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TechEd EMEA is over. After two weeks of sessions, networking and partying, It's finally time to go home (Well sort of. Got my flights mixed up and don't actually leave until tomorrow afternoon!).
I've had a really great time, seen some pretty cool sessions and met lots of people. The real highlight for me though was winning Speaker Idol last week which means that I get to speak at TechEd-Developers next year. Now that's going to be absolutely awesome :-)
Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day. I spent the morning Proctoring and the rest of the day saying goodbye to all the people I've met and collecting swag for the User Group (Got so much that I had to buy another suitcase!). Managed to catch another session by Steve Riley (SEC402 - Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Security In-Depth) and it was just as awesome as the one I attended on Wednesday. I also scored a ticket to the Speaker Dinner last night (thanks Dandy) and was lucky enough to share a table with Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, Bob Beauchemin, Richard Campbell and Dandy Weyn.
So, to all the speakers, event staff and attendees I've met over the last two weeks, goodbye and thanks for making my trip to TechEd EMEA unforgettable.
See you next year :-)
Today we had the last wave of Speaker Idol and the final.
Maral Topalian and Ilse Van Criekinge
Today was also the day that Andy Malone (IT Forum Speaker Idol 2006) got to present his session (Prize for winning Speaker Idol 2006). Andy was very entertaining and did a great job; despite having technical difficulties with the switching equipment.
Well, that's about it for today. The rest of my time was spent Proctoring............
On my way to "DAT01 - SQL Server Upgrade Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks" last night I walked passed a huge room crammed with people and pumping with techno music. This of course immediately drew my attention so I looked at what was being presented.
The session was "SEC307 - It's 11:00 PM. Do You Know Where Your Data Is?" and it was being presented by Steve Riley. Steve is a senior strategist and worldwide security evangelist in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group and is also one of the judges for this years IT Forum Speaker Idol. Steve is renowned for doing things different and being very entertaining; so I decided to see what he was like (sorry Paul and Kimberly).
Well, I now know what all the fuss about Steve is. His session was unbelievable and by far the best session I have ever attended at any event. This guy is awesome! He's funny, entertaining, whity and not to mention knowledgeable. He kept me on the edge of my seat for the full 75 minutes and all for a topic that I have never really paid much attention too in the past (EFS, Bitlocker and data security).
As you can see from the picture, Steve is also a bit of a trendsetter which helps him connect with his audience. Gone are the black pants, shinny shoes and tucked in shirts that 99% of presenters wear; they've been replaced with cargo pants, deck shoes, and unbuttoned and untucked shirts. He's not afraid to be different and this definitely came through in his presentation.
So, now I'm faced with the dilemma that everyone has been telling me about since I've been here. Once you've been to one of his sessions you can't get enough. He's like a drug and even if he's presenting a session that's not on your radar, you find yourself drawn to him just to see whether his next session is going to be just as awesome!
For the very first time, Australia will be hosting its own MCT Community gathering to gain and share knowledge!
The event is being held in Sydney Australia on 29th – 31st January 2008 and will cover topics such as:
This is going to be a great event and Ken Rosen (Microsoft Learning) and Mike Honig (MCT Program Manager) will also be there.
Event Details
Where: Sydney Marriott Hotel (36 College Street, NSW, Australia)
When: 29th – 31st January 2008
Registration: https://www.local.microsoft.com.au/australia/events/register/home.aspx?levent=993019&linvitation
Last night I attended the MS Influencers Party and as predicted yesterday, it was awesome. Had lots to eat and drink (the baby cosmopolitans were great, but lethal!) and even got a crash course in cigar smoking from Karen-Anne Young (APAC & EMEA MVP Group Regional Manager).
This morning I Proctored SQL Server HOL's from 10:30am - 1:00pm and then worked on the ATE Booth from 1:00pm - 4:00pm. Feeling absolutely knackered now and not sure whether I will make it to the last session of the day on SQL Server Upgrade Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks (Kimberly Tripp and Paul Randal). I've still got 45 minutes to go thought so could probably find the energy if I had a quick nanna nap!
Today's speaker idol winner was Mark Budzinski (Intel US and TechEd Exhibitor) who did a presentation on Intel Multicore Processors and how they achieve a balance between performance and power. Mark was pretty awesome and it was obvious that he's done a fair bit of presenting for Intel. The only thing I didn't like about the presentation was the sales pitch. Although he did keep it short and to the end, it was obvious that his whole presentation was an Intel sales pitch which I believe is not in the spirit of the competition. It also makes me wonder what sort of session he'd present at TechEd Barcelona 2008 (if he wins) and whether it would simply be a 75 minute sales pitch. Anyway, as judging is mainly based on presentation skills and not content, he deserved to win his wave as he was very impressive.
Tonight we have Country Drinks where the idea is that delegates from each country get together for drinks. I will be attending the World Party which was setup for all those attendees that don't have a country party to attend. Last week's was pretty cool so I guess it's going to be another late night :-)
Well, it's been 1 year since I had my photo taken with Paul and Kimberly at TechEd Barcelona 2006 and it was great to catch up with them again.
Maral Topalian - Wave 2 Speaker Idol Winner
Although TechEd-IT Forum officially started today, the fun began last night at the MCT Dinner hosted by Ken Rosen (Microsoft Learning), Mike Honig (MCT Program Manager) and Ronald Beekelaar (Proctor Owner), and sponsored by Prometric.
The picture is of me and Andy Malone who was last years IT Forum Speaker Idol winner. We spent many hours chatting about the Pro's and Con's of being a Speaker Idol and how he was feeling about presenting this year.
The keynote this morning was pretty cool. Apart from providing an overview of Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 features, they organised us into sections and then handed out different colour lengths of plastic tubing which we used as musical instruments to play along with the band. Was heaps of fun.
I Was also able to attend two sessions today, "DAT201 - An Overview of the Next Release of Microsoft SQL Server" and "DAT202 - Introducing SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor", where we obviously discussed new features of SQL Server 2008, especially the Resource Governor.
There was only one thing that didn't impress me today and that was MS stretching the truth about SQL Server 2008 a little.
During the Keynote and the DAT201 session, Francois Ajenstat (Director of Product Management for Microsoft SQL Server) repeatedly stated (and I meant repeatedly!) that unlike its competitors (Oracle) Microsoft does not charge clients for added features in SQL Server 2008 so the Resource Governor was available from Express to Enterprise. Well, in the DAT202 session, Boris Baryshnikov (Program Manager of Microsoft SQL Server Relational Engine Group) stated that the RTM Standard version of SQL Server 2008 would have a limit placed on the number of Workload Groups and Resource Pools that could be created. Now, to me that means that I have to pay more for the full feature. Doesn't that completely contradict what Francois said? Still waiting for Francois to reply to my request for clarification.
Oh, tonight was also the first wave of Speaker Idol IT Forum. Although there were some great presentations, they were all powerpoint based with no demos. I found this rather strange given that all bar 2 of the Developer Speaker Idol contestants used demo's. Anyway, I've misplaced the name of the winner so will need to added this later.
UPDATE: The winner of Speaker Idol wave 1 was Peter Mendelsohn from Germany
Cheers
Jeff
Well, I did it. I won Speaker Idol :-D
This year's competition was very close and two of my friends, Karl Davies-Barret (2nd Place) and Maciej Pilecki (3rd Place), were in it with me. Bill Ayres came 4th.
As my prize I get to speak at TechEd-Developers Barcelona 2008 plus I also got 1 meter of MS Press books. Tonight I'm also off to the Speaker dinner to rub shoulders with this year's speakers which should be pretty cool.
It hasn't really sunk in yet and I'm still getting over the hang-over from last night's MCT Dinner so it will probably take me a few days to blog about the whole experience. All I can say at the moment is that I am stoked. I also want to say a big thank you to all the event staff and all my friends for making this the most excellent TechEd ever!
More links about the contest:
http://www.nxtgenug.net/NewsArticle.aspx?ArticleID=254
https://www.mseventseurope.com/teched/07/devblog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=43
Today was my turn at Speaker Idol and I'm proud to say that I won my heat and will be in the final tomorrow at 2:45pm.
My presentation went really well, despite the fact that my microphone stopped working 30 seconds in.
There were only two criticisms. One from Michael Howard (New Zealander) as I was an Australian, but a few jokes about the cricket and velcro gloves put him back in his place. The other was that I needed to be more enthusiastic. This I'm working on for tomorrow.
It was a really great experience and I'm so glad I entered. Now I just hope my friend Karl Davies-Barret wins today's heat.
Today I had my first stint on the SQL Server 2005 Ask-the-Experts booth and it was a lot more busier than my Proctor session yesterday. I had quite a lot of questions about Merge Replication so I was real glad that I used Merge Replication in my SQL Server Compact Edition : A DBA's Primer presentation that I delivered at SDU Camp. I also had a couple of questions on SQL Compact Edition. Now who was it that said I was wasting my time doing a presentation on this topic! :-)
Straight after my ATE session I had to proctor on labs. This meant that I missed Daniel Joskovski's (friend) Speaker Idol presentation. Unfortunately Daniel came forth so hasn't made it into the final.
Now, the great news is that the organisers of Speaker Idol have given Karl another chance at making the final by offering him a slot to present again on Thursday. Something about there being too much noise or bad sound. This is great news as Karl really did do a great job and many people believed he was robbed. Hope he makes it through this time.
Tonight was the MS Influencers Dinner where I got to mingle with the EMEA MVP's. I had a really great time and ate way too much Tapas. Stayed off the grog though as I am doing my Speaker Idol presentation tomorrow.
Today was the official start of TechEd-Developers and it was awesome.
Today was Proctor training day where we ran through what our tasks were for the week and got to play with the labs.
Not much to say about this day except for the fact that I made it to Barcelona and I'm so tired. Need Zzzzzzzzz......
Goodnight!
Well, I'm sipping wine in the Qantas Club at Sydney airport and can't believe how quickly TechEd-Developers has come around.
Already missing the family though as our goodbye was cut short (by 1.5 hours) in Canberra as I was rebooked onto an earlier flight due to bad weather delaying my scheduled flight enough to miss my connection to London.
Although this is going to be a great event, I can't help but think about Laura (my partner) having to stay home and look after the kids for 20 days and how much she continuously put's her life on hold so that I can attend all these events. They say that behind every man is an great woman and Laura is a perfect example of this. Without her commitment to our family and understanding of what I need to do, there's no way I'd ever be able to participate in the community as much as I do.
You know what? I think Microsoft should create a Most Valuable Spouse (MVS) award to hand out to spouses as they are just as important to the community as MVP's, MCT's, User Group Leads etc. Instead of getting a grand or two each year for purchases at the MS shop, they should get vouchers to day spa's, beauty treatments, massages (Laura's favourite) to say thanks for all their support (Obviously they'd need to think of stuff for male spouses as well!). What do you think? Reckon that Microsoft would ever adopt this suggestion? I'm going to recommend it and see what happens as I truly believe that without their help, the Microsoft community would suffer immensely.
Cheers
Jeff
P.S. Love ya honey and thank you so much for all your support.
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