As long as I can remember to update it.
Follow me here.
You may be wondering why I haven't been posting my VSTS Links lately. Part of that has to do with Tech Ed 2008. I was there all last week, and presenting for the first time (for more on that, see my personal blog at http://www.teamsystemrocks.com/blogs/mickey_gousset), so I got a little behind in my reading.
This weekend, when I went to catch up, I noticed something odd. FeedDemon was not synching up with blogs.msdn.com or weblogs.asp.net. I tried updating to the latest version, and still no dice. So I didn't have easy access to all the information from the MSDN bloggers, which provide a good bit of content for VSTS Links. I did some searching, and come up with the following links about the problem:
Looks like the work-around for the time being is to move these feeds into a folder that does not synch with NewsGator. That's going to be a major pain, but I like FeedDemon, so I'll deal with it for the time being.
I'll get the VSTS Links back on track in a couple of days. Thanks for your patience!
So I'm done! I did it! I have now officially presented my first Break Out Session at Tech Ed. And it feels good!
I had a nice crowd, probably around 60-70 people. I only saw a few people leave during the presentation, so a majority stayed. I spent about 5-10 minutes before the session started talking with people, about Team System, Tech Ed, and whatever else came up.
I felt like my presentation went well. All my demos worked the way I wanted them to, and I felt like I communicated the points I wanted told. I had several people come up and ask questions afterwards. All in all it was a great time.
I'll blog more about it later. Right now its time to relax...
So, this will be my last blog post until after my presentation. I ran through the demos quickly this morning, and everything stills seems to work (as you would expect it to). At this point I feel pretty comfortable with my demos, I just want to make sure I keep the audience entertained. I keep hearing people saying how they have had issues with the Virtual PC tech we are using this year. That scares me a little, since I am using it, but everything seemed to go find at Tech Check last night, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
For those coming to the session, come a little early. I'll get there about 12:30. I think there is a lunch time session in that room, but they should be done by 12:45. I'll fire everything up, and that'll give us time to sit around and shoot the breeze before the session starts. And of course, after the session, I'll move discussions and questions down to the TLC, where we can hang out in a little more comfort. I'll stick around and answer questions (or pull other people in to answer questions) for as long as you would like me to.
I'll even have a little swag to give away, if you can answer a couple of quiz questions right....
S230A....See ya there.
So I had the trifecta completed yesterday. I was working in the TLC (Thanks Anu for putting up with me), and a couple of guys walked up to me around 5:45 PM and told me that they knew me from my book. Thank you guys, you made my day. So now I've been recognized from the book, the podcast, and the website. Rock on.
I took the wuss move and stayed in last night, instead of hitting the MVP party. I decided to, shockingly, run through my presentation one last time, because today is the day. It's Presentation Day!
So of course, I'm up at 5 AM, because I can't sleep. But I'm experience less of the "oh crap I'm speaking and Tech Ed and scared out of my mind" and more of the "Ok, I'm ready to get this show on the road and see how I do". Looking back through this series of blog posts, its apparent that I have been a little "nervous", and I have. But don't think for a moment I haven't been enjoying it, because its been a great wild wide.
I'll be talking in S230A at 1 PM on Web Testing with VSTS. You can have all the free soft drinks that you want (my personal favorite is Diet Mountain Dew, BTW). My goal is to show you some examples of web testing that go beyond just the basic record a web test and slap a validation rule in there, though that is in there too. You have to start somewhere. But I'm going to show data driven web testing, custom extraction rules, web test plugins, and coded web tests. I feel these tools get overlooked, because they aren't as well known, or sound complicated, and I want to highlight how useful and easy they can be to use. My examples may not be NASA-like in their hardness, but I think they help convey the point of what you can do with these technologies. And you never know, we might bust out some Jonathan Coulton. :)
Also, if you come to my session, make sure you fill out an eval. I'm sure you are tired of speakers saying that to you, but in my case I'd really love to see the results of my first time speaking. Even if you have to get up in the middle of the session and leave (which is perfectly fine), you can still fill one out. And if you can take a couple of extra minutes to leave comments, that would be even better. The numbers are nice, but its the comments that are going to help me become a better presenter, which is my goal. So the more comments you have, good, bad, or indifferent, ultimately will help me next time I get up in front of a group.
This morning, I'm going to hit breakfast, and then Mike Azocar's talk on Team System Testing with Virtual Machines (not the actual name, but close enough so you can find it. Hey, it's 5 in the morning). After that I'll look through my stuff one more time in the speaker room, and then probably hang in the TLC till time for my talk. I'll be in the room around 12:30, to do a quick tech check, so if you want to come by early and hang out and talk before the session starts, please do. I'll be the guy in the nice light blue shirt that stays wrinkled no matter how much you iron it (and I tried last night, I really did). After the session, I'll take any questions people have back down to the TLC (to get out of the way for the next speaker). And, last but not least, I'll be signing my book at the bookstore from 3:30 to 4 today (at least I think that is still the plan). You don't have to buy a copy, but I'd love people to just come hang out and chat, so I don't sit there all alone, looking like a puppy waiting for adoption (insert sad puppy eyes here).
I'm ready to get this day going....
So, should you be scared when Steven Borg is playing with a vacuum cleaner, flashing red light, and blender? Maybe, maybe not. But apparently they are all going to be used during his Team Build session, so this should be pretty fun.
Uh oh, it looks like he has some sort of projectile device as well....
Had another ego-boost today. I was walking to lunch, and the gentleman next to me asked me if I was Mickey Gousset from the Radio TFS podcast! Turns out he had just listened to the latest episode this morning. So now all I need is for someone to come up and say they recognize me from my book, and I'll have the trifecta!
Speaking of my book, I am doing a book signing from 3:30 PM to 4 PM on Thursday, June 6 at the bookstore. I checked on Monday and there were 10 copies of the book. I checked yesterday and there were still 10 copies of the book. :D
As far as my presentation goes, I think I have made my peace with it. I'm satisfied with where it is at, and I think it is the kind of session I would find interesting, so no more worrying about it (at least until tonight).
Ok, time to learn all about Team Build. Don't forget, I present tomorrow (Thursday) in Room S320A.
So I've run through my presentation again, found one issue with a demo, and fixed it. My presentation should be about 80% demo and 20% slides. Based on some of the rumblings I've heard, attendees want to see more hands on demo, so that is what I hope I'm providing them.
I'm hanging out in the TLC right now till the Tech Expo opens, and then I'll make one quick pass through there, to say hello to some of the people I know working the booths (and possibly see if there is any good swag).
As I mentioned before, this afternoon I'm going to a couple of sessions (in addition to Steven's Team Build talk, I'll be going to a lunch session on how to write for MSDN magazine), and then I'll be in the TLC till 6.
I'm in the speaker room now, about to run through my presentation a couple of times. Think happy thoughts for me.
Last night we had a dinner with several of the Team System MVPs and some product group members. It is always fun to get us all in a room together and watch us argue. :) We went to one of those places where it's five different courses, but you basically only get to select your main dish, and everything else is set for you. The first thing they brought out was this little cracker-like thing with some unidentifiable stuff on it. Jeff Levinson and I kept looking at each other with a "You try it and then I'll try it" kind of look. Jeff finally went first. It was pretty good. Then when the soup came out, it was my turn to go first. That was pretty good too.
After the dinner we went to Doug's Geekfest party at the piano bar. I had not been in a piano bar in a while, and had forgotten how fun they were. I hung there for about an hour, then hitched a ride back to the hotel to look at my presentation again.
So here I am this morning, about to head over to the convention center and queue up my VHD to get loaded for my presentation tomorrow. And I have to admit I'm now getting really nervous. I've set in on several sessions, and seen what I like and didn't like about how some speakers did their thing. My biggest concern is my demos, to be honest. I don't know if people will be expecting some sort of huge, esoteric, very complicated-type stuff, but if you are, you'll be in the wrong place. I have a message to convey, and I want to point out some tools that are available in the product that some people don't use, because they are either unaware of the tools, are concerned that they are too complicated. I didn't want my demo to get in the way of that message, so intentionally kept it relatively simple.
My schedule today is pretty simple. I'll be spending most of the morning in the speaker room, running through my presentation, or over in the TLC, just hanging out. I'm headed to the Team Build Muscle Man presentation at 1 PM, and then I'll be working in the TLC from 3-6. I'd love for at least one person to come by today and say they have been reading these Tech Ed Daze posts, :D. After that, I've got my Tech Check at 7.
So, no one came by to see me at the blogger lounge, but I took the time to work on my presentation some more (bit surprise there. Ya'll are definitely going to get tired of me talking about that, I'm sure. :D ).
Lunch wasn't bad today. We had a table full of Team System MVPs, along with Ed Hintz from Microsoft. The discussion ranged from the TFS Migration Toolkit to how to break into a safe if you don't have the combination (and it's a lot easier than you think).
I stopped back by the TLC, where I had my first ego-boosting moment. A guy named Mike stopped me and said he was a big fan of Team System Rocks! Woo Hoo! My blog and I were recognized. If I had any TSR swag I would have given him some, but alas, I am a poor website owner. But it was kinda cool to be recognized. So thanks for making my day Mike!
I also got a hug from Mary-Jo Foley today. She was signing her book Microsoft 2.0 in the bookstore, and I stopped by to say hello and finally meet her in person. She is a very nice person.
The keynote went ok, as keynotes go. I'm currently in the Tech Ed Blogger Lounge area, if anyone reads this in the next hour and wants to come by and chat. :D
6 AM comes so early.
So I didn't sleep well last night. Mostly from the excitement of the first full day of Tech Ed. I did run through my presentation again last night, trying to use some of the tips that my speaking coach gave me. It went well, but I forgot to include my real-world stories. That's right, come to my session on Thursday, and you'll get to hear some real-world stories of how web testing is being used. A couple of them might surprise you.
I'm headed to breakfast, and then the keynote. Bill Gates is talking, so it should be interesting. After the keynote, I'll be in the blogger lounge until close to noon. So if you want to talk about Team System Rocks, Team System in general, or the topic of your choice, come by, pull up a chair, and let's chat.
I've got a couple of sessions marked that I might go to this afternoon, or I may just hang out at the TLC. I'm not sure yet.
Made it through Speaker Orientation. :D Actually, it wasn't that bad. They gave us some overview tips, and then we went down to the TLC to look over our stations. I'll be helping out in the TLC on Wednesday, June 4th, from 2-6, in the Team Foundation Server section, so come by and say hello. I'll also be hanging out there a good bit of the time, when I'm not in sessions.
After orientation, I went back to the speaker room to work on things for a little bit. Doug and Erika, our track leads, threw a speaker get-together at the Red Coconut Club, so I crashed that for a little bit, and then headed back to the room. I was going to hit the Party for Palermo, but I think I'm going to run through my presentation one more time. Tomorrow is going to be crazy, and I may not have time to run through it then.
My day tomorrow starts around 7 AM. I'll grab some breakfast, then to the keynote. After that I'll hit the Tech Ed Blogger lounge for about an hour, so come say hello. I'm going to the lunchtime session on "How To Become an Author on Microsoft Technologies", and then some sessions that afternoon, but I haven't decided which.
I've registered at Tech Ed. Speakers have their own line, but I noticed that even the attendee lines were not very long. Of course, today is the pre-conference, so tomorrow will really tell. I expect attendance to be less, since they split Tech Ed over two weeks, but it will be interesting to see if I can really tell it's less, based on the number of people.
I had my speaker training, which I really enjoyed. The trainer video tapes you while you are speaking, and then watches it back with you, pointing out some ways you could be more effective. I got a good bit out of it, including that I should actually use my hands more. As well, we came up with a couple of presentation ideas. So if you are coming to my session (Applied Web Testing with Visual Studio Team System, Thursday, June 5th, 1 PM), be on the lookout for the "Tupelo Tips".
I then caught up with Mike Azocar, a co-worker who is also presenting, and we hung in the speaker room for a while. I'm now back at my hotel to take my medicine (dang bronchitis) and work a little bit, before heading back for Speaker Orientation.
Copyright (C) 2005-2006 by Notion Solutions, Inc.