Marco Musings 2010

Home again, Home again....Jiggity jig..

If you attended the Marco Island conference this year, I hope your travels home were smooth and delay free...

And if you didn't get there...Well, you're stuck with this blog entry..

This year we had record attendance... Almost 140 people came to enjoy the sun at Marco...Not that we really get to see all that much of it, but what there was was beautiful. Ah, the things we put up with for the good of our employers...

Our keynote speaker this year delivered a great talk on differentiation. I strongly suggest you check it out in the document share...But I will say that Mr. Shields uses a very abbreviated slide format for presentations, so unless his text got captured in slide notes, you missed the really good stuff he had to say.

A couple of customer presentations (Baldor's was cool) and then lunch and networking...

Then we heard from SAP. As usual, some great insights as to where they are going, along with some teasers for Day 2.

Speaking of Day 2...I really wish we could come up with a better way to get all of the fantastic information on this day without the great room shuffle..I just can't think of one..The highlite for me was the call from SAP for a "Mobile Device Configuration Challenge"...Sounds like it's going to deliver some interesting innovations..

The lowlite was the SIG meeting. Reason 1, not that many folks seem interested in influencing the software provider...Reason 2, I still do not have a clear idea from SAP as to how they will accept the influence. I'm tired of making lists that they don't work on. Check back (in Peter Illings column) a few years for conversations that may help you understand where I'm coming from.

Hey, Day 3 was my turn to stand up in front and spout something..!! Yes Virginia, we did play "Beer or no beer"...Made a small process change and gave away bottles since folks didn't have much time to get me in the bar...Don't know about the audience, but I had a blast!!

Biggest overall highlite of the whole shooting match??? Meeting Phil Martin AND Daniel Buzai!! Here are 2 guys that came all the way from down under to our little shebang..And it was great to finally be able to shake hands and see them in person after all the emails and forum conversations...

But overall, the biggest letdown was the new Marco Island Brewery. Man was I excited when I read a brewery actually existed on the island...Until I got there and ordered a beer...I've never sent a beer back before, but I did that night. Terrible stuff...The pilsner looked like a very unfiltered Hefeweizen, and the Amber ale looked used dishwater..And the taste...Well, there wasn't any...They certainly differentiated themselves, but not in the way Mr. Shields was thinking about...If they don't change soon, they won't be there next year..

So, if you didn't go, too bad for you...Maybe you will head out to Cologne next spring??

Till next time...

Steve