Category — Tech Ed

WHEW! I am tired.

Got to Tech Ed today just before 9:00 am to hear most of the keynote speech. At the end of the day, two announcements have stuck with me.1. System Center Virtual Machine Manager. A cool feature allows you to move a virtual server to a different physical machine without your users even knowing! And the software even suggests the machine that would be the best one to move the virtual image.2. SQL Server 2008’s compression It not only makes your databases smaller, but it makes them faster as well.I hung out at the MCT Lounge and met some really great MCT’S including Calahan, Kim, Brian and Bob.I also attended a breakout session on System Center Essentials 2007. I wanted to review the featured to make sure I was using the product to its fullest. Dynamic groups seemed to be the coolest feature that I overlooked. Dynamic groups allow you to define conditions, such as OS version, to make computers part of a group.I got to meet with the gang from Train Signal IT Training videos. I got to meet Coach Culbertson in person! He is just as friendly in person as he is in his videos. Train Signal announced that their videos will soon be including Trancender practice tests!Right now the vendor party is going on with everyone eating and drinking. Tonight is the invitation only Microsoft All-Star Community Pit Stop party which should also be a lot of fun.Until next post.

Since Tech Ed 2008 It Pro does not officially start until tomorrow, the Orange County Convention Center is still a little quiet. However, with registration beginning today, things seem a little busier.
My main mission for today was to register for Tech Ed and to study and take exam 70-649 which I crammed for the day before. Upon arriving at the Testing Center and showing my MCP Id, I was treated to one of the limited edition “Certified” hats, designed by Trika. It was so surreal after following Trika’s blog posts on these hats and then finally holding one in your hand. The hat read “certified. I am. You’re not”
I then sat down with Self Test Software for some last minute studying before my test. Then, of course, it was on to take the dreaded 70-649. 49 questions, I passed! Thank you Zach for the exam cram on Sunday!
I left the exam room to encounter a vaguely familiar laugh. A laugh that I had not heard in about a year. It was my good Microsoft blogger friend, Trika Harms zum Spreckel. I hold Trika personally responsible for driving me to blog.
Another highlight of the day was attending a Train the Trainer class on Powershell. The speaker was Thomas Lee and he was incredible. His level of knowledge of PowerShell is just amazing. Also, his attention to detail in his training style is phenomenal! He was able to cover a three day course in three hours.
I was also able to attend the first ever “Party with the Pros.” Attendance was good and there were plenty of giveways. Thank you to all the sponsors who made this event happen. “Party with the Pros” was billed as the largest non-Microsoft event at Tech Ed with over 600 registered attendees.
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I started my Tech Ed experience on Sunday to take part in an exam cram for 70-649, the MCSE 2003 Upgrade test for Server 2008. The training was led by Zach Nieman who is the president of Training Experts. Zach is a great presenter. I have to give credit to anyone who can keep my attention for the entire day the way Zach was able. From 8:00 to 4:30 pm, Zach covered the material from exams 70-640, 70-642, and 70-643 (which is what 70-649 covers). I am scheduled to take the exam tomorrow at 1:00.
It was interesting seeing how empty the Orange County Convention Center was on this “tweener” weekend.

Since the Tech Ed developers and it pros were separated into two conferences this year, the covention center was opened up to user groups. Training events were held over the weekend covering topics for both developers and it pros. The Certification Testing center was open over the weekend and will be open on Monday for Tech Ed attendees only.
I was also able to talk with William Sabo, a consultant from the Tallahasse, Fl area. He was there for a pre-conference on SharePoint.
Ken Rosen was at the Testing Center for Microsoft. Although he has changed positions within Microsoft, I still think of him as a MCT Celebrity.
Speaking of MCT Celebrities, I got to meet Bill Chapman of Microsoft.
Good times today - except that I did not get to see my blogging Microsoft friend, Trika.

I think that I am coming down with a case of Tech Ed Head. It is a new condition that I have just invented to describe my anticipation of Tech Ed 2008 and that I may have the opportunity to attend the event again this year. The Microsoft announcements are all up online which only adds to my condition.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, Tech Ed will be split into two sessions this year, both held in Orlando, FL. The first session, which will run from June 3-6 is for Developers. On June 10-13, the second session will focus on IT Professionals. (This is not to imply that Developers are not IT Professionals! ) Early bird registration runs through April 4th, saving you $200 of the $1995 full registration price. I will hopefully be attending the IT Professional conference.

Something cool that I learned about Tech Ed today is how the Microsoft Certification Testing center will be run this year. The actual Tech Ed conferences are running from Tuesday to Friday one each week. On the Tech Ed web site I found that the testing center will open on Monday, June 2. It will also be open on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (June 7-9) between the conferences. Now try to tell me that you do not have enough time to get certified during Tech Ed!

As I learn more, I will try to highlight the interesting things that I find.

Over on Trika’s blog, there was an exciting announcement about Tech Ed 2008. Tech Ed will again be held in my hometown of Orlando, Florida. This year, however, Tech Ed will be split into two tracks – one for IT Professionals and one for developers. This is the same way Microsoft has run Tech Ed in Europe. The Developer track will held June 3-6 and the IT Professionals track will be held June 10-13.

Based on Tech Ed 2007 numbers, Microsoft is expecting 5,000 attendees for the Developer track and 10,500 for the IT Professional track. The change is being made “to provide the same Tech·Ed experience but with expanded learning opportunities.”

I attended my first Tech Ed this year. It was an incredibly cool experience. Just seeing thousands of people who are all IT workers was incredible. I was also able to meet a couple of MCT’s who also teach in community colleges (I think that we are a rare breed). My favorite part of Tech Ed was the Hands On Labs. The labs themselves were fun, but interacting with the MCT’s manning the lab was even more fun.

Oh, yeah – I got to meet Trika and she introduced me to her blog. And I met Kathy of TechNet who would later help me with my TechNet subscription.

Good Times!

Tom <><