Yes, they do. Some went to TechEd this year to give it a shot (after Microsoft “merged” MMS into TechEd). The experiment didn’t go well, but MSFT event management spun it differently (in their favor) to show that a mega-conference is possible.
I’ve worked with the event management/marketing teams since, oh…jeez…1999, helping them with community stuff and social media, so I’m privy to certain conversations from being included in meetings over the years. TechEd has actually been on the chopping block for about 3 years. There were talks that TechEd might be rolled into MMS at one point, since MMS really represented Microsoft’s true direction. This year made the most sense due to company shifts, a new CEO, and perceived cost-cutting. I have personal feelings about the new event I’ve never been shy to share, but from a Microsoft business perspective it makes perfect sense. That’s something that can’t be argued. Pure and simple, Microsoft needs a vehicle to deliver a centralized marketing and sales message to the biggest audience at once. Multiple events only serves to dilute the message and complicate a unified message delivery. There’s technical training and sessions built in, but that’s not the main intent of the event. And, really, you can’t blame Microsoft for doing this. All other big vendors (and even smaller ones) do the same. To be successful with this route, though, Microsoft will have to invest in and support the smaller, more targeted and better technical events. And, they know that, hence why Brad Anderson is supporting IT/Dev Connections this year. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael B. Smith Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 4:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] I'm sure you've heard already... It’s been yelled about, cursed, discussed, and hammered to death in various private forums, before it was ever announced publicly. The MVPs (Lync, Exchange, SharePoint, Office, I can’t speak for any of the rest) hate it. Rod can tell us for certain, but I’m pretty sure the System Center folks hate it too (they had MMS). From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of William Robbins Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 4:50 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] I'm sure you've heard already... I'm kind of surprised this topic has laid here quietly this long. I've never been able to go to any of the (now cancelled) conferences for one reason or the other, but I always had the impression they were considered a rather big deal by IT folk that attended. - WJR 🙈🙉🙊 On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 12:22 PM, Rod Trent <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: …but, TechEd, MEC, and all other events are being replaced. http://windowsitpro.com/cloud/teched-dead-long-live
