Vlad Mazek – Vladville Blog

Ok, so I got guilted into this post. Here is some interesting stuff in a few pictures. Needless to say SBS R2 is everywhere but nobody is saying anything about it, at all. So its even less of a non-event than even the biggest cynics presented.

But screw SBS, this event has been awesome for a 1.0. The symposium has all the SMB leaders you’re used to and I’m in the middle of a four-way Schragging of the MSP panel.

The UK crew (headed by Susanne) did an incredible job promoting SMB ITPRO collaboration and business relationships – we video taped it and got approval from Robbie The Man to post it on Vladfire. If you're in Cambridge and have a 4pin-to-4pin firewire cable I'll post it tonight.

Let's see, who is here. Eric Ligman, virtually all of TS2 (Ron, Charles V.H., Fred Pullen, Stephen Cracknell, Indy, Mike Marshall, Mark Moore of mspartnerevents.com), Jessica Emmons, our new PCM in the Gulf, lots and lots of big Microsoft folks.

Two spotlights: Charles Van Heusen offered to kick my ass and I nearly dropped my laptop on Karl Palachuk. I was doing a demo for Karl, surrounded by geeks and someone came over with, and I quote: "Vlad, there is a pretty girl that wants to meet you." Poor Karl didn't even know what hit him.     

Vlog.. bad idea. I'm not used to having complete strangers knowing who I am… 

Here are a few shots for your enjoyment.

Microsoft really did a great job with this event. I like the bar, I really, really do. The atmosphere is relaxed, content is professional, they aren't flooding us with food, everything seems to be remarkably well organized, on time… Just remarkably well done, to the point of shock. 

The false sense of security check is bright and green and nobody seems to care except one. Greetings from Boston Susan, are we even now?

P.S. So many questions about comments… The comments are now closed. Will likely remain so indefinitely. The comments via trackbacks (ie, if you create a comment about my post it will show up on comments) are still enabled. I'm OOF so I don't have the time to filter the obscene comments from all of Susannes fans and I sort of feel that if you think you have a valuable opinion that is strong enough to prompt you to comment on my blog perhaps you need to start a blog of your own. Give it a shot, www.blogger.com, it's far easier than it sounds.

Update: Can't believe I forgot this. Big thanks to Eric Ligman for hooking us up with the SBSC blue badge. More flare, now I'm a complete Microsoft certification xmas tree.. 🙂  

Update 2: Thanks to Schrag for hooking me up with Wifi access this morning. Schrag is here for the whole week btw, $2k+ dropped on an event by a guy that won't drop $10 for professional business cards. Think there is value in professional conventions now?

With the recent degradation in the quality of service provided in the lower ends of the IT market many IT Professionals have called for some minimum barriers to entry. Unfortunately, there is not much that separates your Joe Plumber, Susan Accountant, Bubba MCSA and the sad thing is that the Susan Accountant is probably the best suited of all three because she has the willingness to learn. On the face, it’s difficult to spot a crook when you don’t know what you’re looking for and many have turned to Microsoft to provide an answer, the bottom so to speak.

Well, Microsoft has done just that in the form of the World Wide Partner Conference. It is, seemingly, a worthless series of keynotes and launches with a parade of powerless mid-level product managers hoping their positions exist 12 months from now. However, under that glamorous painting of receptions, keynotes, awards and parties there is an interesting aspect of powerful executive networking.. global networking, with people that have been successful enough to both build an IT business and be able to leave it for a week and drop a few thousand dollars in the process of getting there. Obviously this is a filter that doesn’t let your average “We’re a certified partner, my dog is an MCSE” and also limits other individuals that might take away from the value of such powerful networking: community leaders, user group members, etc. Virtually everyone is on equal footing up in Boston, virtually everyone paid the same price for the opportunity to network with people on their level.

So there is your bar, how do you like it? Are you above it? Are you below it?

I’m somewhat conflicted on whether to blog about it or not. Here is my take on the events – if someone invited me and I had a good time, I’m going to talk about it. I feel that’s fair. If I didn’t have a good time I’d just keep my mouth shut and not come back again. Had both happen. But I am looking at this vladville.com blog and its thirty thousand folks and I’m thinking two things:

“Why should I promote a Microsoft event for free to such a large audience?” 

“Would it be a conflict of interest for me to use OWN funds and then provide a free report on what I learned to the generally anonymous public?”
 

It’s looking like a no. At which point does community stop and business begins?