ODTUG Kscope18 Final Update

Now that we’re less than two weeks out from the conference, the madness has started to settle. It’s the calm before the storm.

In this final update, I’d like to discuss the changes we’ve made to make the conference experience better for our attendees. Here are some attendee-focused initiatives that you can expect to see this year.

 

More Relaxed Schedule

I don’t know about you, but I think ODTUG Kscope is awesome . . . and also exhausting. We have seen that a good portion of our attendees like to work hard and play hard. We know that very few attendees can attend without having to check in to work at least once a day. Therefore, we’ve made some tweaks to the “day in the life” experience to give everyone a break. This wasn’t easy—when you shorten the day but promise to deliver the same number of sessions, this means that you have to add rooms. This has the potential to increase conference expenses, as well as the number of competing sessions that attendees can physically attend. It’s a balance we have to carefully finesse.

First, to combat potential session conflict issues, we are going to record a good portion of the sessions. Recorded sessions will be marked in the ODTUG Kscope mobile app. (And note that conference attendees will be able to view those recorded sessions once they’re released after the conference.) 

Next, we tweaked the schedule. You’ll see a delayed start (when possible), as well as an earlier end time. Due to the tight schedules of the Sunday Symposiums and General Session on Monday (did you see who the keynote speaker is?), we could not shift the start on Sunday and Monday. However, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, expect up to a 30-minute delayed start so you can sleep in a bit, check your email, take a morning call, and/or spend an extra few minutes with your family. You’re welcome!

 

Making Sessions Easier to Find

In addition, this year we wanted to make sessions easier to find. Trying to find all on-prem Planning sessions? What about APEX sessions mixed with emerging technology? Now you can filter sessions on both track and tag in the ODTUG Kscope18 app to find exactly what you’re looking for, so you don’t miss out on awesome knowledge!

 

Getting the 411

One more secret that I’ll reveal is the incorporation of emerging technology directly into our conference. Within your ODTUG Kscope18 mobile app, you’ll see something new. We call her KBot and she’s built on Oracle Cloud. She’s a chatbot specifically written for ODTUG Kscope and she is there to answer a number of your questions regarding sessions, ODTUG, locations, and more. Take KBot v1.0 for a test drive. You never know what she’s going to say!

 

Protecting Your Privacy

Everyone who knows me understands how important privacy is to me. Therefore, over the past few years we’ve taken a hard look at when and how we’re sharing attendee information. We switched over to an opt-in policy a few ODTUG Kscopes ago, and we keep a close eye to ensure that we’re not oversharing other types of attendee data. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out. We’d love to hear from you.

 

So there you have it. I hope you enjoy the tweaks we’ve made so that you can better balance education, work, fun, and . . . sleep? See you soon!

 

Previous ODTUG Kscope18 Updates:

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