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NATCAP OUG Reboot

NATCAP OUG - or the National Capitol Region Oracle Users Group - has a long history of providing Oracle-related content to those in the DC metro area.  I remember presenting there back in my Oracle days (early 2000's) on multiple occasions.

Over the last few months, a few of us have been trying to resurrect this group, as there are likely more Oracle developers & DBAs in the DC area than any other area in the US, perhaps even the world!  This region has long been underserved, and we hope to change that.

We have had a couple of meeting at Oracle's campus in Reston, and attendance has been, well, not where we need it to be.  So, if you're in the DC area, please consider joining this group.  It's free, and our goal is to have quarterly meetings where both experienced presenters and NATCAP members alike provide the content.

If interested, please sign up on the NATCAP website here: http://natcapoug.org

Let's grow this group and give the DC metro area the user group it so badly needs!

Comments

John Flack said…
Before NATCAPOUG, the Washington DC area hosted the Mid-Atlantic Association of Oracle Professionals (MAOP), which was very active in the '80s and '90s. MAOP covered VA, MD, DC, DE and eastern PA, including some smaller local groups like the Virginia Oracle User Group, which still exists. MAOP was one of the user groups behind the original East Coast Oracle Conferences of 1991-2000, not to be confused with the more recent conferences under the same name. I was active with MAOP's DBA SIG, which met monthly first in Oracle's Bethesda office, then in a few other places, including Oracle Reston.

Unfortunately, when more and more user information, blogs and such became available on the WWW, and when the senior leaders retired or left, with nobody willing to take on the mantle of leadership, MAOP quietly died. A few of us tried to revive MAOP a few years ago and even held a one-day conference at Oracle Reston. The conference attracted about 100 people, but still not enough interest to keep it going.

It was a nice meeting on Tuesday. Glad to see you there. If enough people WANT a local user group for the Metropolitan DC area, I'm certainly interested in helping. But I'm not hopeful.
March 9, 2017 at 9:10 AM
Scott said…
I was also part of MAOP for a while, too - even did the keynote @ GWU back in 2003 or so. It's always been a challenge in this region to keep a user group going, and I think a lot of it has to do with time (or lack of) and location. That's something that we're considering, as for some people, Reston may as well be on the other side of the country. Ideally, we can move the meetings around, and hold them in different locations (Tysons, DC, Bethesda, etc), but that requires space, which usually requires money, of which we have literally none.

For the short term, Oracle has offered their conference room, so the next few may just have to be in Reston until we can find another venue that is either free or a sponsor that's willing to help out.

Would love to have you on board, John!
March 9, 2017 at 9:14 AM
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