Today concludes the 3 days of TechEd India in Bangalore. This was truly an amazing event to attend. A festive atmosphere is in the air, much like an Indian wedding as I heard someone say. A youthful energy abounds, with the eager young faces of college students, who exude an enthusiasm for technology that I have not seen in a long time. Everyone here almost seems privileged to attend, eager to learn (making it a real Tech”Ed”).

I too have been privileged to be here. Privileged to attend, privileged to present 2 sessions and then truly blessed to deliver a keynote session. I have been delighted by the many interactions I have had with the attendees (interestingly enough called “delegates”, a term that took some getting used to for me), the press and certainly the Microsoft organizers who I considers magicians that can make the impossible happen.

There is an air of expectancy, and the questions I have been asked all revolve around how to make things possible, how to circumvent some limitations, and in many cases about how to find ways to pay less (or not at all) for the technology. But no one expressed worries about what might go wrong, or how something is too difficult, or complained about how or why something doesn’t work.  Just a clear focus on how to get things done.

I arrived the day before the start of the event and couldn’t figure out how this event would accommodate the 3000 or so expected attendees delegates. The venue is the Lalit Ashok Hotel and I do not think it has a room that can take more than 200 people and here we are talking of thousands. Turns out that construction was underway to build up halls to add additional capacity and to enable a partner showcase/expo.  Carpenters were busy at work, sawing and nailing, the noise of construction all over the place. When I saw the work, I just couldn’t imagine that this could finish in time for the next morning. Not only did they finish, but there was almost no trace that this work had taken place. The structures looked as if they had always been there, with solid walls and full air-conditioning. Just unbelievable !

Then I saw the keynote hall and stage. The screen is 50 ft wide and the slides are formatted to fill this entire screen, almost dwarfing the presenter. They are using some really cool technology to pull this off. No two  screens to flank the speaker and show the slides as most places have. One giant screen with the presentation formatted for the wide screen and projected like some Bollywood blockbuster. Just amazing !

The registration desks were outdoors and there literally was a mob pushing and jostling just waiting to get going. Such enthusiasm I haven’t seen in years, especially for Microsoft technologies. Really made me feel like I was part of something special.

My sessions went OK, the keynote too. I think I am just too dazed by the whole event to even register that I spoke. I am just trying to take it all in and capture this feeling of having the ability to influence what truly seems to be a revolution.

On the final day, Dr. Sam Pitroda, the visionary techno-thinker-statesman delivered an inspirational keynote address (I am still stunned that I had been on that same stage the day before) and really laid out this vision where IT will transform the 100s of millions of people in India who live below the poverty line. Talk about explosive potential for IT ! Two of my favorite quotes from him:

“If Bangalore can be the backoffice for the US why can’t Rural India be the backoffice for Urban India”

“Nation building is different from company building”

As the conference winds down, my takeaway is a simple one: IT spending in India is about to explode.

When we talk about things such as BI for the masses, or democratization of BI or viral adoption, we can’t even begin to imagine the potential that exists here.

I am excited and enthused by the future here and look forward to working more in the Indian market.

Thank you TechEd Bangalore and all the delegates and above all the organizers (esp, Stuti, Vinod and Pradipta) for allowing me to be a small part of this truly enlightening event.