Embarking on the Long Road to TechEd08
For the last number of years, I've had a couple of points of input into TechEd in Australia. Primarily in the Mobility Track, and in the Microsoft Technology Showcase.
2 years ago, inspired by a similar session at our internal training conference, "TechReady" I worked with Rick Anderson to introduce our first (global) external Windows Mobile Smackdown event. My good friend Johann Kruse, of UC fame, has blogged about this years version as well:
Johann's Unified Communications : Windows Mobility Smackdown at TechReady 6
You can check out the Channel 8 video of this session at TechReady here: http://channel8.msdn.com/Posts/3768/
We held our first Smackdown at the Technology Showcase in the Exhibitors Hall in '06, and were blown away by the passion, the excitement, and success of the session.
So much so, that much like our internal TechReady conference, at TechEd07 at the Gold Coast, we integrated our Smackdown as a Track Session. We themed it as Pirates (Curse of the Blakberry Pearl), filled the room, and delivered what became the most highly rated event at the conference.
Again, huge energy, lots of swag, but most of all, dynamic demonstrations (PowerPoint strictly disavowed) of real Mobile technologies of today and the near future.
So as we begin this year's TechEd planning, we're looking to grow this popular session. I won't mention how we're theming it just yet, but we have some great ideas about increasing the energy, the scope, the passion, and hopefully, the value of the demonstrations of our Mobile technology. It will definitely be the session to attend, whether you're a developer, a consultant, an architect, a systems engineer, a designer, an IT manager, or just a consumer of mobile communications (like all of us).
After all, considering the recent Mix08, Nokia, and Apple announcements; not to mention the new devices from SonyEricsson & HTC; there's lots of scope.
I can promise that we won't have hard Frisbees this year. I've been made to promise I won't eat any competitor hardware...
"I Love it when a plan comes together!"
R42
