"It was at this point I lost my presence of mind..."

One for James !

Tech•Ed Europe 2012 and the party is back! #TEE12

Photosynth is really rather good

Day 3 Keynote2 #TEE12

"If this were War & Peace, you'd see Russia" @jsnover #TEE12

View from the floor #TEE12 keynote

Lots of screens :-)

After years of sometimes really rank coffee, #TEE12 delivers

We're going to need more machines though...

Memories of TechEd over the years (#TEE12)

In a few weeks, I’ll be attending my 21^st Tech*Ed in Europe.  Several times in the past few years I’ve vowed to stop going, but each time the invitation lands, I end up not being able to resist – partly because some new MS technology is imminent and the chance to get information from those close to the development is worth the punt, partly because despite everything – I hope that MS have learned from last time.  The fact I’m last man standing from 1994 might just come into play a bit  is neither here nor there as some of my twitter friends will deny!

Being a bit of maven, I have retained all the bags (no kids, big loft!) from the conferences and @eileenb recently published a Photo Gallery for your delectation!  Digging them out and taking the photos brought back some memories that I thought I’d get down – maybe to share, maybe for my own future forgetfulness…

Bournemouth 1994

A chance encounter at a Microsoft event led to an invitation to Tech*Ed that year.  The bag came with about 4” of A4 books, containing print outs of all the session PowerPoint slides.  It weighed a ton!  They were perforated too, so the goal was to select the sessions, and tear out the relevant pages and build your schedule.  The conference was 3 days (although the final day ran short), and is still one of the best!  Highlights that year were:

• The Counterfeit Stones as the party headliners
• Eric Wells on building an EIS in Excel (bear in mind this was Excel from Office 4.2).  Four sessions (IIRC) of well-planned presentation with full coding (which I transcribed!) to build a complete system from database to graphical controls on the spreadsheet to manage pivot tables and charts thereof.  Superb.  And I used it at two different employers to avoid building “reporting” systems to waste paper.
• The Chicago beta.  This was 16 months before Windows 95 launched, and in the days of tightly controlled technical beta programmes (not the millions of Consumer Previews we see today).  The sessions were held in the theatre on the pier to better control things, and strong NDA’s were issued and required before you got in!
• The conference organisers were certain we’d lowered the average age in Bournemouth by quite a few years
• Microsoft UK hired the Sega centre for an evening of free games

Hamburg 1995

Considered an essential in the diary after 1994, this was really disappointing. Microsoft rested on their laurels and used local staff to present on subjects in which they were clearly beginners.  In one case a presentation on coding Access forms like an expert the presenter could not even get the development environment started on the PC – many walked out.

Worse, the convention centre allowed smoking indoors, and the place stank.  As an asthma sufferer this was not one to enjoy.

Access 7.0 was still in beta, and many delegates came home with a stack of 3.5” floppy disks!

Nice 1996

The previous summer Microsoft set up focus groups and worked hard to determine what had gone wrong in Hamburg.  This Tech*Ed demonstrated they’d listened, and listened well.  A return to form.  The party set new standards with a complete fair built inside the dining hall for the evening.   I think this was the first year of MCP exams, and I took my Win95 exam in about 20 minutes based only on my beta testing and use since going live – no studying at all.

Nice 1997, 1998

By now Tech*Ed was becoming a fixture in my calendar, and well worth going.  These two years were great fun, and great weather.  The parties were held outdoors and had the SAS Band SAS Band in ’97, and the Royal Family (a Queen tribute act) in ’98.  Great gigs both.  The conference content was good with labs appearing (using VMware workstation but that memory may be false as it was launched in 99) along with smart card operation of the Comms Centre machines.

In ’98 the World Cup was being held in France and Tech*Ed was semi-final week.  On what was proudly called (by Microsoft) the largest TV screen in Europe hoards of delegates watched the matches: Brazil beating Netherlands on penalties in front of several hundred orange shirts; and France beating Croatia in normal time.  After the second match, Nice went mad and it simply wasn’t worth going back to the hotel.  I spent a couple of hours wandering the city soaking up the atmosphere, the roads were log jammed.  One particular memory was someone walking his dog down the roofs and bonnets of the cars in the jam!

Amsterdam 1999, 2000

Exams were on again, and I elected to do my NT4 Server and Advanced Server so as to protect my upgrade options for Windows 2000 certification.  The exams were notable (for me) as a server crash meant I had a 10 minute gap whilst they tried to get me to restart (which being an adaptive exam was not something I wanted!).  They recovered the setup, and I was done in 45 minutes and out to enjoy Amsterdam before the conference began the next day.

Tech*Ed 2000 saw the launch by Compaq of the iPaq handheld (the first “i” device?).  There was a significant 30% or so discount and I was one of many who queued to collect their pre-order as soon as possible.

Barcelona 2001, 2002, 2003

A hot summery Barcelona might have been a good idea, but rush hour metro followed by coach transfer to the venue did not make a great start to the day.  Being way out of town, there was nothing to leave the centre for either.  The event was growing and by now was a popular event across Europe.  Tech*Ed 2003 was the 10^th anniversary event (although by my reckoning it was the 10^th event, the 9^th anniversary!) but the party included at the Olympic Park included all the artists from the previous 9 events.  Quite a night.

Very kindly, as I was one of only 7 who’d been to all the Tech*Ed Microsoft funded my event (although the benefit went to my employer!)

Amsterdam 2004, 2005

It’s all beginning to blur now, but amongst the dateable memories is the Portugal v Greece semi-final in the Euro 2004 tournament that was on the party night.  I watched the Tim Burton film Big Fish in one of the lecture halls, and went through to watch the match which was in the final minutes of extra time when Greece scored.  Felt like I’d saved all the bother and tension of watching the previous 105 minutes!

Barcelona 2006, 2007, 2008 (but now in winter!)

By now Microsoft had been running an Exchange event which had morphed into the IT Forum.  Now IT Forum joined the Tech*Ed fold and became a second week of the event.  So there was now a Tech*Ed Developer and a Tech*Ed IT Forum.  As I dabbled heavily in the dev world I elected to go to both.  As sessions were so difficult to schedule (so many clashes) my goal was get a lot of IT Pro stuff from the Dev week and increase the value of the conference.   The conferences were colour coded (Orange for Dev, Blue for IT Pro), with Green for signage common to both weeks.  This led to this UI abomination:

In one of these years Andrew Cheeseman (in charge of the network and comms centre at the conference) had to do his “How we did it” talk on the Friday in a tutu as he bet the delegates they could not bring the Wi-Fi down….

In 2007 Bletchley Park ran a “can you beat Colossus” competition to celebrate the completion of the rebuild.  This took place during Tech*Ed - see Colossus Competition.  A Siemens Lorenz machine would be used to encode a message, it would be sent in Morse wirelessly for anyone to intercept.  The aim was to see if you could beat Colossus (under the late Tony Sale) in decrypting the message.  Due to reception issues in England, the Colossus team were late getting the message and were beaten to the decrypt by Joachim Schüth.  His work demonstration that the 1944 Colossus Mark 2 had an equivalent clock speed of 5.8MHz.

Berlin 2009, 2010

Tech*Ed moved to a new city for the first time in nearly a decade, and we all headed for Berlin in the year (and week) that the Berlin wall 20^th anniversary took place.  Die Mauerfall 20th Anniversary was a damp, but spectacular night.  It was also the first time Tech*Ed had an end of day keynote.  Sadly the keynote was totally uncompelling to the audience (see my post Tech*Ed KeyNote & how not to do them) – it was a presentation to the suits in the USA, not the geeks in the room.  So many left early (camera shots were fixed to ensure that the walking heads were not in the foot of the shot!).  With Die Mauerfall to go to as well, I think a large minority had left before it finished.

In 2010 Microsoft repeated the keynote mistake - TEE10 keynote error and the conference, quite incredibly, pretty much ignored Windows Phone 7 which had just launched.  If you note that WP7 is largely pro-sumer at best and not an enterprise tool, this may come as less of a surprise. 

2010 was also notable for a substantial effort by Microsoft to make the event break even.  The bag was a big surprise, the fittings, the refreshments – everything shrieked budget at me.

So, what for Amsterdam 2012?

I have high hopes from the messages I have had about content and structure of the week.  Also, given the timing of Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 I have high hopes for the technical content.  This year has seen the return of an application to plan your conference on your mobile device (including iOS kit), so the signs are good.

But you can be sure I will be tweeting my impressions at My Twitter feed  and blogging here!

Hmm water and electricity #TEE10

What could possibly go wrong....

Nice one #Lavazza and #Berlin

Just had one at the restaurant, so didn't try this; but a vast improvement i should think over the cheap and cheerful Nescafe machines on display at other stations.
Next time i'm passing I'll remember.

Nollendorf station.

This #TEE10 convention centre is huge

And we're only in the southern half with 7,000 delegates...

Hotel weights and measures

1mm - the minimum clearance around the bed
1kC - the maximum range in temperature of the shower
£450 - the acceptable rate per MB for Hotel WiFi
£15 - the minimum reasonable cost per bottle of water supplied to the room
By the lift - a quiet location
7:15 - sufficiently close to 8:00 for your alarm call
17.4kB/sec - Super Fast broadband connnection
By the car park entrance - alternative quiet location
2 - a wide range of pillow choice
€12 - a reasonable charge for laundering socks
€17.50 - bargain charge for 2 boiled eggs and a slice of ham for breakfast
45minutes - close to the City centre
6:30am - reasonable time for room service to knock on your door to see if you have left for the day
2 - sufficient hangers in the wardrobe
1 - copious supply of electricity sockets
1st floor overlooking the main road by the lift and the car park entrance - the quietest room in the hotel

#TEE10 Keynotes and how not to do them

if you keep a weather eye on my twitter stream (www.twitter.com/pjbryant) you may have noticed i got a bit annoyed this afternoon at TechEd Berlin.

This was because of the keynote. When Brad turned up in suit and tie, i knew we were
in for a repeat of the 2009 disaster that was (now departed to Nokia) Stephen Elop's keynote. I could go on for ages, but i'll summarise instead:

1) Keynotes at conferences have been paid for by the delegates in some way. They have certainly given up their precious time to attend the conference, and expect value back from Microsoft for so doing. At a cost of €1895 for the conference, each session is about €75. I like to get value for that.
2) Keynotes have (traditionally) been exciting. They have brought a genuine WOW into the day, and kickstarted the conference such that everyone feels energised and ready to go.
3) Keynotes have been timed to the start of the day, so rather than meander into the conference you'd want to turn up, get your freebie (if there was one), and see something you've not seen before (the South African drumming especially comes to mind).

This keynote repeated last years failure - Microsoft clearly have not learned from the maxim that you have to remember the past, else you are condemned to repeat it. It failed on the criteria above as:
1) This was not value for money, i did not come out (and many others did not) feeling it was €75 well spent. In fact i came out thinking i'd wasted an opportunity to better plan my conference.
2) There was no excitement, nothing new, no electrifying demo
3) The keynote fizzed out. At the end of the day people left to go and do something better. This keynote was clearly timed to be able to broadcast to the widest possible community (most of whom HAVE NOT PAID for it) including the US. Brad was talking to the suits outside the room not the golfs and t's in the room.

Finally, i was pretty active on twitter during the keynote. It was interesting to note the large number of tweets coming from Redmond (and other locations) staffers who were clearly deluded enough (or encouraged enough) to cheerlead from the sidelines.

Microsoft, get your house in order. Make the next TechEd Keynote 100% relevant to the people in the room, and let others watch because they are interested, not because they are the true audience. Make sure delegates go away:
1) fizzing with excitement for the rest of the week
2) glad to have been there
3) inspired to do something when they get home
And that the online viewers really wished they had been there.

Repeat the same mistake next time, and i'll know for sure you don't care about me as a delegate, and that may mean I (and others) may give up coming. I can watch a lousy keynote from home; and have nicer coffee.

Ye Gods the bags have got smaller and cheaper! #TEE10

But frankly that's a good thing. My wife doesn't really understand why I want to keep 19 previous TEE bags :-)

And to be honest I'll never have 20 laptops to carry around.

#TEE10 Apple 1 Microsoft 0

At Tech*Ed there is a wireless network. With 7000 delegates and staff (possibly more) it's a network i would not like to have to supply. It can get a bit flaky. This morning they are still tuning the setup i should think and the organisers prefer not to have a strong signal in the session rooms to put people off using their devices.

Well, the new iPad has maintained the connection so far, the winmo6.1 phone has connected but been unable to shift a single byte... Maybe I should upgrade to Windows Phone 7...

#TEE10

Under a lowering sky, and the lightest of showers, Tech*Ed 2010 is under way

#TEE10 prizes for bag contents

A) for a tempting goody and probably the strongest draw to a stand Dell. For the single glove and a "get the other at our stand". It's a tad cold here in Berlin, and if you did not bring gloves, you may well be tempted

B) for chutzpah Nokia. For advertising a non Windows Phone 7 device at the Tech*Ed immediately after the winmo7 launch. A bold move :-)

C) Microsft for cutting the cloth accordingly. I've already commented on the bag this year (although that blog entry seems delayed in my phone as the day 1 WiFi seems flaky) but given the choice between a financially secure Tech*Ed and yet another smart laptop bag, i know what i would choose

Now, to Exchange 2010 DR and HA planning :-)

Tech*Ed Berlin 2010 - PDC sessions track has been released

The PDC sessions track is now released.  The content team is adding some of the sessions from the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) (being held in Redmond next week), to the TechEd Europe event.

For any developers feeling that Tech*Ed has too much of an IT Pro focus, this should redress the balance!  Go to the sessions page and filter by Track = “PDC”.

Tech*Ed Berlin 2010 - Connecting With Fellow Attendees

Microsoft recently announced the Tech•Ed Europe 2010 Delegate Directory

So, let people know you're attending the event.  It's a chance to make connections people with similar skills and experience and expand your professional network.

If you have registered, then sign on, and sign up.  There are many people I meet at Tech*Ed, and it'd be nice to make contact before the show to organise a beer or 3!  Too often I bump into them on the Friday, sometimes even at the airport - too late then.

The directory is to be published in October, so sign up soon.

Note, if you didn't join the directory during registration you can still sign up by returning to the registration site and accessing the Returning Services Menu, Attendee Directory.

Tech∙Ed Europe 2010 - Sessions & Speakers Details

A while back the speakers and sessions were announced, if you've lost track of the details - then head over to the session builder, not only can you see what is on, you can build your own schedule.  A full list of sessions by track can be found here: TEE10 Technical Tracks

Don’t forget about the Pre-Conference Seminars on 8 Novemberas well!

Registration is still open for the event – so it's not too late to join 1000's of IT Pros and Developers to learn more about the latest and forthcoming technology from Microsoft.

Brad Anderson to Keynote Tech∙Ed Europe 2010

Brad's the Corporate Vice President, Management & Security Division  so I guess if you are a developer you might be worried about the keynote content this year, but to be honest - I expect Microsoft to take the Keynote far more seriously this year after last year's significant walkout during (the now departed for Nokia) Stephen Elop's.  Admittedly, timing the keynote for the end of the day whilst a good idea - was in this instance bad planning as that night was the celebration of the Mauerfall - 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down and a spectacular (but damp) domino fall of wall-like segments - you can see a bit of it here: Official Mauerfall site from 2009

And there's a mass of videos of the event here Google search results for Mauerfall 2009 videos