My name is Opal Alapat and this is my first year as the Kscope EPM/BI content chair! I am honored (and excited) to take on a stronger role within the ODTUG organization. As a past speaker and content reviewer, I'm eager to leverage my experience to lead the EPM/BI content selection teams and shape one of the most important aspects of the Kscope14 conference.
My goals for this year's conference include:
- - Expanding the conference diversity by widening the pool of participants
- - Increasing the communication about the conference committee's decisions and action
- - Utilizing creative channels to enhance the conference design
Since the end of Kscope13, the conference committee has met on a regular basis and we are at the point where we are finalizing our content selection teams. We are selecting a fantastic list of experts with well-rounded industry and technical experience. As with every year, there are new faces mixed with old, which helps us to strengthen the overall content selection process. I whole-heartedly applaud those who have volunteered their time to serve on these teams, as we are expecting to have the highest number of abstract submissions ever!
On the EPM/BI side, the content tracks for this year's conference include:
- EPM Foundations & Data Management
-Business Intelligence (BI)
- Essbase
- Planning
- Financial Close Suite
- EPM/BI Reporting
The Kscope14 conference takes place in one of my favorite towns in the nation—Seattle, Washington! Seattle is the largest city in America's Pacific Northwest and one of the fastest growing cities in America. Music fans appreciate Seattle as being the roots of grunge music with the launch of groundbreaking bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. Movie and TV buffs will recognize Seattle for being the backdrop to Grey's Anatomy, Sleepless in Seattle, Singles, WarGames, This is Spinal Tap, The Ring, and Bloodsport. And those of you who are looking to make more industry connections, Seattle either hosts or is close to the headquarters of Amazon.com, Microsoft, Nordstrom, Starbucks, and Seattle's Best Coffee.
If you can make it to Kscope14, you will not be disappointed! The conference is taking place in downtown Seattle, which is only blocks away from the infamous Pike Place market, the original Starbucks, and provides a front seat to the Seattle culture, as well as some of the best seafood in the country. Personally, I can't wait to mix one of my favorite cities with my favorite conference!
To whet your appetite, here are links to my favorite Seattle landmarks:
- Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum
The Kscope event is one of the biggest and best conferences in the entire Oracle user group community. In order to stay true to the commitment of sharing knowledge and providing important and relevant information to attendees, we have a lot of work to do behind the scenes. Our passion drives us, and the success of our fellow brethren keeps us in the game. I'm proud to serve on the conference committee and will strive to make this year's Kscope conference the largest and most informative yet!
We hope to see you there! :)
-Opal
Services Engineering Manager, TopDown Consulting
EPM/BI Content Chairwoman, Kscope14
Note: For anyone who would like to get involved on the content selection teams for Kscope15, please fill out a volunteer form after next June and specify that you'd like to be part of the content selection committee. We are always looking to integrate new faces into the mix!
