Tuesday, May 29, 2001.
The second (and last) day of the ODDC conference. A day for actual work, which is a good thing, because the rain from last night hasn't stopped, in fact, there's a thunderstorm over Sydney. Stacy decided she might do a bit of shopping, trying to stay dry, so Richard took the camera with him for the day, heading first to the speakers lounge to review his session before presenting in the late morning.
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| Ken and Brian review their workshop session to be presented the next day. Across the table is the web site construction centre. | A look out the window of the speaker lounge in the hotel at the torrential downpour. | |
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A couple of hours later, Richard is still in the speaker lounge, but ready for his session... and a look out the window shows that Sydney's weather has undergone a radical transformation. |
And then it was time to do a couple of presentations, with a lunch break in between. The sessions this conference were on SQL Server and OLAP Server.
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| Richard looking casual, doing introductions at the beginning of the session. | When gesticulation becomes a visual aid... | |
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| More gesticulation, because the audience loves it (and Richard can't do talks any other way). | A shot of the pivot table demonstrated in the OLAP Server. | |
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Turning the camera around, you can see the audience just leaving from the OLAP Server session - not a huge crowd. In the foreground on the right side is Peter, who took the pictures of Richard during his session. |
After the last session of the day there is a post-conference keynote, including a prize giveaway.
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| Mitch thanks everyone for attending, and doesn't turn things over to Doug Yoder this time, but does the gift giveaway himself. | One of the gifts delivered to an attendee by David from Informant. | |
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| Many of the speakers stood at the back of the room, including Doug Yoder, John Durant and Don Keily. | Post-post-conference keynote, a huddle outside the room plans for the evening's festivities, from left-to-right: Adam, Anna, Brian. | |
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| The other half of the huddle: Erik, Tom, Peter and Ken. | In an effort to grab some bandwidth, Richard, Tom and Adam head to the central connection point in the Informant logistics room. |
There wasn't much planning to do for the evening festivities - some months before, Peter Vogel had booked a dinner date for many of us at a very unusual restaurant called Tetsuyas. The menu is set, you have a choice of knowing about it in advance, or letting it be a surprise. There are FOURTEEN courses. Here's an attempt to list them:
- Lobster Mous with Soy Puree
- Capsicum Gaspatcho
- Assorted Exotic Sushi
- Trout
- Ravioli
- Scallops and Foie Gras
- Baby Chicken
- Rare Venison
- Sweet Lentils and Cheese
- Granny Smith Apple Sherbet
- Egg White Merange and Sauce
As you can see, our memory of the event is already hazy - the dishes best remembered are the ones liked the least, oddly enough. Each offering was small, many were very tasty. A number of our party were a bit overwhelmed at the range of food, it was very fresh, and rarely cooked.
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| The dinner group walks from the hotel to the restaurant. | The entire dinner group half way through the meal, notice the slightly digestively shell shocked looks. The ravioli course is on the table. | |
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| Adam stares in amazement at the bill. | Walking back to the hotel, we spot that bastion of civilization - a Starbucks. |
The bill for this gastronomical experience was a bit shocking - around $190 Australian per person, which included corkage charges (we had to bring our own wine). The next night ten people would dine at a restaurant of Adam's choosing for the price of one at Tetsuyas.