Chicago Oracle User Community Restart

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. There are probably more professional Oracle users here than most other areas in the country – and yet for many years now there hasn’t been a cohesive user group.

But right now there’s an opportunity for change. If the professional community of Chicago Oracle users steps up to the plate.

Chicago Oracle User Group

First, the Chicago Oracle User Group has just elected a new president. Alfredo Abate is bringing a level of enthusiasm and energy to the position which we’ve been missing for a long time. He’s trying to figure out how to restart the COUG and re-engage the professional community here – but he needs input and assistance from you! If you’re an administrator or developer anywhere near Chicago and you have Oracle software anywhere in your company, then please help Alfredo get the user group going! Here are a few specific things you can do:

1. Send Alfredo an email saying congrats and offering suggestions for the COUG. You can find him on LinkedIn or the COUG site below.
2. Join the LinkedIn group that Alfredo set up for the COUG.
3. Sign up for a free account at the COUG site: chicago.oracle.ioug.org
4. Complete the survey at the COUG website (must sign up for free account, then look for “survey” link in the top navigation bar). This will help Alfredo think about planning the next event.

Lunch Huddles

A few years ago, I was part of a group of Oracle database users from different companies in Chicago who started hanging out regularly for lunches downtown. It was never a big event but it was a lot of fun to get together and catch up regularly. However I stopped organizing the lunches after a job change back into travel consulting and the birth of our daughter. I live on the north side of the city, I worked from home when I wasn’t traveling, and I wasn’t able to make trips downtown anymore.

Ever since, I’ve missed hanging out with friends downtown and I’ve always wanted to do these group lunches again. Besides the fact that I really enjoy catching up with people, I think that face-to-face meetups really help strengthen our sense of community as a whole in Chicago.

So – after far too long – I started the lunches again last week.

Oracle DB Lunch Downtown

But it’s improved – there are now lunches happening all over ChicagoLand!

Tomorrow: Deerfield
This wednesday: Des Plaines
Next week wednesday: Downtown

Coming soon: Naperville?

Please join us for a lunch sometime! I promise you’ll find it to be both beneficial and fun! And also, please join the group on meetup.com – then you’ll get reminders about upcoming lunches in Chicago.

Spread the Word

Even if you don’t live in Chicago, you can help me out with this – send a brief tweet or quick email to any Oracle professionals you know around Chicago and direct them to this blog post. I hope to see some new life in the Oracle professional community here. It won’t happen by accident.