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The following article is written by Mitch Garvis (@MGarvis), who wanted to share the story of an individual who spoke of the value of getting involved with user groups and community and the benefits of doing so. It is also a great example of why my team here at Microsoft Canada is so passionate about working with your local user group and community association. Check it out! 
Last week I met a man at the Microsoft Virtualization Boot Camp who nearly made me cry. His name is Andrew Thomas, and he is the reason I have spent the last eight years building and supporting IT Pro user groups. I asked him if he would be willing to answer a few questions for me by e-mail and he did. For those of us who have worked for years to build the user group community in Canada, there is no more gratifying and inspiring story, because this is why we do what we do. User groups do not build and run themselves… they require a lot of hard work and dedication from all sorts of people who seldom get any recognition for it. That is why when I ran user groups I made a point of thanking the people who helped me, and when I speak to user groups today I try to always thanks and recognize not only the UG Leader, but those who help him along the way. This is Andrew’s story: Five years ago I was working as a Bench Technician with one of the large retail chains. I had managed to work my way up to Tech Manager but was not very happy in my job. I don’t know when I went to my first ITProToronto meeting or even how I heard of it, but I was on a number of mailing lists and would go to events when I was invited. The first meeting I attended was held in Mississauga (which puts the timeline around early 2008). I live in Scarborough but was working in Mississauga at the time. I was hooked after my first user group meeting and was happy when the events were moved to Toronto because of the commute. I went to the first few meetings thinking that I would meet people whom I could network with to try and find another job but I lost my nerve when I realized the depth of knowledge of the members. I felt a bit out of my depth, but I kept going to the meetings because I kept learning from the presentations as well as from the other members. The turning point for me came when we had a meeting about the then NEW HP Media Smart Home Server. I had purchased one a month earlier and had been playing with it. Suddenly I was having conversations with members about how the Server worked, what it did and how, and since nobody else had played with one yet I quickly realized that now *I* was one of the experts in the room! It dawned on me that I was smarter than I thought… I had already earned a couple of certifications (including MCP and A+), and had implemented so much of the advanced technology in my basement (including Windows Server, DNS, DHCP, Exchange Server, Linux, and IIS) but it never occurred to me that I was good enough to work for a company as a systems administrator or domain admin. I was really good as a bench technician, but did not have the confidence to turn my hobby into a career. After that Home Server meeting I dusted off my résumé and hit the pavement looking for work. My certifications were a little weak, but I had experience in all sorts of different technologies. I took a job with a small financial company in Scarborough that was looking for an assistant for their system administrator. I took the job only to find out that the sysadmin was mostly a trainer with no experience in networking, hardware or domain administration; they were having everything done by contractors and he was doing his day-to-day stuff by using search engines and the literally administering by the seat of his pants. However he was a smart guy and did manage to keep their systems running for 2 years. As luck would have it he got another job so I inherited the Network. It was an opportunity for me to show what I could do on my own. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt three months later, and I was looking again. I decided to take a year off to travel, and was surprised when I returned to the workforce to find out that I no longer had the qualifications I needed to get the jobs that I wanted. My Windows 2000 certifications were just not good enough, as Windows Server 2003 was the standard and Windows Server 2008 was about to be released. I decided to invest the time to spend a year at school, where I studied all of the newest technologies, and became certified in Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, as well as Linux. Now that I have all of the right credentials I have set a lower limit for any job I would ever accept, and that lower limit is more than twice what I was earning as a bench technician. I am working on projects that include all of those technologies and more, including Server Virtualization (which I am now comfortable with thanks to the Microsoft Canada IT Pro Virtualization Boot Camp!), and more. I support users and environments, and the list goes on and on. It may look like you just go to a meeting but the user group (for me anyway) is a lot more than that. I learned things – both about technology and about myself. I never would have had the courage to make such drastic career changes if it was not for the user group meetings. Now I can go out and put all my skills that I have learned over the years to work for me and I thank the group for that. 
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As our team looks to provide valuable content to you to help you grow in your career and acquire new skills, I am often asked if we can put on more hands-on events where you get a chance to play with the technology. At TechDays 2011 this year we offered hands-on labs for the very first time and had a phenomenal response. However, TechDays did not go to all cities across the country and we want to be able to offer more hands-on style activities to you in the places where you are. I’m happy to report that we are starting this month with the first couple IT Virtualization Boot Camps, which we are looking to take across the country.  IT Virtualization Boot Camps are brought to you by your local user group and Microsoft TechDays Canada. The first two IT Virtualization Boot Camps will take place at the Microsoft Mississauga offices on January 21, 2012 and January 23, 2012. The IT Virtualization Boot Camp provides a fun and collaborative environment where you will get hands-on experience to:
- Prepare your Windows Server-based computer for virtualization
- Configure an iSCSI storage server
- Create a Windows Failover Cluster
- Make Hyper-V virtual machines highly available and using Live Migration to move running workloads between hosts with no loss in client connectivity
- Integrate non-Microsoft-based virtual machines into your cluster
- See how Windows Failover Clustering can help to make dealing with hardware failure easier
 The cost to attend an IT Virtualization Boot Camp is $25 with proceeds going to your local user group. This means that not only are you getting 6 hours of hands-on experience with Hyper-V, iSCSI, Windows Failover Clustering, and more – you’re also helping your user group to support you and your peers with ongoing activities.
Register now for the first two IT Virtualization Boot Camps will take place at the Microsoft Mississauga offices on January 21, 2012 and January 23, 2012. If you are interested in having an IT Virtualization Boot Camp take place in your area, contact your local user group, leave a comment on the blog, or send me and email using the link above. 
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One of the things that goes on while we’re in town for TechDays are “extra” events that are generally open for all to attend free of charge. I mean we have all these speakers from all sorts of backgrounds, passions and technology expertise focus areas – why not “share the love” with local community events. Cloud Camps are usually the day before – great format – something we started last year and continued this year.   Make Web Not War event is the evening of the first day – lots of local stories from the community and cool stuff going on in the startup world.  
During breakfasts and lunches – we partnered with Can WIT – Women In Technology to have roundtables and conversations. You never know who might show up – including MaryJo Foley.   
We kicked off our west coast swing of a new format for IT / Infrastructure professionals modeled off of the *Camp format. IT Camp was well attended and had plenty of demos and fun stuff going on – including me trying to co-build a cluster from scratch in 15 minutes.  
It can make your days a little long – being at the venue from 7 am until 9 or so at night – but honestly – these extra events are the ones I find myself having a lot of fun both Attending AND helping organize/put on. 
The Cluster was eventually completed – but it took a little longer then expected. All these events / activities are going on in Montreal – sign up and register – they are free to attend. 
Regular IT Guy blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn Check out my about.me profile! 
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 On the continuing Eastern leg of the Virtual Reality community tour – I drove from Sydney to Halifax yesterday morning in order to make an up time, avoid the fog (which closed the airport) in order to talk with professors and IT staff at Nova Scotia Community College. The meeting was setup by my friend David Jelico – a prof that is very passionate about Technology and teaching students a balanced approach to surviving a career in IT. Topic was about private / public cloud and how the college could incorporate it into their curriculum as well as embrace some of the technology themselves.
As is always the case with David – his passion shines through and lots of lively conversation ensued with a full Q&A back and forth with everyone in the room. Nothing like keeping “the Microsoft guy” on his toes, eh?
After grabbing a bite to eat between sessions at “The Q” (best damn rib and BBQ joint in Halifax hands down) we hopped the ferry to cross over and setup for an evening event at the NSCC Waterfront campus – overlooking the beautiful harbour. If I had to choose a campus with a view – this would be the one.
The event itself was a bit modified. We had lower numbers then previous cities, so I modified the content to be better suited to a smaller crowd and focused on engaging and talking with the guys and showing / building the environment collaboratively with them. I say “building” mainly because I had a hardware issue that made it so I had to completely rebuild one of my Host Hyper-V servers which was left in a default install state. The demos were extended to literally build the second Host and enable it to work as the second node cluster for the highly available VM system.
After the event – I offered up a round of drinks for good measure at my favourite local establishment “The Old Triangle” where it happened to be jam night – bring your own instrument for traditional down home kitchen party. I kind of regret not picking up the Bohran to play a tune myself – but I was otherwise engaged in talking with Rob about his plans to setup a Canadian Home Grown Hosted Datacenter service using the full suite of MS technology (System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center Opalis, System Center Operations Manager, Hyper-V and more). I look forward to sharing his story with you here as they build it out and how they use these technologies to offer up hosted infrastructure to their Canadian customers.
I’m writing this post the day after – enjoying a rare day in the sun on the wharf downtown in Halifax. I was working at a Co-Working space called “The Hub” earlier today, but the sunshine was calling and I had a lunch meeting with a friend so I took advantage of some mobile technology and charged laptop in order to write with a view of the ocean.
{ This article also appears on The Regular IT Guy } 
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One of the challenges we face as IT folk is taking the time to work on our professional networking skills at in-person events. I mean seriously – we’ve worked all day, solved peoples problems and kept servers and systems running. At the end of the day – we mostly just want to go home. IT Folks are few and far between that want to take the time OUT of their personal lives outside of working hours in order to get together and talk about technology. The concept of The Virtualization Reality community tour was to go out to established groups of like minded Technical Professionals and give them the straight goods on what the Microsoft Virtualization stack can do. Whenever we ask groups what we can do so support them – the answer is always – “get us speakers and content for my group”. From the beginning with this tour – I mentioned that we would not be restrictive on where we go – so long as there was a local champion to help out. We had to make the investment and go to locations that we haven’t been before – to show support of the efforts the local community members. 
For the Eastern leg of this tour – I’m in Sydney Nova Scotia right now (can you tell) – the day after the event before I drive down to Halifax to continue the tour. I mentioned the intent to support established groups – but what about areas where there are currently NO GROUPS to speak of? We don’t come out much this way – so much so that we actually made the business section of the paper over the weekend with an article that “Microsoft was Coming to Town”. The driving force for coming out was the passion of a couple of guys from a local Professional Services company here in Sydney called AG Research. 
That’s Joe on the left, Darryl on the Right – met them both a couple of years back at TechDays Halifax. They told me at the time “Come on up to Sydney – the weather is great and there are lots of IT folks out this way who would love to see ya”. So when Darryl contacted me to say he’d sign up to host an event, how could I refuse. 
Kudos to Darryl and Joe for pulling this off! Also - an awesome show of support from their company AG Research for both giving them the opportunity to host this and put on an event for the local IT Community AND driving awareness with their customers. Weather has been great (reminds me of a beautiful Summertime day in my hometown of Saint John, NB) for my drive up from Halifax.
Over 30 people showed up last night with lots of questions and interest to learn about the Microsoft Virtualization stack. The real value is hopefully going to continue – I encourage everyone to keep in touch and establish a group that regularly gets together and supports each other in the local community. I’ll do my best to come out again. { This article also appears on The Regular IT Guy } 
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Lots of interest since the post announcing the cities that signed up to host us! Let me help you out and give you a single entry with all the registration details. We’re using our MSEvents registration process to track attendees for numbers as well as being able to gain some more visibility for people that don’t follow us here on the blog or subscribe to the TechNet Flash.
Here’s the Skinny on confirmed dates and locations:
In the works – Yup, there are still possibilities we can work something out for these cities… just need some more time and local support. Check back for updated links.
- Moncton – NB, June 9th – Registration TBD
- Calgary – AB, June 14th – Registration TBD
- London / Waterloo – ON, TBD
- Kingston – ON, TBD
In case you missed the earlier blog post with the details: here’s what we’re talking about.
There are lots of players out there in the Virtualization Market. All of them have options to help you build a highly available solution to virtualize and protect your servers all with varying costs associated with them. Did you know Microsoft has a solution that you can cut your teeth into even if you are just learning the ropes and don’t have access to high end SAN hardware? Join us for a demo intensive 90 minute session that builds a solution from scratch and gives you the skills to bring this technology into your organization or customer environments for a fraction of the cost of the competitors offerings (you know who we’re talking about). This session will cover the story of an organization looking to enhance their current infrastructure and virtualization solutions. It will start with the requirements, proceed into the build process and demonstrate all of its capabilities including post deployment management. Do you have questions to ask? Are you more familiar with “the other guys” offerings and need to have some clarity on what is actually capable with the Microsoft Virtualization offerings? This session is for you - we’re leaving plenty of time for questions along the way.
Technologies covered:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
- System Center Virtual Machine Manager
- Microsoft iSCSI Target software v 3.3
- The free Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1
- Live Migration
- Snapshots
Objectives:
- Understand the capabilities of the Microsoft Virtualization offering
- Install and configure a iSCSI target and create a Clustered resource
- Configure System Center Virtual Machine Manager to manage 2 virtualization hosts
- Create a highly available virtual machine and LiveMigrate it between hosts
- Learn where to get all the software to create your own environment
Incentive – you’ve read this far? Plan on attending and have registered to attend at a location ABOVE? do yourself a favour. Check out the Microsoft Virtualization Academy online at www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com get some pre-reading done. Create yourself a profile and check out the courses available online. Heck – if you register AND print off a copy of your dashboard screen (found here when you are logged in) AND bring it to one of the sessions – we’ll give you a little surprise for taking the first steps down the path to learning about virtualization.
Can’t wait to get out and see you at the community event. Thanks for registering!
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Check out my about.me profile! 
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In conversations with UG leads across the country, we heard clearly for Canada the cloud represents so many opportunities for organizations, developers and IT Pros. After listening to the feedback, through these conversations and others from TechDays, we decided we needed to do something that drives awareness and helps grow skills. That something turned out to be the Azure Community Promotion. The Azure Community Promotion was launched in mid-December to allow user group (UG) community members to give back while growing their skills learning Windows Azure. For each individual that took the time to grow their skills and shared their experience, we committed to donating $25 to that user group and also send the individual a $25 gift card. There was no limit on how many UG members could participate but all validation screenshots needed to be submitted to cdnazure@microsoft.com by Dec 31st. 
Before the promotion ended, John Oxley stated in a blog post that he wanted to see us reach a goal of over $3000 by December 31st! Well, you did it! Through your efforts and on behalf of your user groups a total of $4325 was raised from over 170 submissions benefitting 28 user groups across the country! What makes this result even more special is that everyone contributed at a time when family and spending time with loved ones are especially important. The fact that many of you also chose to give back to the community and assist your local user group just shows how when we work together we can achieve so much to the benefit of many. Our heartfelt thanks to each and every individual who took the time to try Azure and deploy an application. In the coming weeks we will be sending out gift cards to those who submitted an Azure application as part of the promotion. We will also be contacting each of the user group leads whose groups benefited from the promotion and who were so instrumental in getting the message out to their membership and soliciting everyone’s participation to help raise some always welcome additional funds to the group. Once again, thanks to all who participated and for raising $4325 for user groups across Canada! Damir Damir Bersinic Senior Platform Advisor, Microsoft Canada 
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Are you running Windows XP? Are you feeling the pressure of creating a deployment plan? Have no fear! Leveraging learning’s from two Windows 7 early adopters this session will give you the skills you need to proceed with your own deployment. The session will focus on free Windows 7 deployment planning and deployment tools that customize operating system packages and automate deployment planning and network deployments seamlessly. Look for a city near you and come out and learn how to deploy Windows 7 into your organization! Vancouver – January 26 Victoria –January 27 Winnipeg-January 28 Calgary-February 2 Edmonton-February 4 Mississauga-February 8 Waterloo-February 11 Montreal-March 2 Ottawa-March 3 (note date may change to the 4th) Regina-March 16 Saskatoon-March 18 
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Are you ready for Windows 7? It is a common question now that Windows 7 is released to manufacturing. This 2 hour 4 part session will cover all the key aspects, guidance, tools and resources to help prepare you and company for Windows 7. For anyone looking how to Discover, Explore, Pilot, Deploy or Manage Windows 7, this is the seminar for you. This session will answer questions like "Why and how to move to Windows 7 from Windows XP?", "What are the differences between the versions of Windows 7?" and focus on the three key pillars of Windows 7 - deployment, security, networking. From new deployment techniques, application compatibility, to improved security and remote access options this session will get you ready to answer questions about Windows 7. Register today! 
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 Are you ready for Windows 7? It is a common question now that Windows 7 is released to manufacturing. This 2 hour 4 part session will cover all the key aspects, guidance, tools and resources to help prepare you and company for Windows 7. For anyone looking how to Discover, Explore, Pilot, Deploy or Manage Windows 7, this is the seminar for you.
This session will answer questions like "Why and how to move to Windows 7 from Windows XP?", "What are the differences between the versions of Windows 7?" and focus on the three key pillars of Windows 7 - deployment, security, networking. From new deployment techniques, application compatibility, to improved security and remote access options this session will get you ready to answer questions about Windows 7. So far there are three dates locked and you can register for these events already. Vancouver: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423005&Culture=en-CA
Welcome Time: September 9, 2009 6:00 PM British Columbia Institute of Technology Room 280
555 Seymour St.
Vancouver British Columbia Winnipeg: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423096&Culture=en-CA Welcome Time: September 21, 2009 6:00 PM Red River College (Princess Campus) 160 Princess St.
Winnipeg Manitoba R3B 1K9
Calgary: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423097&Culture=en-CA Welcome Time: September 22, 2009 6:00 PM University of Calgary Engineering Building-A201
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary Alberta T2N 1N4 For the rest of Canada, stay tuned as we will be adding more cities across Canada for stops in October!
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Culminis and Microsoft’s User Group Support Services (UGSS) are pleased to announce their co-sponsorship of a 9 User Group tour of Canada, between May 26 and June 18, 2009, by world renowned security expert, Kai Axford (CISSP, MCSE-Security). Kai is a Senior Security Strategist in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group and is based in Dallas, Texas. A ten-year Microsoft veteran, Kai is responsible for discussing and recommending security solutions for both private and public sector organizations. In addition, he conducts Chief Security Officer councils worldwide, taking executive feedback and affecting change within Microsoft’s security products and processes. Kai started with Microsoft in 1999 as a Server Support Engineer and then moved on to become an IT Pro Evangelist, focusing on his peers through the Microsoft TechNet Events program. Kai has delivered more than 300 security presentations on a variety of topics, including digital forensics, security management, incident response, and computer espionage. He is a frequent speaker at security conferences, executive meetings, and business seminars around the world. He is finishing an MBA in Information Assurance and is a member of ISSA, INFRAGARD, ASIS, and the North Texas Electronic Crimes Task Force. He was the recipient of the 2006 “Rising Star” award from the Information Security Executive council. Kai is interested in security management and hopes to become a Chief Security Officer one day. Prior to Microsoft, Kai served as a leader in several real-world operations with the U.S. Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment. Kai is an outstanding speaker and is in constant demand around the world. So we are very fortunate indeed to be able to provide this opportunity. Following 3 hugely successful previous tours of Canada Kai is back for a 4th time. Kai’s presentation will cover: · Windows 7 Security Tidbits - Windows 7 is coming and the boss is asking you about all those new security features. Perhaps you've heard some buzz about AppLocker? What’s this about DirectAccess connecting securely to your corporate network without a VPN? What’s up with BitlLocker To Go? In this fun and interactive session, Kai Axford, a Microsoft Senior Security Strategist with Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing team, will demonstrate some of the new security features in Microsoft's newest desktop operating system. Bring your questions and get the scoop on these upcoming Microsoft security technologies! · Understanding and Preventing Insider Threat – Many analysts have stated that the Number One issue facing corporate customers today is the threat of targeted corporate espionage coming from within the organization. Join Kai Axford, a security strategist from the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing team for an entertaining and engaging session, as he shares real stories from the trenches about the risk this threat presents for both you and your customers. He’ll demo the means by which these attacks occur and discuss the mindset of the attackers. Don’t miss the chance to see how this is done! Mississauga - May 26 - https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=138016 Toronto - May 27 - http://www.task.to/events/upcoming.php Winnipeg - May 28 - https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=137944 Montreal - June 2 - http://www.mitpro.ca Quebec -June 4 -http://www.gsiq.org/ Vancouver - June 16 - http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=137335 Edmonton -June 17 - http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=137132 Calgary – June18 - http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=137822 For those who can’t make those events there will also be two LiveMeeting sessions where you will be able to take part in the presentations as well. Live Meeting SESSION 1 - Windows 7 Security Tidbits (6/9/2009 12:00 PM (CDT)) June 9 6/9/2009 12:00 PM (CDT) https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/microsoft1/Registration.aspx?pageName=7kt1pnfszjxs6dcc Live Meeting SESSION 2 - Understanding and Preventing Insider Threat June 11 6/11/2009 12:00 PM (CDT) https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/microsoft1/Registration.aspx?pageName=82ftzmtpd8dcbwg5 
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Well you might have heard that TechDays is going to roll across Canada in the Fall of 2009 and while we have 6 of the 7 cities locked we are now starting to focus on content. And there is a lot of content with 5 tracks each with 8 sessions for a total of 40 sessions over the two days. So where does it all come from and how do we decide what to add to the agenda?
Well a huge help in the decision making process about what to add to the agenda comes from you, via feedback forms at TechDays, emails to the team, comments and suggestions at user group meetings etc… All that feedback counts and a prime example of that is a lot of people asked “Where is the SharePoint?” at TechDays 2008 so we’ve added that to our agenda for TechDays 2009.
With the tracks locked, the more difficult part is filling those tracks with useful and relevant content. There is a lot of great content from MMS (Microsoft Management Summit), TechEd, TechReady (our internal training conference) that we leverage but sorting through it all is a challenge and this year we got some help from the community. We selected five (5) people from across Canada, assigned them as community lead to each of the TechDays tracks and sent them to TechEd to hunt for the best content. They’ll also go over content from other events such as MMS and recommend content that should be included in each of the tracks.
Brad Bird is an IT Professional of 12 years experience. Currently working as an independent consultant associated with Infront Consulting. Brad has more than 8 years under his belt specifically in Windows Networking Administration. Among his specialties are: Windows security, forensics, intrusion prevention and detection, Active Directory implementation, System Center Operations Manager and Data Protection Manager implementation and consulting.
Brad will be looking for content related to security and management of Windows environments including System Center, ForeFront and Windows Server 2008 and R2 including Hyper-V.
Bill Brockbank works for Navantis Inc. a Canadian MS Gold Partner, as a Solution Architect with a background in business process management in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Workflow technologies K2.net, Windows Workflow Foundation and Caparis Workflow. Bill is also a co-founded for the Toronto SharePoint Camp and an active member in the local SharePoint user community.
Bill will be on the hunt for the best SharePoint, Exchange and Office Communications Server content as well as anything on the Business Productivity Online Suite, SQL 2008 and anything else that helps you implement, manage and customize a collaborative work environment in your organization.
Daniel Nerenberg is an MCT,MCSE,MCITP, and an independent consultant based in Montreal. Daniel has written and consulted on the topics of Windows Deployment, Application virtualization, and Windows infrastructure. Daniel Also writes regular updates for "The Lazy Admin" Tech guidance website at www.thelazyadmin.com. Daniel is also a member of the Springboard Technical Experts Panel.
Daniel has been tasked with finding the best content around deploying and managing Windows operating systems as well as solving application compatibility issues with ACT 5.5, XP Mode, MED-V as well as, securing the desktop.
François Tanguay is an agile coach and co-founder of nVentive, a new concept where software development teams leverage coaching and guidance packages to build better software. He presently helps large scale institutions achieve their desired results through VSTS, agile processes and software frameworks. For over 10 years, his modeling skills and inventive ideas have guaranteed interesting discussions.
With Francois expertise in the development field he was best suited to coming back with the best development related content and has a fairly wide scope of sessions to look at. From VB6 to .NET migration all the way to Application Lifecycle Management and Visual Studio Team Suite there is a lot of great content that Francois will be bringing back from TechEd.
Miguel Carrasco is Vice President of Technology at Anvil Digital, a software development and marketing company in Winnipeg, Manitoba. With over 10 years experience in the IT industry, Miguel has been involved in over 100 real world projects ranging from software development, team leadership and organization, creative user experience design, and infrastructure projects. Miguel has always enjoyed design and the user experience angle of software development.
Miguels mission is to locate the best content with regards to developing applications on the Microsoft platform. Another rather wide ranging scope with content from developing on Windows 7 to Windows Mobile to the web as well as cloud computing with Microsoft Azure.
Over the next few weeks and months leading up to TechDays Vancouver in September you’ll see blog posts from the community team as to their experiences at TechEd and TechEd Online, why they recommended certain sessions over others and how they helped ensure that TechDays 2009 has the content that ICT professionals in Canada want!
addthis_pub = 'CDNDPE';
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Hello Folks As Rick mentioned in his blog post “Stay where y’re at, we’ll come where y’re to” we’re getting ready to head out east. That’s right. Monday morning, Rick, Christian and I will be boarding an early flight to Halifax. We’ll be there early and the Energize IT Event is an evening event. So we thought, “hmmm, what should we do to maximize the number of connections we can have with the folks there?” So we decided to hold a “Coffee and Code” or “Lans & Lattes” for IT Pros. some of you may not know what that is. What is "Coffee and Code"? When the first coffee shops appeared, they functioned as "third places" where writers, businessmen, philosophers, scientists and assorted deep thinkers gathered and shared ideas over a cup of joe. Four hundred years later, we're keeping the tradition alive by setting up gatherings of developers, IT pros, web designers and assorted geeks at coffee shops to get together, share ideas, support local business and build communities. So!, we’re holding a “Coffee and Code” at “Just Us” 1678 Barrington Street” in Halifax NS. (http://www.justuscoffee.com/barrington.aspx) on Monday the 20th of April, from 1:30pm to 5:00pm  
Both Dev and IT Pros are invited – heck, bring your laptop and we can help install Windows 7 as a mini-InstallFest in a coffee shop. If you do, just see keep the following in mind: - Ensure that your BIOS is at the latest revision (must be ACPI compliant). Go to your manufacturers website to download and flash your system.
- Keep in mind that if you’re doing an upgrade, the amount of data in your profile will greatly affect the length of your upgrade. (we’ve had one last over 2 and a half hours) so clean up before you show up. Delete temporary internet files, backup and move off your 10,000 song library – whatever you can do to reduce the # of files on your system. If you don’t – your upgrade process could take more time then we have scheduled for the InstallFest .
- We STRONGLY suggest you go for a clean install (wipe and replace) or Dual Boot. The majority of previous InstallFest participants went this route. Fast, clean, simple - ‘nough said.
- Bring all the needed drivers on a USB key. Check out your manufacturers site for Beta Windows 7 drivers OR bring 32 / 64 bit VISTA drivers. Not absolutely required but it’s in case your hardware is not covered by the “In-Box” drivers. This will ensure you get the best possible experience onsite.
- Bring an open mind – it about sharing, connecting with each other and HAVING FUN.
In any case, come on down and chat. we’re looking forward to see you. See you there! Thanks 
Pierre Roman, MCSE, ITIL| Microsoft Canada Co.| IT Pro Advisor | pierre.roman@microsoft.com
phone: 613-212-2370 | mobile: 613-715-2311
IT Pro blog | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn 
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In my previous post on our EnergizeIT activities out east and why there were not readily apparent on the mass mailing, I mentioned that we were going to a number of cities, including Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton and St. John’s. I neglected to include final Registration links – so I thought I would take a moment to give them to you here. UserGroup session: Future of the platform. Learn more and Register (Moncton, NB) UserGroup session: Future of the platform. Learn more and Register (Fredericton, NB) UserGroup session: Future of the platform. Learn more and Register (St. John’s, NL) Special Note: Halifax Venue change and CONTENT change. 
I wanted to call out a BIG thank you to our friends at the Nova Scotia Community College in Halifax / Dartmouth. We have been making a point of visiting them whenever we pop in to Halifax – great bunch of faculty as well as some awesome students. We were originally having difficulty sourcing a sizeable venue for Halifax and they saved the day by offering up their Presentation Theatre at the Dartmouth Waterfront Campus to support our UserGroup event. This is fantastic news! We have been reaching out and talking with CIPS BlueNose, ITANS and the local Dev and IT Pro usergroups to ask them to let their membership know of the changes. If you are in the Halifax/Dartmouth area and would like to attend – use the registration link below! Learn more and Register (Halifax, NS) I also mentioned a Content Change to go along with this. After talking with the local community and discussing it with the team, we’ve decided to change up the content from the smaller UserGroup session (future of the platform) to the larger and broader EnergizeIT session (from the client to the cloud) that is taking place in the larger event stops. We feel this is the right thing to do in order to reach the broader interest of the community which spans academic, infrastructure, developer and IT manager. How will we know if this is the right thing to do? You’ll tell us with your feedback/email as well as by your registration numbers! This event is FREE to attend and will be covering off technologies of our platform (Windows 7, Live On-Line Services – Wave 3, Microsoft Online Services and our new Azure services in the cloud) and how you can prepare for them today in order to discover what is possible. This event is also an excellent opportunity to connect with like minded individuals who share a passion for Technology in order to strengthen you local network of technical resources. I encourage you to sign up, reserve your spot and share this broadly with your colleagues – spaces are filling fast!
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It’s called the Ignite IT Award. And it’s a way for the community to recognize and reward the work that you do. Yes, that‘s not a typo… The community, your peers… They can review any submission and will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites. Voting starts in: 47 days (March 1st 2009). Tic Toc ….
There will be some great prizes but the best part is that you will be able to highlight your successes, your innovating thinking and by the same token, advance your career. Winners will receive the IT Professional grand prize or the Software Developer grand prize—including the Crystal trophy, a Software Kit valued at $1,000, and a prize of $5,000. Plus, all entrants who include a video in their submissions will be entered to win a prize pack valued at over $500 that may include an XBOX 360 Elite and a Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition XBOX game. So go ahead, go to the site Ignite IT Award, submit your stories and tell the world how good you are. We know it. Why not shout it out?
I’m always looking for ways to learn from the successes of others. And if you’re like me, you can review all the submissions for the Ignite IT awards. It may give you ideas; spark interest, who knows...
Don’t make me go out and get you… I will if I have to. But I’d prefer if you all signed up and told us about the wonderful things you guys and gals are cooking up.
Get the glory. Share your I.T. story.
Bookmark this page—submissions posting started on January 5, 2009 and voting begin on March 1, 2009, so check back often!
Cheers!
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