My thoughts on Microsoft's Tech Ed. OK, I'm a little bit bitter because the conference closed out registration over six weeks before it started! Since I wasn't sponsored by Microsoft or INETA or some other organization that has tie-ins, I was going to pay on my own dime - like last year. However, it takes a little bit of time to pull together thousands of dollars not to mention I was very busy putting in an excellent SharePoint system.

But, having some time to think about the conference from last year I recalled that I couldn't make it to all the presentations I wanted to (heck the XML presentation was maxed out...if you came late - too bad). The numbers of attendees, the sheer size of the facilities, and lack of detailed information on what each presentation was about just didn't make it very cost effective. Of course, for some, Tech Ed is a place to see and be seen in the developer community. Kind of like the Cannes Film Festival.

Tech Ed - too big, too expensive, too exclusive, and not enough ice cream.

Besides, I have too very interesting projects - for money - to work on right now!

For more on Tech Ed, see Sahil Malik's blog. He's taking a survey of who's going and who's not.