Fall COMMON Conference Just One Month Away

August 5, 2013 Dan Burger

The COMMON Fall Conference and Expo is only one month away and the last opportunity to get a $200 discount on the registration price is Thursday, August 8. The annual fall event is rolling into St. Louis, Missouri, from September 9 through 11. This year there will be more than 100 sessions covering a wide variety of topics under the IBM Power Systems umbrella.

The majority of sessions will be aimed at the traditional IBM i professionals, but COMMON is built to accommodate the multi-platform propellerheads who like a little AIX and Linux on their plates as well. Two all-day workshops are also being offered Sunday, September 8, with a separate registration fee from the main event. COMMON certification exams are also part of the overall training and education package.

The entire session agenda is online and is searchable by topic, speaker, and day of the week. The prediction on topics that will gather the most interest includes RPG Open Access; mobile development; client connectivity; systems management; embedded SQL; XML with RPG; security; basic syntax to advanced features for RPG, PHP, SQL; and non-technical topics on developing business skills. Sessions on Power Systems-specific topics include upgrading hardware and operating systems; programming languages, and legacy code modernization.

One of the pre-conference workshops will have an in-depth SQL focus and will be presented by Ted Holt, senior technical editor of the IT Jungle newsletter Four Hundred Guru. It covers how to embed SQL commands in RPG programs, effective ways to use embedded SQL, and how to avoid common mistakes when using embedded SQL.

The second pre-conference workshop highlights system administration with an emphasis on system maintenance and peak efficiency. It will be presented by Larry Bulhuis, a systems design and implementation expert. Often ignored maintenance items will be one of the points of emphasis.

The pre-conference workshop registration fee is $345 for COMMON members and $395 for non-members.

Registration for the Fall COMMON Conference is $1,099 for COMMON members (membership in a local user group qualifies), with a $200 discount if you register no later than August 8. Non-member registration is $1,299, with the same early registration discount of $200 available. Early registration discounts are also available for the lodging. The host hotel will be the Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel.

Training, education, and employee development is expected to play an increasingly important role in IBM i shops as companies continue to show concern over a diminishing supply of skilled professionals. COMMON and other technical conferences, as well as technical schools and colleges specializing in information technology are expected to increase their efforts to build skills and promote professionalism.