TechDays San Francisco. Nifty small conference everyone should attend.

Howdy,

I don't know about you, but for me, money's just getting tighter these days. I can afford to attend fewer and fewer events. Despite their being the best way for me to connect with other IT professionals; meeting readers, meeting other industry experts, speakers, and trainers, I just can't afford to go to all of the events I used to, year after year.

Now I have to pick and choose.

As for information, training, insider tips, and simply finding someone qualified, that I can trust, to ask questions and get real answers-- I now mostly depend on the internet. Which, as all of you know, can be hit or miss.

I wish I were independently wealthy. I wish I could go to every industry event out there. Go to every party, every session, every mixer-- but I can't.

So, this year, I am going to go to TechEd. I will be (hopefully) volunteering again to staff the hands-on labs. Hopefully, I will also get to staff the labs at the SharePoint Conference later in the year. And, hopefully, I will be selected to speak at the SEF event in Stockholm, SE again in November.

I didn't get to go to SPTechCon, or the MVP Summit. I won't get to go to SPCincy, or WPC (Worldwide Partner Conference). I'm going to have to skip a number of SharePoint Saturdays too. Times are tough.

So, when I find a bargain, I like to pass it along. I am going to be speaking at a small, community driven, two day event in San Francisco call TechDays, run by the PacIT Pros (Pacific IT Professionals user group) in a couple of weeks. This two day event is going to be jam packed with the very people who do keynotes and incredible sessions at TechEd and other high profile events. People like Stephen Rose, Mark Minasi, Darren Mar-Elia, and Joey Snow.

Mind you, this is a Microsoft topics event, like TechEd, so the sessions won't just be about SharePoint  but will cover content from Windows Server 2008 R2 and the upcoming Server 8, IIS 7.5, DNS, MDOP, Deployment, Exchange, Linux, Hyper-V, System Center, Forefront, PowerShell, and even SharePoint (thanks to yours truly). This is the time to get some insight into those products you need to know about, while you're working day in and day out with SharePoint. Each speaker is doing two sessions about their favorite subjects, so you know they'll be good.

Ever attend a large conference and wish you had a chance to talk to the speaker, but there were too many other people around and not enough time? Maybe you attended a session at TechEd given by one of the people listed to speak at TechDays, and had a question you wanted to ask during the session, but the room was packed with hundreds of people and there was no way to get noticed before the session ended?

Well, now's your chance. That's the point of these smaller, shorter, cheaper events. They have the same great, experienced, professional speakers, at a fraction of the cost. And you aren't away from home for a whole week. And you get excellent, useful, sessions to learn about all kinds of Microsoft products from people you can trust. People who know what they are talking about.

The site for the event is: http://techdays.org/techdays-sf-sessions/
The date of the two day event is March 22nd and 23rd.
The cost for two, session packed days is just $400 (that's sessions from 9:00am to 5:00pm, with a meet and greet party the first night- when does anybody get two days of real expert training for just 200 dollars a day?!).
The location will be the Microsoft Office in downtown San Francisco at 835 Market Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94103.
The hotel that PacIT pros has a group rate with is Diva Hotel, within super easy walking distance from the event (I've really grown to love those Personality Hotels in San Fran. Ask me about Hotel Union Square. Adorable!).
There are a whole lot of seats still available. So quickly click the link to the event and sign up before it's too late.

I would dearly love to see you there. I am currently checking to see if Wiley can send me some free books to give away. So this may also be a rare chance to get a free copy of my Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 book (and get it signed), since I'm not going to be out speaking at as many events this year.

TechDays San Francisco- like bow ties, being there is cool. :)