So following on from TechEd in New Zealand, I flew over to Australia to give my talk on Developing for Windows Vista. Last year TechEd was held in the Gold Coast which was an awesome venue IMHO.. this year it was in Sydney down at the convention centre down at Darling Harbour.
Doesnt look so big on the outside..
One thing you notice about the Aussie Tech Ed's in comparison to New Zealand is the larger budget they must be operating under. Everything is just a lot "bigger", from the self serve registration kiosks sitting lonely in a giant hall to the size of the marketplace area (which also included the Hands on Labs, Food Hall and CommNet alleys), there was no shortage of space to go around. Sky is a good venue in terms of having the amount of space in rooms, but it really doesnt compare in terms of the sheer amount of room available to create the ambiance achieved in the Sydney Convention Centre or the Gold Coast Convention Centre last year. Just such a pity we dont have better venue choices over here.
A 360 Zone
So all in all, I enjoyed my time over there. I have heard rumours that the format for next year is going to change slightly so that it will be a little less rushed jumping between the two events. Thats definitely for the better for all! So hope to be back next year guys! I hear its at the Gold Coast again ;)