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 Many of you have been with us since TechDays kicked off in Canada in the fall of 2008. We’ve been fortunate to have you as a guest or a presenter in the past - many of you several times over. For those of you that haven’t been a part of TechDays, it was Microsoft Canada’s fall technical readiness conference providing technical professionals (developers and IT professionals) in various regions across Canada with the opportunity to gain technical knowledge of and grow their skills on the Microsoft platform.
From the great feedback we’ve received from you and your community leads, we saw two common requests: reach every region in Canada and do more hands-on training. With your feedback in mind, this year, we’ll be taking a different approach to do just that. Rather than a single conference, we’ll be coming to you with the technical content and hands-on training you’ve asked for through various Microsoft-led, partner-led, and community-led events and activities.
Moving forward, you’ll be able to take part in more in-person events than previous years and all brought to you by the same team that has delivered Microsoft Canada TechDays. The in –person events will be available in various learning formats including workshops, camps, hackathons and others, allowing you to gain those skills by learning and then applying through hands-on activities. In fact, if you attended an IT Camp, a Windows Phone Workshop, a Windows Azure DevCamp, or a Windows 8 Hackathon, you’ve already experienced some of what is coming your way. By partnering with the broader technical community, user groups, and other organizations, we’re able to connect with you in more cities more frequently than was possible with a once-a-year large-scale conference.
If you prefer to learn online, you’ll see those in-person and hands-on events being offered online, giving you the same experience virtually - tune in, learn, ask questions, apply with hands-on activities, and interact with us LIVE, as if you were right there in the room. If you won’t be able to make it to a desired event, many, if not all, of the virtual events will be available on-demand helping to ensure that you don’t miss a thing.
With the combination of in-person and online events and activities to choose from, you get to pick where, when, and how you learn.While we’re still finalizing the details of some of the events and activities, here are a few that you can already register for and plan to attend:
IT Professional
Windows Server 2012 Launch Tour
Toronto – September 5th
Vancouver – September 12th
Edmonton – September 20th
Ottawa – September 27th
Montreal – October 3rd
Windows Server 2012 IT Camps
· October/November
o Toronto
o Vancouver
o Montreal
o Ottawa
o Edmonton
o Calgary
o Winnipeg
o Waterloo
o Saskatoon
o Halifax or Fredericton
o St. John’s, Newfoundland
AlignIT Manager Tech Talk video series (for Infrastructure and Development Managers)
· September 13th
· October 11th
· November 8th
· December 13th
· January 10th
· and more planned in February, March, April, May and June.
OR
Developer
Windows Azure DevCamps and Windows Azure Online Workshops
App Building With Windows 8
· Ottawa – September 8th
· With more events to be confirmed for October
App Building With Windows Phone
· Events in multiple cities to be confirmed for October
24 and 48 Hour Hackathons for Students
· November – Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver
· Dates to be confirmed and posted to the GoDevmental Blog
Visual Studio 2012 Launch and ALM
· Virtual Launch – September 12
· Consumer Software Challenge tour – October (registration available September 13)
· .NET Rocks! Visual Studio 2012 Launch Road Trip - Vancouver Sep 19, Toronto Oct 13
Next Steps
If you aren’t already, get connected with us. We’ll make sure that you know what’s happening when and where.
· Subscribe to the TechNet eNews Newsletter to receive news, featured articles from community members, and listings of upcoming events and activities every two weeks in your inbox.
· Subscribe to the Canadian IT Pro Connection blog via RSS or check back often to see what’s going on in the world of Windows Server, System Center, and others.
· Join the Canadian IT Professional Connection group on LinkedIn to share stories, ideas, ask questions, network, and learn from fellow Canadian IT professionals.
Thank you for all the support you’ve given TechDays over the past four years. We look forward to seeing you at conferences, camps, hackathons, workshops, etc. across the country and/or online – all brought to you by the same team that has delivered Microsoft TechDays Canada!
By the way, if you have or know of any local conferences or user groups you’d like us to be a part of, let us know! We’d be happy to evaluate the opportunity to participate. Email us at td_can@microsoft.com.
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You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s TechDays TV episode. A couple of weeks ago, we presented part 1 of Windows Server “8” Beta Getting Started: What’s New in Hyper-V. Since then the product name has been finalized – Windows Server 2012 – but all of the great features are still there. If you missed Part 1, you can watch it on-demand at the TechDays TV web site. That’s true for all the TechDays TV episodes. Join us at 12 noon tomorrow (May 1) for the next episode of TechDays TV for IT Professionals on Windows Server 2012 Getting Started: What’s New in Hyper-V (Part2). In this session Damir Bersinic (that’s me) takes you through more of the great functionality for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012. Here’s the abstract: Windows Server 2012 (formerly Windows Server "8" beta) brings many enhancements to Hyper-V. This session will look at some of the new features in Windows Server 2012 that make it the definitive platform for Cloud computing including new networking, VM mobility, and redundancy capabilities, and more. We will also look at how these enhancements compare to offerings from VMware and show how the built-in functionality in Windows Server 2012 is a better alternative. In fact, there is so much in Windows Server 2012 that we can't fit it into one session so this is the second of two parts on the topic. We look forward to seeing you online tomorrow. Don’t forget to stay connected with us through various social media channels. Connect with TechDays Online  Join the Canadian IT Folks LinkedIn group
 Follow @techdays_ca
 Like TechDays on Facebook
Topic Suggestions, Feedback, Etc. If you have any suggestions for topics that you’d like to see on TechDays TV or want to share feedback, please let us know! - If you have any suggestions for topics that you’d like to see on TechDays TV, start a new conversation on LinkedIn and see if others are interested as well!
- If you have feedback on the show, by all means, please let us know! We want to hear it! Start a new conversation on LinkedIn or send us an email at td_can@microsoft.com.
- If you’re interested in presenting a session on TechDays TV, please send the topic you’d like to present with a short abstract to td_can@microsoft.com. We’re always looking for experts to feature on TechDays TV.
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With just under a week to go before TechDays Vancouver, I know that the team here is going through all our prep lists to make sure that we have everything to ensure an amazing experience for you. While we’re doing that, you can get started on your TechDays prep with this “everything I need for TechDays” prep list – Vancouver Edition! There’s lots to do and so this post is a bit of a long read, but it will be worth it, for sure! If you can’t make it out to TechDays Vancouver, but you live in and around the Vancouver area, don’t go anywhere. There are learning and networking opportunities for you as well. Click here. The Summary - Review the session abstracts and build your schedule.
- Download the TechDays Vancouver agenda (and floor plan).
- Download the TechDays 2011 Phone App.
- Prepare your notebook computer for the hands-on labs and bring it with you.
- Get a feel for the technologies you’ll be learning about.
- Check out additional learning and networking opportunities.
and of course, all the information you need to get social about TechDays. The Details Review the Session Abstracts and build your schedule  | Before the fun begins, you’ll want to make sure that you know what each session is about and then choose a session for each timeslot of the day. To do that, head over to the TechDays Schedule Builder. It will walk you through all of the sessions in the technology areas that you’re interested in and will help you build your schedule. You can then print or email your schedule to yourself (and perhaps your colleagues if they are joining you). Go >> | Download the TechDays Vancouver agenda (and floor plan)  | With seven tracks and instructor-led labs, there’s going to be a lot going on at the same time. To make sure that you don’t miss out on the sessions that you want to attend or find yourself in a room listening to a speaker talk about some infrastructure stuff (because you’re in the wrong room), make sure to download the TechDays Vancouver agenda to your notebook (or print it if necessary). That way you’ll know what session is happening in which room at what time and where the room is located. Download >> | Download the TechDays 2011 Phone App   | The TechDays 2011 Phone App gives you the ability to browse the schedule for both conference days, browse sessions by track, find info on the speakers, read the session abstracts, and tune into the social buzz on Twitter. Definitely a great pocket companion to enhance your TechDays experience. Vancouver venue, session, and speaker information will be updated in the next day or so. Download >> | Prepare your notebook computer for the hands-on labs and bring it with you.  | Have a read through Damir Bersinic’s post from 3 days ago – Reason #42 to Attend TechDays 2011: Hands-on Labs. The hands-on labs are something that you definitely don’t want to miss. I know that when I go to conferences, I like attending sessions to hear experts tell me about, or through demos, show me everything I need to know about a technical topic. However, I find myself wanting to try it out on my own. I’m sure you feel the same way, so have a look at the instructor-led lab list in Damir’s post and choose which you’d like to attend. We only have 20 machines in the lab, so come early or better yet, bring your notebook with you! More >> If you’re planning to attend the Introduction to Windows Azure lab, please note that the exercises in the lab will require to you have a Windows Azure account. If you don’t already have a Windows Azure account, take a moment and sign up for the 90-day FREE trial before the lab so that you will be able to continue your learning beyond the end of the lab. A training account will be provided to you for use during the lab if you don’t want to create an account for your own. | Get a feel for the technologies you’ll be learning about. Check out additional learning and networking opportunities. In addition to the TechDays sessions happening during the day, check out these additional learning and networking opportunities: CloudCamp Vancouver
Monday, November 14
5:30 PM – 9:00 PM PT | CloudCamp is an unconference where attendees can exchange ideas, knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of cloud computing and related technologies. Register >> | | | | AlignIT Manager Tech Talk: LIVE with Mary Jo Foley
Tuesday, November 15
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM PT
Ballroom B | Planning would be so much easier if you knew what was coming next. Join Ruth Morton and Jonathan Rozenblit for a special live recording of AlignIT Manager Tech Talk with special guest Mary Jo Foley. Mary Jo, along with Ruth and Jonathan, will be talking about the Future of IT and answering your questions. Can’t join in-person? You can watch the show LIVE online on the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk Channel. | | | | DevCamp Vancouver
Tuesday, November 15
6:30 PM – 10:00 PM PT | DevCamp is a mix of all the things you love from different events: the less formal environment that you love from BarCamp events; the great content and speakers from conferences; the quick and right-to-the-point innovative and exciting talks seen at TED or TEDx; and the power to meet other technology enthusiasts and network. Register >> | | | | | ITCamp Vancouver
Tuesday, November 15
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM PT | ITCamps are interactive, in-person learning events for IT Pros seeking professional development as it applies to Microsoft products and technologies (Data Center Virtualization, Cloud Computing, and more) as well as a great opportunity to connect with your peers. The camp takes an informal approach, with a focus on audience participation. This approach ensures attendees come away with some very real learning that can be applied on the job immediately. Register >> | | | | Mary Jo Foley Unplugged!
Wednesday, November 16
6:45 PM – 8:30 PM PT | Join Mary Jo Foley, renowned technology journalist and long time Microsoft watcher, and Canada’s own Ruth Morton for an evening of open questions and answers. Hosted by VanTUG. Register >> | If you’re not attending TechDays Vancouver in person We’re sorry that we won’t get to see you! However, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to be part of the TechDays Vancouver experience. Make sure you don’t miss the keynote with Scott Hanselman, Principal Program Manager Lead on the Web Tools team at Microsoft that will be streamed LIVE starting at 8:30 AM ET on Tuesday, November 15. Scott will be talking about putting together a whole whack of tools and frameworks into what he calls the “Web Stack of Love”. Watch LIVE >>
Add to your calendar >> Get Social. Join the Conversation. Whether you’re going to be at TechDays Vancouver in person or joining online, don’t forget that part of the experience involves you – you sharing your thoughts. Pick your network and tweet, post, or discuss away! We’ll be watching out for your tweets, posts, and discussions, as well as the speakers and community experts, so get social and join the conversations.  | Tweet using the #techdays_ca hashtag and your session code. Here’s an example: #techdays_ca #CLD301 Thinking of moving to the #cloud this way totally makes sense. #Azure | | | |  | Post your thoughts in discussions started for each session in the TechDays Canada LinkedIn group. | | | |  | Make sure to like the TechDays Canada Facebook page to get updates throughout the day. Post on the TechDays Canada wall or like others’ posts. | So now that you have the list of everything that you need for TechDays Vancouver, the only thing that remains is to show up (or if attending virtually, log on) and have a great time! The team and I are looking forward to seeing you. Make sure to stop by the Microsoft Showcase at the Partner Pavilion and say hello! 
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 You’re probably wondering what the PowerPoint slide is all about. Well let me tell you. This is the story of the TechDays Vancouver keynote.
A week from today, I have the distinct pleasure and honour (and stress!) of introducing the keynote speaker. As you heard from Damir a little while ago, that speaker is none other than Mr. Scott Hanselman. How do you introduce someone that needs no introduction? Someone that pretty much every developer knows (and if you don’t, you’ll want to, and will on Tuesday!), who speaks at conferences all around the world, has two podcast series, and writes books? More importantly, how do you introduce a total, 100% developer kind of guy to you all - my infrastructure professional colleagues? The answer – I don’t know (yet!), but whatever it is, it will have to create an “Ooo! Ahh!” moment for developers and IT Pros alike! So far, the PowerPoint slide is as far as I have gotten! I won’t tell you how long it took to get to that point.  By the time you get to the Vancouver Convention Centre or by the time you watch the keynote live online (as with TechDays Toronto, the keynote will be streamed live on the TechDays homepage starting at 7:30 AM PST/Vancouver Time), I will have figured out a way to introduce Scott and his session about putting together a whole whack of tools, frameworks, and technologies together into a “Web Stack of Love” and make it make sense for both the developers and the IT pros in the room!
You’ll just have to be there or tune in online to see what I come up with. In the meantime, back to PowerPoint I go. Looking forward to see you all, 
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A few days ago I posted the resources for the TechDays 2011 Communications and Collaboration track. This post is intended to provide those who attended session in the Data Platform track to be able to continue their learning with the resources listed for each of the sessions delivered at TechDays 2011 in Toronto, as well as overall resources for the track. As was evident from the content, a large focus of the Data Platform track at TechDays 2011 was business intelligence, as well as SQL Server 2012 (formerly SQL Server code-named “Denali”). Sessions also dealt with topics such as some of the T-SQL coding options in SQL Server 2008R2 and SQL Server 2012, as well as techniques to migrate to SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012. Hopefully you left each session understanding all the concepts and knowing exactly what you needed to do in order to take advantage of the great features of SQL Server in your organization. Below you’ll find all of the resources mentioned in each of the sessions so that you can continue your learning today (rather than having to wait until the sessions are available on TechDays Online in early December): Highlighted in all sessions: Resources for individual sessions DAT274 - A Lap around Microsoft Business Intelligence - Part 1 
DAT275 - A Lap around Microsoft Business Intelligence - Part 2 DAT279 - New Business Intelligence Functionality in Microsoft SQL Server 2012 DAT302 - Introducing the Next Generation High Availability Solution: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn DAT304 - What's New in Manageability for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 DAT318 - The T-SQL Cookbook: What's Cool in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and New in SQL Server 2012
DAT319 - Upgrading to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012: A Comprehensive Look
Looking ahead to TechDays Vancouver Stay tuned to next week’s post where I’ll go over what is in store for you in the Data Platform track at TechDays Vancouver! If you haven’t yet registered for TechDays Vancouver (or Montreal, for that matter), there’s still time to register. Register today >> Make sure to check out the TechDays LinkedIn group. TechDays Facebook page, and/or the TechDays Twitter feed to join the conversations and get the latest updates. 
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 Over the last few weeks I have received many emails from individuals across the country asking about TechDays 2011 so I figured I would give you all an update.
Over the last few months the team and I have been discussing how we can make TechDays 2011 even better than in previous years. We took your feedback over the last three years as the basis of our discussion on making an improved TechDays 2011 – an even better experience and even more value! Here is what you told us you want to see and get from TechDays: - Give me more content!
- Let me understand how all the pieces fit together
- Help me to acquire these skills all year long
- Let me play with the technology
- Let me spend more time with partners to understand how they can help me
- Make it easier for me to find speakers and experts to answer my questions
- Let me connect to the office while I am at the event
My goal for TechDays 2011, is to provide you with a richer in-person experience as well as a robust year-round online technical learning capability. At the same time I also want to be able to deliver all of the things you have asked for at the reasonable cost that TechDays has always been known for. In order to make all this happen, the team and I had to have some tough conversations and make some difficult decisions/trade-offs. In the end, after much deliberation and debate, I realized we needed to reduce the number of in-person events, and increase the online investment in order to deliver on the things you are asking us for. So what does this mean? Starting in October 2011, TechDays will transform into an enhanced continuous online learning portal and, for 2011, include three in-person events starting on October 25th in Toronto with Vancouver to follow two weeks later and Montreal two weeks after that (exact dates and locations will be announced on the TechDays website in a few weeks). In order to make it easier for individuals outside of those locations to attend the in-person events, we are working with airline and hotel partners to provide discounted travel and hotel options, which will be announced on the TechDays website in the next few weeks. By making this tough decision to reduce the number of cities TechDays will visit, and focus on an ongoing online experience, I believe that we can deliver on those elements that are, according to your feedback, most important to you, and really enhance your overall experience. I am really excited to share what this actually will look like with you. - Content is king! – Across the board you have told us that you want more sessions and not just on shipping products but also on key new technologies. TechDays 2011 will include sessions on current products like Windows 7, Office 2010, Windows Server 2008 R2, Visual Studio 2010, but also on upcoming releases such as on System Center 2012, Windows 8, Windows Phone 7 “Mango”, HTML5 and IE9/IE10, SQL Server “Denali”, Office365, and more! In fact, my goal is to have more sessions at TechDays 2011 than ever before!
- Show me the big picture! – Individual sessions are a great way to dig deep into a specific technology area. Many of you wanted to get a broader understanding on how all the pieces of the Microsoft stack fit together. This year we will have a keynote presentation at every TechDays 2011 in-person event to give you that big picture perspective, and I’m looking to get some real heavy hitters to deliver those keynotes!
- Learning is a year-round activity – Your feedback is clear – you really like the TechDays in-person experience. However, you need to keep up-to-date on Microsoft-based technologies year-round. Later this year we will be launching an expanded and richer TechDays Online experience providing Canadian developers and IT professionals with updated and relevant technical learning content gleaned, not just from the TechDays in-person events, but also from other sources like Microsoft TechEd, the BUILD conference, MIX, Microsoft Management Summit, SharePoint Conference, and many more. I also want to highlight content created by Canadian MVPs, local gurus, and Microsoft Canada’s own technical experts. My goal is to make TechDays Online your one-stop shop for great technical learning content all year round and in the future!
- More hands-on with the technology – Going to conferences I liked the option of attending a session to hear a local expert tell me about a technical topic and show me, through demos, how to use the products. Every time I find myself wanting to play with it on my own. I know that many of you feel the same way so this year all TechDays 2011 in-person events will include both instructor-led and self-paced hands-on labs for you to get familiar with the technology. These same labs will also be available on TechDays Online allowing you to try the technology when you need to learn it, on your timetable.
- More time with Partners and Sponsors – At TechDays 2010 in Toronto we piloted the idea of a Partner Fair to allow attendees to interact with organizations whose products and services complement the technologies being discussed in the technical sessions. The idea proved very popular and many requests to extend this concept, as well as requests to increase the sponsorship opportunities available to those who would like to connect with the attendees. For TechDays 2011, we will have an improved Partner Fair in each city hosting at TechDays 2011 in-person event.
- More time with speakers and experts – The Ask-The-Experts area concept at previous TechDays was a good idea but not very well implemented, or so you told us. Speakers and experts were sometimes hard to find for the topic you wanted an answer to, and it was not clear where to engage these individuals, which you told me was frustrating. At TechDays 2011 you will find a Microsoft Showcase within the Partner Fair that will include technology and product pods staffed by speakers and experts allowing you to easily identify where to go to get your question answered.
- Free WiFi – I can’t begin to count the number of comments I have read on TechDays evaluation forms asking for wireless at the event. It is the one request we get from almost everyone. At TechDays 2011 in-person events you will be able to connect to a wireless network in the common areas and respond to that critical email, or connect back to the server using RDP. I’m really excited to be finally able to offer this to you!!
Now, I understand that those of you living in cities that TechDays has visited in the past may have some concerns with the reduction in the number TechDays in–person events, but I want to assure you that while TechDays 2011 may not be coming to your city, we are committed to supporting you in your locale in 2011 and the future. Some of the ways we will be doing this include: - Participation in locally organized events such as Prairie DevCon, DevTeach, SQL Saturday #93, and others.
- Working with local Partners and being actively involved in events they organize, such as the Epic Technology Day in October in Winnipeg, among others.
- Working with community and user groups across the country and participating in their regular meetings throughout the year, as well as getting MVPs and others involved to deliver sessions that you want to hear.
- And many others. In fact, if you hear of a local event that Microsoft should be a part of, or want to look at organizing a local “TechDay” in your city, email me at td_can@microsoft.com and let’s talk. We can assist you with content, speakers, and other support to help you succeed!
In the next couple of weeks we will be launching the TechDays 2011 web site and announce pricing and many more details. In the meantime, please feel free to send me an email at td_can@microssoft.com or leave a comment on the blog if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to the conversation. 
Damir Bersinic, TechDays Canada Program and Skills Manager 
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A little something snuck out last week, besides Service Pack 1 for MSDN and TechNet subscribers.
The team who put together TechDays 2010 in 8 cities across Canada, working with over 180 speakers and partners to reach in excess of 5500 Technical professionals has taken the next step. In order to help as many people as possible in the Canadian ICT ecosystem – regardless if you were able to attend or not – you now have access to all the content.
Yup – full HD video of the sessions and their demos, slide decks, additional resources – including dedicated Virtual Labs.
We decided as a leadership team to make the investment so that you could invest in your Skills development. We’ve made the commitment (and delivered on it) to make the content available to you for everyone to see.
Come on over to www.techdays.ca and check it out. over 70 sessions of technical content across 6 tracks covering all sorts of technologies. The videos were captured primarily in Toronto, but there is also a strong contingent from Montreal in French!
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TechDays, Microsoft Canada’s cross-country technical conference for developers and IT pros, heads to Halifax next week! So far, we’ve been to Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto, and now it’s time to head out east. TechDays Halifax will take place on Tuesday, November 2 and Wednesday, November 3 at the World Trade Centre (1800 Argyle Street). As with TechDays in every other city, there’s a lot going on: - CloudCamp on Monday, November 1. On the day before TechDays, we’re sharing our venue with the folks behind CloudCamp, the unconference on cloud computing. To find out more about CloudCamp, check out the registration page.
- TechDays proper takes place on Tuesday, November 2 and Wednesday, November 3. We’re talking about 60 sessions on programming, systems administration, Microsoft technologies and “best practices” (I hate the use that term, but I’m at a loss for another phrase that captures its meaning). We take the content from big-ticket conferences like TechEd North America, MIX and PDC, give it to “local heroes” to present, bring it all to a city near you and charge a few hundred (instead of a few thousand) bucks.
- TechDays Gives Back! We’re asking TechDays attendees to bring a non-perishable food item to the conference. All food will go to a local food bank.
- Go DEVMental happens at the TechDays venue on the evening of Tuesday, November 2 – it’s our student event! If you’re a post-secondary student looking to get into web or phone development, you’ll want to catch Go DEVMental, where we’ll show you what’s possible with Microsoft tools and technologies, and you’ll walk away with a DreamSpark membership and fully-functional copies of Visual Studio Professional 2010 and Expression Blend. It doesn’t cost anything to attend; you just have to be a post-secondary student (with the ID to prove it. To attend, register here!
- We’ll be holding a Windows Phone 7 Coffee and Code during the afternoon of Thursday, November 4 at Just Us Café on Barrington (1678 Barrington Street) from 2 to 5:30 p.m. Come on down, see Windows Phone 7 devices up close and personal, and if you’ve got an app that you want to test on a real device instead of the emulator, this is your chance!
See you next week! This article also appears in Global Nerdy. 
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(originally appears on Canadian DevBlog) 
Hello from Vancouver! I’m here at the first stop of TechDays, Microsoft' Canada’s 8-city cross-country conference series for developers and IT pros. It’s a gorgeous, sunny and almost cloudless day, a nice change from the gloomy weather we had this weekend. 
The sunshine is perfect for our new TechDays Vancouver venue, the Vancouver Convention Centre’s new west building, whose glass walls provide a spectacular view of the harbour, as seen below: 
We’ve been here since 7 a.m., and the conference centre crew were here even earlier. The crowd started arriving around 8, with much of them arriving about 8:30. A little hint, folks: an early arrival means you get registered quickly, and you get enough time to enjoy a free breakfast to boot! 
With the clock approaching nine came the scramble for the session rooms. Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building is a huge place, and out attendees are going to get a fair bit of exercise getting from session to session. C’mon, people, it’s good for your cardiovascular systems! 
Here’s Miguel Carrasco from Imaginet delivering the opening talk for the “Developing for Three Screens and the Cloud” track: 
And in the “Optimizing the Development Process” track, here’s Bruce Johnston talking about real-world patterns for cloud computing: 
This article also appears in Global Nerdy. 
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We’re heading to Vancouver! TechDays 2010 is about to start. (…intro sappy music) All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye… - John Denver, 1966 (I’ve already started packin’ my bag, I’m not quite ready to go just yet – but the song is fitting none the less. ) It’s the start of TechDays season on our team. It’s a little something that we’ve been working on over the last few months - hand in hand with members of the Technical Community across Canada. The Vancouver track of speakers are primed and ready to go, “the truck” of stuff we ship from location to location left last week to meet us in Vancouver. We’re dotting the i(s) and crossing the t(s). You’ve heard about the marketing stuff (60 sessions, local experts, networking opportunities, special offers from partners, collaboration lounge) – that’s all said and done. Now it’s show time! Some Advice… 
(Photo taken by Bobak Ha'Eri, on June 4, 2009) - I put up the lovely picture from Bobak on Wikipedia of the West building – because that is where it’s all going down this year. DON’T GO TO THE OLD BUILDING – WE WON’T BE THERE.
- If you haven’t already done so – go back to the TechDays.ca site and look at the schedule builder to pre-plan your sessions. Figure out which ones you want to go to AND ALSO ALTERNATES. Why the alternates? Some proactive planning – in case your primary choice is not your cup of tea – you will know where to go.
- We’ll have printed agendas/guides (and a cool pen) that you can use to take notes and find your way, complete with session details and partner offerings.
- I say this every year and I will say it again. Use the “non session time” to make new networking connections. Seriously. Introduce yourself to people in the session you are attending – there is a good chance THEY share similar technical interests and could become valuable resources FOR YOU in the future.
- TALK WITH THE SPEAKERS. we won’t bite! Just don’t take offense if we’re busy immediately after the session ends or just before it starts. Take the time to “book” us to talk in the Experts Area, during lunch or during breaks.
- Check out the Collaboration Lounge. I am very stoked about this – very well received the last couple of years we did it. This time around the focus is on Windows 7, alternate interfaces (touch experiences and different form factors) and cool devices (Windows Phone 7). It will even have and xBox Kinect – so get ready to get up and MOVE in a controller-less world.
- We’re around before, during and after TechDays. The team will be in Vancouver until mid day on Friday. We’re going to be doing a “coffee and code” in every city where you can get some hands on time with Windows Phone 7 or grab a cup’a joe and chat with one of us.
- If you want to keep in touch with all the “official” and “unofficial” activities – follow the #TechDays_ca hashtag on twitter. you never know where we’ll end up.
Oh yeah – in case I forgot - Have Fun! Make sure to stop me in the hallways and tell me how it’s going and what we can do to make it better, eh? I’ll be the one wearing the green hat. 
IT Pro Team Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
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 Over the last few weeks I have been getting more and more emails from individuals wondering when the abstracts for the 50+ sessions available at TechDays 2010 will be posted. The wait is over! You can view all of the sessions and their abstracts at www.techdays.ca/sessions - remember to click on each track to see the sessions that are available in that track.
I am really excited about this year’s content. We have sessions on how to develop applications in Silverlight for both the PC as well as Windows Phone 7. We have an entire track with great sessions where you will learn the tips and tricks of deploying Windows 7, Office 2010, Office Web Apps, and more in your organization, as well as how to troubleshoot when things go awry. The Collaboration: The Next Generation track has sessions on migrating to SharePoint 2010 as well as Exchange 2010, and how to protect the content in these critical business applications, and more. You will also learn how to take advantage of Microsoft-based development tools and good development practices and procedures to optimize the development and testing of applications whether developing as a group or individually. Finally, you will learn how to effectively use virtualization in a variety of scenarios, protect your infrastructure, and tricks on how to make Active Directory work for you.
The best part is that you don’t have to pick sessions from only a single track. You can make your own customized agenda of TechDays 2010 sessions allowing you to grow the skills you need in your job. If you have not yet registered for TechDays 2010, register now at www.techdays.ca and then click on the “My Schedule” link in the top right to build your agenda; if you have already registered, go to www.techdays.ca and sign in with your Windows LiveID to start building your schedule.
One more thing…there are six tracks at TechDays 2010 but you will notice that www.techdays.ca/sessions only lists sessions in 5 of them. The Local Flavours track and its content is up to you and your peers! We are looking for passionate individuals (developers, IT professionals, designers, IT architects, etc.) who have an idea for a great session to let us know and submit their session for possible inclusion at TechDays 2010 in your city. The submission form and information on the process can be found at http://www.techdays.ca/sessions?Track=Local+Flavours. Please download both documents, fill out the submission form with your great session idea and email to us at td_can@microsoft.com.
TechDays 2010 is shaping up to be the best yet. Please visit www.techdays.ca for more information or to register and take advantage of the Early Bird rate of $349.99 plus tax - (about 50% off the full conference fee of $699.99).
If you have a question about TechDays, send me an email at td_can@microsoft.com and I’ll get you an answer. I REALLY do love getting your emails.
Damir Bersinic
TechDays 2010 Program & Skills Manager
Microsoft Canada 
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