TechEd '08 Post mortem ....
It was almost a post mortem for me .... shoooo .... a number of crazy parties as TechEd is known for, but somehow this year it just seemed to be on a whole new level. Maybe it had something to do with the sea air .... or ... oh heck I don't know .... but it was CRAZY man!
The MVP hunt (Ruari's brilliant idea) was hectic. Note to self, don't walk around an event like TechEd wearing a t-shirt that says "MVP" on the back. No matter how small it is, the hungry tshirt hunters will spot it and come running! Ruari was also kind enough to invite me to the MVP Cave braai ~ WICKED! Ruari, you sure know how to throw a party. Enjoy the leftover steaks!
The community lounge was great. So thanks to all the community leads that did an incredible amount of work to pull that off. Willy, Willy-Peter ... superb guys. You guys do so much good stuff for the community at large it is inspiring.
Bulldog (aka. Zlatan) you're legend. Sorry to hear you didn't win that Zune; nevermind dude next year! You'll have some stiff competition for sure cause I'll be back armed with a "brandnew" product release. If you don't know Zlatan this guy is a hoot, he winds up other MVPs to stimulate healthy debate by saying things like "CRM is nothing more than an extension of Sharpoint!". Hahahahaha that definitely caused a stir.
My sessions went ok, or at least I think so. In spite of the numerous technical issues faced at the last minute (including 3 vpc crashes, 1 vista blue screen which i've never seen before so that was "novel", a dead notebook as we plugged into the projector and an RFID reader that didn't do very much reading) we still managed to do a few demos and spend a bit of time outside of the dreaded powerpoint. If you attended any of the 4 sessions i would LOVE to hear from you. Lemme know what you thought.
It was really great meeting some of the international Microsoft folk. Guys like Shy Cohen ... dude, you're a legend! And those moves on the dance floor; sick I tell you. sick!
All in all a great event. MS I LOVE the new venue. Seriously cool! If you missed out this year don't stress I hear bookings for '09 open soon 
So I am now off to catch up on some much needed sleep and see if I can find a new liver somewhere cause mine ran away ....