Eric Bielefeld wrote:
That's a shame that IBM won't allow non-IBM presenters. Since I'm not working now, it doesn't make much difference to me, but if I had a full time job, I think I would just skip the IBM conference and go to Share, provided my employer would send me. I've been to two IBM conferences, and two Share conferences. Both have good and bad points. The IBM sessions are slightly longer, (at least when I went), but that means there are a few less of them each day. I think the IBM conference had a half day off on Wednesday, if I remember, which was really nice to go do something (or am I misremembering).
It's not that they won't allow non-IBM presenters. As I understand it, the new policy is that anyone that works for an ISV or consultancy must now buy a VSP ("Vendor Sponsored Presentation") in order to present at zExpo. That affects people like Cheryl Watson, Peter Enrico, Dr. Pat Artis, Tom Conley, etc. I can't speak for other presenters, but there's no way I could convince my boss to *PAY* IBM for the "privilege" of allowing me to present something like "Bit Bucket Highlights" at zExpo. It just doesn't make sense...
One thing about the difference between the 2 - the IBM conference had a lot fewer sessions to choose from, which made it a lot easier to pick sessions. That could be either a plus or a minus. But, also most sessions at the IBM conference were repeated once. At Share, it seemed the stuff I really really wanted to see was all on one or two days, meaning there were a lot of sessions that I just couldn't see.
I suppose if SHARE had as little technical content as zExpo, they might consider repeating some sessions. I don't know if that would be a good or bad thing. Right now, there is a back-log of willing presenters, at least for z/OS-related topics, so it's unlikely we'll get to see that happen anytime soon.
I know I've always found the zero-cost SHARE proceedings DVD and web downloads to be extremely valuable, even for sessions I missed. SHARE will be recording audio for some sessions in Denver, which should make the proceedings even _more_ valuable.
They ran a pilot in San Jose recording IBM presentations from Marna Walle and Lucy Miller. Those recorded presentations can be downloaded directly from from the SHARE main web page at http://www.share.org. And, the recording technology they're using for Denver is supposed to be even better!
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