Re: WWRUG09: Help Me Explain Why

[Doug Blair]

** Joel;, Be careful what you ask for :-) How about... Since the conference is not sponsored by BMC, it is a chance for your staff to have a conversation about customizing Remedy that does NOT automatically end in "3 consultants on site for 5 weeks at $250/hour."  Your staff will find out how to do it instead of why not to do it. (Of course we hope they will learn about why not to do it too, but don't tell the managers that!) (Remember, you asked for things we can tell managers. Shhhh!  We *always* lie to our managers.) Your developers can speak to other developers freely about the system's shortcomings and how they have overcome them or developed workarounds. Your developers can steal good ideas from each other! Your developers can recognize bad practices when they are demonstrated by others :-) Your staff will be able to meet with their counterparts in similar industries and similar sized companies. They can exchange ideas about how their respective IT shops organize their work and improve their internal efficiencies. This will make you look better. The fact that your company is willing to spend scarce training dollars at this conference during "tight" budget times is likely to increase employee loyalty both to the company and personal loyalty to the manager who approves the expense. (This is in fact true - I'll will always be grateful to Rxxxxxx Sxxxxxxx, who spent gobs of Mxxxxxxx's money on my original RSP cert, basically launching my computing career. We still talk.) Your developer will return with code and sample programs to do many useful things in the first two weeks in December: charts, graphics, calendars, team metrics, Many are zero cost work-alikes for expensive BMC products. (depends on which sessions they attend, of course) Your developer will return with discounted pricing and exclusive offers from conference vendors for products you are considering buying anyway. Notice that the following sentence is explicitly disassociated with the previous one and does not imply or infer the existence of any such offers from the named vendors, but hey, let's talk. Some of the conference vendors include Kxxxxxx, Axxxxxxx, Rxx and ... Your brilliant developer and/or Remedy admin has been sitting alone in her cube in your leaner, meaner, company, talking to herself.  WWRUG09 is a chance for cross-pollination and idea exchange with others who know what the heck filters and flashboards are. When you have no one to talk to but yourself you reinforce your own ideas, and you have no way to know if those ideas are wrong or right. Heck, I don't know if this email is right :-) The WWRUG conference is less expensive than equivalent training provided by BMC or other vendors, and while your company has been getting leaner the art of programing has been evolving. New language features, new application efficiencies and processes, and your employee wants to learn about them. And use them to help you. Your competitors who participate will have an advantage you can overcome for less than $2K US. Yes, that includes the conference fee, accommodations and flights (assuming you book on Orbitz!) (Did I mention I work at Orbitz?) Your developers will have a chance to meet with Doug Mueller, holder of badge #3 at the original Remedy corporation, a veritable deity in the art, science and the technologies you use to run your business. This is better than one on one with Bill Gates 'cause Bill's just plain arrogant and Doug is ... right! I'm sure there's more, but I have some work to do today. Talking to myself.  Doug Blair On Aug 25, 2009, at 2:40 AM, Joel Sender wrote: ** Hi everyone, I need your help.   I’ve been asked to create an email message that will help people explain to their management why they should attend WWRUG09. We need to address the decision-makers who approve attendance. The one thing we’ve heard the most is that budgets are ‘tight’. We knew that from the start; which is why we included DAILY tutorials covering the latest versions of BMC products. I thought the Developer Studio session alone would pack the house. Same for the ITSM 7.5 sessions. Which explains why I need your help.   What reasons will get a manager’s approval to attend WWRUG09? Here’s what I’ve got, so far:   It’s an EDUCATIONAL conference with tutorials every day. Helps prepare for upgrades of ITSM, Atrium, and AR System One-of-a-kind Case Studies from peers Discover and compare products quickly at the Technology Vendor Fair Technology sessions every day The largest gathering of Custom AR System application developers anywhere   And one reason NOT to tell your boss (or at least mumble): The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas!   So that’s my question for the ARSlist: what else would get management’s approval to attend WWRUG09?   Thanks, Joel   p.s. Check out Doug Mueller’s comments at http://www.wwrug.org/wwrug/testimonials.html   _Platinum Sponsor: rmisoluti...@verizon.net ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_ Doug -- Doug Blair d...@blairing.com +1 224-558-5462 200 North Arlington Heights Road Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004 _Platinum Sponsor: rmisoluti...@verizon.net ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_