Members of the MR&D Forum will be meeting up for our second annual meeting in May 2007 in Virginia Beach. The first event which was held earlier this year was a huge success. We learned loads from each other, got to know each other a bit better and consumed lots of fine food and alcohol.
The 2007 even will officially kick off on May 3rd but we’re likely to have a big kick-off dinner again on the night before. Some of us are flying in early. There’s going to be a bigger gathering next year and it looks likely that a larger contingent will be heading over from Europe.
Based on conversations so far, we’ve got an interesting itinerary lined up. Mark Minasi will likely have loads of Vista and Longhorn information for us. Rhonda Layfield has done loads on Windows 2003 R2 (her chapters in the R2 book are excellent), is currently doing some stuff on WAIK and maybe we can get her to do an updated version of her Netmon session for V3. Nathan Winters will likely bring us up to speed on the cool stuff in Exchange 2007. Curt Spanburgh is a sure bet to discuss MS Dynamics, something I know next to nothing about. We’ve also got one confirmed special guest and my fingers are crossed for the second one. Last year, Todd Lammle scared the $&!£ out of us with his presentation on IPv6. This was a great chance to learn from people who are MVP’s, authors, world-renowned experts and at the cutting edge in terms of design and best practices.
It’s not just a geek fest though. We had as good a time after the sessions in the bars and out at Mark and Rhonda’s house. Rhonda really spoiled us rotten!
Attendance fees will cover the costs holding the event and the evenings entertainment and transport. The only other costs are getting there and staying in the hotel (on the beach!).
A special thanks has to be given to James Summerlin for organising the entire event.