Oracle OpenWorld enlightens and entertains
Save for the bright lights and huge screens flashing the word Unbreakable Oracle9i, the stage is empty. Silence prevails as the audience waits for the next speaker at the sixth annual Oracle OpenWorld 2001 conference inside San Francisco's Moscone Center.
Suddenly a Mercedes Benz appears on the huge screen, followed by a man's voice saying, "This is Larry Ellison's car."
The audience laughs, thinking Ellison, the speaker in question, has arrived.
The voice continues, "This is a 50-ton concrete ball," and the camera zooms in on a huge concrete ball hovering above the car from a crane. The ball is then brought to a thump on the car's roof.
"Can't break it," the voice announces, much to the delight of the audience, who gives a loud applause.
That was how Ellison, chairman and CEO of Oracle Corporation, opened his presentation on the Unbreakable Oracle9i during the OpenWorld seminar from Dec. 2 to Dec. 7.
The conference has blurred the line between marketing and showbiz. Watching Ellison, senior vice president and chief marketing officer Mark Jarvis or senior vice president of product and services marketing Jeremy Burton is like watching high- caliber entertainers going all the way not only to sell products but also to educate the audience in a very entertaining manner.
Jarvis' Project U, for example, was a lot of fun, not only because he is a good marketeer (he was selected Marketeer of the Year in Marketing Computers magazine in 2000) but because he has a way of involving his audience, making them part of the "show", making things simple for the uninitiated.
Burton's The Quest for the Holy Applications Development Grail "show" that highlighted Oracle's search, under the command of Larry "King of O" Ellison, for the Real Application Clusters, was equally amusing as much as it was educating.
No wonder the event never fails to attract large numbers of people from all corners of the globe. This year's OpenWorld saw a some good attendance numbers, with 25,000 people attending out of the 46,000 who registered. The figure is lower than last year when it hosted 80,000 people.
The conference, widely acclaimed as the world's leading technology conference, offered a comprehensive set of programs, including hands-on training, interactive programs, track sessions presented by industry gurus, visionary keynotes and an exhibit hall filled with the latest products and solutions.
Audience was drawn by both Oracle and non-Oracle experts personalities as can been seen from their response. Attendance was always high during the keynote sessions, which saw anchor and managing editor of NBC's Nightly News Tom Brokaw giving the opening speech on Dec. 2.
The huge number of attendees was attributed partly to the company's success in building an Oracle community through various programs and activities, including the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) for online developers. Starting with zero membership three years ago, OTN now has two million members.
Oracle also hosts a network of users under the International Oracle Users Group (IOUG) with more than 10,000 Oracle database and application development professionals. Then there is Oracle University that provides education and training in Oracle technologies in various countries.
The event also attracted a huge number of exhibitors, or partners, both small and large companies, to display their latest products. In all, there were 300 exhibitors that included such giant companies like Sun Microsystems, Dell, EMC, Network Appliance, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq taking part in the exhibition, or Partners Program as Oracle calls it.
Oracle announced on Dec. 3 another forum for its partners called the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) offering a comprehensive online partner resource that simplifies the method of accessing and delivering Oracle and other third-party, resources.
The OPN enables partners as diverse as solution integrators, hardware vendors, application service providers (ASPs), system integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs) to gain a competitive advantage by moving their businesses online.
As the OPN is still in its infancy, the exhibition provides a good opportunity for Oracle partners to test the waters, see where the trends are going and meet the customers.
Obtree Technologies USA, Inc., (obtree.com) a subsidiary of the Basel-based Obtree Technologies, Inc., that provides customers and partners with the software tools needed to exploit any form of Web content, for example, was a newcomer in the exhibition hall.
"This is our first presence at Oracle OpenWorld. This is an important event not so much for selling, but to create an awareness for our brand," Vincent Trunzo, director of corporate development, told The Jakarta Post.
DataMirror (datamirror.com), a Toronto-based company, has been part of OpenWorld for the past three years. One of the fastest growing technology companies in North America, it finds the event worth attending for a number of reasons.
"This gives us an opportunity to get out and meet our customers, see how other competitors are doing, track our leads," Brian Butler, DataMirror product marketing manager, told the Post.
With such an impressive list of exhibitors, the exhibition hall was continuously buzzing with excitement, with customers, reporters, students and experts crowding the booths, testing new products, making inquiries about the new products on offer or simply sharing experiences and exchanging new ideas.
Strolling in the exhibition hall was like being in a night fair, with salesmen shouting at the top of their lungs, urging visitors to stop by their booths, offering T-shirts and other nick-knacks to lure listeners to their presentations. Some booths were quiet, with the more serious ones engaged in deep conversations. Still other visitors sauntered, munching popcorn freely available at several stands across the hall.
It was indeed fun and educating to be part of Oracle OpenWorld.
-- Lela E. Madjiah