GBN User conference vs TechEd?

user groups and conferences
1

I just came across a conference called “SAP TechEd” (yea yea I live in a hole I guess).

Since I wasn’t able to go to Dallas for the User conference this year, I’m starting my planning early for next year :smiley:

What I am trying to figure out is exactly what is the difference between these two conferences… I’ve attended the GBN/InSite conferences for the past 4 years (excluding 2009) so I know what to expect. I dont think i’ll be able to go to both, so I wanted to know which I should end up attending.

Am I correct in assuming that the TechEd is basically a conference containing all Technical sessions (similar to the tech and hands-on tracks from GBN) or is it something else all together?

JPetlev (BOB member since 2006-11-01)

2

SAP seems to have two “big” conferences each year: SAPPHIRE and TechEd. Of the two, TechEd is far more focused (as you would expect from the name) on technical / educational sessions. The difference between TechEd and the GBN / Insight conference is that TechEd is an SAP conference and will be more targetted to SAP Enterprise software users. GBN’s conference is more generic and targetted to “classic” Business Objects customers who may / may not be ERP customers as well.

TechEd is also much larger / longer than the GBN / Insight conferences have been.

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

3

Thanks… from what I’ve read and your comments it sounds like I might have been going to the wrong conference these last few years. :blue:

JPetlev (BOB member since 2006-11-01)

4

Dave, can you provide some clarification for my cloudy brain.

Are you referring to users of SAPs ERP software here and not specifically Business Objects? It appears to have a some what limited availability for Business Objects training and it all also appears to be presented as to how Business Objects would be used with other SAP products.

By “classic” Business Objects customers is it safe to say these are people who use Business Objects but not other SAP products?

I think we would fall into the latter category as we do not use SAP here.

I too am trying to plan for next year and would like to attend one of the conferences.

5

There are Business Objects sessions here (I am at TechEd right now) but they are more targetted to folks using the BI products on SAP data sources. Lots of information on integrating security, using BW / BEx, and so on. In my opinion, GBN is the conference to attend if you are not an SAP ERP customer.

Or if you have the budget, do both. :slight_smile:

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

6

Correct. At the TechEd you will hear e.g. DataServices loading BW. In Dallas it is DataServices as an ETL tool to read/load anything.

Werner Daehn :de: (BOB member since 2004-12-17)

7

…yeah, but what do we plan for next year (2010) budgets?

If GBN is merged into ASUG - will there still be a “stand alone” BO products focused conference…?

MJRBIM :canada: (BOB member since 2007-03-23)

8

My understanding is yes, absolutely there will be. I have not heard anything different.

To be honest, if you want deep-dive on BOBJ technology, I believe that GBN is the best choice. A lot of the sessions I went to at TechEd were not very “deep” as a lot of SAP customers are still coming up to speed with what the various tools can offer.

Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)