• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • COMMON 2010: Bring Your Own Booze (And I Will)

    July 13, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    It is hard to believe it, but the COMMON midrange user group is coming up on its 50th anniversary. And like other user groups and trade shows that have been put under pressure by the lack of funds for travel and training and the increasing workload we all seem to be carrying, COMMON is facing some pretty stark realities.

    That’s why Wayne Madden, COMMON’s newly appointed president, sent a letter recently to the volunteers that truly make COMMON what it is–a user group by users and for users–to give them a sense of what the 2010 COMMON meeting has in store. (You can read that letter here.)

    We’ve already given you the lowdown on the COMMON event held in Reno, Nevada, at the end of April from the point of view of people attending the show and the questions that many raised about the future of COMMON, and Madden pulled no punches in his letter about the difficulties that COMMON is facing.

    “To provide some background, COMMON’s Annual Meeting in Reno certainly followed the current trends in the conference industry as a whole due to the economy,” Madden wrote. “We experienced about a 48 percent drop in attendance from the 2008 Annual Meeting while the average industry trend appears to be a 50 percent-60 percent drop in attendance. This certainly is bringing some urgency to COMMON’s financial position in terms of protecting our reserves and ensuring we have the right model moving forward. That started many conversations about the 2009 Annual Meeting relating to how we could reduce risk, manage the event wisely, and also what types of changes would be necessary for the future to ensure that COMMON will serve our members.”

    To that end, COMMON’s board has voted to cut the number of session tracks for the next annual event, which will be held in Orlando, Florida, down to 15; to cut back on education days for the event, down to four; to cut the Expo down to two days, from three; to shift to a cash bar instead of free booze at the social events; cut back on lab rooms; and to move to less expensive hotels that don’t have convention centers. Volunteers, as you can see from the letter, are going to have a whole bunch of their benefits curtailed, too. Madden pointed out that SHARE, the mainframe user group, has never given out bennies to its volunteers as a means of cushioning the blow, but when you have had a benefit, it is hard to give it up and keep volunteering.

    But you know what? People will. This is COMMON. And belts are tightening everywhere, and this is just the way it is.

    But fear not. I will be working on a new recipe of a little something I’ll call Four Hundred Lager, compliments of Prickett-Morgan’s Finest Picobrewery, located in Inwood, New York City. I’m thinking maybe something with a hint of blueberries, but a defiant edge of Lutheran hops. . . .

    RELATED STORIES

    COMMON Europe: Doing the Math on Top i Concerns

    COMMON Exceeds Expectations in Reno, But Group’s Future Uncertain

    The COMMON Conference Agenda Is Coming Together

    COMMON Takes a Trip to DisneyWorld for 2010

    Slate of Candidates Put Forth for the COMMON Board

    The i Upgrade Cycle Seems Par for the Course

    COMMON Creates Scholarship Honoring Al Barsa



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 18, Number 26 -- July 13, 2009

    Sponsored by
    Cozzi Research

    Application Development Productivity for your IBM i platform.

    Providing the solutions for IBM i for over 35 years. From the original Modern RPG Language books to today’s SQL tools, we’ve got you covered.

    We created three of the most famous tools in the OS/400 and IBM i market:

    • SQL iQuery, updates and replaces the 1980s-style Query/400 by allowing SQL-based queries and reports, with output to a variety of file formats.
    • SQL Tools, provides SQL-based access to virtually all IBM i interfaces (APIs) on any release starting with IBM i. Use them in RPG-IV, ACS RUNSQL Scripts for Admin work, or create awesome reports to distribute to your users via SQL iQuery.
    • Cozzi Tools is our pervasive CL tools, now free for all IBM i users to leverage.

    Compatible with IBM i V7R2 and later. Contact us now.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Admin Alert: Fine Tuning User Access with Application Administration Cicero Evolves Application Integration through Desktop Automation

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 18 Issue: 26

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • IBM Touts Power Systems Prowess on SAP Tests
    • IBM Indeed Relaunches Tweaked Power Systems Deal
    • Focus on Data Management with App Modernization Projects
    • As I See It: The Green Gap
    • Gartner, Forrester Chop IT Spending Forecasts Again
    • 2008 Pretty Good for Application Software; 2009, Not So Much
    • EGL Free: More Data, Tool Expected This Summer
    • Lawson Boosts Profits Even as Economic Meltdown Bites
    • Valid Tech Names Pat Botz Its President
    • COMMON 2010: Bring Your Own Booze (And I Will)

    Content archive

    • The Four Hundred
    • Four Hundred Stuff
    • Four Hundred Guru

    Recent Posts

    • Kisco Adds DUO Support to i2Pass, Okta Up Next
    • Power10 Upgrade Considerations You Need to be Aware Of
    • Eradani Debuts DevOps Suite for IBM i
    • Four Hundred Monitor, October 4
    • This Is Your IBM i Market, And Therefore Your Annual Survey
    • 40 Years Of DB2, But Even More For That No-Name Database Embedded In The System/38
    • API Dev Tool Delivers For Trucking Outfit
    • Guru: TryIT – You’ll Like It
    • It’s Time To Tell Us How It Is And What You’re Doing
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 40

    Subscribe

    To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Pages

    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Contributors
    • Four Hundred Monitor
    • IBM i PTF Guide
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe

    Search

    Copyright © 2023 IT Jungle