For the third year, Quest united with the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) and the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) to bring you COLLABORATE 08: Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle Community at the Denver Convention Center in Denver, Colo. The over 7,500 attendees expanded their network of contacts by interacting with fellow users, solution providers, consultants, developers and representatives from Oracle, as well as enjoying the mile-high Denver atmosphere. Did you miss out on COLLABORATE 08? Read the following highlights and get caught up on what everyone is talking about!

Long-time COLLABORATE attendees know a secret – one of the best parties of the week is Quest’s Product Advocacy Party. Designed to get you networking from the minute you walk in the door, this year’s party featured the Hazel Miller Band, fronted by Hazel Miller herself, a longtime fixture on the Denver scene and famous for her soul-injected songs. This party kicked off the week before education began on Monday.

Monday began with the Quest Kickoff Session featuring Motivational Speaker Cindy Solomon and Oracle's Vice President of Industry Business Unit, Scott Sendel. Attendees learned how to “build their own Networks of Advocacy,” and how these networks help everyone better utilize the resources of an organization, better position projects and processes for success and execution and most importantly, better position themselves as leaders within their own spheres of influence.

The rest of the day was filled with Education Breakout Sessions, Quest Industry Path Sessions (a new Quest feature to COLLABORATE this year) and Quest User Group Meetings. This year, Quest put together documents to help attendees navigate our education sessions based on what is key for your industry.



About 200 were in attendance for the Women in Technology Luncheon, which featured a very powerful keynote from Cindy Solomon about courage.

”It was very informative,” said Diane Miller, a Quest member in attendance at the luncheon. “Cindy was fantastic. She gave a bunch of great information for women, things to try and techniques for the office.”

Monday’s Education was wrapped up with the Welcome General Session Featuring Oracle President Charles Phillips. During his keynote, Phillips announced the company has extended Premier Support for the Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11.5.10 through November 2010 and further demonstrated Oracle's commitment to protect customer investments as part of its Applications Unlimited and Lifetime Support programs.

The Exhibitor Showcase also opened its doors for the first time with a Welcome Reception on the showfloor, so attendees could mingle with each other and third-party solution providers.

 

Tuesday began with the General Session and Keynote featuring Microsoft’s Kurt DelBene, Corporate Vice President, Office Business Platform Group, who spoke on The Microsoft Business Platform Strategy.

This year, Quest held a Texas Hold'em Charity Poker Tournament to benefit the Ronald McDonald House – a part of Quest’s commitment to give back to the community. Teresa Hargreaves from Holiday Retirement Corp. was the winner of this first annual tournament, and Chad Sellers from Precision Solutions placed second. (With proceeds from the tournament and a donation from Quest, we were able to present the Ronald McDonald House with $7,000 at the end of COLLABORATE!)

The Women in Technology Panel was held on Wednesday to further focus on this topic. This ended up being a roundtable discussion group – with a great exchange of ideas and thoughts. One of the best things about this panel discussion was that it wasn’t just focused on Quest members; it was a crossover event – an opportunity for all of the professional women at the conference to talk about career paths, the glass ceiling, and much more. One of the common themes of all of the Women in Technology events was idea of volunteering. The women discussed how getting involved can lead to big career changes and development and those who volunteer their time seem to have a more valuable experience in whatever group they work with – and not just with user groups, all other volunteer opportunities as well.

COLLABORATE 08 was a great time to be a part of Quest! Steve McDowell opened the Quest Meeting of the Members by talking about the great things that Quest has done this year and why Quest is such an important part of your professional experience. Quest attendees also heard from keynote speaker Phil Keoghan, the host of the Amazing Race and author of No Opportunity Wasted, as he entertained the audience by talking about the exciting journeys he has taken in his life – and how none of us should pass up exciting opportunities that cross our paths. The Meeting of the Members was concluded with our Grand Prize Giveaway – the winner’s choice of a Toyota hybrid vehicle! Timothy Whitlock from Mizuno USA, Inc. was the winner! (All of the prize winners from COLLABORATE are listed at the end.)

All three groups put together the Explore Colorado Party to help close out the conference, which featured many of the great features of Colorado – rock climbing, bull riding, poker, and much more. Attendees enjoyed the dancing and the opportunity to chat about something other than the products they use!

The conference closed on Thursday with a half-day of education, which also included a few special Quest sessions. If any attendee had any questions that they felt were left unanswered throughout COLLABORATE 08, they were given a microphone and the attention of the Oracle General Managers! Oracle’s JD Edwards World, EnterpriseOne and PeopleSoft management teams and general managers were available for three large Q&A sessions so that everyone went home with all of the answers they needed.

After a successful conference in Denver, Quest, along with IOUG and OAUG, are already preparing to make it even better in 2009! Mark your calendar for COLLABORATE 09, which will be held at the Orange County Convention Center West in Orlando, Fla., May 3-7, 2009.

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ADVOCACY PARTY PRIZE WINNERS

Charles Chamberlain, Cleveland Golf

Cheryl Snyder, Construction Resources Management Inc.

SCAVENGER HUNT WINNERS

Wii Package
Brock Lesperance, Campus Crusade for Christ

Sports Package
Terry Cameron, Northwestern Mutual

Home Theatre System
Lisa Taylor, East Kentucky Power

Bike Package
Eddie McNutt, East Kentucky Power