The RPG & DB2 Summit - Spring 2009

In April, Summit hosts Susan Gantner, Jon Paris, Paul Tuohy and Skip Marchesani welcomed an enthusiastic group of developers to Orlando's Florida Hotel and Conference Center for the fifth RPG & DB2 Summit.

Eager to learn, nearly everyone arrived early and stayed late each day - with many taking advantage of optional Early Bird sessions and the after-hours discussion group on Web programming with RPG. Barbara Morris noted the exceptional dedication of the Summit attendees on IBM's RPG Cafe site.

But it wasn't all work and no play. The hotel staff actually asked Skip if this group was for real - everyone was having way too much fun to really be the group of computer geeks they were expecting!

How much fun? Check out the photo gallery for a pictorial tour of the week's events, including our group photo.

On Wednesday, keynote speaker Mike Cain inspired us with an insightful and relevant address about value and brand - each person's individual brand, that is, not IBM i or DB2. Excellent message - thank you, Mike.

Wednesday night's welcome reception and dinner was great fun. Enthusiastic interaction with the exhibitors about their solutions got the ball rolling for sharing experiences and planning for the days of education to come.

As usual, the door prize drawing provided much entertainment during the evening. Lots of winners walked away with cool or just-for-laughs prizes including a karaoke machine, a manager-detector rear-view mirror for your monitor, a 500GB external disk drive and several works of literary genius - some serious, such as books on RSE, PHP and Javascript, and some not so serious, such as "Why do Men Have Nipples," "Never Iron When You Are Naked" and a selection of Dilbert books. The grand prize was a Nintendo DSi - the brand new model with a camera and other cool new features.

Thursday began with a sea of green shirts at breakfast (it was "wear your new Summit shirt day," after all.) At lunchtime, the hotel presented Skip with a personalized pair of flippers to help him navigate the waters of the fountain outside the hotel. For the story of Skip's misadventures with the hotel fountain, you'll have to ask someone who was there!

Jon was a bit shell-shocked Friday because of the serious nature of the illness of his faithful companion - his Mac, that is - not Susan! To read more about Jon's trials and tribulations with his beloved Mac, check out Jon and Susan's blog. We also celebrated Merrikay Lee's birthday at lunch, complete with fire extinguisher to put out the candles.

Many thanks to RPG & DB2 Summit media sponsors, IBM Systems Magazine and System i Network, our vendor sponsors, and guest speakers Scott Klement, Kent Milligan, Aaron Bartell, Barbara Morris, and Mike Cain. Each and every one helped to make this Summit an event to remember.

Speaking of future Summits, if you weren't with us in Orlando this time, be sure to sign up for email alerts for developments and news of future System i Developer events!