Live Blogging as an aspirational goal
Yup, not even in the same week. Well, I began writing this on Friday (so not live already) but didn’t finish and finished this week (which is a week after conference week – I am nothing if not lazy) and I managed to catch Greg Beaton’s cold. Excuses, excuses, excuses, but it was ever thus.
Tardiness aside, let’s dive into Wave 2024.
Analysis, if you can call it that
I’ve been to all three Wave conferences and have seen it undergo a transformation of a sort. Yes, it has always been a technical conference, but has changed across the years.
Wave 2022 was Year 1 (or is that Year 0 if we’re doing this like programmers?) and it showed. In total fairness, there was technical content but it felt like (and was) as if OneStream was doing it for the first time. Ouch, right? But think about this – Splash is not a technical conference and we (the OneStream development community and most definitely me) had been incessantly whining about that. Lo and behold, OneStream provided it and more whining ensued. Some people (erm, me) are never satisfied and ought to be.
Wave 2023 was far more polished and far, far, far more technical. Code was in abundance, software engineers were everywhere, and development good practices, deep dives into specific (and esoteric) features were on the menu. If anything, for Yr. Obt. Svt. it was too technical. I’m (barely) an implementor and write project-level code. While of course what I write has to be good, it only needs to go so far. In other words, I whined and whinged about there not being enough technical content and then when I got all of the technical content any geek could dream of, it was too much. There are some who are never satisfied.
And now we come to Wave 2024. OneStream listened to (maybe) me and (probably) others and now threads the needle between the two extremes. I’m quite happy about it. I do, of course, have a suggestion for OneStream that might improve the conference, but I’ll force you, Gentle Reader, to read all the way to the bottom of this post to find out. What an absolutely cunning plan.
Day the second
Data Buffers
Blimey, I actually know this. Actually, let me restate this: I actually know this and I’m surprisingly right. Wonders will never cease.
Good stuff and indicative of the mix of technical and practical solutions.
The food
Focusing on what gets served up for meals sounds somewhat ridiculous to my ears, but OneStream consistently serves up pretty good food and yes, that’s important to attendees. For those of you who complained, you simply have no idea what bad conference food can be like. I do and you shouldn’t.
The party
Food was good, music was LOUD. That is sort of what a club is like, innit?
Maybe I need one of these?
Demo land
Where oh where oh where are the people, for the demos are here:
Yeah, where, exactly, are the people? In sessions, that’s where. I’m not sure if this a Moment of Genius, or Laziness, or Just Plain Luck, but there’s nothing quite like not finding a session you care for, going to the place where the Cool Stuff Is, and having it practically to oneself. Even a blind squirrel must occasionally find an acorn.
Podcast
No, not EPM Conversations, but rather OneStream’s. Here’s your author and my chum Celvin Kattookaran being interviewed by Peter Fugere:
It’s nice to know that my slouch and smirk are ever present. I think we even got the size of BDA right when asked. Wonders will never cease (it’s also nice to know that my habit of not following earnestly entreated information is shared with others) and oh by the way, it was really nice to be included in the podcast. Thanks, Peter.
Day the third
Making SQL go Zoom
Another excellent session:
Darryl Reed really is an excellent presenter. OneStream put a lot of care (so time and money) into making these sessions. When someone can present without looking at the screen, he’s really rehearsed it. Impressive.
Designing for performance or, Dear God, perhaps not what your author may have done in the past
I really enjoyed this one. Mature professionals can admit there’s a wrong way (this is the vendor, remember, saying you-really-can-screw-this-up-if-you-don’t-pay-attention, not a particularly easy thing to do) and there is a Better Way. Impressed.
Not quite the end
Here are we Happy BDA Few just before we depart for the local aerodrome:
Truly the end with a suggestion
I enjoyed Wave 2024 rather a lot, but it could be improved, viz., attendee technical presentations. The geeks at the tip of the spear have practical experience that a software vendor cannot address in the same way.
The format is simple: use case, desperate search for a solution, explanation of said solution, and ta da, solution. It’s very direct and very practical and very useful.
Other user conferences have done this (and even centered on this approach) with great success. Yes, views of the tool from the vendor are important and cannot be found anywhere else. At the same time, practical solutions to common implementation challenges are priceless and that is not a software company’s raison d’être.
Why can’t we have both? Make the conference a day longer to keep the important OneStream-sourced presentations and labs, interleave implementor (consultants and customers alike) sessions, and thus have the very best of all possible worlds of vendor knowledge and project-based experiences.
Be seeing you.
