Hi Scott,
Respectfully, I also work for a company that has sometimes been able to send me and often, especially lately, not. What I have learned at Share and from the folks and contacts made there has been priceless. I too have learned a great deal of what I know from hard old-fas hioned work. B elieve me, I have an large appreciation for those who figure it out and keep on keeping on. I do a lot of that stuff too. Thing is, I can get about a year's worth of 'digging it out' equivalalency along with the differing perspectives of those who have traveled that way before, just from one Share. Oft times, I can help somebody else out too. I have managed to get to nearly every Share the last few years. Sadly, I couldn't make it to Denver, but I am planning on Seattle. There is little doubt that I will have to pay my own way again. I have my own Share savings fund, and I hound the discounts. T he Share hotels often have extras if you join their hotel club - I got free internet every night in San Jose, otherwise $12.95 per night - and 3 free breakfasts. In Austin, I used other discounts av ailable to me . In Baltimore, I helped the hotel out with an evening IT problem and explained how to fix the root cause of the problem. The manager gave me an extra discount off the room rate. In Tampa, the convention center had lots of deep discount and free entree coupons for walking distance restaurants. There were lots more at the Tampa Welcome Center, also close by. If you take even just one class (online!) at your local college, you can sign up for a Student Advantage card and get all sorts of student discounts, especially travel discounts, everyday. If you are a full time student (12 units), Share has a big discount for that. If you are a student or new to mainframes or new to a specific area, get connected with zNextGen and/or the project for your chosen area - see the Share website. Don't forget the Share early registration discounts. I try to use local transit from/to the airports unless the hotel has a complimentary shuttle. If your company offers any type of educational/tuition reimbursement, you might be able to get at least partial reimburs ement there. My company only grants tuition reimbursement with a certificate - so I look for a Share certificate track that contains the sessions I want to go to anyway. Perhaps, you might try writing up a justification, along with some of the session specifics, to pursuade the boss. Mayb e you can get him to give you the time 'on the clock'. Maybe you might have to get there anyway you can the first time and bring back so much value that they pay the next time. I also take info requests from my co-workers and try to get them as much of what they want as I can. I don't necessarily do all of these, every time. But these things have gotten me to the last 6 out of 8 Shares. I know it can be difficult, but for me, it has been worth it. Just my opinion and my experience. YMMV. Linda Mooney ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Ford" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 10:54:11 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: Re: SHARE comments It would be nice to have information shared, i.e.; without a hook.......no sales pitch, etc. Some of use work for companies that cant spring for Share... We had to learn z/OS and its components the old fashioned way. hard school of knocks.... Scott J Ford ________________________________ From: "Gibney, Dave" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 11:41:53 AM Subject: Re: SHARE comments Looks like the ultimate snub of those of us IBM-MAINers unable to attend SHARE. :) > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Richards, Robert B. > Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 3:30 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: SHARE comments > > For those at SHARE who wish to share with the rest of us, Timothy Sipples > posted this on the MAINFRAME site: > > > Share Your Comments on SHARE > > SHARE<http://www.share.org> holds its big conference this week in > beautiful Denver, Colorado. It's one of the biggest mainframe-focused > conferences in the world and arguably the most enjoyable. (But there are > plenty of seminars on a broad range of IT topics.) > > Are you attending this SHARE? Learn anything new and interesting? See > anything particularly impressive in the exhibit hall? Did you see any old > friends or make any new ones? Consider this an open thread to post your > comments. > > > > To post your comments, go to: http://mainframe.typepad.com/ > > Bob > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
