Just like to take a minute and thank everyone that was responsible for putting on the PCA2011 event this week. It was an outstanding event and clearly proves the point that face2face meetings are still desired and embraced by this community.
Tom Bascom and the entire Executive Committee did a fantastic job in all aspects of the event. They had a great program that was full of very pertinent talks. The venue turned out to be very good and the program flowed quite well. Good food and great beers topped it off.
For those that don't know, these volunteers have worked very hard for over a year to pull this all off. Even if you did not attend, you should be thankful for these efforts. The committee paved the way for future conferences that are worthy of your close consideration.
Thanks as well to the Progress representatives at the event. Their participation and sponsorship were welcome and appropriate in terms of content, context and proportion.
A special highlight of the event was the fireside chat with Gary Conway on Tuesday evening. He is the Chief Marketing Officer for Progress Software. He walked into the lion's den and had a great conversation with the beer fueled masses. I think he earned a lot of admiration and respect for how he handled that talk. He is the first CMO in the history of the company and laid things out in an honest and straight forward manner. He was even toned through out the conversation. He accepted a lot of responsibility for past failings or miscues and asked us all to help them re-launch the Progress Software image. In my mind, it is still very early but I like the direction he has taken in his short tenure.
It was encouraging to me how accessible Gary and all the other Progress staff was during the event.
It was just a good time to see everyone from the community again, catch up on both work and some personal relationships. We have a lot of very bright bulbs in this crowd that are eager and willing to share their triumphs and misery for the common good. This more than anything is the power of our user community.
Again, well done to all the organizers. I suspect that we will see a PCA2012 event announcement once the dust settles. In the mean time, keep in mind our European friends are holding their Pug Challenge in the fall.
Bob Brennan
Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Inc.
(603) 424-0109