mixed

I was intending to write regularly about how things were going at Mix. I was even intending to keep a regular presence on Twitter and interact with the community (also to find out where good clubs were). I now regret opting out of adding the extended battery to my Dell laptop package. My laptop could just barely last a single session, and given we had 15 minutes between talks to do what we needed to do, I prioritised smoking (it’s a networking opportunity!) above charging my laptop. So for the second and third days of the conference I left my laptop in my hotel room and stuck with pen and paper.

It was actually a great decision too. I met dozens of people, simply because I was free to just wonder around, note things down, slip through crowds and get where I wanted to be. I wasn’t ruled by my Device and it’s need for the Mains. It was like leaving the kids with a babysitter.  And I think took even better notes than I would have if I’d been typing.

On the whole I stuck with the Silverlight path during the conference – Building Rich Applications 1&2, User Controls, Data Applications etc etc. Also caught the Sharepoint talk on Friday (I was on company orders but it was actually pretty good), Silverlight & Analytics talk. I actually can’t remember what I attended last on friday, mainly because I was experiencing narcilepsy due to lack of sleep.

Right now I’m at the gate waiting to board my plane. I have a stack of cards from people who I need to contact, and notes to disseminate and blog about. I haven’t really had space in my head for the ‘business’ side of things so I need to get home and unwind before I can start making use of the information I’ve absorbed.

Needless to say I’ve had a friggin amazing time. I even saw Scott Guthrie walk past me at one stage and asked Steve Ballmer a question at the keynote. Pretty awesome.

More when I get back.