Day One: Microsoft TechEd 2005
Today was a long day! Steve Ballmer gave an energetic (to say the least) introduction to TechEd. As with most conferences I’ve been to, the keynote featured a gimmicky stab at The Techie Show, a spoof of The Daily Show. However, this spoof featured Samantha Bee, an actual correspondent from The Daily Show, making it a little-less cheesy.
As a staffer, I was not allowed to be in the actual Keynote Hall (boo!) We were all herded into an overflow room to watch it on huge-ass screens.
After the keynote, I headed to the CSI Cabana to check in and get settled. After talking with some folks, I headed over to the ginormous CommNet area to check email and peek at my schedule. The setup at CommNet is pretty nice, and there are SO MANY desktops that waiting for an open seat is never an issue.
Following my email session, I met up with some buddies and headed to Scott Woodgate’s session on “Integration Technologies: When to Use What.” This topic is something that comes up in many places, and often times the message is not clear from Microsoft. Scott’s session laid out the distinction between the offerings currently available, and when to use them. Good times.
After returning to the CSI Cabana, I took some of the Mini-Exams for BizTalk Server 2004 and Commerce Server 2006. If you have some time, stop by and take these short but compelling exams. As a reward for taking the Commerce Server 2006 Mini-Exam, you’ll receive a 256 MB Memory Stick. For taking the BizTalk Server 2004 Mini-Exam, you’ll receive the BizTalk Server 2004 Unleashed book – regardless of pass or fail!
As the day at the Orange County Convention Center was coming to a close, my bag became VERY heavy, full of swag from the vendors in the Exhibit Hall. Lugging all of this stuff back to the car in the heat an humidity was not much fun, so I’m glad I got most of my pilfering done.
I’ve gotta split and prepare for our Cabana Session tomorrow, “BizTalk Server in Your Service Oriented Enterprise.” If you’re not too busy at 3:15 PM, stop on by the CSI Cabana.
More to come.