Tech Ed: Registrations slower in 2009
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Microsoft expects similar numbers to last year at developer event
By Rob O'Neill | Auckland | Friday, 11 September, 2009
When last year’s Tech Ed conference sold out quickly, Microsoft made plans to increase capacity at its keynote developer event.
However, speaking this week to go, Microsoft’s director of developer and platform strategy, Scott Wylie, said tickets were still available to the Auckland event and that additional capacity is unlikely to be needed.
Tech Ed kicks off on Monday and runs for three days.
Wylie says Microsoft now expects around the same number of attendees as last year, about 2100. He says he is happy with that result given the economic environment and a drop-off in numbers of up to 40 percent at some other ICT industry events.
Wylie says Windows 7 will be the centrepiece of Tech Ed 2009. A session on developing for the platform is the most popular in terms of bookings, closely followed by one on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, to be delivered by Intergen’s Chris Auld.
But apart from that, there’s “all sorts going on”, he says.
Picking some sessions to watch, Wylie says a live hacking demonstration, dubbed Hack Ed and scheduled for just after midday on Wednesday, should attract some attention. Xero’s Kirk Jackson will build a website that will then be attacked live on stage, he says.
Other sessions he points to include Michael Howard, a former Microsoft New Zealand employee now in the US, on security, Auld on Azure and Ben Armstrong, programme manager at Microsoft US, on virtualisation.
Tech Ed New Zealand is unique in featuring a “voice of the customer” track, this year featuring users such as Powerco (see below), Plunket, Kiwibank, Express Couriers and NZ Post.
Wylie says another notable trend in registrations this year is that a lot more are coming from individuals rather than corporates. He says this could be a sign that smaller companies who did not move quickly enough to get tickets last year, are doing so this year.
“People are still investing in training and that’s good for the industry,” he says.
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