SQLAuthority News – TechED 2011 – Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – Day 2

Read my complete experience series of TechEd 2011, Bangalore

TechED 2011 – Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – Day 0
TechED 2011 – Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – Day 1
TechED 2011 – Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – Day 2
TechED 2011 – Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – Day 3
TechED 2011 – Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – Day Next

Day 2 – March 24, 2011

I woke up at 5.00 AM once again, as I was planning to leave at 6.00 AM. On my way to the venue, I kept thinking about the day ahead. It was going to be a very eventful day indeed! Many things were lined up, and I had not even reached the venue yet. Anyway, the day started on a good note. I met my MVP friends in the lobby and did not realize I had been talking with them for more than 2 hours. When I finally went to attend the keynote, the hall was quite full, so I was directed to another room with a live stream. The live stream was just as exciting.

I headed to the Database Business Intelligence Track and enjoyed the new concepts of BI. I also attended the Beauty of the Web track and enjoyed one HTML5 and IE9 session. Here are the sessions I attended.

1. Rushabh Mehta presented on the Semantic Model of SQL Server Denali. It is a very new concept, and the attendees surely had a great time.
2. Harish Vaidyanathan presented on “HTML5”, and it was more than just HTML5. What a fun session it was! I did not know one could have so much fun with HTML.

After attending the sessions, I headed straight to the keynote hall for the Demo Extravaganza, where I was going to present on “Spatial Database”. Spatial Database is an interesting concept, and the response and appreciation for it encouraged me immensely. Let me share one little secret with you. Nobody noticed, not even the attendees, but I actually presented more tricks than I had initially planned. It was fun to show a new feature of SQL Server in front of 3000+ people. I had two great Demo Extravaganza hosts, Harish V and Nahash, and it was really fun to be on stage with them. They were great company, and as supporting hosts they were excellent and very important.

After the Demo Extravaganza, I went to the community party. It was a real gala time, meeting friends like Sanjay Shetty, Abhishek Kant, Abhishek Baxi, and all the MVPs. Lots of people came, and I had a fun time hanging out with fellow MVPs and community leaders. I think we should have meetups like this more often to keep the community spirit going.

I wanted to head home early, as I had two sessions to present the next day. Even though my presentations were all ready, I was slightly nervous. You know Murphy’s law: if something can go wrong, it will go wrong, and that holds true for anybody at any moment. When I left, it was already 11 PM, and I had another hour-long journey home. I reached home at midnight, and instead of sleeping, I went back to my sessions. I practiced all the demos and slide decks one more time and went to bed around 3.00 AM. One long day was over, and the next one was going to start in just 2 hours.

Also, an exciting World Cup quarterfinal between India and Australia was being played that day. Despite this, the event was house full! In case you are wondering about the result, India won the thrilling game. The Indian bowlers and batsmen did a fantastic job on the field.

Published by Pinal Dave on SQLAuthority. More of my work at pinaldave.com.