In 2010, Tony de Thomasis was part of a team that took out the SAP DemoJam at the SAP TechEd event in Las Vegas. He shares the ‘behind the scenes’ experience.
I attended my fifth consecutive SAP TechEd event in 2010. I am continually drawn to this event for the opportunity to collaborate with industry specialists and to load up on innovative ideas and industry trends. It’s not only the things you learn from experts – but also the people you meet and the connections you make which makes this event so special to many SAP practitioners. Every year, I have made the SAP DemoJam a mandatory part of my SAP TechEd schedule. For those not familiar with the DemoJam concept – it’s like X-Factor for SAP techies. Six hopefuls are chosen from hundreds of entries submitted from SAP customers, partners and employees. The rules are simple: each contestant has the stage for six minutes – no slides, no sales, original live content only, no smoke and mirrors. Thousands of cheering techies determine the winner with the help of the DemoJam Applause-O-Meter. The loudest cheers determine the ultimate winner.
I have always been deeply impressed with the quality of technology on show and dazzled by the technical showmanship of the DemoJam finalists. I never really stopped to think exactly how much preparation goes into each DemoJam entry – but I was about to learn this first-hand in 2010.
The DemoJam master class of Las Vegas 2010
My story starts in a café with Acclimation’s lead solution architect, Alisdair Templeton, and Matt Harding, chief architect at Aurora Energy. Over coffee, we were brainstorming ideas for a potential DemoJam entry. Like all good rock and roll stories, a couple of ideas were scribbled down on the back of a napkin. We talked about these ideas – but it was not until a chance lunchtime discussion with Kaj van de Loo, SAP chief technology strategist, on 14 July that we discovered the missing spark. Kaj shared with us his vision of the SAP roadmap for enablement and innovation. The main elements of the strategy that we picked up on included Project Gateway, complementary applications and cloud computing.
The first requirement was to install an SAP Web Application Server on the Amazon Cloud – this would give Alisdair access to share programming effort with Matt from Tasmania. Over the next several weeks, Alisdair and Matt used their knowledge of ABAP WebDynpro, HTML5 and JavaScript to build a Mobile Gateway framework to communicate with older SAP instances in the landscape. This generic framework would allow a device-independent mobile user interface with offline storage, application cache and the integration of rich media. Once the framework was in working order, we used our experience in the mining industry to come up with an Operation Health and Safety use case. The safety incident-recording mobile application with offline capability would be the first application we would build using the Super Generic Mobile Framework.
After several weeks of coding and testing, the Super Generic Mobile Application DemoJam entry was submitted on 31 July, after a couple of all-nighters from Matt getting the video ‘just right’ and the agonising wait ensued. On 8 September, Craig Cmehil, SAP DemoJam official, informed Alisdair and Matt of the good news: they had made the shortlist from a field of over 200 entries – the first Aussies to ever make the cut. Craig then asked for a full remote run-though of the DemoJam entry on the week of 20 September. Now the preparation required for DemoJam 2010 started to hit home. To be selected was one thing, but to build a DemoJam-worthy performance was going to take a more collaborative effort.
We decided to run an Innovation Garage in the Acclimation office on 18 September as a way to inject another dose of innovative energy into the DemoJam entry. The format for the Innovation Garage is loosely based on the Innovation Weekend adopted for SAP TechEd 2010. We opened up access to the Acclimation offices in Melbourne and provided full access to all the tools a good technician could wish for:
- Whiteboards and flipcharts;
- Several high-end laptops (AlienWare and MAC were the order of the day);
- Phone lines (open to call international if required);
- Fast, unobstructed internet access (no firewalls, no filtering, no restricted sites);
- All the gadgets (iPad, iPhone3, iPhone4, HTC Android);
- Catering (pizza, sweets, fruit, soda and beers);
- Entertainment (Xbox 360 Guitar Hero on a large screen and appropriate music to innovate by);
- Resident support staff (for those last-minute installs and support requirements); and
- Face-to-face interaction (Matt Harding from Tasmania was flown in).
By the end of the Innovation Garage, the collaboration, open sharing and Google-style work environment produced some stunning results. The six-minute rehearsal in front of the whole Acclimation team drew a healthy dose of applause and pride. We all realised the entry was worthy of any contest. Alisdair and Matt went on to impress Craig with an encouraging late-night audition. The DemoJam roller coaster was locked and loaded, and ready to leave the station.
In the next four weeks, we frantically finalised our flights to Las Vegas as we counted down the days until the official DemoJam night on 19 October. We all had our day jobs to attend to – but the anticipation of the Aussie assault on DemoJam 2010 created a wave of excitement which swept along everyone in contact with us. We worked hard out of hours between work, sleep and spending time with our respective families on and off over a few weeks. On several occasions, I would log onto our Cloud WAS system to see that both Alisdair and Matt had been logged in and had been tinkering for hours. I would often get the urgent midnight request from Alisdair for a system reboot to enable his profile changes to take effect or a 1am call from Matt asking for a web service to be enabled. This is the price of delivering innovation – short sharp bursts of activity without the red tape which bogs down large companies.
The day finally arrived for our 14-hour flight to Los Angeles, then a road trip along historic Route 66 to Las Vegas. The six-minute DemoJam session was practiced several times during the road trip, as we recorded many faux safety incidents along the way to test the Geocoding and offline capabilities of the Super Generic Mobile Application. While tucking into our In-N-Out burger for lunch, we hoped that the hole-in-one which Alisdair shot at the mini golf range might be an omen for another historic moment. Several miles later, we all cheered as the SUV turned off the Interstate 15 and cruised past the historic landmark at the top of the Strip – Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. In around 48 hours, the time for DemoJam 2010 would be upon us.
The SAP TechEd official check-in kit
Soon after we checked in and picked up our official SAP TechEd badges, Craig welcomed us into the large hall with over 100 SAP technicians listening to the format of the Innovation Weekend. I enjoyed seeing the pride in Kaj van de Loo’s eyes as I told him about the spark he provided us for the DemoJam entry. As we mingled with the other brilliant technicians, a discussion with Ingo Hilgefort (BOBJ evangelist) resulted in the programming of an RSS feed from the Super Generic Mobile Application to BusinessObjects On-Demand. We had incorporated a BOBJ dashboard into the DemoJam entry the day before it was to go live on stage!
The next day as most of the 5500 SAP TechEd attendees spent time in lectures and hands-on classes, the DemoJam contestants spent an entire day in the Venetian Ballroom learning the finer points of the DemoJam machine. The DemoJam production team explained how to walk on and off stage, where to stand, how to talk and where the cameras would be – it was like being on the closed set of a movie production. By 4pm, you could see the excitement being replaced with anxiety as the 8pm start time just couldn’t come around quickly enough.
Later that night, the Venetian Ballroom filled to near-capacity as the DemoJam machine took control. Craig whipped the crowd into a frenzy as each contestant went though their six minutes of glory. The competition was very good this year, with so many exceptional mobility offerings. The cheers from the crowd helped to reduce the six entries down to three, and another round of cheering saw many spectators on their feet as the entry from Australia was voted a clear favourite and winner of DemoJam 2010.
It was fitting that the first SAP official to be photographed with the winners was Kaj van de Loo. He congratulated us on the great business use case – and offered to support us should we wish to run an SAP Innovation Week in Australia. We will be sure to take up this fantastic offer – please watch for further details in my next article.
After the win, Alisdair and Matt became instant rock stars, encountering a wall of people asking for a chat or an interview in between lectures. Winning the DemoJam was a wonderful experience – but as Michelangelo once said, “If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.”
Tony de Thomasis, NetWeaver practice lead – Acclimation, has been working with SAP software since 1986 with large companies including National Australia Bank, Telstra, Coles Myer, BHP Billiton, and Australia Post. He can be contacted by email at tony.dethomasis@acclimation.com.au.
This article was first published in Inside SAP December 2010.
