Editor’s note: The following post was written by Windows Expert –Consumer Hal Hostetler
It’s Thursday evening, we leave for Amsterdam Saturday morning, I’m thoroughly stoked, and really looking forward to it! Here are a few of the things that have my attention:
First of all, Amsterdam, itself! I’ve only been to Europe once and that was to attend TechEd Europe in Berlin, Germany in 2010. The trip to Berlin was a real eye opener and I expect nothing less from this journey. My wife and I like to watch travel shows and Amsterdam has been featured on most of them at one time or another. I’ve recorded some of these and moved them to my netbook’s hard drive so we’ll have a list of things to see, places to go, and food to eat when we get there.
Secondly, I’m looking forward to meeting the people attending the event. I had no idea what to expect in 2010 and I discovered that the folks attending TechEd there were very much like those who attend the North American event, friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and holding a strong sense of community. Indeed, I encountered several folks in Germany that I’d met earlier in the year at TechEd NA in New Orleans. I made many new friends in Germany, most of whom still keep in touch; I anticipate that a number of them will be attending the event in Amsterdam, so I’m looking forward to many glorious reunions.
I’m also looking forward to the event, itself. I learned a great deal at the North American event last week, but there just wasn’t time to attend all the sessions I wanted to see, so I now have a second chance. Since technology marches on, there have been some new products released/updated since last week (Windows Phone 8, for example) that I’ll have the opportunity to learn about. All in all, this is shaping up to be a win-win-win situation. How will it actually go? Stay tuned, folks, I’ll be back with the details a little over a week hence!