (co-presented with Sheeri Cabral) (S301397)
• Tuesday, September 23, 3pm: So, You Want to Be an Oracle ACE? (repeated–but never the same session twice–at OTN Unconference, Overlook I)
• Tuesday, September 23, 4pm: Oracle Adaptive Access Manager: What, Why, How? at OTN Unconference, Overlook I)
• Wednesday, September 22, 8pm: Oracle OpenWorld Appreciation Event (a.k.a. “The Party!”)
• Thursday, September 25, 12pm (noon): Integrating Microsoft Active Directory and Oracle Internet Directory with Database Logins: Enterprise User Security (IOUG) (S300044)

In between these specific sessions, I’ll be attending other sessions, hanging out in the OTN Lounge, the OCP Lounge, OOW Exhibit Hall, tweeting, eating, or otherwise goofing off.

Last but certainly not least, I received confirmation that one of my sessions was accepted to the UKOUG 2008 Conference and Exhibition in Birmhingham (December 1-5, 2008). Thanks to the UKOUG for selecting my session for presentation at the conference! I’m looking forward to seeing friends old and new and maybe even getting to look around the area while I’m there (it’ll be my first trip across the pond). I’ll post more about the session and my plans when the dates get closer (and after all this OOW excitement dies off).

The session scheduler (login required) is online and available to registered attendees. Once there, you’ll find my sessions listed (please come by, ask questions, try not to sleep):

• Monday, 1:15p: Oracle Identity Management – The Total Identity Solution (presenting for Matt Topper who won’t be able to attend the conference)
• Tuesday, 9:15a: RAC For Beginners: The Basics
• Tuesday, 2p: Development DBA Panel (I’m the moderator)
• Tuesday, 5p: Oracle ACE Directors Panel (I think I’m on the panel…or at least in the room)
• Wednesday, 8a: How A RAT Will Save Your Job

Piocon will also have a booth set up at the conference, so stop by there and say hello (who knows–you might find me there occasionally too). The Oracle ACE Program will be represented well with many speakers and also Oracle representatives such as Justin Kestelyn will be floating around the event too.

I’ll also be participating in the Community Service Day coordinated by ODTUG on Saturday, June 14th. If you’re going to be volunteering with the group, I’ll probably see you then. If you can’t make it, I’ll see you on Sunday or during the week. If you haven’t heard about Community Service Day, check the link above to get more information and get involved!

See you in New Orleans!

As has been the case for several years, the IOUG and ODTUG have graciously selected some of my submissions for presentation at their respective conferences. While ODTUG has announced that they’ve selected their sessions, they haven’t yet posted them or notified many of the speakers.

For the 5 or so people that probably read this blog , here are the sessions where you’ll find me at Collaborate 08 this year:

• To RAC or Not To RAC: What’s Best For HA? (this is a debate session that I’m coordinating), Thursday @ 9:45 AM
• SSL, Load Balancers, Rewrite, Redirect, and More Advanced Configuration (a 2-hour expert session co-presented with Matt Topper), Monday @ 9:15 AM
• Building A RAC Test Environment On VMWare For Free (a 2-hour expert session), Tuesday @ 3:30 PM
• Oracle Adaptive Access Manager: What, Why, How, Wednesday @ 8:30 AM

Of course, I’ll also be coordinating and participating in several sessions for the RAC SIG at the conference, but we haven’t yet set dates or times for them.

At the ODTUG Kaleidoscope conference happening June 15-18 in New Orleans, I’ll be presenting the following sessions (they haven’t scheduled them yet):

• How A RAT Will Save Your Job
• RAC For Beginners: The Basics
• Sunday Fusion Middleware Symposium session: SSL, Load Balancers, Rewrite, Redirect, and More Advanced Configuration (co-presentation with Matt–a repeat of the Collaborate session)

UPDATE: The last session listed above (OAS Advanced Config) is only to be presented at the Sunday Fusion Middleware Symposium instead of a regular conference slot. If you really want the full version, come to Collaborate!

If you submitted a session to ODTUG and haven’t heard back, check here for status.

Still not enough? I’m also presenting at the Northern California Oracle Users Group conference on February 19th at Oracle’s Conference Center on the HQ Campus. At that event, you can see me in the front talking on these topics:

• Oracle Adaptive Access Manager: What, Why, How, at 2:30 PM
• High Availability Options for Oracle Database, at 4 PM

It’ll be a busy spring and summer. I’m not sure I really understood how busy until I wrote it all down in one place…yikes.

Then things might calm down, but not for long since Oracle OpenWorld is coming early this year (September 21-25)!

• Sunday, 4pm, Moscone West 2002-L2: RAC SIG Birds of a Feather Discussion Session, S292952
• Monday, 12:30pm, Moscone South 310: RAC SIG Customer Panel, S291621
• Tuesday, 10:45am, Moscone South 310: Panel Discussion: Deploying Siebel, SAP, Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, and Hyperion on a Grid, S291659
• Tuesday, 12:15pm, Moscone South 310: RAC SIG Expert Panel, S291665

Besides great content at these events, you’ll find many of the RAC SIG board members attending, hosting, moderating, and participating in these events. If you’re interested in becoming more involved with the group, please seek out one of us to discuss how you can help. Also, we’re always looking for potential presenters for our live webcast series, so we may be seeking you out to solicit your participation in that as well!

Either way, attending these sessions or not, I encourage you to sign up for an account on the RAC SIG website. This will enable you to access our recorded past webcasts (on demand playback at any time) and receive email reminders about upcoming events.

See you in SF! Be sure to confirm the room assignments and session times as they sometimes change in last-minute planning by OOW staff.