Cognos user conference and ADT

[Pickering, John (NORBORD)]

"attendance ... has steadily declined"

And it's not hard to see why. I went to the first 3 user conferences myself
but I have not attended any since Atlanta and won't be going this year. I'd
like to go but the content just doesn't justify it.

Take $950 for early registration. Add close to $200 per night (after adding
taxes to the $159) for the hotel. Throw in something to get to and from LAX.
That's comes to pretty close to $2000. Which is close to $3000 in Cdn funny
money. Add a cheapie charter class plane ticket for about $500 and you've
got something, in round numbers, close to $3500 Cdn. I'll leave aside the
fact that my hours at conferences aren't billable to anybody but the taxman.

There are 10 ADT sessions. So, no offence to the presenters, but you aren't
worth $350 per hour.

Maybe the ADT people should stop kidding themselves and not go to what has
become an almost exclusively BI conference. To have the ADT people show up
each year with ever fewer people talking to ever fewer customers (and
usually the same ones) has to be discouraging for all. Some might even infer
that PowerHouse is dead! If Cognos feels there is a need or a desire for an
ADT conference then hold an ADT-only conference, obviously on a smaller
scale. We're techies -- we don't need glitzy destinations and loud expensive
parties -- most of us would be happier sitting in a cheap bar discussing PH
and the system from hell (read that as shooting the bull). Personally I'd
vote for Ottawa so we'd be close to "the lab" but I'd travel further if such
a conference existed. But the content has to be there.

Jezz, I'm getting grumpy :-)

JWP


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Byron Welch [SMTP:byron.welch@creatcomp.com]
> Sent:	Friday, June 16, 2000 9:13 AM
> To:	'Powerhouse List'
> Subject:	Cognos user conference and ADT
> 
> John,
>   To some extent this is the chicken and the egg problem.  Over the last
> few
> years attendance at the ADT sessions has steadily declined.  We in the ADT
> community need to make a stronger showing.  One way we can so this is to
> spread the word about the powerhouse listserv.  If we can show a strong
> user
> community then it is easier to get Cognos's attention.  
> 
> Byron Welch
> Manager Consulting Services
> Creative Computing, Inc.
> 100 Middle Street
> Lincoln, RI 02865
> 
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