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I'm pretty excited about the announcement of the MVP Global Summit taking place between Sept 28th and Oct 1st. I'll definitely be taking part - last year I got the opportunity to join the MVP jam band. Who knows what will happen this year. ;-)
You can read the full press release here: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-19-2005/0002863051&EDATE
Microsoft Announces Most Valuable Professional Award Recipients and Sets Date for 2005 MVP Global Summit
Upcoming 2005 MVP Global Summit
The annual MVP Global Summit serves as the most exciting way for Microsoft to acknowledge this vibrant group of individuals for their deep and sustained technical expertise and true enthusiasm for the community. This year's eventwill take place Sept. 28-Oct. 1 in Redmond, Wash., and will include executive keynote addresses from Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer, Kevin Johnson, group vice president of sales, marketing and services, and Jim Allchin, group vice president of Platforms at Microsoft. More details will be released closer to the event dates.
In addition to the 2005 MVP Global Summit, Microsoft already has hosted more than 10 MVP regional summits across three continents since the start of the program year, with two more regional summits planned for February & April. Through these events, MVPs have the opportunity to meet with each other and receive deep technical training on key product technologies and have access to leading Microsoft executives and product managers.
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I'll be presenting in Hamilton next week on the topic of Entrepreneurship. Some of the topics include how to incorporate, finding clients and managing your finances. There will even be a section there on .NET. If you're in the area and interested in the talk, here are the details:
January 26th, 2005
McMaster University
Starting Up a Successful Software Company
Room 376 - John Hopkins Engineering Building
6:30 - 9:00PM
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In the last little while, I've started getting more opportunities to speak. As a result, I've experienced for the first time the much talked about and dreaded "demo meltdown". Two days in a row no less! Fortunately, the presentations went extremely well despite the technical issues.
Issues ranged from Active Directory authentication problems, slow (to non responsive) VPC sessions, Internet dependent demos in rooms with no Internet or dial up access, code that just stops compiling or rendering on
your system (even though it worked the day before!), missing projectors and cabling, ect. Pretty amazing.
Which leads to the question - why do demos fail? It's easy to blame the computer or the technology. But having pondered it a bit, I think there is definitely a human element to the problem.
Here are a few demo disaster recovery strategies I've figured out:
- Prepare weeks in advance, test the demos on a daily basis and make sure you don't make any significant changes to your presentation computer (ie install/uninstall software, ect)
- Create canned demos using screenshots and/or interactive Macromedia presentations
- Store your presentation and code on an external USB Key in case your laptop decides to go south minutes before you present.
- Prepare several backup demos in case one fails. Then you can fall down the stairs and still end up landing on your feet
- Don't rely on slides or demos. Be prepared to stand in front of a crowd and speak. Don Box advocated this approach on his Channel9 video on technical presentations.
Obviously, the key concepts around these strategies is pre-planning and organization. If anyone has other ideas or thoughts, be sure to post them.
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This month, I've booked several speaking engagements. Here is the complete list (with abstracts) in case you are interested:
January 18th, 2005
East of Toronto .NET User Group
Managing Code Using Visual Studio 2005 Team System
http://gtaeast.torontoug.net/UG_Events/893.aspx
Visual Studio 2005 Team System provides end-to-end tools and process guidance to assist commercial and enterprise development teams through the entire software development life cycle. This session will feature technical demonstrations of three core components of Team System: Team Foundation, Team Tester and Team Developer. Some of the topics we will cover include:
- Team System Overview
- Creating applications using the Team Developer tools
- Testing your code using the Team Tester tools
- Working with Work Items and the Team System Source Control System
January 19th, 2005
Metro Toronto .NET User Group
Developing for Longhorn with XAML and “Avalon”
http://www.metrotorontoug.com/User+Group+Events/142.aspx
Avalon is the codename for Longhorn's new graphical subsystem. In this session, we will focus on how to implement applications on the Windows XP platform using the Avalon November 2004 Community Technology Preview. Some of the topic we will cover include:
- Learning how to design User Interfaces using XAML
- Developing Avalon applications that interoperate with Windows Forms
- Creating data bound applications using Avalon
January 26th, 2005
McMaster University
Starting Up a Successful Software Company
Have you have ever thought about starting your own software company? If so, you'll want to attend this session on entrepreneurship and software development. You'll learn how and when to register your company, how to market yourself, building your clientèle, handling your finances plus much more. Case studies will be presented along with helpful information to help you get started.
Many of these topics are related to books projects I'm currently authoring. If you live in the Toronto area, feel free to drop in and check them out.
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The Toronto Windows Server User Group and TechNet Canada is proud to sponsor today's user group meeting. Due to the popularity of the event, our sign up link is no longer available. If you wish to attend the event, feel free to come in. We will have sign up sheets at the venue.
Here are the event details:
Date: January 11, 2005
Time: 6:30 - 9:30 PM
Location:
Microsoft Canada / Events Entrance
1950 Meadowvale Boulevard
Mississauga, Ontario Canada
L5N 8L9
Session 1 - Migrating Windows Domains using Swing Migration
Presenter: Jeff Middleton - US Microsoft MVP for SBS 2003
Website: http://www.sbsmigration.com
Session 2 - Windows Small Business Server - A Year in Review
Presenter: Harry Brelsford
Website: http://www.smbnation.com
Meeting Agenda:
6:00 - 6:30 - Registration and Dinner
6:30 - 6:45 - TWSUG Announcements
6:45 - 8:30 - 2 Sessions on SBS
8:30 - 8:45 - SBS Partner and Customer Programs by Pamela Lauz, SBS Product Manager
8:45 - 9:15 - Q&A with Harry Brelsford, Jeff Middleton and Pamela Lauz
9:15 - 9:30 - Draw for prizes & Future events
Find out more details about the event here:
http://www.twsug.com/Default.aspx?tabid=62
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I just got word from my good friend Noah that the VSTS product teams will be hosting chats on both Wednesday and Thursday this week. If you are interested in Team System, you won't want to miss them. It's a fantastic opportunity to get your questions answered and to engage Microsoft. Here are the details:
VSTS Enterprise Dev & Test Tools Public Chat
Join the Visual Studio Team System's Enterprise Developer and Test Tools team at Microsoft in an online MSDN Chat! We will be focusing on these tools: Static Code Analysis (FxCop, PREfast), Dynamic Analysis (Profiler, Code Coverage), and Testing (Unit, Manual, Web, Load, etc). Experts from the Dev/Test development, testing, and program management teams will be available during these two chats to answer questions.
When & Where
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 @ 5:30pm (PST) (Add to Calendar)
Thursday, January 13th, 2005 @ 8:00am (PST) (Add to Calendar)
MSDN Chats: http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats
On a related note, I will be speaking at the East of Toronto .NET User Group on January 19th. The title of the presentation is Managing Code Using Visual Studio 2005 Team System. Here's the abstract:
Visual Studio 2005 Team System provides end-to-end tools and process guidance to assist commercial and enterprise development teams through the entire software development life cycle. This session will feature technical demonstrations of three core components of Team System: Team Foundation, Team Tester and Team Developer. Some of the topics we will cover include:
- Team System Overview
- Creating applications using the Team Developer tools
- Testing your code using the Team Tester tools
- Working with Work Items and the Team System Source Control System
If you will be in the Whitby/Oshawa area next week and would like to attend the meeting, you can sign up on the events website (the details will be posted later this evening): http://gtaeast.torontoug.net/UG_Events/default.aspx
Hope to see you there!