Time for the IDUG North American Db2 Tech Conference 2019

It is hard to believe that May is almost over already and that means that the 2019 IDUG North American Db2 Tech Conference is right round the courner! This year’s event is being held in beautiful Charlotte, NC the week of June 2-6, 2019. That is a little bit later than normal, but I think that is a good thing as it should be nice and warm in North Carolina in June!

I hope you’ve already made your plans to be there, but if you haven’t there’s still time to get your manager’s approval, make you travel plans, and be where all the Db2 folks will be the first week of June.

If you’ve ever attended an IDUG conference before then you know why I’m excited. IDUG offers a world of phenomenal educational opportunities delivered by IBM developers, vendor experts, users, and consultants from all over the world. There will be a slew of informative technical sessions on all of the latest and greatest Db2 technologies and features. The 2019 event offers more educational opportunities and training than ever before, including:

·                     Five days of educational sessions

·                     Half and full-day workshops

·                     Over 100 one-hour technical sessions

·                     Two expert panels on z/OS and LUW

If you have any doubts whether there will be something worthwhile for you there just take a look at this packed agenda! For me, one of the highlights of the conference is always the Db2 for z/OS Spotlight session. It will be delivered right after the keynote on day one by Jeff Josten, Maureen Townsend, and John Campbell. I always learn something new about what is going on with my favorite DBMS at this spotlight session.

What Am I Up to at IDUG?

As usual, I will be busy at this year’s IDUG. I will be arriving in Charlotte the Saturday before the conference to participate in some pre-conference meetings. On Saturday I’ll be meeting up with the other IBM Gold Consultants to hear from IBM and, of course, to catch up with my consultant friends. Then on Sunday I’ll be participating in Db2 customer meetings that IBM conducts to share upcoming “things” and to get feedback.

The first time you will probably get a chance to see me this year will be at the opening keynote, where I’ll be chatting on a panel about DevOps, impact on database administration and operations, and its importance moving forward.

I also will be delivering two sessions this year. My conference session is on Tuesday, June 4, at 8:00 AM (Session E05) titled Coding Db2 for Performance: By the Book. This session is based on my latest book and it is aimed at application developers. The general idea is to give an overview of the things that you can do as you design and code your Db2 programs (for z/OS or LUW) with performance in mind. All too often performance is an afterthought – and that can be quite expensive. Nail down the basics by attending this session!

I’m also delivering a vendor-sponsored presentation (or VSP) for Infotel, also on June 4^th but later, at 10:40 AM. This presentation, titled Improving Db2 Application Quality for Optimizing Performance and Controlling Costs. My portion of the presentation focuses on the impact of DevOps on database; it will be followed up by Carlos Almeida of Infotel, who will talk about how their SQL quality assurance solutions can aid the DevOps process for Db2 development.

And let's not forget the exhibit hall (aka Solutions Center) where vendors present and demo their products that can help you manage Db2 more effectively. It is a good place to learn about new technology solutions for Db2, but also to hang out and meet with IBMers, consultants, and your peers.

Additionally, this year I'll be spending some time in the booth with some of my favorite Db2 vendors.

	On the first day of the Solutions Center, Monday, I'll be at the BMC Software booth supporting a new DevOps-related Db2 for z/OS offering they are delivering. Be sure to stop by the BMC booth to hear about it and ask me what I think about it… and, of course, talk with BMC folks about your favorite Db2 products and see what’s new with BMC and Db2!

On the second day of the exhibition hall, Tuesday, I'll be at the Infotel booth, but only for an hour at lunchtime. So if you have any questions we didn’t answer in the VSP, you can ask us at the Infotel booth. Be sure to stop by and say hello, take a look at Infotel’s SQL quality assurance solutions for Db2 for z/OS, and register to win one of 2 of my Db2 application performance  books that will be raffled off. If you win, be sure to get me to sign your copy!

That is a lot for one week, but there is more.

Just Look at All That IDUG Has to Offer!

You can go to full-day education sessions on Sunday June 2^nd (at an additional cost – but only $250). These sessions are typically chockful of useful information that you can take home and apply to your Db2 environment. And this year there are sessions teaching how to get certified as a DBA for either z/OS or LUW or as a SYSADMIN, SQL PL best practices, and Db2 for beginners.

You can also attend one or more of the 8 different Hands-On Labs (with hands-on training led by IBM). There are hands on labs focused on diagnosing performance problems, Machine Learning for z/OS, DevOps, Mobile, Cloud and more.

There are also two different half-day workshops on June 6^th – you can choose either Db2 12 for z/OS Migration Planning Workshop or Hands-on Machine Learning Bootcamp.

And don’t forget to attend one of the Special Interest Groups where you can discuss the latest industry trends and topics with other interested technicians. This year’s SIGs span the spectrum from big data to cloud to continuous delivery to IDAA and even AI.

Be sure to download the mobile app for the conference to help you navigate all the opportunities available to you! Armed with the mobile app you’ll get daily intel on what’s happening at the conference.

Justifying Your Attendance

Finally, if you need any help justifying your attendance at this year’s IDUG event, just use this justification letter as your template to create an iron-clad rationale for your boss.

The Bottom Line

The IDUG Db2 Tech Conference is the place to be to learn all about Db2 from IBMers, gold consultants, IBM champions, end users, ISVs, and more. With all of this great stuff going on this year in Charlotte, why wouldn't you want to be there!?!?