The chatter about the show on the InterWebs is slowing down a bit, but we still found some interesting reading about your experiences at Oracle OpenWorld 2009. If you haven't been featured in our Around the World series, take this opportunity to add your two cents in our comments section.

Tweeters Attending OOW09
Before the show, we told you about—and added ourselves to—the list George Woods put together of Twitter users headed to Oracle OpenWorld 2009. Now that Twitter has released its Lists feature to all users, George has turned his list into a Twitter List. Follow it to keep in touch with all the great connections you made at the show.

Open World Wrap Up
Debra Lilley has been itching to talk about Fusion Applications. Now—finally—she can. But she also shares her overall impressions of the 2009 event. Check out both posts to get the perspective of the Deputy Chairman of the UKOUG.

Meeting My Fans
One of our favorite attendees at this year's show was Stanley, The ACE Vest. His agenda was very busy, including an Unconference session, despite recent surgery. But that didn't keep him away from his fans. See who shares a love for both Stanley and the great blue yonder. (Editor's note: Has anyone else noticed Stanley and Debra have similar writing styles?)

Oracle Usability Labs—A Day In The Life
Project Manager (and self-confessed BBQ King) Floyd Teter landed in San Francisco a few days before the start of Oracle OpenWorld for some preshow business he promised would "rock in the extreme." He wasn't kidding. Turns out, he spent the day at our Usability Lab here on campus. Take a look at what got him away from the BBQ grill a few days early.

Oracle OpenWorld is all about learning, and one way you can do that at the conference is by meeting with leaders and peers in various industries. We record these session so you can hear from people who use Oracle products to make a difference in their organizations, and in the world at large.

In this short video, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer's Director of IT Wayne Roberts explains how Oracle WebCenter Suite 11g and Oracle Secure Enterprise Search are helping his organization connect cancer patients, scientists, and caregivers. Using Oracle software, he's been able to create a community that enables collaboration—accelerating change in cancer management and research throughout Canada.

For more Oracle videos, visit our YouTube channel.

We're still scaring up what a lot of you are sharing about what you saw, heard, and learned at Oracle OpenWorld 2009. Take a look at our latest finds from the Web in this week's Around the World. If you have some tricks or treats to share about the show, let us know in the comments.

Oracle Open World 09 from a Newbie, Part 2
Oracle DBA and first-time attendee George Woods is putting together a few posts about his trip to San Francisco for the show. We got a mention in part one, and we're looking forward to part 3.

Reflections on a Different OpenWorld
We found the OracleBIBlog observations about the show refreshing. As long-time Oracle observers, it's nice to see the evolution of our product roadmap—and our presentation of it—from the eyes of show veterans.

NZ Developers Push Hard at OpenWorld
Rob O'Neill followed some independent software vendors from New Zealand to the Moscone Center. He put together a report for Computerworld about the return on their booth investments. See how they fared.

Banging on the Integration Drum
Malaysia's most widely-read English-language daily shares a great synopsis of our efforts to make your IT infrastructure work together flawlessly. From Oracle Exadata V2 to Oracle's JD Edwards ERP to the new Oracle Application Integration Architecture, writer Kelly Goh wraps it all together.

Oracle OpenWorld Fusion Apps Blogger Extravaganza
We found a large—and growing—collection of posts about Oracle Fusion Applications over at the InfoBox blog. Technical Director for HR Systems, Michael Krupa, has put together a great resource for perusing the variety of opinions out there. Give them a look, and share your own.

20 Amazing Pumpkin Carvings
Lastly—since some of you may be rushing to finish up your Halloween decorations before the first trick-or-treaters ring your bell—we thought we'd provide some inspiration for your pumpkin carving activities. We're particularly fond of the Iron Man design, for obvious reasons. Happy Halloween.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being at Oracle OpenWorld is meeting with attendees. We wanted to focus some of the discussion to find out your opinions about our event. So we invited you to share your thoughts at an Unconference session on the last day of the show.

Our informal roundtable of about two dozen people included a DBA, a PeopleSoft developer, and a government consultant, as well as Paul Salinger, Oracle VP of Marketing, OTN Editor-in-Chief Justin Kestelyn, and Tim and Marius from our hashtag#oow09 show. Here are a few things we found interesting during the discussion:

Better Unconference Promotion

Most of you loved the Unconference opportunity and style, but a few noted that it needed better promotion. It's a vital part of what makes the show great, so we'll make sure more people know about it next time.

More Mobile Updates
You want more opportunities to get updates on your handhelds. Whether its accessing our e-mails, receiving text messages about schedule changes, or using Bluetooth technology to share session audience information, we want to keep you informed. We're looking into all of your great suggestions.

Where's the Tweetup?
Sure, we had a Bloggers Meetup, but a few of you were surprised that there was no official Tweetup scheduled during the show. This was especially disappointing since George Woods put together such an extensive list of Tweeters attending. We promise to make amends in 2010.

Thanks to all those who attended the Unconference session. If you didn't get a chance to make it because you were still recovering from the Appreciation Event or glued to Oracle OpenWorld Live, you can still add to the discussion. We're following your updates and blog posts, and we read all your comments on our blog.

Another important way of weighing in is to take advantage of the Conference Survey. Your ideas and opinions get sent straight to the events team who have the monumental task of putting the show together every year. Let them know what you think so that your impressions and suggestions can shape an even better Oracle OpenWorld 2010.

By now—hopefully—you've recovered from the sessions, keynotes, travel, and parties. We've found many of you uploading your thoughts and images from the 2009 show. Here are some of our favorites. Add your own thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to take the Conference Survey.

Blogs About Oracle OpenWorld 2009
Our friends over at the Oracle Technology Network have put together a long list of blog reports about the 2009 event. There are a lot to digest, so get comfy. If you have one you want to add, let us know.

Back of House at Oracle OpenWorld
Nancy J. Wilson, a principal with Meeting Strategies Worldwide, took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Moscone Center during Oracle OpenWorld to see how we were conducting our green efforts. Take a look at what she found, and let us know what you saw.

Schwarzenegger Praises Oracle's Deal for Sun
Reporter Brandon Bailey of MercuryNews.com sums up California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearance at the Wednesday keynote. Read his take on what happens when super powers unite.

OOW 09 Take-Aways
We welcomed a number of Sun people to the show this year, including Tim Bray, Director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems. He shared some ideas with us at the Oracle Bloggers Meetup, and has since written a thought-provoking post about our marquee event. Let us know if you share some of his concerns.

More on Foursquare from Myself and Two Others
The Oracle Bloggers Meetup also gave us the chance to meet one of our favorite bloggers, John Bredehoft. We had a short discussion about Foursquare, a relatively new location-based mobile app that a few of us—like Tim, Marius, and yours truly—were using during the conference. If you checked in at the show, we want to know when you used it, where you used it, and how you want to use it next year.

Oracle OpenWorld 2009 Flickr Group
You took some great photos on the show floor. We found some of them through the oow09 tags on Picasa and Flickr. Feel free to add your shots to the Flickr Oracle OpenWorld 2009 Group Pool. ChannelWeb posted their own slideshow, as did CNET. We'd love to see more, so share!

If you skipped any of the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) events at Oracle OpenWorld, you may have missed the announcement about the new OPN Specialized program launched at the OPN Forum.

Designed to help our partners gain differentiation and competitive edge, it represents a major evolution in our support program, with new partner levels and increased specializations in different product sets. Visit the OPN Website to find more details on the OPN Specialized program and our upcoming virtual event in December. Get ready to become "specialized."

If you're not an Oracle partner yet—but want to be—visit the OPN portal and catch-up on all of the keynotes, executive messages, video blogs, and session highlights at the Partner Experience Online.

More than 1,800 sessions. Four hundred partner exhibits. One amazing show. The curtain came to a close for Oracle OpenWorld 2009 Thursday afternoon under the Howard Street Tent at the It's a Wrap party.

Oracle customers, partners, and employees savored one final opportunity to network, and enjoyed one last reason to celebrate: another successful show. The Five Hundred sweated out favorites from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and The Violent Femmes at the tent's east-end stage. Attendees got to put off finding room for all their tchotchkes for a few hours as they snacked on chili dogs, pasta salads, tacos and popsicles—a respite before return trips home.

We hope that your Oracle OpenWorld adventure was all you expected and more. We're always looking for ways to improve your experience. Take a few moments and fill out our conference survey. And watch these pages. We'll be bringing you stats from the show, perspectives from other blogs, and some follow-up stories on things you may have missed. Stay tuned; we're already planning for Oracle OpenWorld 2010!

The beers were cold. The rides were ready. The amps were turned up to 11. And then the party-goers poured in.

The Oracle OpenWorld Appreciation Event reset the bar for how to celebrate. With a boardwalk full of carnival games and rides at your disposal, we know you had plenty to keep you occupied. Add on the fantastic food and bevy of beverages, and you had ample fuel for the night, too.

But for us, the real attraction was the music. Shooter Jennings got the evening started with a bang in the tent under the shadow of the Century Wheel. Roger Daltrey and his band—featuring Simon Townshend—took the stage next, tearing through a set that included classics from The Who and a scorching version of "Summertime Blues." Closing out the roster under the tent was Three Dog Night, performing a solid set of crowd favorites from their catalog of timeless hits.

Over on the outdoor stage, Steven Tyler made a triumphant return to the spotlight, opening the Aerosmith set with "Eat the Rich!" The encore, fourteen songs later, proved beyond any doubt that the Aerosmith train just keeps a-rollin'. The Wailers closed out the evening sharing their legendary island sounds with the Treasure Island crowd.

Everywhere we turned, we found fun. From the NetApp Aussies ready for Aerosmith to our Over-dressed for Oracle OpenWorld V.I.P. winners to the friendly and knowledgeable staff at the Solutions booth, the smiles shone broad and abundant. The evening's success was due in large part to Hartmann Studios, the Oracle events team, sponsors CSC and NetApp and—most importantly—you. We hope that your night lived up to its epic billing.

Editor's Note: It's a Wrap! has been re-relocated to the Howard Street Tent, 4 p.m. Thursday.

Get ready to let loose at the last official event of Oracle OpenWorld: It's a Wrap! Running from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Howard Street Tent, the party is your chance to unwind at the end of the conference. You won't want to miss the crowd-pleasing tunes provided by rock band The Five Hundreds.

The San Francisco-based band plays a mix of classic, indie, and punk rock, with a repertoire that includes hits from the likes of the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, the Clash, and the Ramones. Oracle's own Tom Geck, who sings and plays rhythm guitar, leads the band. His bandmates include Marco Baroz on lead guitar, Stuart Burr on drums, and Brian Mellow on bass guitar.

Geck, an events manager at Oracle who works with exhibitors as part of the Oracle OpenWorld team, promises songs that show attendees can dance and sing along to.

"We're going to close out the week," says Geck. "It's a chance for everyone to let their hair down and celebrate the end of the conference." So if you're ready for a little bit of rock and roll, head to the Howard Street Tent on Thursday afternoon for Geck and his self-described "fun party band."

Get the full story in the Oracle OpenWorld Daily.

By Richard Levitt.

Wednesday's keynote featured Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO, and S. Gopalakrishnan, InfoSys Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director—plus a couple surprise guests.

The capacity audience was greeted by rock n' roll and animated graphics showing the building blocks of IT as they assembled and reassembled themselves into the infinite combinations of a modern technology stack.

First, Oracle President Charles Phillips introduced founder of the Who and Appreciation Event headliner Roger Daltrey.

Then S. Gopalakrishnan spoke of trends that define successful business: simplification, adaptivity, moving from value chains to value webs, smarter organizations, and strategic partnering.

"This is the time to focus on innovation," he said.

Then Larry Ellison came on stage and taught a master class in enterprise data management, starting with an update on Oracle Enterprise Linux , and continuing with a gleeful description of Oracle Exadata V2, the new Sun Oracle collaboration that has broken all records for data warehousing and OLTP performance.

After extolling the many virtues of Oracle's latest innovation, Ellison pointedly backed his claim of unmatchable performance. "If anyone wants to make $10 million, prove me wrong," he offered, pointing out that the performance of Oracle Exadata V2 comes at about one-quarter the cost of a comparable IBM system.

His presentation was punctuated by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came onstage and spoke about technology and its economic and social importance. "It's the bridge to solving problems in the 21st century," he said. The Governor then invited attendees to stay after the event and enjoy California. Half joking he added, "We need the revenue."

Ellison then continued with a demo of a new product support tool, based on the merged power of MyOracle Support, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and a collaborative, global configuration database. "It's proactive, unified, and personalized," he said.

Finally he offered a brief summary of Oracle Fusion Applications, Oracle's next generation BI-based suite of software and tools. "We understand that our customers have an enormous investment in existing applications, and we're going to continue to enhance those applications for the next decade and beyond," said Ellison. "We not only maintain the software of today, but we build the software of tomorrow, so you can move, if you want to, when you want to."

Did you see the keynote? Share your thoughts here.

Tomorrow's the last day of Oracle OpenWorld and your last chance to squeeze just a little more learning and a little more networking out of the conference. We'd also like to know what you think about this year's event and how we can make next year's conference—dare we say it—even better.

Thursday is an excellent chance to stop by the places you may have missed during the rest of the show. Head to the Oracle Support Stars Bar in Moscone West, Level 2, to get answers about your Oracle applications, database, management and infrastructure, and middleware. While you're there, take advantage of your 20% discount in the Oracle OpenWorld Bookstore in the opposite end of the Level 2 lobby.

Increasing efficiency has been a hot topic these past few days. Here are some sessions about how to make your life that much easier once you're back at work.

• Resolve Issues Faster with My Oracle Support and Oracle Enterprise Manager, 10:30 a.m., Moscone South, Room 307 (S308076)
• Next-Generation Database Patch Automation: Get Your Life Back!, 10:30 a.m. Moscone South, Room 104 (S308122)
• Oracle Patching and Maintenance: A Practical Guide for System Administrators, 1:30 p.m. Moscone South, Room 301 (S311534)

As a wet, windy storm slammed the streets of San Francisco, Oracle OpenWorld attendees gathered on Tuesday morning to hear Thomas Kurian, Oracle executive vice president, product development, describe the storms that businesses face today.

Business Process Management. Kurian advocated a packaged yet customizable business process infrastructure built on Oracle Application Integration Architecture—one that works out of the box but that can be adapted to changes in business conditions.

Business Intelligence. Kurian was joined onstage by Michael Siebert of Ingersoll-Rand, who discussed how his company gets a unified view of business intelligence through integrated Oracle applications.

Governance, Controls, and Security. Kurian invited Norm Fjeldheim of Qualcomm to explain how his company uses Oracle to create strong governance and compliance. Qualcomm now closes its books in one day and completes its SEC reporting in two days.

Scalability and High Availability. Many companies need to add capacity, reduce downtime, and work within tight budgets, and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 and Oracle Middleware 11g provide new ways to do so.

Operational Management. Companies need a centralized way to manage many different business applications and systems, correlate that information to actual user problems, and take action, Kurian said. Marshall Lew of Office Depot said his company uses Oracle Enterprise Manager to centrally manage its environment.

Kurian said in conclusion, "Not only do we offer a complete, open, and integrated suite of solutions, but every individual piece of that solution footprint is best of breed."

Get the full story in the Oracle OpenWorld Daily.

By Richard Levitt.

Nothing about the Oracle OpenWorld mission statement mentions squeezie-squeakies, LED blinky-things, or mini bags of M&Ms. But if all the attention and activity in Oracle OpenWorld Exhibition Halls is any indication, technology and IT solutions generate only slightly more interest than the other show on the show floor: the entertainment, swag, and eye candy.

So in the interest of honest reporting, we at your Oracle OpenWorld blog went out in search of the interesting, unique, and unexpected whatchamacallits being displayed and given away.

What do you think of all the glitter and sleight of hand? Any of it help make the sale? If you came across anything particularly compelling, leave a comment and let us know.

Have you been watching the Oracle OpenWorld Live? We want your feedback.

We're curious how you used the feed during the show. Did you watch from your hotel room as you rested and planned your next day's agenda? Were you watching from the comfort of your home, longing to be part of the action here at the Moscone Center? Let us know.

hashtag#oow09 with Tim and Marius will be on Oracle OpenWorld Live in a few minutes to invite your feedback. Give us your kudos, complaints, and ideas for how we can do it better for Oracle OpenWorld 2010.

Let us know what your favorite features were—OTN's Heavy Hitters, Getting the Most Out of Oracle OpenWorld, live keynotes?

We're looking forward to hearing what you have to share about the entire experience. We were excited to bring it to you, and we want to make sure that we can do even better next year. So, share!

The lines at the Team Oracle booth in Moscone West have stretched through the exhibit hall everyday. And rightly so. How many changes to you get to meet the world's premier air show performer?

But today is your last chance. Team Oracle pilot Sean Tucker will be at Moscone West, Booth 3437, in a few minutes—his last scheduled appearance during Oracle OpenWorld 2009. Head over there from 11 a.m. to noon today to meet the man, snap some pics, and get an autograph.

You can ask him about flying with the Blue Angels at Fleet Week last weekend, congratulate him on his numerous awards, or just stare in awe at being in the presence of greatness.

Don't miss this unbelievable opportunity. We'll probably see you there.