Burning Questions?? Or just a Burnt Conference Attendee??

Had to think about my overall feeling about the Marco conference this time...Still not real sure, but I think it gets an overall thumbs up..

However, as a result of that thought process, it brought a couple of questions to mind. So, I think I'll list them here and in true soap opera (blogging) form, tease you with a discussion of just one...Leaving the rest for future blogs...

My Marco top 10 question list is;

Whats up with the ASUG push by SAP?
CWG relevancy? What the heck was that all about?
Influence SAP? How?
Is anybody else sick of the Custom Development push?
Wireless Internet? What's that?
Can anybody beat the cruise?
Will people please pay attention to the presenters (and stop surfing the Net)?
Who really owns Marco Island anyway?
Why does the Hilton always run out of beer?
Should Business By Design sweep the SAP landscape?

So, starting with the number 1 question (What's up with the ASUG push by SAP). It seems that the Mill products group wants to "absorb" the CWG into SAP as a SIG (Special Interest Group)..See, we had a nice lady from SAP get up (right before Steve and my presentation) and ask "us furniture types) to go to dinner and discuss the Mill products SIG. Don't get me wrong, dinner was great (Davinci's) and what was even better was the bill. See, SAP was kind enough to pick up the appetizers and booze!! Not sure she knew what she was getting into, but give the lady credit, she picked it up very graciously. And thanks a bunch by the way!!!

The conversation was good, but the last thing I expected was a concerted effort to get us (the CWG) into ASUG as a SIG...I'm still not sure I like that idea. See, the CWG conference fees are way more reasonable than ASUG (about 10% of ASUG to boot!), and besides, the company is a lot nicer..Heck, you get to know a lot more folks when you are networking with 120 or so like minded people, instead of trying to FIND the 120 like minded people out of the 7,000 attending..We had 1 Board member there, so I'm sure they will be discussing it in the strategy meetings!!

Now, I don't have an issue at all with the SAP folks "getting us the company names of the 4,000 Mills product companies that use VC"!! I must admit, I've been tracking the Mill products SIG since 2000, and I think I remember about 10 posts relating to VC...I don't know how that relates to the numbers she stated (especially when she stated they were all "in the Chicago area"), but what the hey, she SHOULD know, right???

Well, we'll see what happens. I got a nice email from her with some more SAP types and 1 customer name (the SIG chairperson), so maybe something will come of it..Time will tell.

And on that note, since it's way past work time (not to mention I need a beer) I think it's time to close and let you ponder what question I'll pick on next...Got any choices you'd like to see?? Leave me a comment and let me know!!!

Till next time,

Steve