Teched Oz 2005 Speakers
Chuck has been after a bit of discussion on who he should try and get to do the keynote talk in this years Teched for Oz and New Zealand.
I put in my half-hearted two cents, but it got me thinking about talkers in general, and people who could be there and not necessarily present but be available for chat (say, at the JAM stand). I say it was half-hearted because the keynote talks are an interesting kettle of fish. Teched attracts many different types of person, so for the keynote to be of interest to everyone present (developers, sysadmins, it pros, etc) what do you talk about? I have no idea. So who do you get to talk? That's a good question :)
I've only been to one Teched so far, in 2003. I can't remember who gave the opening keynote (or the closing one for that matter), but the thing I remember most (and I'm not sure if this was from the opening or closing one - i think the opening one) was the security push. It blew me away to hear that they were actually making everyone focus on security. It was also the first time i heard the 'secure by design, secure by default, secure in deployment' catch-phrase.
To me, this was great to hear. And it was one of those things that probably was of interest to everyone present. (I'm guessing this was the opening keynote - I recall most people left the closing keynote early due to inadequate air conditioning and non-riveting talking :) So what else would make an interesting opening keynote? I choose not to answer on the grounds that I have no idea.
But who would I like to see there? Well, I can certainly suggest some names on that list. I realise this may be a whole lot of wishful thinking, but it doesn't hurt to dream. Also this list is probably about 50% a list of 'who would I like to meet one day?'.
- Soma. Who better to sit and listen to than the guy in charge of the whole show (the Visual Studio show, that is). If there's no actual talk he wanted to give, fly him for the 'Ask the Experts' dinner.
- Rob Caron. He's been a wealth of information about Team System, and has a pretty large clue about what's going on around him - he appears to anyway :) I've had an email conversation or two with him in the last couple of months, and he's certainly impressed me as a reachable and friendly guy.
- James Manning. He's my ISV buddy, and damn good one. He works somewhere in the bowels of Team Foundation. Get him over here, so I can say hi.
- Frank Arrigo. Maybe he should get the closing keynote :) (no, you're not boring, it might encourage people to stay, that's all). A talk on what he actually does, what he can do for us, and what effect the evangelism team is having the Oz Dev community would be an interesting talk, IMHO.
- Mick Stanic and Cam Reilly from the G'Day World crew. These guys should be there talking themselves up, if nothing else :)
- Anyone who works on the VB team :)
- Larry Osterman would be another fantastic guy to have at the 'Ask the Experts' dinner. He can sit next to Soma. And at the same table we'd need Raymond Chen too.
- Ari Bixhorn. I have no idea if I spelled it right, but back in the 2003 Teched he was here talking up whidbey, and showing a demo of it. I can't find a blogosphere presence, which is very annoying, but man he gave a good presentation. Get him back.
- Rory Blyth. I'm thinking he should be the warm up act for the opening keynote. You know, the stand-up comic who does the stuff before the guys you paid to see enter the room.
- Some guys off the IE Team. It'd be awesome to sit and chat about what coming in the future for IE.
- Scoble - He of the G'Day World interview fame (yes, note the unsubtle but of Google juice there :) I don't think I need to say anything about him, it should be obvious to you all. Oh alright - I want a 9-guy.
OK, I'm beat. I can't think of any more for now. But feel free to contribute to the list. I'll try to make sure Chuck sees it too, in case he can make any of my dreams come true (yeah right :)
You know the real shame though? I doubt I'll make it to Teched this year - for the exact same reason as why I didn't get there last year. It costs a packet, and my employer wouldn't send me. Hey here's a thought - there needs to be some competitions out there giving away free tickets to it (yeah, and including travel and accommodation :) Maybe on a G'Day World pod-cast, they could ask for the 10th caller through... But even if I don't make it, I still want it to rock.