IIUG Will Return to San Diego for 2013

The 2013 IIUG Informix conference will be, once again, in beautiful, sunny San Diego. Although last year we were a little disappointed in the weather, the conference was an outstanding success—so the IIUG board has decided to return to the San Diego Mission Valley Marriott from Sunday, April 21, through Thursday, April 25, 2013.

The event will feature more than 100 dedicated Informix technical tracks as well as what I call the “World of IBM” track, where IBM will present other software products from the IBM portfolio that are not necessarily Informix-related. This is an important track because Informix is just one part of the larger IBM software portfolio, and we should all be aware of other products that can help us all in our day-to-day jobs and make us more productive.

Every year, the IIUG conducts a survey of conference attendees. This year we’re making some minor changes based on the feedback:

1. All paid attendees will get the tutorials included at no extra charge. In the past, the tutorials were an additional fee—but this year we are including them as part of the conference.
2. The tutorials will be at the end of the conference on Thursday, April 25. They will be limited to no more than 25-30 people in each—so even though they are free, registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. So sign up as early as possible!
3. The IIUG Conference will have its own dedicated website at www.iiug2013.org.

Through November 15, 2012, any interested party who wants to submit an abstract for a session may do so at www.iiug2013.org/speakers. All customers and IBM Business Partner speakers who submit and are selected will receive a complimentary conference pass (sorry, but the free speaker passes do not include the tutorials).

Submitting a session proposal is easy. All you need to do at this time is present a few sentences about your idea and a short biography about yourself. The final presentations are not due until about two months before the conference. So if you have an idea, please submit.

Now, I bet there are lots of people who want to submit but aren’t quite sure how to do it. So here is my offer: just drop me a note at www.iiug.prg/president and I will personally help you with your idea. I might even get up and do the presentation with you at the conference (as long as you, the submitter, agree to do most of the work)!

Registration for the IIUG conference starts in November 2012, so make sure you register early to reserve your free tutorial and save $300 on the registration fees.

See you in San Diego April 21-25, 2013!

P.S.:  A few people have asked why I haven’t written any columns sooner. Well, I have to admit, I never was a good writer—I just have a great editor. But I am already starting on the next column, which will be a Q&A with Jerry Keesee, director of worldwide development for Informix at IBM. I’ve already decided on two of the five questions, but I still need help with the other three. So if you have a good question you’d like Jerry to answer in the next column, please go to www.iiug.org/present and let me know what it is. I will pick the final five questions for Jerry and we will put his answers up before the end of the year.