Thought it’d be easier to put the comments here than make a GIANT comment on Frank’s blog.
Comments on Tech Ed that most come to mind:
Tech Ed
- The venue – in general it was well layed out and had enough space (apart from some sessions see below)
- Overlap in content in sessions. There was way too much overlap in session with a common theme. This is ok if you go to one of them..but if you go to a theme you’d almost be better off going to every 2nd session. For me, the sessions tended to be very high level.
- Same e.gs – It seemed like every web session and/or virtual earth session showed THE SAME real estate agent site
- Overcrowding – A lot of rooms were overcrowded where you had to stand or be so squished to the person beside you you end up cramping up
- The party – hmm..what can i say…a night club full of geeks…not a great venue for the number of people. Didn’t really enjoy watching people play xbox all night
- labs – Labs were good but not enough time to work on them unless you skipped sessions – maybe open early till late for those keen to learn?
- community project – great in theory – needs to be broken into tasks 1/2 to an hour long so people can contribute more easily. I was keen to contribute but found it hard to find a task that wasn’t dependant or atomic enough to work on in the time I had spare.
- Bar Code Scanners – I’m not a grocery item going through a check out
- Deep Dives – maybe have more deep dives at the end of tech ed once you know what stuff you’re interested in diving into. This may satisfy my craving for more than a 1 hour overview of a really big topic.
- Tech Ed Bags – Bags were great – even fit a 17″ dell
- The Food – if you are patient…there was heaps of food. Maybe need a few more snack areas to nip in between talks
- PC’s / internet access – there were heaps
- Tech Ed Shirts – love the embroidery
- Key and Lock Note – both interesting and something different to think about