Monday, some people were expressing some concerns about the concept of the Cabaña sessions (some found it hard to hear the speakers). Even then, many sessions were really great, with a fantastic interaction between speakers / panels and attendees. It got better every day, and the concept is so great I hope it will be maintained for next year (and also generalized to the other International TechEds).

    I had a good time on my session yesterday, and I think a few of the attendees found it informative. If I was to criticize anything about it, I would simply regret that there are no evals for the sessions.

   The lounges are comfy, and give a great intimate atmosphere for discussing and having questions answered by subject mater experts, as well as for making connections with people.

Come over o the RD booth (booth 49-50) and play bingo, take your chances at the Apprentice.Net. there are prizes to win.

   I am hosting a Birds of a Feather session on Service Orientation, with Clemens Vasters and Scott Hanselman on the panel. The session is a great opportunity for those interested in understanding what Service Orientation is about and how it plays out in the real world, as well as what it means for the developer and for the application architect. The session is scheduled at 8pm in room 14B (rescheduled from Wednesday night).

    The coming few weeks are going to be a busy speaking period for me. Starting May 15, I will take a 1 week vaccation, then start a long period of conferences all over the world, and I will not be back for any significant period of time to Morocco until July.

    Right now, I am finishing and polishing my talks and demos, and I'll keep on that for one more week. Then, I will visit my good friend and fellow RD Stephen Forte in NY, before heading to West Virginia for one week vaccation (Visiting my brother and nieces, and like all of my vaccations, I'll be spending part of my time on getting up to date with some of the technologies I have neglected lately).

     My schedule gets then to its cruising speed, with the following events :

• May 23-28, TechEd US :
  • Cabaña session in the Dev Track : "Writing Smartphone applications with .NET Compact Framework and Telephony and Messaging APIs"
  • Birds of a Feather session : "Orientation vs. Object Orientation"
  • I will also be present on the Dev Track Cabaña and the Architecture Cabaña
  • I will be doing some duty at the Visual Studio .Net booth
• June 4-7, DevEssential, Kansas City, Missouri
  • Mobility : Notes from the field
  • Secure Coding Techniques
  • Developing Office System solutions that integrate with business processes
• June 15-17, Pakistan Developer Conference 2004
  • 4 sessions TBD
• June 22-24 (Not confirmed yet), DevDays Mauritius and Réunion

   This year at TechEd, there is an interesting new addition : The Cabañas at the Community Lounge. The idea is to cut the distance between attendees and speakers/experts. Here are a few intersting happenings :

• Meet the Technologist sessions : These are pretty much breakout sessions, but they are more attendee friendly in that they are smaller, and allowing more interaction with the speakers. They range from Chalk Talks to fully preped presentations with demos, in small open Cabañas. Attendees (At most, 30 per session) will have the oportunity to ask questions as the speaker is covering his topic, which, I am sure, will give those sessions a much more intimate atmosphere.
• There will be no speaker lounge at TechEd, and speakers are supposed to simply hung out at the Community Lounge. That will let the attendees find the speakers much more easily and interact much more easily
• There will be a concierge to help attendees find experts that can answer their questions. Many experts both from Microsoft and from the industry will be present in the Community Lounge at specified times, so that attendees can find them easily and discuss their subjects of interest with them.

    If you attend TechEd, don't miss the Community Lounge, it will be a fun and informative experience.

    I will be giving a Meet the Technologist session on "Writing .Net Compact Framework application that use the Telephony and Messaging APIs". If you are interested in mobile device development, come to the session and I will be glad to discuss any questions you may have. I will also be present at the community Lounge pretty much every day.

Don’t miss Tech·Ed 2004, the definitive Microsoft conference for building, deploying, securing and managing connected solutions. You’ll find 11 conference tracks and over 400 sessions. Get answers to your technical questions, meet industry experts, evaluate new products, and take advantage of extensive networking opportunities. Register today.