"Bring It On! (But Please, Give us Real Food...)"
Dateline, New Orleans LA
We're halfway through Tech-Ed 2010 (North America). Tech-Ed is Microsoft's broadest-based, and (historically) one of its best attended shows. A number of clear trends are emerging.
The biggest, and most obvious, is - Tech-Ed is Back! Last year was one of the smallest Tech-Ed conferences I'd ever been to. And while everyone had a good time, there was an undercurrent of concern. Granted, the economy was in the dumpster, but some folks were questioning whether it was a blip or a long-term trend. But this year's conference is almost as well attended as the massive "Boston 'T' (as in Technology) Party" I wrote about several years ago. Maybe more.
People are ready to move forward. After a couple years of hunkering down, and making do with older systems, it is clear that many folks are ready to embrace the future. In the SharePoint booth, even though it has only been officially available for a few weeks, I'm seeing plenty of interest in migration to SharePoint Server 2010 from long-time SharePoint users. Add in side notes of folks saying they're upgrading (or have just upgraded) many other elements of their technology stacks, and it looks like the slump is coming to an end. IT is usually on the leading edge of a recovery, and from what I'm seeing we could be heading into some pretty good times.
The watchword is "value". Just because they want to move forward, they aren't charging ahead "willy-nilly". People want value for their money, and there is more of a "we want to do it right this time" attitude than I have seen in some previous conferences. They're willing to invest in the future, as long as there is a clear destination. No more just throwing some technology at the users to see what sticks.
The "value" is there. Not only in the Microsoft technologies, but in the offerings from the wide array of vendors set up at the expo, I'm seeing a lot more polish than flash. Even in the more cutting edge tools, like services in the cloud, and the forthcoming Windows Phone 7, the emphasis is on doing the real jobs that real users need to do.
An army, even an army of geeks, moves on its stomach! The conference dining offerings have been a mixed bag this year. The lunches have been (at least in my opinion) pretty decent so far. However, the consensus is that the so-called "continental" breakfast served each day has been a non-starter. Even folks from "the" Continent were complaining. In addition, there has been a distinct lack of fresh fruit - both during the meals, and the session breaks. Break fare in general has been as sparse as the breakfasts. As hot and muggy as the weather is, I have yet to see a single frozen treat from this conference.
And that, in essence is the message of this show. Like New Orleans itself, the economy seems to be on the mend after a major jolt. The road ahead is laid out. We (at least most of us) have our packs loaded up. We need to move forward, but we want to do it right, and we need the resources (food) to do it.
We're ready for what ever the future has in store, so bring it on!