Now that the dust has settled, I wanted to take some time and recount my time in Tampa at Day of DNN. As many have said it was a great day and I certainly agree.
The adventure started at Toronto Pearson Airport with my flight to Tampa on Westjet. The flight was rather common and I was lucky enough to have the seat row to myself, the plane being 75% full. Arrival at Tampa provided the first surprise – it was really hot. Toronto was cold in comparison, but I was not ready for +93F (34C) temperature.
After a quick cab ride to the Embassy Suites hotel, I discovered my room was “not yet available”. No problem, I will wait the few minutes until the would be ready. While waiting I noted another gentleman encountered the same issue. He too, would wait. As he approached, I realized he was a fellow DNNer. After commenting on the DNN shirt he was wearing, I was introduced to Gifford Watkins from Halifax, NS and Mark Saunders from Erie, PA.
After we had lunch at P.F. Chang’s at the WestShore Mall – thanks Mark, we return to the hotel to get our rooms. No such luck – sorta. The front desk suggested we lounge in the bar until the room would be ready – on the hotel of course! So we set up shop in the bar and got out our PCs. Within minutes of tweeting our location, Chris Hammond and Choug Dang (aka Dang) surfaced and joined us in the bar. Chris took a picture of Gifford and me (or I?). About 8pm our rooms were available.
On Friday, I spent the day completing my presentations. Chris Hammond give me a ride to the “pre” party for Presenters, Volunteers, and Sponsors. I was invited to join Chris, Dang, Joe Brinkman as the guests of Ryan Morgan of Arrow Consulting for dinner at Bahama Breeze. Great meal and good conversation – Thank you Ryan and Chris.
On Saturday, Chris again gave me a lift over to the Microsoft Office and the real reason for the trip. Joe Brinkman gave a great Keynote – I especially liked the module failure. While not the end of the world, anyone who has done a presentation fears an unexpected error during a presentation. So seeing one in the keynote at least gave the other presenters’ an out if such a surprise hit their presentation.
My first presentation, “SQL Tip and Tricks for Dotnetnuke Administration,” went well as the room was small and the presentation took a very personal feel although by the end of the presentation the room was packed. Thanks to all that attended – especially Deborah (?). Seems she was very happy to see one of my examples.
The second presentation was located in one of the “big” rooms and also went well. I had planed on doing a demonstration using the Reports module, I used my SQLGridSelectedView module instead due to a lack of time. My knowledge of the Reports module is rather limited compared to SQLGridSelectedView.
Although I didn’t win the big screen TV, it was especially fitting that the winner came by motorcycle. Will Strohl surprised the presenters with nice plagues to signify our role as Presenter at Day of DNN – nice touch.
At the “Day of DNN after dark” event, the conversation continued and I seemed to end up walking back to the Embassy Suites with a small contingent of DNNers including Gifford and Mark.
Sunday was quiet, and full of good-byes … Seems every time I ventured to the lobby, another DNNer was leaving for various parts of the world. About noon it was my turn to leave for the airport and return to the “real” world. My flight back to Toronto was full but un-eventful and arrived on time at 5:15 – thanks Westjet.
MANY THANKS to all for making it a great weekend.
Paul