IDUG Db2 Table Talk
IDUG Db2 Table Talk
2024 Conference Wrap-up
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Julia and Marcus interview guests old and new for a "fireside chat" retrospective of IDUG EMEA and GSE UK 2024.
Learn more about IDUG, the International Db2 User Group, at www.idug.org.
Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us. Today's iDoc Podcast, where we speak to some great people in the DV2 community. I'm Doctor Scottish.
SPEAKER_07And I'm JDF Doctor, and we represent the iDoc Content Committee. We hope you enjoy today's edition.
SPEAKER_03So welcome to a special edition of iDug's DB2 Table Talk podcast. Here we have Sven Heidorn and Tony Andrews from the Conference Planning Committee and Content Committee, respectively. And we're just going to have a little chat about iDug, iDug Valencia, the EMIA conference that happened a couple of months ago. Yeah, just a little chat to see how what people's perspectives were. So, Julia.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, well, thank you both for joining, Sven and Tony. So, Sven, you're you're on the EMEA Conference Planning Committee. Can you tell us a bit about what the committee does and what you specifically do?
SPEAKER_05Okay. Well, the the CPC Conference Planning Committee is planning the whole conference. We uh review all the abstracts that get in, all the members vote on them, and then we uh after the voting, we we kind of decide which ones to pick based on the voting for the most part, not always, but for the most part, yeah. Notify those that have been accepted, those that didn't, and then we start collecting the drafts and review them, give feedback to all the speakers, make sure they they deliver the material on time.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Most most of them are very good to do. Again, not all maybe, but but most of them.
SPEAKER_07Please don't name and shame here because it could be embarrassing.
SPEAKER_05No, no, no, I won't. I won't. Yeah, and then we we uh prepare all the materials so they can be downloaded by the attendees once they arrive at the conference.
SPEAKER_07Um It's quite it sounds like a lot of work from quite early in the year into because the conference for AMIA is in October or early November usually. And it sounds like you you're probably starting, well, as soon as it finishes, you start planning the next one, do you? And going through all of these steps?
SPEAKER_05Well, basically the year begins somewhere in the end of January, beginning of February, where we have our kickoff meeting where we collect a team together, start planning, and uh and then we start the voting, of course, because by that time then the call for papers should be open.
SPEAKER_07Right. And usually how many how many abstracts or submissions do you receive? Is it hundreds?
SPEAKER_05It is hundreds, yeah. I I think in my first year in the CPC, I think we had over 500 abstracts submitted. And you have to read them all. I mean you have to go through them and understand what or or get some understanding of what the presenter is is going to present.
SPEAKER_03So what makes a killer abstract?
SPEAKER_05That's a really good question, yeah. Uh what are you looking for? Well, we have some in the kickoff meeting, we we kind of decide also on should we have some themes for the conference? What are we specifically looking for? Yeah, it's it's hard to say what makes a killer abstract. I mean Yeah, you get a good feeling and you get an understanding. I mean, if it's it it should be clear, it should be understandable what what the presentation is going to be about, I think. Um that's where many of those who who won't get accepted feeling like this. It's yeah.
SPEAKER_07It must be nice though to see all of these all of these topics and things that people uh are are wanting to talk about and knowing what you do yourself and thinking, oh that would be really good. I want to have that on the agenda and that would be cool. And just like sort of picking the things that you you think would be really valuable. But obviously it's not just for you, is it? So you have to think about what the community needs.
SPEAKER_05Yes, absolutely. I hope we do that. I do.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I I think you do a great job, definitely.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so then somewhere in in maybe in May, we have then a a draft grid and we the whole team meets again and and uh looks at the draft and and discusses and there might be a few changes. And then after that we then start to contact speakers and start to collect all the material. They get out eight to ten weeks maybe to prepare a draft, and and then we're pretty close to the conference. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So what does the voting look like? Because I've heard there's lots of post-it notes flying around everywhere on walls.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's on on the grid meeting when we uh decide the final grid. So the uh the past two years I was the presentation team lead, so responsible for building the grid, the draft grid. So you build that with help from a few, maybe some that are you may not have all the experience. I mean, both C and LUW, so you need to have some input from others. But you build a draft grid, and then we put that on post-its, all the sessions on post-its up on the wall. And that's also it's not the first time because nowadays we send out a PDF with the draft grid a week ahead of the meeting, but that's when you really see it for the first time, real, and um can discuss or is everybody happy with this, or do we need to do some changes?
SPEAKER_07Or it must be getting quite exciting at that point when you actually see it and and you know how it's gonna look and you know how many different sorts of subjects and the speakers that you you've managed to get, it must be quite exciting.
SPEAKER_05The process up to getting the grid, the first grid version is is is like laying a puzzle with all the picture down.
SPEAKER_07All the pieces turned over.
SPEAKER_05Yes, that's you're you're starting with a blank sheet.
SPEAKER_00We get to laugh and looking at that because here we are at this great IT technical conference, and then you look in and you see a board that's got a bunch of like old school post-it notes all over it. You know, you just think, gosh, you ought to be like some kind of great software to help you out here if you can present up on a screen, but we see all the post-its, we all got a kick out of that every year. Yeah, that's the easiest way.
SPEAKER_05It's the easiest way to do the job.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, and Tony, you're I mean you're the chair of the comp uh the content committee, uh, but also you present at almost every iDug going, I think. So yeah, you're you're kind of from a different perspective, aren't you, on the on the content committee. Can you tell us a bit about your role there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and uh that you know, as far as uh presenting, you know, um for the killer presentations, I don't I'm I'm not sure what the killer presentations is, but I've been probably 12 years straight in getting selected. But I think I kinda I kind of have a niche there, you know. I'm I'm I'm all developer, all developer topics, you know, SQL and performance and things from the developer side. And I think that's what kind of kept me going there a lot. And we're always trying to get more developers to come to these things because it's great, a great, great learning week. So yeah, I've been on the uh I've been on uh what's called a content committee, iDug content committee for a while and then took over as chair this year. And we as a committee um are always trying to find people out there in the industry um on db2 to write some good technical um articles for us. And we get them posted on uh for those that are part of iDug.org, we get them posted out there, you know, every month. We try to get you know at least three or four, you know, a month and post out there. And we've we've posted a lot of them over the years. And I know when I was asked to be on the committee, which well, actually years ago, I don't know how long I've been on the committee, but uh I bet at least maybe eight years, I I was I welcomed it. I said, well, yes, because I I read a lot of those anyway. So if I can be part of the committee and you know, editing or throwing in some comments and and just being part of a of a of a great group to try to get some another place for people to go and get technical content. So I was happy to join uh for that reason. And and also, you know, I always had some of my own thoughts on articles. You know, we go and we look we look up topics often, you know, when we are on an air or a topic, and we try to find some good examples, especially code examples. And uh they're often hard to find. So I know on the content committee we always like people to give code examples, some good picture layouts, some really good stuff that talks about a topic in a little bit different detail than what we see generally by getting on the internet and searching. So yeah, we're we're we're constantly on the lookout, you know, and constantly asking people. We we man we man the iDug booth at each conference in the vendor hall on uh the Monday of that week. And it's just kind of to talk about iDug in general and and really to introduce ourselves as content committee and try to recruit, you know, because there's so many good technicians that come to these uh these conferences. Boy, we'd love we'd love to have them, you know, uh write something up on topics that we know so many of them are like really good at or have some really good wins, you know, on some things at work that they've overcome. So user experiences, great. You have vendors that write articles for us. Um it's just it's just really good stuff, I think, uh, and just another avenue for people in the DV2 community to go to go get uh some more information on topics that they want to dig further further into.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, one of the things I really like is that um you if you go to the conference, you're getting uh 45 or 15 minute presentation on something. But with the the stuff that's on the website, it it might just be like a five-minute read or even less. It's just one little thing or one topic that's just taken down. And it's just I really like it because you just get that information quickly and you can get on with things. It's it's brilliant.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think I think the uh I know I thank the conference for getting uh for getting us up there on stage to introduce the content committee because we we find that a lot of people they don't know of it. I mean, they're they might be part of iDugDug org, they come to the they come to conferences, but they not not really may not know that there's a lot of articles out there for them. So I know that started like a few conferences ago. Brian got up and then I got up to a couple of them and just kind of introduced our committee and and and welcomed people to come and write articles, but really welcome people to go and read articles there too that a lot of them may not know about.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, absolutely. And we can share the link when we publish this as well, so that people can uh people can check where they need to go to to find all of those articles.
SPEAKER_03So I've got a question for both of you before we moved on to um Emir this year. So would you be looking for what would you be looking for as an article for the content committee or for as a presentation? Would it be more user experience or would it be purely technical instruction?
SPEAKER_00Or would it be well my thoughts are user experiences? I think I think they by far are are the most uh important. You know, they've been in the trenches, they know what other people are going to hit, they know what they've done, you know, and dug in and done some research to overcome problems. I think those are to me top of the list, you know, because they're the ones that, like I said, they're the ones that are out there digging deep to try to get some things to work or installed, or you know, whatever they're working on to share their experiences with us is invaluable.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think if if it also contains specific instructions, that's not bad. But I think the basis of it is user experience. Okay, I hit this problem, this is how I solved it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because I I literally just had a conversation with one of our developers here at BMC who was asked if he would consider giving a presentation at IDUG in India. And first thing he did was to phone me. He said, Okay, what do I talk about? And what what are you looking for? So I feel quite pleased that you answered that question in the same way that I answered it for him. It's like user experience. If it's instructional, that's great. But if you've solved a problem and are willing to demonstrate how you solved it, then that's always a winner.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I look at I I look I look for them especially at the conferences for users, you know, presentations because they're typically very good.
SPEAKER_07And the room's always packed, so you need to get there early, don't you? Otherwise you'll be standing at the back.
SPEAKER_05I mean, we are a user conference, so we we uh we always prefer user presentations over vendors, or so that's also a point when we do the voting. If we see a user presentation, those usually get uh good votes if the abstract is written in a way that you understand what they're going to present. Because we we really do want users uh to present at the conference.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, those real stories of how you do something and the troubles that you've you might come across, that's where the value is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's where we cut our teeth, isn't it, Julia?
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_03On the coal face.
SPEAKER_07So looking back at I dug Emir Valencia that was in October this year. So have you got a rough number of attendees from that conference?
SPEAKER_04I think we were 440-ish.
SPEAKER_07Wow, okay, that's a lot. So 400 and over 400 attendees, most of them were there in person. How many, how many tracks or themes did we have? I mean, there's always a lot of sessions going at the same time, and you're always trying to figure out which one which one do I need to get to.
SPEAKER_05Well, that's the hard part when you're there.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. It's fun but hard.
SPEAKER_05I think the grid was hundred sessions, exactly, a hundred sessions. And then we had 11 workshops or hand-on labs. I think it was eight prior to the conference and three after the conference.
SPEAKER_07So right, there is there is a lot to get your teeth into at one of these conferences, isn't there? And you can do the DBT for LUW certification exams as well, can't you?
SPEAKER_05Uh we also have fundamental classes for Z and LUW running uh parallel with the conference.
SPEAKER_07Those are for those are those are for people that are fairly new to the platform, is that right?
SPEAKER_05Yes, it's it's uh DBA fundamentals class for db2z and one for LUW. And they they run over three and a half days, I think, parallel with the conference. And they are guaranteed to run, which isn't always the case with the um the classes if you try to get them through LearnQuest or whoever is running that. There's usually I I know in in Sweden at least there's usually too few people that sign up and then the class doesn't happen. So these are guaranteed to run.
SPEAKER_00So I got I got a question on the workshops, Ben. I like I run into a lot of people. They were at the workshops on Sunday, you know, before that conference you know kicks off. Have they been well attended from you from your guys' perspective?
SPEAKER_05I don't know the actual numbers now how many people were in the workshops, but from the numbers I heard who who signed up for them, I think they were more or less full.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I was there on the Sunday and I had a walk around and the rooms looked pretty packed, so I think they're pretty well attended.
SPEAKER_00They seem very well received. I mean, I think just about everybody I've talked to last couple conferences that have been to a workshop have said it was pretty good. So kudos, kudos to to the committee for getting the right workshops in there and the right people to uh present at them because uh just from from my feedback in in attendees that I talked to that have been there, uh they all seem to think they're they're really good.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think your SQL workshops, Tony, and Akiko's AI workshops uh not only have been fairly well attended, I've attended both of those and I've got an awful lot out of them. So thank you for providing those.
SPEAKER_00SQL is always a big topic at uh at these conferences.
SPEAKER_03Especially when IBM just keeps on adding functionality to it. There's more to get our heads around.
SPEAKER_00Now, from my end, being on a developer side all the time to try to get companies and developers to start using some of this new SQL stuff that's come out in the last three or four versions for sure is a hard thing. People kind of get stuck in their own ways and comfortable on this and don't want to break out to some of the new stuff that could be really good for their applications. But that's another topic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's a different topic altogether.
SPEAKER_05I'm thinking of all those Java frameworks that are coming now and then generated SQL, and then uh it's not even sure that the uh developer actually write the SQL anymore, which is a shame, I think. Um it's both scary. It's a shame and scary. Yeah, and it's also degrading the knowledge of SQL amongst the developers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just from my end, being uh doing a lot of training and actually work on some applications, developers love SQL more than any other things that they do. This is my own personal experience, and they love to learn some of the newer stuff. You know? So it's just one of those, one of those, one of those topics that you know, like you start taking that away from some developers, I think they can lose some of their excitement for their IT work that they do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and you're right. It's a there's a danger of there's a danger of losing expertise by hiding SQL in frameworks or uh microservices with a developer, all the developer needs to do is to call an API, and that API does SQL. You can that that's just laying for yourself all sorts of problems for the future.
SPEAKER_07So looking back at the Valencia conference and uh Tony, which sessions did you did you love attending at that conference? Which which were your favorites?
SPEAKER_00Gosh, good question. I don't know if I I don't know if I had an answer for that right now. Yeah. Uh yeah, I I hit a lot of the I always hit a lot of the developer uh topics. You know, there was I always enjoy Chris Crohn's SQL topics. I I can throw that one out there right away. I I'd never miss any of his. He he's he's very good at that stuff. He's he's played with it, he's been in the trenches with it, he he explains it pretty well. And uh he does a lot of like kind of what I do sometimes, like, well, you know, here's a new one and it does this, but I really haven't found that to be all that useful yet, you know, kind of thing. But uh he he would be uh he he would always be my number one, I think, just because it hits home to me um uh for for like a lot of what I do. Plus plus he just presents and talks about the topics very well.
SPEAKER_07He does, yeah, you're absolutely right. And um Hawk and Roberts and Anthony Shabatoni as well, I think their their sessions are always very engaging and you know you you just can follow them so easily and and they explain everything and you you get all the answers that you need. I I love those sessions. I also went to a user session that was really good by Solidad Martinez and it was on Reorgs. I found it really good and her style was just really, really it was quite captivating. It was a really good hour. How about you, Sven?
SPEAKER_05Well, if you're on the CPC, well there ain't much time to go to sessions. I think I was still 10 sessions top, maybe.
SPEAKER_07You're still working, you're still working on everything even while the conference is.
SPEAKER_05There is a lot of stuff to do even during the conference. So yeah, we're registering all the um feedback forms from each session.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And there is always something that is going on in the background, some issues that the attendees might not see, or nobody really notices that needs to get it. And um also the conference survey is very valuable. We read through them all, and uh so the more people that return them, the better for us.
SPEAKER_10Right.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_03Interesting.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Marcus, I don't want to leave you out. Did you have a favorite session?
SPEAKER_03I like the Wednesday keynote. That was really cool.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_10How good would Mark Yeah I know.
SPEAKER_05That was one of the most appreciated sessions during the conference.
SPEAKER_00Thanks. I heard a lot of good things from it, especially walking walking out. People were handing, you know, had to hand in their uh piece of paper on their way out. But I just heard people saying over and over again, like, oh, that was really good. That was fun. That was one of the better ones. Heard a lot of that heading out. That's it.
SPEAKER_10That's it.
SPEAKER_03Good, good. I think it uh um we had a great panel. That was it. It was relaxed, but we had a great panel to uh to feedback off.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, we didn't need to do a lot, did we, Marcus?
SPEAKER_03We could just sit in those comfy sofers and we'll just wind up Kurt and let him go.
SPEAKER_10And Roy, yeah.
SPEAKER_05I think you did a great job with such a short notice or sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_07We can't talk about an iDug conference without talking about the parties, can we?
SPEAKER_10No. They are always they are always good social events for sure.
SPEAKER_00Those things I think those things I think are outstanding, especially for people that are pretty new to the conferences. I mean, they're just they're just great social events, you know, where people get out and you meet other people and you're having to drink with them and meeting some of the speakers and others. It's just I hope it just continues from the vendors who put those on because I I think they're very well appreciated from the attendees.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. As you say, Tony, it's great to just be able to talk to people with a beer.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but not only when you have a beer, but also between the sessions and um getting to talk to the experts and and share your ideas or getting a question answered, maybe is is so valuable. And then also getting to know these people. I mean, if you interact with them, talk with them, you get to know them, and that's a big plus.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So both of you, what do you think is the importance of the conference itself to IDUG and to the DB2 community as a whole.
SPEAKER_10Ben, wanna go first? Difficult question.
SPEAKER_05Difficult for iDug, well it's it's a huge part of iDUG holding these conferences and very important, I would say. It's significant for for IDUG. It's it's the core. More or less. So for the community is it's very important, I think. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it's I think it's one of the biggest things in DB2 out there, and and the thing that always that bothers me about it is is trying to get companies to understand that take some money and let some of your people go to these conferences. Because the education that they get out of them is just unbelievable. You know, like uh Sven was saying, you got world-class people out there, you know, people that really know their their stuff about these topics. And I know even at a rug level, man, I've been pushing like crazy for companies to to at least let their developers off for an afternoon to come to a rug event. And and it's it's a constant, it's a constant battle. But they need they need it's a battle worth continuing to bring up and to keep talking about to release some of their people to these to these rug events and to these conferences, especially because they will come back much stronger, you know, and and and could save them money in the long run by the knowledge that they bring back, you know, and and and help put together applications much more efficiently. I I think I think for the whole CBQ community, it's just I I think it's ginormous, actually. I just wish we could get more people there because there's a need.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. And people can turn up and actually solve problems that they've been having just by speaking to the right people or even other attendees. You just find out from someone else that they've had the same problem, how they fixed it, and you've got something to try when you get back. You're not stuck anymore. And it's just it's so valuable from that perspective. And I don't think you get that with a a virtual conference because it's it's just that that interactions, as you were saying, in between the sessions and the social afterwards, it's just yeah, it's invaluable. Yeah, that's a that's a great point.
SPEAKER_00I I think I think every conference I have, I have at least one person that'll come up to me and they have some kind of like usually a performance issue, and we'll eventually like you know, have have uh an hour somewhere quietly where we can sit and talk in a little bit more detail. So I know from a personal standpoint that goes on and uh people are very appreciative of it. And of course, we're all we're all there willing to help as much as we can for people's.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, but you just can't do that normally, can you? I mean, you can't just phone up Tony and say, Tony, I need an hour of your time. So meeting you in in person and the other experts, as you said, and yeah, just tap into them.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, that's extremely valuable to getting to talk to the right people and and and especially if it's the right time. I mean, we had a performance problem when I was in Valencia, and this SQL was not running good. It used to run in one minute, and then we implemented uh RCAC on the table, and the query took uh two hours and 15 minutes to run.
SPEAKER_10Okay.
SPEAKER_05And it was a select count star from table were not to exist in another table. So um I talked to John Hornybrook and he came back to me the next day and said, okay, I think I know what the problem is. I have rewritten the query, run this three minutes. It's I mean the value of that is is I mean it's it's worth a ton of money, more than it costs to go to the conference.
SPEAKER_03So thank you guys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, thanks. Thanks to Sven. Thanks, thanks to Sven and all the CPC, because many of us know you guys put in a lot of hours, you know, to cut to come to come to a conference and not and to us just seems to be running like all nice and smooth and and uh is is uh is great. Um a lot of hard work from you guys. We all know. So thanks.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, and anyone isn't there. So yeah, thank you. Thank you, Sven, and thank you, Tony, because you you do a lot with the content committee as well and getting all of that material out every month. No problem.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so we are uh interviewing today Kaziah, Tori, and Colin. This is a GSE retrospective. We've just come out of the conference season. We've been to Ida Gemia and GSE UK. So uh all in two weeks, wasn't it? I know, it was a busy couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_07Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_03So it's great to see you guys again, Kaziah and Tori, popular attendees of the podcast. And this is Colin's first time. Welcome to uh welcome to DB2 Table Talk, Colin.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Marcus. I feel privileged to be joining, I must admit.
SPEAKER_03So, first of all, let's tell us about yourself, who you are, what you do.
SPEAKER_01Right, okay, so I'm Colin Knight. I've been working at Nat West Bank for about 21 years, roughly. Well I'm about 35 years into DB2. So just a novice. Wow. Yeah. That's older than Kazaia and Tori put together. Yeah, sometimes you just kind of think, I haven't been doing it for too long, and then you realise 35 years, yeah, I have been doing it for 35 years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Wow.
SPEAKER_01So what I what I did do, I put a question out on the Hoover app just before the conference, just looking at the oldest versions, and I thought, did anybody get older than 2.1 of DB2? And yeah, of course there was. Of course it was. I wasn't showing up as being the oldest by any means as somebody somebody uh version one. No, I d somebody it was at least one or two people version one. And Dougie Lawson was there, so he said uh IMS, obviously the precursor. Kind of thing. So yeah, but there's a quite a wide range, and some people come lately, sort of, you know, five or six or seven.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Yeah, Tori, what version did you start on? So I'm version twelve stuff. I guess version twelve and thirty. So we've we've got a good range. I think it was seven for me.
SPEAKER_03Seven. My first job as a Sysprog was to install DB two two point three.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_06Wow.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Was that when they just invented data sharing, Marcus? DB two point three two point three was packages and segmented table spaces. That was massive packages compared with plans. It was suddenly big change, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_03Data sharing was four point one. Gosh, so later. Four point one was the last one to have point something. Yes. Because version five was going to be four point two, but uh they thought, I know, we can get make more money if we increase the version rather than just the release. So that's what they did. And they thought, hey, we're onto a good one, yeah, and that's what we've been doing ever since. Oh, sorry, because I and Tori are actually from IBM, aren't you? Oops. Moving on.
SPEAKER_09It's okay, no comment on that. God forbid investors make money.
SPEAKER_03So we're to talk about GSE. Uh yeah. So, Colleen, what do you do for GSE?
SPEAKER_01So I am privileged enough to work on the D V2 planning committee uh alongside Marcus as co-chair. So it's our kind of responsibility to just look at how the schedule's gonna go, uh who's gonna talk where, what what what uh submissions we like uh um to put into the conferences and to help with the whole committee and sort of planning out what happens at each conference? So this year we've had a virtual conference in uh April and then the main in-person conference was uh in November. So um it was uh it was the I think pretty much the biggest we've had, and the numbers show that and uh it felt at the times quite packed, yeah.
SPEAKER_07It was busy, yeah. How many people were attending or registered?
SPEAKER_01I think it's around the six hundred mark, which is kind of maximum capacity, I think.
SPEAKER_07It is maximum.
SPEAKER_01So um I think they were hoping there'd be some cancellations so you could breathe.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I mean it was as you were saying, it's really, really packed in there. I remember when I the day that I turned up was the Monday just before lunch, and it was just there were so many people and it was brilliant, there was such a nice atmosphere when you arrive, and you know, it's difficult to get anywhere because you just see someone and then you see someone else, and then you see someone else, and you want to speak to everybody.
SPEAKER_01That's right, it does seem to go so fast. I don't know how you guys felt about it, but it was like one minute it was uh mining about just before sort of registration and just before the first lunchtime sessions on the Monday, and next it was lunchtime on the Thursday, and you've got a couple of sessions to go and that's it. It's like it just flies past, doesn't it? Because you just you go from one thing to the next, quick coffee, quick chat, catch up with some uh of the stalls around the presentation area, and then straight back into the conference, and then it just flies past. You really don't you kind of have to look back at your notes to kind of remember what sessions you even went to sometimes. It's it's just so packed together.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, and there were a lot this year, weren't there? Because we started on the Monday this time, or Monday lunchtime-ish, three to Thursday lunchtime. So how many how many sessions were there?
SPEAKER_03Was it 21, 24, something of that something of that order?
SPEAKER_07Which is the most we've ever had for for a DSD conference, isn't it? For an in-person.
SPEAKER_01It is the most we packed in. Certainly from I think the last uh years conference, we didn't have a D B2 stream on the Monday. But everybody else did. So me and Marcus thought we can't be left behind in this. We have to join on the Monday as well. Yeah. And it feels like you kind of start warming up. Uh but but we we went straight in. We had um we had John Campbell on the first session for D B2. I thought it was a great way to start.
SPEAKER_07That's yeah, brilliant.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So um kicked off really well. So Kaziah and Tori, what did you think as uh first-time attendees and first-time speakers at the conference? What were your impressions?
SPEAKER_09It was such a joy to be there. I know Julia kind of mentioned this, but the atmosphere when you arrive is so fun because people are chatting, they're mingling, they're ordering food or drinks, or they're hanging out in a way that the room is also set up where there's couches and chairs, there's all these places to like sit and coffee tables, so it feels very welcoming. And it's a professional environment, but it felt different than other conferences that I've been to that feel way more formal, where you like have to check in and you do this thing, and then you go to your seat, and then like that's it. And there was so much like camaraderie and conversation that it was really pleasant and inviting to be there the whole week. The whole week was like that.
SPEAKER_01Just thinking it was almost like a far side chat because all those far side settees sort of lined up, so you could just sort of jump in and and chat with somebody or get some drinks and something to eat, and yeah, it was uh it it is it feels like that all the way through, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_07It really does. And I think it's quite nice because it's not just for D B2, is it? It's for all mainframe products. Yes. Uh and so it's it's not just the D B2 folk that you get to catch up with, it's you know, it's everyone that that you've come across uh or that you need to come across um to help you to get where you're going. So I yeah, I I really like that.
SPEAKER_03How about you, Tori?
SPEAKER_08Yes, I agree with Kazai. It was definitely it felt very welcoming. I feel like I talked to a lot of people that were from around the world, which at conferences in the United States. I know other people from other countries come, but I feel like it was more like people scattered from different countries, which was really cool. Um I even talked to some people that were in, I think maybe you were with me because I maybe I was with Mark, people that were in like university studying mainframes that were so that was really cool. Um yeah, first impression, I think it was laid out great. There was options for different types of presentations to go see, and I liked the app, the who the app. Yeah, that was good.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that's that was really handy, wasn't it? Because there's so much going on. I don't know how many tracks there are in total at GSE UK, but there's so much happening, and it's it's helpful to be able to see where you where where you want to go for the next session and what's available. Um and also for the the feedback, doing that in the app was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_08And then in one section of the app I remember like conversation, like group chats or something like that, where you could play meetups with people and just talk to random people. So I thought that was cool.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. I yeah, I was in one about pets, I think, and I I always like to show off my cat. So yours. Oh Colin, your yours were there as well, weren't they?
SPEAKER_01My cat was there as well. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03For our uh I Doug listeners that aren't aware of what GSE UK looks like. Um we've got I think it's 14 streams, sort of topic streams, so DB2 would be one, kicks, IMS, MQ, large systems, whatever that means, which is just basically ZOS or ZOS on your side of the pond. Security, new technology. Gosh, I'm trying to remember them all.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, you don't want to miss one now, Dean.
SPEAKER_03AI is a new stream this year, and we have been running 101. 101's been rebranded because we had a 101 stream, then we had a 102 stream, and now they've been joined together to form waves for the Z. So Waves is uh is for those new to Z who are making WAVES. Many streams, and therefore our planning committee meetings are huge but fun. And it does it certainly gives in in well, in my opinion, it certainly gives the attendees a lot to take in when it's their if it's their first attempt at uh going to a conference like that.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. And the venue for the last well, since the beginning of time, I think, has been this place called Whittlebury Park, which is in the middle the middle of England, basically. Just about as far from the sea as you can get. Um but pretty much everyone stays on site. And uh so from from breakfast until I don't know what time in the morning, but people are just everyone's together.
SPEAKER_01Terrible times in the morning, Julia. Terrible times.
SPEAKER_07I've heard like two, three, four o'clock in the morning people are up until I managed to get to bed at three on the last morning.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That that was uh that that felt like too much in uh in the first session. The next day. I managed 2.30, that was the latest. Problem was before the three o'clock I'd got a sore throat from singing because we'd have started a karaoke. Just impromptu around using our phones, and uh it didn't go well. I think the funny thing was the speaker the speaker I think the speaker on the second session says he was slept really well that night, but some for some reason at two o'clock he suddenly woke up and he was just above the bar. Now I think we know why he was waking up. Yeah so apologies for me if you're watching if you're listening to this now, it was asked in the bar. We do apologize for loud singing, but I think it did stop shortly after.
SPEAKER_06Unlike mainframe addressability, you don't want to be above the bar in uh I like the segue there, that's good. Very nice, Marcus. I wonder how many hours say something like that.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna use that one regularly now. So uh so because I don't know what were your favorite presentations and Colin as well. Why not? And Julia and me, come on. Knock them all out.
SPEAKER_09Honestly, John Campbell, yeah, because he started off and he had more he had at least I think three sessions this week.
SPEAKER_01Um and I remember taking two and we gave him the third one.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And I took copious notes, like pages of notes in each of his sessions, and I it allowed me to kind of put things together that I had heard before, but they started to sink in, and I was able to ask more questions that felt like I had been at another level. Like I'm like, oh, I can ask a question about a more challenging topic now in a way that I hadn't been able to in previous conferences or other settings. So that's my answer. Besides DV2 party, of course.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, of course. We move on to that in a minute. Tori.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, also John Campbell, Mark Rader, Zaya, and I were just talking recently about his buckle presentations. Like we're still talking about it and learning. Three months on slides. Yes. That was great. Um, honestly, all the presentations I saw were super interesting, and I took tons of notes, and I'm still sorting through them.
SPEAKER_03Excellent. Julia.
SPEAKER_07Uh well, I loved all of the DBT sessions that I went to, but I also went to a really, really interesting one on neurodiversity. And uh that was that was very powerful and very useful for me. Um and uh yeah, I mean, not particularly technical, but I'm really happy that GSE has those sorts of sessions that we can go to as well. What about you, Colin?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was gonna say that's a good that's a good idea, isn't it? Because that that amplifies the broad breadth of sessions that that happen when you've got sessions like that, Julia. That was good. Um yeah, I mean definitely John Campbell sessions were must, uh Anthony Gippertoni, they were great. Uh Emil was brilliant as always, especially as we did the last session on the last day when there was just two or three of us and a little dog in his and uh so all credit to anybody that stayed that long. Um but I think the one that was the most fun, I think, was DP DP2 per D.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_01That was my favourite. That worked really surprisingly. I don't I I thought it would have been quite good fun, but it worked even better than I think I thought it would. So yeah, all credit to you guys. So there was two teams, that was the main thing. And the and the rest was just um questions. But the the questions we th we thought we knew a lot. I think a lot of people in the room thought we knew a lot. And then the questions started and we realized we didn't know quite as much as we thought, and it was like, gosh, I don't think I know the answer to those.
SPEAKER_07So Torian Goodway, you were you were leading this session. This was your your session. You came up with the the answers? Yes, yes, yeah. Okay. So but the the audience had to work in their teams to come up with what question you've asked. Yes.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, it's kind of confusing. Like you say the answer to what something is, and then they have to figure out what the question is. Yeah, because I mark and I worked on coming up with the questions, and we have delivered this before at other conferences, so we've changed the questions and it is interesting because like sometimes we think that this is gonna be a really easy question and then no one gets it, but then people get the really hard questions, so we have to like organize our points value and yeah.
SPEAKER_07Cool. So do you think this could be a regular fixture at GSE?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_06We got a thumbs up from Colin, that's good.
SPEAKER_03If it's anything to do with me, I'll be getting Kazir and Tori every year to do this at GSE. Because it was just so much fun.
SPEAKER_07And everyone wants to bring a drink, right?
SPEAKER_03You have to turn up with a drink. At least one.
SPEAKER_09It was highly encouraged, but it was also the last session of the day for a record.
SPEAKER_01That's the best way of putting it, isn't it? The last session, just before um everybody sort of spreads out and goes to dinner. So I think that's the perfect slot for it, isn't it?
SPEAKER_07And was it like a drinking game as well? Do you have to drink if you get it wrong? I love that you think that.
SPEAKER_03That's a good idea. That's like DP2 Jeopardy two point oh.
SPEAKER_09I don't know if we could say that in the space.
SPEAKER_03That sounds messy, Julia. I think that's a bit messy. I do have photographic evidence tucked away somewhere of the hosts with two pints of Guinness. Each. Each. Each.
SPEAKER_09Really throwing us out there for that one.
SPEAKER_01You do realise there's now a Guinness shortage in the UK. Seriously. It's difficult. It is difficult to find it now. There's been so much Guinness drunk over the last few months. There is real shortages. I think that'd be safer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, quite. Brilliant. So where did you get the idea of this, Steve Two Pity?
SPEAKER_08I think we were just kind of maybe I think last year trying to think of something different that we could do.
SPEAKER_09We were brainstorming. Yeah. Something that's not a standard bullet point presentation. And we kind of had this game idea somewhere, you know? And we're like, well, what if we did Jeopardy? Because that's quiz questions, basically.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_09And there was I there was a debate about the name, which I think we even talked about at GSC UK because we were trying to come up with something clever, and then it was like DV2 Jeopardy, DV2 party, and it stuck.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Honestly, you two are cruel um game game show hosts. Because some of the questions were like, I I've been working at DV2 for years and I have no idea.
SPEAKER_09This is why you started this. You back. So maybe it will be easier next year.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_09I think we do need to categorize easy questions and harder questions.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_09You were a great audience. Everyone was engaged.
SPEAKER_01That's the Brits for you. Oh yeah. I actually had things thrown at me. I was our team was really um intimidated, I thought. I thought we were intimidated.
SPEAKER_04Really? Was that a thing taken? Manuels?
SPEAKER_01Uh something of my own was taken and then thrown back at me just at the right point as I was answering a question to put me off. And it was like I called a foul, but you know, there wasn't really referees didn't seem to see it for or it wasn't it wasn't on the VAR afterwards, so it didn't didn't come up. Um Jack Bay Redbook Oh, a red book would hurt, I think. That would really hurt a red book. But no, that was a it was a great way of doing it and a great way of just um but there was there was a kind of a serious element because you were trying to rack your brains, trying to think of those answers and those uh terms and those what what what what that meant. So it was really not only was it fun, but it was really quite challenging and interesting because you were trying to think of those things that you kind of you you probably knew, folded it away in your brain years ago and you were trying to extract it. Sometimes the extraction didn't quite work and you you just misremembered it. Which was even funnier. Yeah, when you come up with the wrong answer for the right reasons. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, it was fun, informative, and quite uh provoking as well. Like makes you think, ooh, right, I've I need to learn more about this when I get back.
SPEAKER_01I think that's that's the theme through the whole conference is that I always find I write up notes to trigger my brain later to come back and check it out when you get back to base.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01You think that's and you sort of put star against these things all the way down and you go back to base and you check those things out and you investigate it a bit more and you kind of understand it better because you've introduced it at the session and then you've read up on it and you've it s it s sinks in, I think, that way. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03So Colin, what do you think is the importance of the conference to the mainframe community and the D B2 community specifically?
SPEAKER_01So I think I think it's really interesting that when we go to these GSE conferences, we see students, people sort of almost embarking on that new career, and you're hoping that they will embark on a mainframe career because that's kind of where we come from. Um it it really opens up to people to introduce them like the uh uh what there used to be the 101 and 102 streams that are now becoming Wave Z. It's a way of really introducing you to the subject. And then there's so many streams that you need to, you know, if you're DB2 or you're programming or development uh at dev, you need to just uh go to as many different streams as you possibly can and get that breath. And what it what it does, it it brings people together, it gives you contacts, it gives you ideas to chase up and follow up, and maybe just introduces you to options and not just your own career, but way that you can uh work on things in the future and things that you can build and apply in the future. Um so it's a great way of not only introducing people but just introducing subjects that maybe you just don't get a chance to to follow up and read up on when you're at base working away.
SPEAKER_07So yeah, you're absolutely right.
SPEAKER_01Throughout your whole career, I think it's really useful whether you're the beginning and you're just looking for whether this is what you want to do, or whether you're a student before you've even got there, or whether you're actually in the career and you're just thinking, what else can I do? What else is out there? What what what do I need to learn next?
SPEAKER_07Yeah. And it's a really good point about the students because there's a big new to mainframe population at GSE, and it seems like a fantastic place for for them to come together as a like a subgroup to do their own networking with each other and also to get the the contacts and and the network with the the more experienced people as well. So I'm not sure if you know the percentage or the the figures of how many students or young folk were there, but it was a lot, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_01I think there were sixty around that. So it was getting on for probably over 10% then, I think. Yeah, which is over 10%, which is a good figure.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_07It's so valuable for for them, isn't it? Um I ha I'm sure that they get as much out of it as we do at at our stage in our careers.
SPEAKER_01I think you can see by the in their faces that at the end of the conference they're really buzzing and they're still talking and chatting and excited. So if something something good must have happened in those few days for them, hopefully. And they take something away and they're part of the community then, aren't they? Yeah. Well, yeah, that's that that possibility. And how badly people can sing.
SPEAKER_03It is, yeah. The networking has always been uh a favorite amongst uh respondents of the uh the conference feedback. But uh I do like what you said, Colin, about there being a a breadth of topics that you can go and listen to. And I think going to different topics differentiate differentiates you from as as a good sysprog slash DBA from a merely an okay sysprog DBA. Because if you keep going to the DB2 stuff or the MQ stuff, then you learn about your chosen topic, about your niche. But if you go to other ones as well, then you broaden your horizons a bit and you you have a greater understanding of where D B2 or whatever your topic is fits in the in the mainframe ecosystem. So all that remains for me to do is to give Colin and Kaziah and Tori a great big thank you for joining us at our DB2 Table Talk fireside chat, which was just recapping the conference season, iDug and GSE. Uh thank you very much, and uh we wish you a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays, and we shall see you all soon. Thank you very much, everyone.
SPEAKER_07Happy Christmas. Bye bye. Visit iDug.org for the latest DB2 community news, information about events and all of our technical content. Tune in again soon for the next podcast at idog.org forward slash podcast.