Re: COMMON: What to do?

I agree with everything you're saying, and I'd like to add a comment or two.

1.    We need to find a way to bring back the IT manager types. COMMON has
turned into a programmer's conference since the industry-specific "tracks"
were terminated. I know that we lost 25-30 regular attendees from the
construction industry when that happened. Those folks were managers who were
there to see what their peers in the industry were doing. Same goes for
manufacturing, distribution, health care, etc.

2.    Now that the manager types no longer attend in the numbers we saw in
the past, guess where they're going now? To their vendors' conferences. The
JDE's and SSA's and CA's don't want their customers going to COMMON because
they don't want their customers to be exposed to alternatives, whether it be
to software or to consultants who can make custom mods better, faster, and
cheaper.

3.    Make the curriculum 1 day of "fun" stuff on Sunday, 2.5 days of real
meaty stuff, and then a half day of more "fun" stuff that goes late into the
evening. Everybody gets a good night's sleep, and then heads for home on
Thursday. Back into the office on Friday to begin showing the boss his
return on the investment.

Now it's time for MY bath.....

Paul Nelson
Arbor Solutions, Inc.
708-670-6978 Cell
708-923-7354 Home
pnelson@xxxxxxxxxx