Time To Prepare For MMS 2009

I just received an email from the MMS Event Team to prepare for MMS 2009. I’ve already done that, but if not please do as soon as possible.

Email:

First of all, many thanks for joining us at this year’s Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas.  As a registered attendee there are a number of ways you can prepare for the event, to ensure you get the most out of your week at MMS 2009. This email describes how to:

· Vote for Birds-of-a-feather topics most relevant to you

· Volunteer for Focus Group sessions with Microsoft Product Groups

· Build your personal schedule for the week at MMS 2009

· Book your Instructor-led Lab sessions prior to the event

Last Chance to Vote for Birds-of-a-feather (BOF) Topics

This year we will again be hosting BOF sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday evening after the final breakout sessions of the day. These informal community sessions allow small groups of attendees to meet and discuss a topic of common interest peer-to-peer or with Microsoft or Industry experts, covering questions on specific areas of IT management.

To ensure that the topics hosted at these BOF sessions reflect the interests of all MMS 2009 attendees, we are asking you to vote for the topics you would prefer to attend or propose your own topic. On Friday night we will close the BOF Survey and the most commonly requested topics will then be scheduled and published to the CommNet web site.

To vote for your preferred Birds-of-a-Feather session topics:

• Log in to the MMS 2009 CommNet using the credentials you created during registration
• Select “BOF Survey” in the left hand navigation pane
• You may either:
  • Select from the dropdown list of most commonly requested topics so far

or

• • Enter a new topic proposal, including rough abstract and optional speaker/moderator name for the session
• Press Submit to enter your vote

The selected BOF topics will be published to the MMS web site by end of day Tue, April 14^th, allowing you to add them to your schedule via the “Schedule Builder” option.  Note that space is limited at these sessions, so early booking is advised.

Volunteer for Product Focus Groups

Are you interested in providing feedback to Microsoft product teams, to help them design future IT management products? We are seeking volunteers during MMS 2009 to attend Focus Groups run by Microsoft product teams. These sessions typically last only 1-2 hours and aim to gather information about your experiences and work scenarios, enabling future releases to address a broader range of customer scenarios.

To help us identify the Focus Group sessions most relevant to you, we request that you complete a short on-line survey for each topic in which you are interested.  The survey questions ask about your experience, the products you use and your IT operations environment. You may volunteer for any number of product sessions which seem relevant to you.

To volunteer for Focus Groups during MMS 2009:

• Log in to the MMS 2009 CommNet using the credentials you created during registration
• Select “Focus Groups” in the left hand navigation pane

• Each of the Focus Group topics being offered during MMS 2009 are listed on this page
• Click the icon to the left of any Focus Group topic in which you would like to participate
• Complete the survey for that topic

Each survey should take only a few minutes to complete.  The deadline for submissions is April 14th at midnight PDT – but places will be allocated on a first-come basis, so we encourage you to complete the survey as soon as possible. Selected volunteers will be contacted approximately one week prior to the event to confirm participation.

Time to Build Your Personal Schedule

There is a massive amount of information available during the week of MMS 2009. To get the best out of the event we strongly suggest taking a few moments to plan your schedule by selecting the breakouts and labs most valuable to you. To help you with this process a number of session listings and on-line tools are available.

A searchable detailed listing of all Breakout, Self-paced and Instructor-led Lab sessions is provided on the event web site Sessions Page and in a downloadable Session Details PDF. In addition a grid view of all the Breakout and ILL schedules is available in two page formats: Session Grid (11”x17”) and also Session Grid (Legal).

Since there may be some schedule changes or updates prior to the event, we suggest that you monitor the MMS News RSS feed. Any new topics or changes to existing sessions will be posted here, as well as being reflected in the Session Links above. The “MMS News” page will also provide updates and general information about the event up to and during the event itself.

How to Log On and Build Your Personal Session Schedule

• Log in to the MMS 2009 CommNet using the credentials you created during registration
• Select “Schedule Builder” in the left hand navigation pane
• Search the content database using the filters and review the labs and presentations being offered during the event
• To add a breakout or lab session to your schedule, simply click the circle beside the time and location you wish to attend
• You may print out your schedule or export sessions to your Outlook client by clicking on the relevant icon

Booking Instructor-led Lab Sessions at MMS 2009

The Instructor-led Lab (ILL) sessions at MMS are extremely popular and many lab sessions will be fully booked well before the event opens.  We strongly recommend that you use this opportunity to book places in the labs that most interest you while places are still available in all sessions.  Lab topics are being offered in two formats. 

Instructor-led Labs: Five rooms are dedicated to Instructor-led lab (ILL) sessions running throughout the week. During these sessions an instructor provides an introduction to the each lab topic and leads you through the lab procedure for a specific topic. Places in all Instructor-led Sessions may be reserved in advance though the MMS 2009 attendee web site Schedule Builder tool. Prior reservations are recommended since the most popular sessions often become fully booked before the event opens. Self-paced Labs: A self-paced hands-on lab area adjacent to the CommNet area offers walk-up access to all lab topics where attendees may complete their choice of lab without an instructor. Lab proctor support is provided in this area during session time-slots and the area remains open outside session times without proctor support. Access to this area is provided on a first-come basis - on-line reservations are not available for the self-paced lab area.

ILL sessions match breakout session slots and are 75 minutes long. Scheduled lab sessions start on Monday, April 27th. These Monday lab sessions are very popular and tend to become fully booked well before the event opens.

Instructor-led Lab Booking Quota

At this time you may reserve places in up to 3 ILL sessions. From Monday, April 13^th you may book an additional 3 lab sessions and once the event opens on Monday April 27^th any number of ILL session slots may be reserved in your schedule.

Many thanks for choosing to join us again at MMS 2009.  We look forward to meeting you again in Las Vegas this April.

Best wishes

The MMS 2009 Event Team