Tech Ed Daze: Presentation Day - Part 1
So I had the trifecta completed yesterday. I was working in the TLC (Thanks Anu for putting up with me), and a couple of guys walked up to me around 5:45 PM and told me that they knew me from my book. Thank you guys, you made my day. So now I've been recognized from the book, the podcast, and the website. Rock on.
I took the wuss move and stayed in last night, instead of hitting the MVP party. I decided to, shockingly, run through my presentation one last time, because today is the day. It's Presentation Day!
So of course, I'm up at 5 AM, because I can't sleep. But I'm experience less of the "oh crap I'm speaking and Tech Ed and scared out of my mind" and more of the "Ok, I'm ready to get this show on the road and see how I do". Looking back through this series of blog posts, its apparent that I have been a little "nervous", and I have. But don't think for a moment I haven't been enjoying it, because its been a great wild wide.
I'll be talking in S230A at 1 PM on Web Testing with VSTS. You can have all the free soft drinks that you want (my personal favorite is Diet Mountain Dew, BTW). My goal is to show you some examples of web testing that go beyond just the basic record a web test and slap a validation rule in there, though that is in there too. You have to start somewhere. But I'm going to show data driven web testing, custom extraction rules, web test plugins, and coded web tests. I feel these tools get overlooked, because they aren't as well known, or sound complicated, and I want to highlight how useful and easy they can be to use. My examples may not be NASA-like in their hardness, but I think they help convey the point of what you can do with these technologies. And you never know, we might bust out some Jonathan Coulton. :)
Also, if you come to my session, make sure you fill out an eval. I'm sure you are tired of speakers saying that to you, but in my case I'd really love to see the results of my first time speaking. Even if you have to get up in the middle of the session and leave (which is perfectly fine), you can still fill one out. And if you can take a couple of extra minutes to leave comments, that would be even better. The numbers are nice, but its the comments that are going to help me become a better presenter, which is my goal. So the more comments you have, good, bad, or indifferent, ultimately will help me next time I get up in front of a group.
This morning, I'm going to hit breakfast, and then Mike Azocar's talk on Team System Testing with Virtual Machines (not the actual name, but close enough so you can find it. Hey, it's 5 in the morning). After that I'll look through my stuff one more time in the speaker room, and then probably hang in the TLC till time for my talk. I'll be in the room around 12:30, to do a quick tech check, so if you want to come by early and hang out and talk before the session starts, please do. I'll be the guy in the nice light blue shirt that stays wrinkled no matter how much you iron it (and I tried last night, I really did). After the session, I'll take any questions people have back down to the TLC (to get out of the way for the next speaker). And, last but not least, I'll be signing my book at the bookstore from 3:30 to 4 today (at least I think that is still the plan). You don't have to buy a copy, but I'd love people to just come hang out and chat, so I don't sit there all alone, looking like a puppy waiting for adoption (insert sad puppy eyes here).
I'm ready to get this day going....