TNX: TechNet Exchange - Toronto (YYZ)

So here we are, the next day after the event in Toronto and I’m already in the next hotel in the next city writing a blog post. I’m working in my mobile state with Outlook 2003 working in Cached Mode using RPC over HTTPS to connect back to my Exchange server in Redmond at mail.microsoft.com. I’m a prime example of working in a mobile world, needing to stay in touch and collaborating with my team in Toronto and across the world.

I just got “beeped” by my colleague Barnaby Jeans to inform me he has posted some pictures from the event to his blog and flickr photo feed.  Have a look – nothing like seeing my Telus provided UT Starcom 6700 smartphone on the 20 foot high display screen behind me as I talk about Mobile 5 devices in Canada. Good thing we had the big display – with over 600 of your friends in an auditorium of that size, you need a large viewing area.

I was talking with the team about the day and how it went in our post event debrief (usually involving a drink or two) and we got to talking about the technologies, the demos and how they can give you some insight into what is possible to achieve in setting up some collaborative solutions in your environment.  We tried some new things with the demos in the last session to make them more “real” with live connections to my corporate Live Communications Server on the Mobile 5 Device (thanks Mitch from MITPro user group In Montreal for the impromptu chat session).  I also “walked on the wild side” by having my live email configured on the device to show look and feel of Pocket Outlook and how it works with the collaborative platform. Based on the reactions from the crowd, you seemed to like this more interactive and “live” type of demos – real world implementations of technologies. It got me to thinking – what can we do as a team to take this to the next Level?

Some thoughts – let me know what you think:

  • Live resources. What if we had an intranet of resources and interactive technologies you could access on the fly at the event via a wireless network or Kiosks?
  • How about live feedback during the sessions with comments and questions taken from the floor and also from the online environment?
  • What about having live streams of the events available to individuals who couldn’t make it or are in remote locations across Canada?
  • How about a photo gallery or live blog site that would allow you to post comments and pictures of the event up for all to see?

These are just a couple of ideas off the top of my head with an obvious “pie in the sky” approach of anything goes. I am interested to hear if you have any other ideas that would make these events more valuable and impactful to your world. Drop me a comment on one of the tour posts to let me know your thoughts!