When the dust settled, and we sorted through our Get on the Bus! contest entries, e-mails and comments, one thing was clear: a lot of you really want to go to TechEd, but you either:

• Didn’t live close enough to our route to compete in one of our six finalist events (got a lot of mail from those of you in this group), or
• Couldn’t take all that time off to ride the bus and attend TechEd

(A third, small group apparently hoped that a link to their resume would satisfy the requirement for an essay. Not the same thing, folks!)

So with not enough entries to make for exciting in-person playoffs, we’re changing the game so we can include more of you.

Here’s the deal:

The rules are streamlined:

• Send us an e-mail with your name, MCP ID, and preferred contact info. Include a link to the essay we asked for (“Why I’m Passionate about Microsoft Learning and Certification”) and an optional video URL.
• You have until 9am Pacific time on Monday, April 20th to enter; we’ll select and notify up to 5 winners the next day.
• Full legal rules and restrictions here.

The rewards are better—if you’re one of our winners, you’ll receive:

• Free admission to TechEd 2009
• Hotel stay during the conference
• Return airfare from Los Angeles to your nearest major airport
• Your choice of:
  • Airfare from your closest major airport to your choice of cities on the Career Express tour route, where you’ll meet the bus and ride the rest of the way to TechEd, or
  • Airfare directly from your closest major airport to Los Angeles

That’s right—in just a little over a month from now, you could be at TechEd 2009! Join us for the start of the tour in Atlanta; meet us at the end of the tour in L.A.; or spend a night in Las Vegas and join us for the final leg from Vegas to L.A. It’s your choice! (if you win…)

BTW, we did have one clear winner from the first version of the contest who’s going to ride with us the entire way—and as soon as we’ve finalized his arrangements, we’ll announce him here!

Share this post :