So the weekend did not go as planned, but I am still very Energized by its outcome!

Friday's trip to the Microsoft offices was cancelled for me at the last minute due to an issue at work that needed my attention. Disappointing in that I did not get to interact with the Program Managers I had hoped to...but work comes first.

I still was able to fly out late Friday afternoon and participate in EnergizeIT! I got into Toronto at about 10:45 and headed to the hotel to drop off my bags and over to the convention center to drop off my server and gear for setup. As we are driving up to the event center, there are about 1000 (no lie!) Anime convention attendees walking the streets in full costume going to the hotels and restaurants around the area. Apparently we were sharing the building with as many as 5000 Anime North 2008 attendees, most of who were in full costume all the time. More on that later.

After a few minutes more onsite, we headed back to the hotel. It is now 1:15 AM and when I try to turn the TV on in my room, it does not work. After some tech help from the front desk (me telling them I tried everything...move me) I get a new room. It is now 2:00 and we have to leave for site at 7:00. I run through my presentation, make some more notes and drop off at about 3:30-4:00. Up at 6:30 and off to the event at 7:00 sharp!

Energize had a different setup this year. The stage was in the center of the room so the event was in the round. This is cool as everyone gets a clear view of the stage. They also have 10 big screens setup around the entire space so everyone has a way of seeing close up what is going on. All the speakers were invited to have a private breakfast with Phil Sorgen, the President of Microsoft Canada and at 9:00 it is off to the big rooms for the event. Rock concert lights and pounding music get the day started as a version of ACDC's Thunder Struck (Energized! remix) plays. A T-Shirt toss starts the days off as people cheer loudly to get some free swag. The morning is a large group session for all attendees with presentations from the IT Pro and Developer Evangelist teams, Phil Sorgen with the Microsoft Canada awards, a presentation on the changing face of IT careers, and the EnergizeIT Demo Competition.

The Demo Competition was 3 great presentations on how to use Microsoft technology in a fun way. I was on team Shell Shocked and as part of the demo we “bribed” attendees to vote for the demo by throwing out more T-Shirts, some with copies of Vista Ultimate or Office inside. This was a great way to hype the crowd and keep people interested in the presentations. A little fun thrown in the middle of the day made for a great experience. The Powershell demo also included the largest Rickroll in Canadian history to date. Next up is the boxed lunches and off to make my first presentation.

My presentation was an overview and demo on the soon to be released Windows Small Business Server 2008. This is a product I am passionate about and as such it was fun to give an insight into a beta product for some equally existed participants. I like to make presentations interactive, and as such took a lot of questions throughout the 70 minutes and really had a dialogue with the people in the room. This was my first experience presenting at a Microsoft event of this sale and it was fabulous. People responded well to the presentation; ask questions before and after, so I took that as a good indication.

I also made a joint presentation with Mitch Garvis from Toronto on the choice between SBS2008 and the new EBS2008 product, and when to use each later in the afternoon. This was a completely unscripted presentation, with the slide deck consisting of 8 slides thrown together over lunch but I think it was a great dialogue with the participants on the fit for both of these products and why as a consultant I will want to know and use both of these in my practice. Anyone who knows or has met Mitch will agree that he is an imposing figure, at 6’3” and 265 (I am being kind here!) he is a presence just as he walks in the room. His physical size is dwarfed by his personality though. He is always on and as a professional presenter and teacher, he has this game mastered. It is a bit intimidating to co-present with Mitch, but think we delivered a great presentation that was enjoyed by all….including us!

The event is winding down now and the best part of the day has began as far as I am concerned….it is off to the restaurant for the post event meal and some drinks and then to the hotel lounge for some more drinks and the hockey game. The best part of becoming an IT Pro UG lead and MVP is the chance to interact with the Microsoft staff and other leaders from across Canada. Over the next 7 hours we had the best time winding down, laughing at each other and bonding as a national community. And to a great extent finding new jokes about the fact the event was next to the anime event…..what is the difference between a geek and a nerd? $60,00 a year in income and not living in your parents basement at 32! This is the reason why I go to these events!

Now for my personal reviews of the event:

Pro’s:

·         The event space was so much better than last year by making the event in the round

·         The demo challenge was awesome and hopefully will become a yearly tradition…..maybe we can have the user groups involved in the challenge and make it a national event

·         Having 11 tracks and 33 presentations in the afternoon made for a diverse group of attendees and topics to be in a single forum. This was a big improvement over the agenda from last year

Con’s

·         The fact there was no physical demo labs and only virtual ones where people could download the material from wasn’t as good as in the past….and a bit confusing for the attendees

·         The recognition awards do not have anything to do with the user group community. Awards are given for Developer and IT Pro people and groups for solutions they achieve based on Microsoft technologies but there is nor recognition in a forum like this for the work done at the community level by user groups across the county.

·         The morning presentations go from a euphoric high with the opening of rock music and shirt giveaways, through some not so slick presentations and then end with the euphoric demo competition….they need to work the flow a little bit to keep the morning energy higher while still delivering some information…think Ballmer at MIX008 when he is asked about the monkey boy…you can still deliver the message with a whole lot of excitement…ENERGIZED!

So that was my 34 hours in TO in a nutshell….great time and great event but even greater people

Cheers

Will