Hello Everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting but this is super important! Tech Ed 2013 registration will be opening on February 12th so make sure you start begging your bosses for approval to go to this conference. I am lucky enough that I received my approval already and plan on booking everything as soon as registration opens. I strongly recommend you read on to know how to make the best out of your TechEd experience, with much more content on this subject to come as time gets closer.
TechEd was an extremely busy week, and it was a ton of fun. There were many challenges throughout the week maintaining my schedule however it was overall another amazing year. I had 3 goals I wanted to complete, and I feel I completed all 3 of them.
Take Certification Exams
Network and meet new people
Learn
For the first 3 days (0-2) I was able to fit in time to write a summary, for the last 2 I did not have much free time however I will summarize them now.
If you do not wish to read through those 3 blog post I’ll tell you now that I did amazing networking with my buddies in #TheKrewe on Day 0, on Day 1 I failed my #60Days2MCSE certifications (70-246) however I learned a great deal and blogged details about follow up steps. Later in the Day on Day 1 I took the beta exam for Windows 8, Configuring. I will not know my score until the full exam is released however I feel confident that I have passed this exam and am excited to find out for certain.
Day 2 came along and started just as crazy, I rushed to breakfast, rushed to The Keynote, and then rushed to the first exam (70-247) which I was not required to take and pass however I did take and fail it! I was lucky enough between exams to get a chance to write my blog post, and start focusing on the Server 2012, Configuring Exam I was about to take. The exam was a bit more rough than the Windows 8 exam, and I feel it was focused heavily on Active Directory. I am unsure if I passed it; however since it is also a beta I will not know until the full exam is released.
TechEd Day 3 Summary
Day 3 was not as exhausting however it was time consuming because I was attending sessions and I had little time between them. I started with a session about Storage and Hyper-V, most of it was over my head and felt more like a sales pitch, I followed that up with VIR303 which covered the Networking side of Hyper-V, I felt it was a solid presentation; but over my head again because I am not the network guy. I will admit this is the session I took the most notes in though. In the afternoon I went to Optimizing SQL for the Private cloud, it was very interesting learning about the MAP Toolkit which I had never used before and how they used it to plan for a large scale SQL deployment in a virtual environment. After this session I attended the Exam Cram for the 246/247 and then headed back to the hotel to rest some for that night. In the evening I was attending the Microsoft Springboard Party at Ember in Downtown Orlando. While there I had a chance to network more and I was able to meet more Indiana locals including the president of IWUG. I never knew that I could network so well if I just talked to people!
TechEd Day 4 Summary
Whew at this point I wasn’t sure if I was excited TechEd was almost over or not. I love going however it completely physically and mentally drains you. I spent another morning in sessions, followed by an afternoon winning a bean bag (Sadly not an MCSE bag) and finishing up my networking in the alumni lounge.
The evening of the last day was the closing party at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. I had a good time checking out everything and enjoying free unlimited food from all the stands around Universal. It was cool to get to check everything out in a relaxed environment.
Until Next Year!
I had an amazing time and would not trade it for anything. I am hoping to get to go back next year and see all of my friends in #TheKrewe in New Orleans for TechEd 2013 June 3rd – 6th!
“The Krewe is a group of hard working/fun-loving IT Pros and Developers. We gather every year at Microsoft TechEd North America, the largest Microsoft technology education conference. Our mission is to build a dynamic networking community through various activities and gatherings.” – TechEdKrewe.com
The Story
In the months leading up to TechEd I decided to become much more involved. I vowed that I was going to Network all throughout TechEd. I posted on #TheKrewe Facebook page which I had been involved with the year before; but did not really network much. I asked how I can break the ice with people when by nature I am not the most social until I know people. Many people told me I was already doing a decent job being involved with #60Days2MCSE, and promoting myself on Twitter before TechEd.
After posting that I was approached by Michael Bender asking if I’d be interested in helping with #TheKrewe Meet N Greet party which was a good time last year, and I was planning on attending anyway. I went ahead and offered to help, and then became the person coordinating the volunteers for the event. It wasn’t much work, and I figured it’d be a good way to get to know more people.
All I had to do was create a sign up form, promote the form and coordinate some people, that’s simple! We also had some emails going back and forth about a #TheKrewe T-shirt, my design abilities and the ones that were already provided I felt could use some improvement. I suggested a T-Shirt Design contest which I took on the lead of. I posted the contest and didn’t get too many entries but we got enough good designs for a really sweet looking shirt. …
The drive from Indianapolis to Orlando wasn’t as bad as I anticipated. I arrived within 16 hours (including stops) and the hotel was able to get me checked in early with no problem. Once I settled into the room I went on to the convention center to get registered. It took forever to find registration because I had no idea I were in the wrong building. I have to say the OCCC is so massive it’s amazing.
Once I registered I poked around a bit, took some pictures and discovered The Detroit Project car which is just amazing at how much technology they have crammed into it.
Once I was done in the expo hall I moved into the Alumni lounge with my buddy @IT_JOSH. While we were in the alumni lounge we met up with some fellow #TheKrewe members that I know on twitter and was thrilled to finally meet in person.
Later on that night was #TheKrewe Meet N Greet, this was exciting for me because I was coordinating all of the volunteers. I arrived and already had someone there starting to unpack the boxes of swag for #TheKrewe survival kit. We originally had 13 people scheduled to volunteer and had 22 people show up, we had 350 survival kits to assembly and completed it in 40 minutes. The night was fantastic and it couldn’t have been done without the help of all of our volunteers.
I have to say the Meet N Greet was the best networking opportunity ever, I was able to meet people from around the world, I even met someone who lived 30 minutes away from me and have made great connections I will be certain to maintain.
Ever since last year when I first attended TechEd I knew I wanted to come back. I decided to wait until I was closer to becoming full time before I requested to go. Back in January of this year I spoke with my boss about attending TechEd 2012, he went ahead and moved it up the ranks to get approval and I was lucky to have been approved. I was told to schedule everything then ask for the credit card. I got myself setup for a conference pass and staying at The Rosen Centre Hotel which is right next door.
Over the past few months I’ve been getting myself more involved with the community which is one major thing I had regretted last year, this time around I am doing it right. I decided to take the #60Days2MCSE challenge which I then moved into getting more involved with #TheKrewe. I am now ready to take my 70-246 and hopefully become MCSE: Private Cloud Certified. I am also ready to meet up with all of the new friends I’ve made withing #TheKrewe and I am ready to help throw one of the best TechEd 2012 parties!.
Over the past week is has been crazy for me, getting my schedule finalized, getting last minute studying done, getting bills paid before I am out of town, packing… oh yea and working. However I have everything packed now, and at the time of writing this I am T-24 hours from leaving my house in Indianapolis, IN and driving down to Orlando, Florida to have the best week of the year. It is going to be jam packed and exhausting but I would not change it for the world.
I will be tweeting my whole drive down to Florida (only when we stop of course!) I will also be tweeting our arrival and how the Hands-on-labs are once I get myself registered! If you are unable to attend TechEd I highly encourage you watch my twitter feed which I will be posting pictures on, and hopefully I will get some time to blog too!
