Well I’m firmly back on the ground in Sydney and having decided to hold off my Tech.Ed musings because of a lack of time (and bandwidth), I will now post away. Sorry if you were expecting live coverage, perhaps next time. Anywho, after landing and checking into the hotel the happy hackers – with our PR guardians – gathered in the foyer and headed over to the convention centre for the opening night’s celebrations.
First, a few introductions. Here we have the lovely Anne and Stephen from Howorth Communications (Microsoft’s PR agency) who were assigned to make sure we didn’t write anything nasty about Tech.Ed.
That photo was taken in the casino foyer before we headed over.
Once we made our way across the new curved footbridge, we entered the main show floor which was packed with techies, exhibitors, and Microsofties. There was plenty of food to go around – pizza, nachos, hot dogs, you name it – and the on-tap beer (even Amber Ale) was flowing freely.
In one corner there was a competition involving racing a model electric car remotely with an iPaq. Unfortunately I didn’t get to try it but it must have been difficult because there were cars crashing all over the place. After going our separate ways for a while, we all gathered there.
On the hack roll above we have (L to R): Stephen Withers, Gusworld, Brendan ‘Chasie’ Chase, Renai LeMay, Ian ‘Yatesy’ Yates, and the woman with her back to the camera is a journalist, so we can’t show you her face. Then again, it’s probably best if we don’t.
Other wholesome activities on the night included an Xbox competition and boxing with VERY oversize novelty gloves. But my favourite attraction was the hotted-up cars. A glossy purple commodore and mean, green, monster ute-o-saurus!
Holy guacamole! Check out the wheels on this baby. Talk about king of the road.
That’s right, it ain’t no monster truck. It’s a regular Holden ute with monster truck running gear and wheels. Wonder if it is street legal.
That’s enough for one posting, stay tuned for the rest.
Rodney
Wow – looks like it was a good show all ’round. I covered a Tech Ed once… can’t remember which magazine I was with at the time, but it was in Melbourne. I think you got a better location for this one!!! 🙂