As I was watching the DB2 Night Show on Monday (I missed the first half on Friday), Terry announced that they were going to combine the DB2 for Z/OS and DB2 for LUW panel sessions. They’re making them a bit longer. The reason given for this is that they want to stream both of them, but only have the equipment to stream one at a time. Through conversations and posts on Twitter, I decided to open a Twitter poll on the issue to see if we can get some feedback from others on how they feel about it.
I feel it is a bad idea because:
- One platform may dominate to the detriment of the other platform
- Newer DBAs may get confused about which platform a question/answer applies to
- Each community has different needs and different questions
- The larger room this will require will feel less connected
- The Panel is my favorite session of the whole conference, and I don’t want to get less of it
Please let your voice be heard. Vote on the poll on twitter!
.@idugdb2 is considering merging the panel sessions for LUW and Z/OS in Anaheim into one giant panel. How to you feel about the merge? #DB2
— Ember Crooks (@ember_crooks) April 11, 2017
I cannot promise we’ll get anywhere by presenting our preferences to IDUG, but I thought it was worth seeing if others were with me on my opinion here.
Update 12 April, 2017
Poll results:
Clearly, the users on Twitter prefer separate panels. I doubt this will change IDUG’s plans, but it is good to know I’m not alone in this opinion.
Thanks Ember for the conversation today. On behalf of IDUG, I want to thank you and the DB2 community for taking an active role in preserving the format & outcome of panel. The current format has the panel extended to 90 minutes. We are also revising the process to moderate the panel efficiently so that one platform does not dominate the other. The single panel format was well received in other IDUG events and we look forward to the same in Anaheim. Should you have questions, do feel free to reach out to me. Best Regards, Vijay.