The entire show is just 99 breakout sessions, so there are lots of hard prioritization decisions that I am going to try explain here. And yes, I would like to hear your feedback: click here!

TechEd Middle East has many tracks, I am just helping with these two:

• Developer Tools, Languages and Frameworks
• Web and User Experience

The above two tracks have 11 and 6 sessions respectively. And we also have to somehow fit in Microsoft Dynamics, Windows Mobile, IE8, SharePoint, etc.

To me this means we have to first pick our focus:

• Visual Studio and the .NET Framework
• Visual Studio Team System
• Web: ASP .NET, Silverlight, SharePoint, … ?

There are several ways to experience content at TechEd so instead of just cutting content we can’t fit into the schedule, we are thinking about spreading the content over several different types of sessions:

• Breakout Sessions
• Instructor Led Labs
• Interactive Sessions

Assuming we keep the overview and “what’s new” content as Breakout Sessions (Level 200 & 300) we can place additional content in the Interactive Sessions and Instructor Led Labs. So here is our first draft session selection. This WILL change:

Visual Studio

• Breakout Session: Entity Framework & LINQ (speaker: Jason Olson)
• Breakout Session: ASP .NET Dynamic Data (maybe Instructor Led Lab, speaker needed)
• Breakout Session: Windows Mobile for Developers (an MVP speaker almost confirmed)
• Breakout Session: Dynamic xCRM for Developers (speaker needed)
• Interactive Session: SharePoint for Developers (speaker needed)
• Instructor Led Lab: SharePoint for Developers (VS2010+SP2010) (speaker needed)
• Instructor Led Lab: Visual Studio 2010 Features for Developers

.NET Framework (presented by Jason Olson)

• Breakout Session: Multi Core support in .NET 4.0 (PLINQ and Parallel Task Library)
• Breakout Session: F#
• Breakout Session: What’s new in 2010 for Visual Basic and C# 4.0

Visual Studio Team System

• Breakout Session: Visual Studio 2010 Team System Overview
• Breakout Session: Requirements & Project Management with Team Foundation Server
• Instructor Led Lab: Visual Studio 2010 Team System: Test Features
• Instructor Led Lab: Visual Studio 2010 Team System: Team Build and Lab Management

Web (need speakers)

• Interactive Session: Internet Explorer 8 for Developers
• Breakout Session: ASP .NET 4.0
• Breakout Session: ASP .NET MVC 2.0 (presented by Jason Olson)

UX (need speakers)

• Breakout Session: Expression Blend (with a focus on WPF)
• Breakout Session: Silverlight 3 & What’s new in Silverlight 4
• Breakout Session: Designers & Developers Together

Azure

• Interactive Session: Windows Azure
• Instructor Led Lab: Windows Azure
• Instructor Led Lab: SQL Azure

Consider this your one and only call for speakers :)

Well, finally, here is a developer centric resource with SharePoint 2010 developer content:

Channel 9’s SharePoint 2010 Developer courses

Just some of the courses on offer:

Getting Started with SharePoint 2010
Welcome to the SharePoint 2010 learning center. SharePoint 2010 includes numerous new capabilities and features for professional developers. In this welcome video you will hear from some of the team members behind the training kit to understand what the kit is all about and what are plans are for the future of the SharePoint learning center on Channel 9. 

SharePoint 2010 Developer Roadmap
SharePoint 2010 includes numerous new capabilities and features for professional developers most of which are highlighted in this unit. SharePoint 2010 makes developing those solutions easier, quicker, and more flexible. Much of the work that the developer had to do in the past with earlier versions of SharePoint has been replaced with simple configuration of the SharePoint 2010 platform, use of Visual Studio 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010 or with calls to the SharePoint API. 

Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint 2010
This unit will provide you with an overview of SharePoint development with Visual Studio 2010. Specific topics covered will include an overview of the project and item templates, a walkthrough of the designers included, and areas of extensibility within Visual Studio 2010 that can enhance SharePoint development. Visual Studio 2010 includes support out of the box for the most common types of projects that you may want to build with SharePoint 2010 as well as new features for more easily defining features, solutions, and wizards to walk through the most common settings for each project type.

Here is my installation on a Lenovo W500 running Windows 7 64bit:

1. Windows 7 64bit installed on a VHD (walkthrough, videos on Edge), then all Windows Updates (including Silverlight).

2. Downloaded Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2 ISO from MSDN, extracted with 7-zip, run setup.exe:

With a blank Windows installation, lots to add / update:

Now remember, this is on Windows 7, yet I can get both Team Foundation Server with Source Control and Work Items and the Build service:

Then click the Install button, have a coffee, wait for the restart (at .NET 4.0):

and you’re done with Phase 1:

Notice the “Launch Team Foundation Server Configuration” checkbox at the bottom left – keep it checked and click Finish; here is the beautiful splash screen for the configuration wizard:

Notice this will be a “Basic” installation of TFS, essentially meaning no SharePoint and no Reporting Services:

For me, this is the best part about the Basic installation: “Click Next until Done” :)

For the paranoid, clicking “Verify” does offer a warm fuzzy feeling to help you over the last hesitation of clicking that final “Configure” button:

And that is why installing TFS 2010 is hardly worth a blog post:

Enjoy!

• Windows 7 Developer Training Kit
• Visual Studio 2008 Training Kit
• SQL Server 2008 Developer Training Kit
• .NET 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit
• Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Training Kit (May Preview)

And take a look at .NET University:

• Internet Explorer 8 for Developers (slides, demo, video)
• WPF Demystified (slides, demo, video)
• Virtual Earth Deep Dive (slides, demo, video)

UPDATE: Thanks to SoCalDevGal, I noticed Channel 9’s training center is now live and has Windows 7 content!

"Microsoft’s premier technical education and networking conference is coming to the Middle East.
Connect one-on-one with Microsoft insiders and IT peers, get your toughest questions answered and hear
expert advice - right from the source, right in your region."

https://www.TechEd.ae/

RSVP on Facebook

More details from Noelios Technologies as well as a complete tutorial!

“Take advantage of this great offer to receive training and acquire certification on Microsoft SQL Server technology, and get a free copy of the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition so you can gain hands-on experience.”

How awesome is that?

There is a wide range and the categorization of the search results make for a quick click & discover experience!

And they have both presentations as well as Virtual Labs:

Enjoy!

There is a wide range and the categorization of the search results make for a quick click & discover experience!

And they have both presentations as well as Virtual Labs:

Enjoy!