Sunday morning in Las Vegas, the Information On Demand energy was already humming. “Turbo” Todd Watson set the stage for the week, musing about how time and technology have changed since we last gathered. As data volumes have grown, so too have our needs. As Turbo put it, IOD is our chance to “figure out how we can handle this additional onslaught of information effectively and efficiently, with grace under pressure.”

The day started off with a fantastic Jeff Ma keynote at the Business Partner Summit. Delaney Turner summed it up, noting that Ma embodies both “Hollywood magic and hard-nosed analytics.” Ma shared three key reasons why blackjack is a perfect vehicle to hone an analytics strategy, and also offered several lessons from his blackjack career that have real applicability in the business world.

Darice Bailer offered another perspective on the Business Partner Summit, including details from Jeff Ma, Ray Wang, Les Rechan and a lively panel discussion. among and Jeff Ma’s speech, as well as relayed details from Rob Thomas’ session, “Big Data Is Your Biggest Opportunity,”

Apparently several attendees were anxious to meet Ma. Susan Visser, who runs the IOD Bookstore, noted that they quickly sold out of Ma’s book, House Advantage.

As expected, “big data” was the focus of several Sunday sessions. Darice Bailer explained how business partners should see big data as a major opportunity, while also congratulating partners Perficient and infoReady, winners of the Information Management Integration Excellence and Information Management Rookie of the Year Awards, respectively.

Matt Carter shared the fascinating “Hurricane Pop-Tart” case that Krishnan Parasuraman presented during Enzee Universe.

Meanwhile, customers were busy sharing their stories. Sandy Sherrill attended the first-ever IMS Customer Advisory Council and heard tales from Caterpillar, State Farm, Volvo and several others.

Then it was off to the Expo, complete with a full choir to kick things off right. The Expo Hall buzzed with activity as colleagues and partners alike reunited and finally met in person. Thanks to sponsor Rocket Software, it was a great event.

Jason Silva, rehearsing for Monday morning’s General Session

I also got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Events Center, where the general sessions will be held this week, and marveled at the 80×40’ screen – which is the largest piece of fabric that can be made without a seam. The rehearsals were incredible, and I’m sure the live sessions will be even better with the crowd’s energy. For some perspective, look at Monday’s general session speaker Jason Silva against a truly BIG backdrop! And make sure to join us Monday morning at 8:15 AM in the Mandalay Events Center, or on LiveStream.

What was your favorite part of IOD Sunday? Share your notes below!