I went to a conference - and all I can post about is this picture

I was on DOAG and UKOUG conferences this year and hold some presentations there.
Of course I attended even more presentations and learned a lot of new things.
But I did not blog about it for some good reasons:
The presentations I attended are done already. Which means the presenters did a lot of research and put it all into great presentations and abstracts - so why should I create a weak copy of their work?

Beside these presentations I had a lot of talks to several people. We shared war stories, created concepts for new solutions over a beer and also discussed hidden, or at least not so well known "features". I took notes for some of these discussions for later analysis.
But these notes contains this important reminder: !no Blog! 
That's there for a good reason: We shared information in mutual private trust. There are often details about things (ideas, concepts, tools, features, ...) which are not complete yet, or never will be. Or only applicable in this very specific situation, but not used without proper care. Or many other good reasons.
And this is the real value for going to conferences! These discussions beside and after the presentations.
It's NOT the hunt for hidden information in general, but the possibility to get open minded conversations off the records.
It was great to meet all the old and new friends. I love this community where you are seen as a valuable member based on your contribution; questions are always accepted and not marked as "dumb" or "silly". And even (and special) in disagreement the discussions are on highest technical level, but never personal.

Writing that I have to thank DOAG and UKOUG for their great work running these conferences.