IDUG 2008 - Europe
Conference: 13-16 October 2008
One-Day Seminars: 17 October 2008
Hilton Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland

Delegates Experience IDUG in Warsaw
More than 500 members of the worldwide DB2 user community gathered together for IDUG 2008 - Europe, 13-17 October at the Hilton Warsaw in Poland.  IDUG delegates, presenters, and industry vendors all enjoyed an exceptional week of education, learning, solution sharing, and peer networking. 

The conference kicked off on Monday, 13 October with an inspirational keynote presentation given by World Champion Paralympic Athlete Marc Woods titled Path to Gold.  Marc's motivational tale of overcoming his fight with bone cancer to go on and win four Paralympic Gold medals in swimming for Great Britain provided an enthusiastic start to the week and received tremendous positive feedback from all in attendance.  

Delegates then concluded the first full-day of their IDUG Experience with the Grand Opening and Welcome Reception in the IDUG 2008 - Europe Solutions Centre.  In addition to the Solutions Centre, Monday afternoon's Vendor Solution Presentations (VSPs) allowed attendees direct access to gather in-depth knowledge about vendor products and services in a focused environment.

A packed schedule of technical content continued on Tuesday and throughout the week as delegates participated in more than 100 technical sessions dedicated to a variety of topics on DB2.  To facilitate attendee trip reports, the complete session listing remains posted on the IDUG 2008 - Europe conference Web site. Select presentations from IDUG 2008 - Europe will soon be available in IDUG's Online Learning Center, a leading-edge resource to make technical education from IDUG events available anytime, anywhere through your Web browser.  Be sure to check back soon for updates. 

IDUG participants rounded out their Tuesday at the second annual Meet the Authors reception in the Solutions Centre.  Delegates were able to meet and mingle with industry authors of DB2 related books and red papers, and had time to visit again with the IDUG vendors.  Continuing on the success of last year, the IBM Bookstore was located just adjacent to the Solutions Centre, where delegates were invited to purchase some of today's leading industry publications and papers.

In addition to the vast array of technical education provided throughout the week, several additional peer-to-peer networking opportunities including the always-popular IBM Developers Panel Discussions tackled a variety of tough DB2 questions posed by conference attendees to some of the industry’s foremost authorities.  Wednesday's Special Interest Group (SIG) sessions also provided an excellent opportunity for delegates to meet and greet fellow colleagues with similiar line-of-work interests while sharing tips and techniques in an informal environment. 

IDUG delegates were also given a great opportunity, sponsored by IBM, to participate in FREE Certification Exams.  The average rate of passing at conferences is 50%.  Of the 168 delegates that completed exams by early Thursday morning, IDUG delegates showed a passing rate of 62%.  We could not be more pleased to see the great IDUG educational offerings paying off.  Congratulations to all! 

The conference concluded on Thursday, 16 October with an informative keynote presentation from IBM's Curt Cotner.  Cotner, IBM Fellow and Vice President and Chief Technology Office of Data Services presented IBM Data Servers: Setting the Pace of Innovation to Deliver Business Value.  During his address, Cotner discussed the industry and future trends, as well as what we can expect in growth over the coming years.

On Friday, 17 October, a number of registered attendees took advantage of IDUG's One-Day Educational Seminars presented by several of the industry's leading DB2 authorities, including Scott Hayes, Phil Grainger, and Susan Lawson.

Attendee Feedback Provides Best Presenters
At the conference closing session on Thursday, 16 October, IDUG Europe announced the best-rated sessions from the conference. Listed in alphabetical order, the top 10 technical session presenters for this event, based on evaluations received from the attendees, were:

• Adrian Collett, Expertise4IT s.r.l. 
• Willie Favero, IBM Silicon Valley Lab  
• Phil Grainger, CA
• Jan Hendryckx, BRAINWARE
• Matt Huras, IBM Toronto Lab
• Dale McInnis, IBM Toronto Lab
• Mattias Nicola, IBM Silicon Valley Lab 
• Terry Purcell, IBM Silicon Valley Lab
• Melanie Stopfer, IBM Software Group
• Steve Thomas, BMC Software

Best User Presentation and Best Overall Presentation are special awards given at each IDUG conference.

The IDUG Best User Presenter Award was awarded to Suresh Sane, DST Systems, Inc.  As is IDUG's tradition, the best user presenter is given the opportunity to travel to IDUG 2009 – North America with all expenses covered by IDUG. However, Suresh Sane also won the IDUG Best User Presenter award at IDUG 2008 – North America and was, therefore, not eligible for the award.  The second highest ranked user presenter, Svenn-Aage Sonderskov of JN Data, will be awarded the trip.  Suresh Sane will now be inducted into the IDUG Best User Speakers Hall of Fame for having won this prestigious award twice.

Adrian Collett was awarded Best Overall Presentation with his session titled, “DBA Meets 007 - Data Encryption in DB2 for z/OS.”

Special Thank You to the IDUG 2008 - Europe Vendors and Sponsors 
No IDUG conference would be successful without the continued support of our generous sponsors.  IDUG would like to give special recognition to our Diamond Sponsors BMC, CA, IBM, and ITConvergence.  We would also like to thank our Bronze Sponsor Cogito.

A key element of IDUG 2008 - Europe, once again, was the many opportunities to receive information about the latest tools and utilities available to enhance the performance of DB2 at the IDUG Solutions Centre. Eighteen vendors participated in the Solutions Centre, in which they answered attendee questions, provided detailed information directly from DB2 specialists and demonstrated the usability of their products.

Participate with IDUG
IDUG 2009 - Europe is now accepting applications for volunteers to be a part of the IDUG Experience.  Interested in learning about how you can expand your role within the DB2 community?  Volunteer to be a member of the Conference Planning Committee, Web Team, RUG Team and more!  Visit www.IDUG.org/volunteer for complete details!

The International DB2 Users Group would like to thank all those involved with IDUG 2008 - Europe, from speakers to vendors to attendees - your support and participation is what makes this event a success.

See You in Rome!