Lisa Dobson

...at least here, on this blog as I’ve moved over to blog.lisadobson.com now.I’ve copied all the posts from here across to the new blog, but I will also be leaving them here for a while, for anyone coming here through searches for old stuff.For all the new stuff, pop over to my new blog...See you on the other side!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com4

First of all, a big Thank you to everyone who voted to keep me on the Board of Directors. I’m very grateful for all of the support and very pleased to be able to continue as a Director.We had our first Board meeting on Thursday and were able to welcome two new Directors to the Board, Jeremy Duggan and Robert Stanton.This board meeting was a very different experience for me as, due to a rather Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com0

There's only a few days left for voting in this year's Director Elections, with the process closing on February 28th.More information on the election process, including information on the role of Directors, and this years candidates can be found here.Each UKOUG membership is entitled to one vote, with ballot papers being sent to the main contact for that membership, but if they have a colleague Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com0

When I started this blog over 5 years ago, I never imagined that it would take me on a journey from an Oracle Newbie, to a Director of UKOUG and onto an Oracle ACE (even if I did go via some strange evenings in some strange pubs in Birmingham and a rather dodgy Panto!)All I can say is that it has been a heck of a ride!I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and for me, the best part of it has been the Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com6

This is the Conference Review Part 2, but I wanted to do a separate post for the IPA’s.On Tuesday night at the conference, we had the first ever UKOUG Inspiring Presentation Awards.The awards and the evening’s social event were very kindly sponsored by OTN, so a big thank you to Vikki Lira from the Oracle ACE Program for helping out and making it all happen.The first four categories are for Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com0

Well I finally made it back home from the UKOUG Conference in Birmingham, only a day and a half later than planned.The problem was not Birmingham, no snow issues there although it was very cold, but Newcastle airport was closed for a couple of days and trains were struggling to get through all the snow ‘Oop North’.The Conference itself was a fantastic event and, from a personal perspective, it Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com0

Before you think this is something completely random (which it probably is) yes, I am indeed talking about this year’s UKOUG TEBS Conference.The Inspiring Presentation Awards (IPA’s) will be handed out for the first time at this year’s UKOUG Technology and E-Business Suite Conference.The event will be taking place in the Exhibition Hall on Tuesday evening from 18:30 with the awards and the Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com0

The UKOUG Technology and E-Business Suite Conference 2010 is getting closer and the agenda is now live.I was lucky enough to get a paper accepted so I will be presenting on the Monday afternoon.My work situation last year meant that I was unable to commit to submitting a paper, although I was still able to attend in the end as a delegate, so I'm really looking forward to getting back to Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com0

I received another email from Stephen Jannise of ERP Software Advice this morning to let me know that he had published the results from the Oracle Mergers and Acquisitions Survey that I had previously blogged about.There were a total of 1,250 responses to the survey and the results are interesting.The two front runners fall into the category of "fairly straightforward ideas" with 38% of the Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com1

This thread on the OTN forums caught my eye today.Whilst I love the forums and think they are a great place to go for help and advice, there are times when they are not the best medium for support and this was one of them.Forum questions are answered by volunteers, people who have day jobs to do themselves, that are happy to share their experience and help out others with queries. That’s why you Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com7

Stephen Jannise of ERP Software Advice has written an interesting article around likely targets for Oracle's next acquisition.The article is well written and well thought out, being based on research into the past 5 years of Oracle acquisitions alongside a study into the current market. There's also a diagram to show all of the companies that Oracle has acquired since the PeopleSoft acquisition Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com2

Hot on the heels of the work I have done to get the Northern Server Tech community recognised as a UKOUG SIG, I’m now working to put together another ‘Back to Basics’ event to be held early next year.The concept behind the Back to Basics events is to deliver a full day of content which is specifically aimed at Newbies and covers a variety of topics.There is no confirmed date or venue as yet, Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com0

Not only is it time for the Northern Server Tech Day in Leeds next week, which is exciting enough, but the UKOUG is now looking to form the Northern Tech SIG.The UKOUG has been running the NST as an annual one day event for the last 5 years, and it is now time to create a SIG to focus on delivering Server Tech content across the North of England on a regular basis.In order to get this off the Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com6

The UKOUG Northern Tech Day is being held on April 29th at the Hilton Hotel in Leeds.Places are still available for this event, and the online agenda can be found here.See you there!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com3

The UKOUG is once again running the Northern Server Technology Day.This is the 5th year we have run the event and this year it is taking place on 29th April at the Hilton Hotel, Leeds.This annual event is aimed at DBA’s and Developers in the North of England and delivers a full day of server tech presentations.If anybody is interested in presenting at this event then please contact either myself Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com1

It’s now less than 2 weeks until the UKOUG TEBS Conference 2009 gets underway in Birmingham and I for one can’t wait!This year’s event is spread over 3 days and there are over 240 presentations, so a fully packed agenda – click here to see the agenda grid. I’ve been involved with the UKOUG for a number of years now, as a SIG Chair and a speaker/volunteer at Conference.I’ve also worked on a stand Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com4

A couple of things recently, both personally and professionally, have reminded me of the concept of ‘Pay it Forward’. When somebody does you a favour, you repay it by helping out someone else. It was this concept that got me started with planning my first ever UKOUG presentation, which led to the blog. I’d had a great deal of help and encouragement from people within the community and I wanted Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com5

After leaving the world of Consultancy behind in February, I had 5 months of unemployment during which time I learned 2 valuable lessons;1) I make a lousy housewife2) It is possible to survive for 5 months without new shoesBoth of these things surprised me.Thankfully I was able to find work before I drove myself and my other half completely round the twist.Since July I have been working at DurhamLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com10

This year’s Northern Server Technology Day will take place on Tuesday 28th April at the Park Inn hotel in York.This annual event is aimed at DBA’s and Developers in the North of England and delivers a full day of server tech presentations over two streams.Previous events have taken place in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle and the day has always proved to be popular for technical content and Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com2

Friday before last I made the difficult decision to leave SolStonePlus.I joined SolStone in April 2006, and whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the work I did it has always been a juggling act to balance my personal life at home in Newcastle with working in the South.In order to find a more manageable work/life balance I had to choose to either move closer to work or work closer to home.Although not an Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16434297444320005874noreply@blogger.com4