Convergence 2009 Initial Thoughts

I thought I would tak a minute to highlight some good and bad from Convergence 2009 so far.

• The staff, venue and Microsoft folks have all been great.
• Attendance is definitely down but I think that it is a function of the economy, no major releases at this Conference and maybe even the European Convergence.
• I think that the lower attendance will give users greater access to Microsoft people.
• I've already seen a lot of people I wanted to connect with and I think the lower turnout helps.
• Folks are here, they are just sending fewer people and being creative with the budgets to get here.
• The green initiative is great, as is the water bottle, the environmentally friendly bag is terrible.
• The number of flyers in the bag was reasonble. We weren't drowning in paper.
• Last night's MS party at the aquarium was a hit. I should have seen that beer, wine, food and fish all go well together. It was odd to have it before Convergence really started though.
• The Expo feels like it's in Mississippi, and the MS Store is storage closet.
• The hotels all seem to be great and everything is reasonably close.

All right, that's all I've got for now.