Why Attend the 2017 PUG Challenge?

Why should you attend the Progress Users Group (PUG) Challenge this year? Brian Bowman explains the reasons to register for this unique OpenEdge-focused event.

I’ve attended a lot of conferences in my business career. My first conference was in Anaheim, CA. I had never been to California before so it was going to be an incredible boondoggle. I get to stay a block away from Disneyland; I get to go to a conference where like-minded people who use the same technology I use will be. I get to do all of that and my company is going to foot the bill. I thought I was going to be in heaven!

Then the earthquake hit—literally. It was 10:30 pm on the first night. I was tired from traveling and just wanted to relax. Suddenly the walls started swinging back and forth and the bed started rocking. I knew I was tired but I didn’t think I had put a quarter in the meter for the bed. Maybe it was the air or something else; maybe someone had slipped me some drugs (you never knew about Californians back then). The alarms started going off and I had to trudge down 11 floors to the lobby where the staff was nervously walking around trying to make the guests feel safe.

I survived that first night and ended up talking to Richard Pick. He was one of the two people who created the Pick Operating System and language, the business language I started with. It was fascinating to talk to him about how he created the language and the goals he had for businesses.  I was talking to a person that created a product that thousands of small businesses relied on every day.

Fast forward to today; I can’t promise you that you won’t experience an earthquake—New England has had 19 thus far this year. I can promise you that you will not be able to visit Disneyland. It is on the wrong coast (Manchester, NH is almost as exciting as Anaheim, CA). I CAN promise that you will be able to talk to Progress developers, product managers, architects, fellows, directors, VPs and the CEO that works on and builds the products you use every day. You’ll also be able to talk to others that do the same thing that you do. Mary CK will not be there, but Gus will be. It’s a great opportunity to learn and enjoy some good beer. You can only take advantage of this opportunity if you attend PUG Challenge Americas/Exchange 2017.

There are a lot of sessions planned (over 70) as well as hands-on workshops on hot new technologies such as Kendo UI Builder, OpenEdge Change Data Capture, Progress Authentication Gateway and other enhancements available in our latest release, OpenEdge 11.7, that you can take advantage of. You’ll hear about the Progress vision, direction and commitment to OpenEdge from the CEO, Yogesh Gupta and John Ainsworth, our Senior VP of Core Products.

I’ll be there and hope to see you there! Let me know you read this blog and I might have something special for you. Oh, and by the way, I still haven’t visited Disneyland.

Register for PUG Challenge