TechEd 2009 is a done deal. I wanted to toss out a few observations from the event. Here’s what really stood out:

1) The overall mood was pleasantly up-beat and the attendance was solid.

The economic times have hit every budget everywhere, but the tempo was not sagging at TechEd. I heard a number of people say that they were lucky that their organization had bugeted for the event as early as last summer. The people there were really excited about technologies across the spectrum. No single thing stood out to me anecdotally more than another.

2) The interest in Office 2010 was extremely high

We announced a technical preview available to attendees at the show if they signed up while at TechEd. This was the #1 question at the booth: “How can I sign up for the Technical Preview?!”

I was really pleased to see so many people interested in the next version of our Office program. As I fielded many developer questions at the booth I was regretting that it is not yet time to discuss the next version and what’s in store for the developer crowd. Oh well… that time will come!

3) Many people really “get” our Microsoft value proposition

In some circles, it’s “chic” to bash on Microsoft. I understand all that for whatever reason. All the same, it’s really great when a customer walks up and just gushes with excitement about the products he or she is deploying and the solutions that are being built on top. It really stokes my engines when I hear a customer sharing how he built a whole system in Word that radically simplifies how they write contracts in their organization. Another customer talked about how they use PowePoint for all of their training and repair manuals for complex equipment. They use code to generate the PowerPoint decks from other data sources.

4) We’ve got a lot of work to do to help SharePoint developers get up to speed on what Office client application programmability can do for them

As I chatted with SharePoint developers who passed by, they were eager to let me show them what Office programmability means and what it can do. They, for the most part, had no idea that Office could be programmed so easily and that it had so much hidden power. This tells me that they probably came to SharePoint development from the Web dev space. This is a strong trend, and we are going to be doing a lot to help them get into the Office side of things as it will strengthen their solutions considerably.

On the lighter side—I add these observations:

1) The food was not as plentiful. Yeah—I know it’s wrong to complain about food when we have it so abundantly compared to many in the world. But, the spoiled, selfish part of me wanted to see the coolers full of Dove and Hagen Dasz bars return! I loved eating the desserts and so on that crowded the halls outside of the session rooms.

2) The TV in my hotel room was an old-school 20 inch non-flatscreen thing sitting on a stand 15 feet from my bed. Watching NatGeo was pretty lame on that set.

3) My rental car was a Nissan 350Z (free upgrade, baby!). It was really, really fun to drive. Would have preferred a Corvette ZR1 however :)

4) Having dinner with my colleagues, Charles Maxson and Michael Kiselman were highlights of the week for me.

5) Traffic in LA is worse than the hideous reputation that precedes it.

6) Seeing my old contacts Ty Anderson, Robert Bogue, Matt Nunn, Rob Tiffany, Mary Chipman, Brian Randell, and dozens and dozens of others is always satisfying. I was also really pleased to see many customers that I have met in previous years and know that they remember me. People are cool!

7) Missing my wife and sons is not so great.

8) Walking around the streets of LA in the late evening by myself listening to Smashing Pumpkins on my Zune while singing out loud was refreshing and peaceful.

9) The weather in LA is just hard to beat. I love heat.

10) Visiting one of the temples for my church in Redlands was also a highlight. It’s a beautiful and peaceful place.

 Rock Thought of the Day:

I’ve often blogged about The Smashing Pumpkins among the many bands I have discussed in my Rock Thought. One of the more intriguing ideas to recently appear in the music industry comes from Billy Corgan. He has proposed a way for his legions of devoted fans to gain unprecedented access to how he conceives, writes, and records his songs. It’s a novel concept and I predict that other artists will explore similar terrain as they try to connect with their audiences in new and creative ways. As Billy noted in one of his posts, it’s not really about trying to find a new product that can be peddled to fans. Everyone who has worked in the music industry, which I have, knows that touring is THE money printer for music artists. The primary way to earn loads of money is by touring. It’s hard work, lonely, and grueling, but it is usually very lucrative. But, I think that artists are exploring new ways of connecting with fans for different reasons at least initially. Check out what Billy has proposed and sign up for the newsletter so you can get involved!

Rock On

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