The odd ramblings of a geek pretending to not be "all grown up" : TechEd

Student Day has been and gone

AndrewParsons — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:07:09 GMT

Well, Student Day has been and gone, and I must say, it absolutely rocked. The high school morning session was overflowing with kids from all years (more than a thousand of them!) keen to hear about just what the “now” Microsoft is all about and why they would consider a career in technology. The university session in the afternoon was a smaller crowd but not a lot less vocal in their appreciation, enthusiasm and interest in the topics presented on the day.

From the opening keynote that highlighted how important technology is to the world and how a large chunk of companies, innovations and all around technological goodness has come from people aged under 25. To the wow sessions on PhotoSynth, Popfly and XNA. To the thousands of dollars worth of software and hardware given away to both groups of people, including Xbox 360’s, copies of Vista and Office and ultra cool webcams. Every aspect was avidly devoured by all who attended.

And to supplement it all came the public unveiling of Students to Business and Dreamspark, two programs aimed at empowering students with technology and access. Given the enormous value both of these programs have, I’ll blog about them each in turn later in the week, but they, along with the awesome video about Imagine Cup were the perfect cherry on top for the day.

It's almost here!

AndrewParsons — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:22:00 GMT

Well, after months of planning by some very brilliant people like Karo Esmaili and Roger Lawrence, and a mad dash over the past week by the whole team, Student Day is almost here. And man, what a day it's gonna be!

Joe Wilson, the top dude for Academic Relations, is flying over from the US to talk about a Microsoft that may sound foreign to a lot of people - a Microsoft that's modern-day cool. And of course, bolstering that is the stuff I've spoken about previously - Student 2 Business, DreamSpark and Imagine Cup - as well as some funky stuff on PhotoSynth, Robotics, XNA Game Studio and more.

For those of you in university, there are still some spots open but you're going to have to be mega quick given it's on tomorrow. For those of you already registered - see you there!

What are you doing September 2nd?

AndrewParsons — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:11:00 GMT

Every year Microsoft holds a developer conference called TechEd. This 3 day dev-fest celebrates all kinds of technologies that professional developers are faced with in their day to day working lives. Things like Visual Studio, SQL Server and Windows Server are covered at a variety of depths and set the attendees up with a bunch of knowledge chunks they can often apply directly to their jobs. However, it's not all about learning new things in the technology. Equally important is the networking opportunities that TechEd brings - a chance to meet up with colleagues, competitors, prospective employers, Microsoft employees and share experiences.

On the front of TechEd is a special day dedicated to university and high school students. Hiding under the normal-sounding name, Student Day, this opportunity is jam-packed with the same kind of stuff that the professionals see, but aimed squarely at students of all ages along with teachers and lecturers. While it does include a number of presentations, it's more about showing you what you can achieve with technology and to give you some ideas of what you might want to do if you decide to move into IT as a profession.

What can you expect to see?

How about how to create your own Xbox 360 games using XNA Game Studio Express?
Or the ultracool PhotoSynth which can stitch normal photos (even ones you take on your mobile phone) into a 3D meshed representation of the subject?
Or maybe you want to see how much easier it is to make programs in modern development tools.

What can you expect to learn?

How getting an IT career in today's world isn't just necessarily about programming or being a network administrator - there are many other opportunities to grab hold of.
Or getting the inside scoop on Imagine Cup - the world-wide competition run specifically for students to show how their imagination and creativity can help solve the world's problems.

What can you expect to receive?

DreamSpark - more info about what you're able to get without paying a cent will be revealed at Student Day, but the big thing is "FREE SOFTWARE"
A chance to win some great prizes, both entertaining and functional.

Whether you sign up for the high school morning session or the university afternoon session, this is just the tip of the iceberg. And spaces are going fast, so head over to the registration page ASAP and sign up.