The same time next week we will be opening doors of the first in history TechEd Middle East. Knowing how much effort and passion the team here in Dubai and across MEA invested into TechEd – it will be a great experience for attendees.

Be ready for some surprises for and interesting announcements. Such great speakers as Eric Rudder (the man responsible for overall Technology Strategy of Microsoft), Walid Abu-Hadba (the man responsible for all Developer and Platform evangelism), S. Somasegar (the father of Microsoft developers’ tools) 

So, looking forward to see some of you next week at this great event!

P.S. If you still hesitating on attendance, stop doing it and go register now -  still some seats available. And according to many requests from the community we extended the 15% discount (use 52F42DC3 promo-code while registering)

See the message from my colleagues from Redmond. I’d personally recommend to get in touch with them to make sure that TechNet and MSDN help you as MVPs to share your knowledge..

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The Server and Tools Online Group will have two sessions during the MVP summit during the month of February, 2010 in the Hyatt hotel located in downtown Bellevue Washington.  We are interested in hearing feedback from international MVPs and encourage you to sign up for the STO sessions.  Below is a breakdown of the days in which STO will present as well as the different session topics we will cover.  When signing up for the STO sessions you can search for the session named as indicated below.  At the STO sessions, our International Site Management team, based in Redmond, will be available to assist you with questions and guidance to the topic tables.  We are also available to hear your comments and observations.

Again we are excited to meet you and we look forward to your insightful feedback.

Day 1 – Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Session Names:

· Part 1: MSDN and TechNet Town Hall – Enabling community contribution

· Part 2:  MSDN, TechNet and MS Answers – Detailed Q/A and MVP feedback

Part 1 Details: 12pm – 2pm (Speakers and Introduction)

• Vision and Strategy FY10 and beyond
• Overview and execution of roadmap
• Demo of MSDN relaunch
• Demo of TN2.0
• Enabling the community on MSDN and TechNet
• How does MSDN and TechNet enhance community contribution and what additions are coming to the site (specifically targeting Videos and wiki)
• What contribution methods don’t exist that should and get feedback on how best to drive participation targeting the following.

Part 2 Details: 2pm – 4pm (Breakout Sessions and Tables)

· Each of the tables below will have an International focus as well and we encourage you to ask questions and provide feedback

• Product Feedback Lifecycle - Connect
• Wiki
• Blogs
• Videos
• Possible other topics: Forums and Community Translation Forum

Day 2 – Friday, February 19, 2010

Session Name:

· Part 1: MSDN and TechNet Town Hall - Enabling community contribution

· Part 2: MSDN, TechNet and MS Answers – Detailed Q/A and MVP feedback

Part 1 Details: 1pm – 3pm (Speakers and Introduction)

• Vision and Strategy FY10 and beyond
• Overview and execution of roadmap
• Demo of MSDN relaunch
• Demo of TN2.0
• Enabling the community on MSDN and TechNet
• How does MSDN and TechNet enhance community contribution and what additions are coming to the site (specifically targeting Videos and wiki)
• What contribution methods don’t exist that should and get feedback on how best to drive participation targeting the following.

Part 2 Details: 3pm – 5pm (Breakout Sessions and Tables)

• Each of the tables below will have an International focus as well and we encourage you to ask questions and provide feedback
• Product Feedback Lifecycle - Connect
• Wiki
• Blogs
• Videos
• Possible other topics: Forums and Community Translation Forum

Security is the evergreen topic. Shield against sword. Good news – here is another important improvement for your shield. So you may want to join the beta!

“Compliance Manager version 1.0 provides centralized security baseline management features, a baseline portfolio, customization capabilities, and security baseline export flexibility to accelerate your organization's ability to efficiently manage the security and compliance process for the most widely used Microsoft technologies. Join the beta review program for Security Compliance Manager version 1.0, and get the tools and guidance you need to better balance your organization's needs for security and functionality.”

Offtop: sorry for being silent long time – will get better on this!

Оффтоп: не, как по-русски писать не забыл, честно. просто про работу проще и полезнее на английском. а не только про работу на родном русском :)  http://bit.ly/czxnIj