A winner of DemoJam receives fame, recognition and visibility among peers, but the benefits of DemoJam aren’t only limited to the winners but also extended to all the participants. All DemoJam participants are given the opportunity to steal the limelight even if it’s for only six minutes and the experience that will last a lifetime.
In 2008, DemoJam goers witnessed a demo that didn’t win, yet received a lot of attention. I know this because when I was doing research on whom the winner was in 2008, the name that kept recurring was ESME (Enterprise Social Messaging Experiment). ESME is a combination of SAP and Twitter-like technology. ESME is a solution that let users who need help solving problems, tap into the collective knowledge of their peers or surrounding groups of people with whom they would naturally work with. ESME allows for real-time “microblogging”/conversations with peers that help users solve their problems instantaneously. This real-time problem solving social media prototype runs on SAP NetWeaver with a Scala/Life server framework and an Adobe Flex/Air client. ESME draws its development team from the SAP community which includes both BPX’ers and business people that have an interest in learning how social media works and how it can help deliver innovative solutions to users’ daily problems. ESME presented at two DemoJams, Las Vegas and Bangalore, and they are surely remembered for their amazing demo.
Similarly, in 2012, a group of kids walked away with the limelight despite not winning the trophy. Yes, I’m talking about the three brilliant kids, Nikola Bura, Jordan Qassis, and Angelo Castro from Roberto Clemente Middle School in Maryland that demoed the app “Food Agent.” The iPhone app scans quick response (QR) codes on grocery products and provides users with information about the item’s origin and ingredients, and also alerts them if the item poses as a hazard. This iPhone app was built using SAP HANA Cloud Platform. SAP’s software solutions are often perceived by some as clunky, anachronistic, and suited only for big companies but these kids proved that to be myth. They presented their demo with great ease, charm and grace that kept the audience glued to their seats throughout the whole presentation. There wasn't a moment in their presentation where I felt it was a group of kids presenting the demo, they presented like true professionals. The trio lost the competition short of a few claps to Will Powell and Nic Doodson of Keytree yet even after coming in second place they were the talk of the conference. All three kids became instant SAP TechEd celebrities and even received recognition from CEO Bill McDermott and former CTO, Vishal Sikka. The kids were mentored by John Astill and are currently working on a hazards app that interfaces with the EPA databases.
DemoJam 2014 is the place to be! Give yourself the chance to showcase your talent, impress the entire SAP ecosystem and the opportunity to take home a lifetime worth of memories and maybe even the winning medal. The last day to submit your demo is September 20, 2014. Hurry and submit your demo NOW!
