Tech Conferences - I checked into TechEd 2012
Tech conferences offer IT Professionals a great opportunity to learn new skills and about new products. The other thing that conferences offer IT Professionals is a way to meet and create relationships with other IT Professionals. They can be pricy for companies or individuals to attend them, but the payoff of the information and relationships makes it worth it.
For IT Professionals, taking a week off work can mean even more work when one comes back and makes most consider heavily before taking off the time. I can only say that it is important to get in the mindset to attend and leave work behind. Do what you can to ensure that work does not interrupt your conference experience. I was lucky to be on furlough when I attended TechEd 2011 in Atlanta. Work could not call me without then having to pay me for the week and possibly reimburse some of my expenses as I was attending on my own dime. Work with your peers, employees and boss to ensure all of your duties and systems are covered by someone else so you can focus on the learning and the activities around the conference.
Now, one of the other sides of tech conferences is the parties in the evenings. For instance, the pre-conference "Meet and Greet" hosted by The Krewe is tonight. I am getting myself ready to go to it as I write this. These events are great to build those friendships and spend time together. Many people see the drinking aspects but the great thing is you don't have to drink heavily. Some folks don't drink at all. The key is to be comfortable and have fun. Attend the evening events and build those friendships. If you do end up drinking, make sure to hydrate before going to bed because that will help to make sure you are set for the next day of the conference.
As I have said if you have heard me speaking about Microsoft's TechEd, to say that I have been looking forward to TechEd 2012 in Orlando is an understatement of major proportions. I enjoyed TechEd last year in Atlanta so much and learned many things from the sessions but more so I met some great people. This is the venue that we all get together at, making it a special time for all.
I headed over to the Orange County Convention Center, the venue for this year, and got myself checked in. The process for check-in has been easy in my opinion. I have heard from various people that this was not the case. Check-in consisted of entering in your information on the computer and processing, heading over to get your badge from their desk, then off to get the conference bag and materials. This year, they had 3 different designs but it was clear that 2 of them are clearly the favorites. The third looks like it came from NASA direct.
After getting through my check-in, I got to do something I couldn't do last year … head over to the Alumni Lounge. This is an area that people who have been to multiple conferences over the years. In there, they offer seating with power, food/snacks and drinks for folks looking for a rest stop. It is a great idea for any conference and I highly recommend it. Slipping into the lounge, I ran into several friends from The Krewe and we started getting acquainted in person, either for the first time in real life or again in real life. This networking is a great part of TechEd but as Fredrik Nilsson said it, "I don't want to hand out business cards to network. I want friends." That's it to me! I want people that feel they can call on me and I can call on them too.
In the end, find a conference that meets your background, learning desires and you can afford to attend and go to it. You will not be disappointed.
Jared
Looking back on MS TechEd 2011
One of the most interesting things to ever happen to me was being forced to take a furlough by my employer. This was done by all of the management teams to show our staff that we were not below touch of the financial impact of the downturn of the economy. One thing I have always wanted to do was attend a technology conference and I was determined to use this week off without contact as a great opportunity to attend a conference without interruption.
I signed up for the conference back in December of 2010 getting a discount on the conference fees but did not setup for my hotel. That could wait … or so I thought. As the date kept getting closer and closer, I got more and more excited. This was a week I could not wait for.
As the conference drew near, I started to get my arrangements together. Looking through the conference hotels, they were full. Uh oh … Going through all of the hotels, there was no vacancies at all. Damn it! I waited too long. I ended up at a non-conference hotel which was nice but did not have the transportation like the conference hotels. I could kick myself for that and hope to learn my lesson for next year.
As with other conferences, I arrived the day before the conference to register and get my wits about me. The flight to Atlanta was nice as I had enough miles to get first class tickets. I found it funny that this was the first time I had seen more Windows Phones in people's hands than other phones. I could tell most of the folks on the flight were either Microsoft employees or worked for the conference. The Atlanta Conference Center was huge with many halls and locations. I learned where everything was located and started trying to put together my schedule with rooms to understand where I would be spending most of my time. Upon completion of that, I started going through the other social schedules. I heard about a pre-conference party near the center offered by a group called "TheKrewe of MSTechEd".
In finding my way down the street to the venue, I found my way up to the private rooms and felt very welcome. Sitting around and having a drink, it was incredible to get to know and chat with other IT Professionals. This was the main thing I wanted from this week, the networking with other professionals. I met some great folks like Scott Ladewig (@ladewig), Mike McAtee (@filmnomore), and David (aka @gkrew). I felt at home with this group but needed to get back to my hotel so I left very early from the evening. Again, another folly I will learn from.
Through the week, I attended many courses and informational presentations. I spent time with many other professionals like Jaclyn Morris (@jaclynsmorris) and Aaron Wheeler, as well as running into the venerable Paul Thurrott (@thurrott) whom I got the luck of spending a day with in Seattle along with Long Zheng and Michael Gillett showing them around Seattle. I also got time with many vendors including spending some time with HP to learn of their new generation servers, now released this spring.
The week wrapped up at the World of Coke and Atlanta Aquarium with a huge party. Live bands played and both venues offered activities for everyone. Attendees could buy additional tickets/bracelets for their family, which made the numbers swell inside this area. The food was incredible and the entertainment was fun. The one thing I did right was I got a flight the next day so I could spend a good time at the closing party. On top of getting the flight, I got lucky that my preferred airline only flew out of Atlanta around noon.
The flight back seemed a bit bitter as I had not wanted to leave. I learned so much, met so many good folks. I could not wait for the next TechEd. As soon as the sign-up opened, I signed up for MS TechEd in Orlando for 2012.