Last year, I attended BPM 2008, an international conference that brings together academics, researchers and practitioners to take a rather academic look at what is happening in BPM research. This is important to those of us who work daily with BPM systems, since some of this research will be finding its way into products over the next few years. Also, it was in Milan, and I never pass up the opportunity for a trip to Italy.
The conference organizers were kind enough to extend a press invitation to me again this year (that means that I don’t pay the conference fee, but I do pay my own expenses) to attend BPM 2009 in Ulm, Germany, and I’ll be headed that way in a few weeks. I’ll also be attending the one-day workshop on BPM and social software prior to the conference.
Travel budgets are tight for everyone this year, but I highly recommend that if you’re a vendor of BPMS software, you get one or two of your architects/designers/developers/brain trust to Ulm next month. This is not a conference to send your marketing people and glad-hand all around; this is a place for serious learning about BPM research. Consider it a small investment in a huge future: having your product designers exposed to this research and networking with the researchers could make a competitive difference for you in years to come.
I’ll also be hanging out for a week after the conference, probably traveling around Germany, so any travel suggestions are welcome.