Tech Ed 2007 (Orlando): Day 1 Recap
Now that we are well into the second day of Tech Ed 2007 here in Orlando, I thought I would post a quick recap of my thoughts from Day 1 (Monday).
Let's see, it's Orlando in June - it's humid as all get go. I decided to stay at a hotel close enough to the Convention Center that I can walk rather than take the bus. Even though it is about 1/2 a mile, the walk takes about 30 minutes in the morning (detour to Starbucks at Pointe Orlando) and I am sweating decently due to humidity. I was just a bit late yesterday and didn't realize until I arrived that the keynote was taking place in the West Convention Center. I didn't want to walk over there so I decided to do a little work instead. 15 minutes into that, I found out there was an overflow room setup and headed over to S330 to catch the last 30 - 40 minutes of the keynote.
The first session of the day also didn't go well for me. My team mate, John Baker, picked the Windows Vista Hardware and Device Management session to attend and I decided to go with him. About 10 - 15 minutes into this session, we decided it was a bit too basic for us and we left. Option B was the Sysinternals session, but that was full by the time we got there and they wouldn't let us in. Option C was the the System Center Service Manager Overview session. That was also full, but they decided to let us stand in the back. About 10 minutes later, they told us that we had to find a seat or leave, so we decided to leave. Not a good experience with the first session of the day!
Luckily, things got better and after a semi-decent lunch of pork tenderloin, vegetables and salad, I was able to make the rest of the sessions in the afternoon. I was very happy with the content and quality of the speakers for the afternoon sessions. I will admit that I was very tired due to lack of sleep (3 hour time zone difference had something to do with this) and even with the my triple venti soy mocha, I nodded off a few times during the afternoon sessions. Despite this, I still was able to glean some very good information and I consider my first day to be a success!
I spent about 30 minutes at the Partner Expo Reception in the evening and had a chance to talk to quite a few folks and partners. Since I was hungry and the heavy finger foods being served is not what I would consider to be a valid dinner, I left with my team mates, John Baker and Bryan Von Axelson to grab some good dinner.
We headed out to Pasage of India where we enjoyed a very good dinner. The appetizers were very tasty, the main course was excellent (although my dish could have been a little spicier) and the garlic nann was so good, I had to order a second order. We left the restaurant feeling very satisfied and I promptly fell asleep watching TV back at the hotel.
It is now 10:40 AM on Tuesday and I am typing this post while sitting in the AD Directory Services in Server 2008 session. I will be heading out shortly to do my booth duty at the Office Communications Server (Unified Communications section) booth from 12 PM - 3 PM this afternoon. If you get a chance, stop by and say "Hi". I will also be working the booth tomorrow from 3 PM - 7 PM.
That's it for now and I'll be posting another entry after the end of the day today.
Harold Wong
harold.wong@microsoft.com