See You in San Diego for the 2013 IIUG Informix Conference

As 2013 begins, we have just a few months left before the 2013 IIUG Informix Conference at the Mission Valley Marriott in San Diego, California! Registration is strong and session selection is almost closed. We’re offering almost 100 sessions, most of which will focus on the Informix family of products.

This conference is shaping up to have more technical information flowing than we’ve had at any IIUG event. As we get closer to the event, a few rumors (wink, wink) have begun floating around:

1. This conference will be one of the earliest and best opportunities to get a hands-on, in-depth look at the upcoming Informix 12.1 release, as well as hearing about features planned for the next version of Genero.
2. Jerry Keesee, WorldWide Director of IBM Informix Development, will kick off the conference.
3. New IBM Information Management General Manager Robert Picciano will be a keynote speaker.

Each year I always get the same question: “Why should I attend this conference?” Well, in three long days, you will meet and learn from the top IBM developers, support specialists, and fellow Informix users from around the world. And this year we will have more user speakers than ever before, in addition to the best and brightest from the Informix development family and dedicated support staff.

This year we will also feature an additional tutorial day on Thursday following the conference. For the first time, these tutorials will be included in the conference price for all paid attendees. As of the time of this writing, the tutorials have not been finalized yet—but all sessions will be up on the site in the next few weeks.

What else can you expect? How about the ability to check out actual Informix products in the expanded Hands-on-Labs! This year we are expanding this always-popular area of the conference. You will also have the opportunity to become an IBM Informix Certified Professional; your conference fee entitles you to take a certification test at no cost (the first test is included; additional tests require a minimal charge).

Now, I also hear a lot of people say, “Great, but this event costs a lot of money and my company can’t afford to send me.” Well, I contend that your company can’t afford NOT to send you! I estimate that the total cost to attend this conference—including the registration fee (which will continue to go up the longer you wait to register), hotel, airfare, and ground transportation—to be under $1500 if you’re coming from the US or Canada, or under $2500 from other parts of the world. Now what does it cost your company for a few hours of downtime? How much will your company save by having a database that runs faster, more efficiently, and with almost no downtime? I will bet it is a lot more than the cost of the conference!

So join me and a few hundred of your new best friends in San Diego from April 21 to 25 for the sixth annual IIUG Informix conference. Visit iiug2013.org to learn more and register. Remember, all IIUG members get $100 off the conference price—and exclusively for readers of IBMdatamag.com, we are also offering an additional $150 off through April 1, 2013! Just visit iiug2013.org and use discount code IBMDATAMAG to register.

See you in San Diego!