Conferences

Current Status – Live at VMworld 2015!

This year myself and co-host Theresa Miller  @24x7ITConnect  both attended VMworld 2015 and Tech Field Day Extra. While at the conference we were able to host a live stream of our weekly podcast #Current Status. Live streams are always fun because you never know what is going to happen, especially at a conference with over 23K attendees. We were also happy to have Justin Warren, @jpwarren from the land down under as a special guest co-host. Thank you Justin and though you brought us no kangaroos!

TFDE

#CurrentStatus Mimosa

VMworld_a

#VMworldSelfie with Steve Kenniston

 

In pure #Current Status style we even had glasses of adult beverages! Given the time of day our live stream was at ( 11:45 am local time) we had mimosas instead of our traditional wine. None of the less it was a fun show filled with plenty of surprises guests.

Check out the recorded stream to see guests such as :

Tintri – Yael Zheng CMO and  Merlin Boissonneault, Sr Systems Engineer @merlindb

Catalogic Software – Steve Kenniston

Spanning – Gina Minks @gminks

Micron – Janene Ellefson

AND of course the famous Head Geeks from Solarwinds!

Patrick Hubbard @FerventGeek

Thomas LaRock @SQLRockstar

Kong Yang @KongYang

and more surprise guests!

Check out the fun we had!

 

 

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TechEd 2014 – It’s more than KoolAid and Swag

IT conferences are a place where us nerds flock to a designated destination to discuss all things IT related and get your yearly supply of vendor t-shirts. Microsoft’s TechEd conference is no different and this year it’s held on  May 12-15 in Houston, TX. Tech conferences are more than the KoolAid and who has the best swag, it’s also about the parties/events and the people you meet there. The networking that one can do at a tech conference is amazing; you have vendors and IT professionals all in one location at your disposal. Making those connections can mean new business deals or even a job, you never know the sky’s the limit.  Not only are you building your IT professional network but attending social events after hours keeps you from watching re-runs on TV in hotel room. Who really wants to do that? Not I.

If you are new to TechEd or don’t know where to start with all this social activity I’ve made a list of some events that you may want to check out.  You never know you may even run into me at one these events…

Sunday Night 5/11/2014

  • The Krewe Meet and Greet at House of Blues – 7:30pm – 10:30pm

Kick off TechEd by meeting members of the world famous #TheKrewe- #TheKrewe is a community organized professional networking group. Their mission is to build a dynamic networking community through various activities and gatherings that extend beyond TechEd. The event is on a wait list but email  meetngreet@iamkrewe.org  to try to get yourself on the wait list.

Monday Night 5/12/2014

  • TechEd Expo Welcome Reception – 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Tuesday Night 5/13/2014

  •  Petri IT Author Meet and Greet –  5:00pm- 7:00pm

Come meet the authors of Petri IT knowledgebase (including myself!) sponsored by Veeam and Proximal Data.
The following Petri authors, contributors, and editors should be in attendance:

Aidan Finn – @joe_elway
Damian Flynn – @Damian_Flynn
Phoummala Schmitt – @PhoummalaSchmit
Jeff James – @JeffJames3
Daniel Petri – @p3daniel
Peter De Tender – @pdtit
J. Peter Bruzzese – @jpbruzzese
Mary Branscombe – @marypcbuk
Simon Bisson – @sbisson
Jonathan Hassell – @jghassell
Jeffrey Hicks – @jeffhicks

Space will be limited – RSVP ticket by clicking on the following link and registering for the event http://www.eventbrite.com/e/petri-it-knowledgebase-author-meet-and-greet-at-microsoft-teched-2014-tickets-11225258049

  • Join NetApp for craft beer, food and fun at Saint Arnold Brewing Company- 4:30–7:30 p.m

Stop by at the Netapp Booth with your TechEd Badge before Tuesday for an invite and party badge.Transportation to and from will be provided. Pick up will begin at 4:15 p.m. and runs through

5:30 p.m. outside of Hall F at the George R Brown Convention Center. Just look for the

NetApp logos.

  • Veeam TechEd Party at House of Blues – 8:00pm – 11:00pm

To register for the Party Apply  stop by at the Veeam booth or pre-register here: http://go.veeam.com/teched_party_2014.html

  • CommVault TechEd Jam Session at House of Blues- 9:00pm – 1:00am

Come hang out with your fellow attendees and see who has some musical talent. If you’re not into singing or jamming on stage just sit back relax and enjoy a beer, you might even see me swinging by.

Wednesday night 5/14/2014

  • TechExpo Happy Hour and Best of TechEd North America 2014 Awards – 5:00pm – 6:00pm

The purpose of the UC Roundtable is to gather Exchange and Lync admins, MCMs, MVPs, Exchange product group members, architects, and experts for a free-flowing discussion about issues, questions, and experiences related to Exchange, Office 365, and Lync Server.  If you work with Exchange, Office 365, or Lync you need to be at this party. Come join other Exchange and Lync admins, MCMs, MVPs, Exchange product group members, architects, and experts to discussion about issues, questions, and experiences.

Please RSVP to jeff@expta.com for event details and location

  • Scheduled Maintenance Party hosted by ENow – 9:00pm – 12:00am

The awesome folks at ENow are bringing all of us Exchange, Lync, and SharePoint admins much needed “Scheduled Maintenance”. This is a party you don’t want to miss. It will be EPIC!

You can also stop by the ENow booth for more details.

Go to http://schedulemymaintenance.com to request a pass.

  • Meet the DevExpress Team at TechEd and Lucky Strike Houston! – 7:00pm -11:00pm

Come meet the DevExpress Team and enjoy a night of cocktails, appetizers and bowling.

RSVP as soon as possible @ rsvp@devexpress.com

Thursday night 5/15/2014

  • TechEd 2014 Closing Party at Minute Maid Park – 7:30pm 11:00pm

Close out TechEd by enjoying an evening at Minute Maid Park where attendees have exclusive access to the entire park. There will be lots of food, drinks, music, games, and activities. You must have your wrist bracelet to attend party. Guests of attendees can purchase tickets for the party , see information/registration desk at convention hall.

If you need a daytime guide for TechEd, check out some of these sites:

My Thoughts on TechEd 2013

I was recently just asked what my thoughts were on TechEd 2013 after just returning from the conference in New Orleans. My first instinct was to say “It was great, had a fabulous time!” but I figured I should sit on the question a little bit and really think about how I really felt. I would not have been lying if I simply just said I had great time because I did. New Orleans is an exciting city with so much activity how can one not have a good time down there? So…what are my thoughts on TechEd 2013?

I thought it was a good conference overall but felt content was a little weak in some areas. The Azure sessions were good though, especially for someone just getting into it. You can definitely tell the push was Azure and the all things cloud. If you didn’t get that hint I have no idea which conference you were attending. There good buzz around SCCM 2012 R2, Visual Studio and of course Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Now content related to Exchange was weak & lacking any real excitement which was expected because MEC is just around the corner. For those that don’t know what MEC is, it’s the Microsoft Exchange Conference where all the IT Professionals of the Exchange world gather to discuss and learn all things Exchange.

As an Exchange admin I am excited for MEC but think it hurts TechEd content because it seems as if Microsoft holds back on big announcements at TechEd. In my opinion they should stick with TechEd and stop the focused conferences. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that the Exchange community can get together and bring out our Exchange geekness together. It’s just sometimes too much to try to attend all these conferences, most businesses can’t afford to send people to both TechEd and a specialty conference. It’s not only the cost of conference but the time away from the office that businesses need to take into account, with IT shops running thin; sending people away can be a real issue.

If Microsoft were to combine the conferences again it can make TechEd even easier to attend for someone that is struggling to choose between which conferences to go to. TechEd is great a conference because you can connect with all sorts of IT professionals not just your specialty and you have the option to take sessions that is outside of what you typical attend at MEC or any other specialty conference. One of the big values of attending one of these tech conferences is the networking, making the contacts that you normally wouldn’t be able to do elsewhere. If being able to do it at one place that’s even better for someone that can’t get away from the office all the time.

So that’s how I really feel, it’s not right or wrong, just an opinion.