If there’s one thing about TechEd in my experience (Apparently, my experience isn’t everyones experience.. infact, I’m not sure ANYONE else experiences this ;)) is that it is a whirlwind adventure of constantly being on the run, on the go, and occasionally… getting heckled by the competition (Erk, can I call that ‘product’ competition? We don’t sell Laptops and Dell doesn’t sell storage [snicker ;)] :)

I like business cards, as they’re a good way to stay in touch with people you’ve met, definitely, right? Oh and Twitter, that’s good for it too.     But what if you don’t have any business cards? (ran out on the 1st day;)) I adopted the model of taking a photo of you and your badge.. Win?!

Because I wouldn’t want to publish anyone’s image and name without their permission, I’ll instead give you this one! (and this lovely story.. strangely retold many times throughout the show by others ;))

Meet mr Dell Guy, I didn’t catch his name (too blurry) but he definitely caught that I work for a competitor (Hey, I’m here as an attendee!) was my common response when assaulted! Even though I did have a number of lengthy and high quality NetApp related conversations, I had just as many good quality Education and Community conversations too.   But you don’t care about that! You care about the heckling! :)

Being at the front of the line, literally in the front as a drawing is called is always a good way to find out if you’re a winner, or… if you’re going to be publicly called out on.   Oh and a competitor being mic’d to a large crowd yelling out NetApp every other word, perhaps that is just good times. ;)

For what it is worth, I did not win the laptop they were giving away (Which mr Dell did say “You can’t win!”) as I scoff being a mere ‘attendee’ :)  Although if you’re interested I did win Flip Mino Ultra from Cisco (Notice Cisco in the background) – I’ll discuss that later in another story ;)

I wish I had more time to get around and enter into drawings or try to win mega-big prizes, but it was not in the cards.. I barely could pack all the swag I DID end up taking home, so no harm no foul! :)

It’s been said that it takes a village.  Or if we address it by its official distinction:

It takes a village to raise a child.

However, if there is one thing that this campaign has taught us:  

It takes a nation to exhibit change

We’ve been on a long road these many centuries and we’ve made changes which have shaped not only this nation, but also the world.   When Barack Obama was announced President Elect, parties rang out in the streets across the world.    Some people who hold on dearly and tightly to their ideals hoping the world will not change, sadly were in for a rude awakening.   This was the straw which broke the proverbial camels back.   The world is always changing, the question you must ask yourself; do you want to be an agent of change? In line with the early adopters and the innovators, there has never been a better opportunity in our life times to not only watch change happen but to be part of the evolution of change.

It takes a child to raise a village.  And it takes you to change a nation.

I’ve posted about some NetApp blogs before – Wait, I’m doing it again!

While there are the best of breed blogs which you can easily find here:

There are also some additional ones in our Communities.

So, I encourage you to check out the Community Blogs as well as the community as a whole.  It’s a great resource to ask questions, answer questions and find out all-round general incite into what is going on here, there, and everywhere!

Oh, and don’t forget about that Accelerate conference! :)

Registration is key!

:)