The Salty Korean

On December 4th, the first inaugural MSDN Express event was a resounding success.  We had around 17 in attendance and learned a lot about some of Microsoft’s new technologies.  A big thank you goes out to Zain Naboulsi, our MSDN Developer Evangelist.  Zain, on his own initiative is helping put Northwest Arkansas on the roadmap for Microsoft’s Evangelism team.  It’s been a long time coming that our region has seen some focus and the ability to draw in such high level talent.

A big thanks to Jay Smith for creating a .Net app which randomly selected a winner of the door prizes.  The door prizes given away were:

Visual Studio 2008 Professional (Donated by me)
Microsoft Office (courtesy of Zain)
Microsoft Mouse & other goodies I can’t remember (courtesy of Zain)
Visual Studio 2008 T-Shirt (every attendee received one, thx to the Tulsa InstallFest)

I hope more of you will in the area will get the word out and participate in such great events.

Here are some important links:
Zain Naboulsi’s Blog Posting on the event: http://blogs.msdn.com/zainnab/archive/2007/12/05/msdn-express-is-a-success.aspx
Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group: http://www.nwadnug.org
Jay Smith’s Blog Posting: http://www.jaysmith.us
A big thanks goes out to New Horizons for providing the meeting place: http://www.nhark.com

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While doing my normal routine and checking out Facebook this morning, I happened to come across the What Kind of Entrepreneur Are You? Quiz.  Of course I had to take it, even though I was somewhat worried it would tell me “You have no entrepreneurial skills, get out now!”  Fortunately, I received the attached picture telling me I was a “Natural Born CEO”.

Well the whole purpose of this posting was to tell you about Intuit’s new initiative for startup companies.  You can download their free Simple Start 2008 edition (however why would you, when Microsoft’s is better?).  You can also network and connect with others as well as get other free help.  It looks like it could be a decent resource.

Note that the entry period for the grant is over.

http://jumpup.intuit.com

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With the help of Chris Koenig blog site, I was finally able to track down the link and information on how to submit a speaking proposal to TechEd 2008.

You may register using the following link, however you must contact me to get the code.  https://2008.msteched.com/cft/

You will need the following information in order to submit a topic:

Conference (Developers or IT Professionals)
Submitter Information (Name, Email, Company, URL, Title, Country) and Background
Speaker Information and Background
Topic Description
Conference
Track
Level
Product/Technologies
Session Type
Influencer

Here is some useful information to think about prior to submitting:  (I highly recommend you get a Microsoft employee to recommend your proposal)

Tech·Ed U.S. 2008 Call for Content
Because Tech·Ed is now two conferences, you must decide which event is most appropriate for your session. After you have entered your session information, select the most appropriate technical track for your content to be categorized under. Select “Unsure” to have the Tech·Ed content team tag the appropriate track. Please note the track structure is subject to change, and your session will be re-categorized if necessary.
Tips for Successful Submissions

• Write a descriptive, fun and enticing title
• Target 300-400 level technical content; 200 level content is in low demand
• Make sure your proposal is new, unique and/or refreshed content
• Take a solution oriented approach
• Align your topic to the technologies listed for the track
• Ensure there is no marketing in your content
• Showcase your speaking experience
• Focus on current technologies, which are those in beta and will be released to market prior to the next Tech·Ed
• High scoring sessions include one or more live demos

You are welcome to submit more than one proposal for content.

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As part of the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Certification program, the Microsoft Partner Program is offering $150 credit to the first 5000 partners who sign up.  You can find out more here: https://microsoft.mrmpslc.com/InnovateOnWindowsServer/KeywordAdvertising.aspx.

Note that it requires $5 to sign up.

Supposedly you can also receive $75 credit for signing up for the Microsoft Referral Program and $100 for each customer you sign up.  I’ll talk more about this in a follow up blog.

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