Our last show, let’s not get dramatic, it’s been an amazing two weeks and we met so many people throughout Europe. What a fantastic start of the day, seeing the Bus in front of the Synot Tip Arena makes my heart jump! Yes, we are at a soccer stadium again, with our Certified Partner for Learning Solutions Gopas. Home of Slavia Prague, today we get to present in this brand new stadium. We will also get to see the stadium, the day after the game against Valencia. The UEFA flags are still in the stadium, in Valencia’s locker room we still find the sheets the team’s manager used to explain the game strategy. As a long time soccer fan, I’m thrilled!

We start off with Exchange Server 2010, Ian talks through the new features and possibilities. This is a very rewarding audience, when they see something they like, they tell you (‘Perfect!’). Liberty tells the Truth about Certification and Ken goes into Windows Server 2008 R2 – I think this was his most interactive session of the whole tour. Stephen, as always, delivers a perfect balance of content and entertainment. Then we take our ‘final curtain’. This was indeed our last event On the Bus – Europe 2009 edition.

What have we learned? What have we achieved?

Well, I have learned that people everywhere are excited about our new products. The focus on Certification varies widely from one country to another. In some regions, we and our partners still have a lot of work to do, in others Certification is considered a Must Have. In all sessions however, I have found that people really appreciate learning new skills. We’re all technology lovers, we all like to see what the new products will do. Most of all, I enjoyed seeing the ‘lightbulb moments’ as we went through the new features. Whether you choose to learn these through formal learning (training and certification) or through informal learning (browse the TechNet pages, learn from colleagues etc.) is really your choice. Obviously, I have a strong opinion on how you can obtain a full skill set in an efficient manner. I believe a few days in a classroom with a Certified Trainer are a great start and that a few days spent on formal training will actually save you time. Getting certified can only help you in your career. But to be the very best at what you do also requires a lot of informal learning to stay up to date. In IT, learning is never complete, there is always more to be learned. Taking a rest means your skills go out of date. Postponing learning means you stand still while others don’t.

All things aside, it is FUN to learn about technology, it is FUN to make the technology work for you. Maybe that, in the end, is the main thing that I have learned on this trip – the FUN part of learning should get more attention. You see, as our team presented throughout the day and traveled throughout the night, we became more informal in the way we presented our sessions. Some of the ‘smoothness’ was dropped, as we got more and more tired our genuine enthusiasm never wavered, in fact I would say it became more visible! We presented with our hearts, not with our slides. Everyone on our team loves technology, we all want to know each and every feature, we all want to be the best at what we do and we love sharing our knowledge and skills. What have we achieved? Well, I think we shared our passion, in fact I know we did and it was GREAT!

Thanks to all who made this possible and thanks to all who attended! We have exciting new products coming up, let’s learn all about them, let’s have fun using them.

Earlier this week, we were in Amsterdam where we visited DELL. This was a special edition of our bus tour, we were there to talk to DELL’s sales teams about Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010. Dell offer a proactive training program to their employees and it was our pleasure to meet and talk with the teams.

When we arrived, we were taken through Dell’s showroom, a treasure cove with a lot of ‘wannahaves’ in it! It is always exciting to see the latest and greatest in technology, as you can see from the pictures below . You may have noticed in the stores or in the media that hardware is evolving too and some of the new laptop models make me drool. I will also ask Father Christmas for one of those giant screens.

Throughout the building, we saw banners and posters advertising the event. Advertising works: our presenters had their work cut out for them as team after team walked in for high speed product briefings. The sessions were very interactive and time flew by. Before we knew it, it was time to pack and race to our next event, InfoSupport Veenendaal.

Thank you DELL for your kind hospitality and thank you for the great discussions!

Yes, it is a Tour Bus, take a look inside!

‘And the Oscar goes to……..’

Excitement on the bus as we pull up in front of InfoSupport in Veenendaal, The Netherlands. We are surprised and humbled by the bright spotlights, a red carpet and two giant golden Oscar statues. Tonight is a night at the movies, and it is Oscar night. I’m awestruck and forget that I’m holding a large box of T-Shirts as I make my way across the red carpet. I need to take a ‘second shot’ at that, this is NOT a movie star appearance and I’ll need to work on ‘playing the part’ better .

Just over 100 people await, they are enjoying hot dogs, brownies and pop corn. There’s a large screen showing our Bus LiveTracker, they’ve been watching us make our way to the event. Then the music plays – Born in the USA – and we start. Thomas de Klerk from InfoSupport opens the event, Janett Garcia-Riseland, our director of marketing and sales, welcomes everyone and Liberty dives into The Truth about Certification. InfoSupport have given each speaker a special musical intro it seems, Ian takes the stage and as he gets ready to go into Exchange Server 2010, we laugh as we hear Elvis sing ‘Return to Sender, address unknown’. ‘That will NOT happen in Exchange 2010 and I’ll tell you why’ is Ian’s defiant response. Ian makes true on his promise and details both the IT PRO and end user benefits of Exchange Server 2010.

Stephen is listed as the ‘feature movie’ and after a Dutch song (Zeven Levens i.e. Seven Lives), Stephen goes into Windows 7 with no holds barred. It is exactly what the audience wants him to do, by show of hands the vast majority have installed and reviewed Windows 7 and from the questions Stephen gets it is clear people are eager to hear more about what deployment looks like, the tools that can help etc.

I linked to one of InfoSupport ads last week when we visited their Belgian office, here’s another that is extremely funny. I love the spirit of innovation, creativity and knowledge, but it all comes alive as these people insist on making IT so much FUN. (Max, you are very talented, hope you will use your powers for the Good side of the Force in future )

After such a fantastic Night at the Oscars, we are in high spirits on the bus. We continue our journey and are now headed towards Frankfurt, Germany. We get a few hours of sleep on the bus, to arrive and wake up at 2:30 AM in Frankfurt. We sleepwalk towards our hotel rooms, actually, Ken sleepwalks towards the Konferenz Raume – does he feel he needs to present again?

By the way, have you read Bob Simms ‘Unauthorized’ blog on QA’s website? I really recommend it, it is extremely funny and reading it is my favorite start of the day! Keep it coming Bob, you absolutely rock!

The Oscar of course goes to InfoSupport, for running such a creative and energizing event, everyone had such a good time!

InfoSupport have offices in Belgium and in The Netherlands. On Friday, we visited the Belgian offices in Mechelen. InfoSupport are a Microsoft Certified Partner with various specializations, they have a strong .NET focus and offer various software solutions as well as Training and Certification. As such, their customers use a range of InfoSupport’s services and we had a nice mix of students and IT Professionals in the presentation rooms.

The bus had just returned from York, we’d driven all night and went through the tunnel underneath The Channel again, and we were a little stretched for time. The bus stopped, I ran into the hotel, shaved in record time and rushed to the event to present Windows 7. Patrick Jaspers had joined us again and he was taking the audience into Desktop Optimization. I was next, and while we were playing with the Problem Steps Recorder, BitLocker to Go and AppLocker, I recognized a smell that I had not smelled since I moved to the US: Belgian french fries and frikandellen! InfoSupport had ordered an authentic ‘Friettent’ (a mobile snack bar)!

Ken went into Windows Server 2008 R2 and David shared his Exchange 2010 magic. We then went for the Fries and Frikandellen, boy, what an unexpected bonus! Throughout the day in Belgium I was impressed by how keen the IT students were. They are smart, very well informed and they have a keen vision as to how they want to build their career. I also enjoyed the questions from the IT Professionals, it was clear that they very serious about the new technology, the benefits to expect and what deployment would look like for them.

We handed out the Get on the Bus T-Shirts and hats and InfoSupport added to the ‘SWAG’ with really cool Lego shaped USB drives and flash lights to be used on a bike. It was a great event and we will be at InfoSupport’s Dutch offices on Monday, word has it they too have some surprises in store for the attendees. Well, that could be anything, they are a very creative partner, just have a look at the below commercial. Max is a geek hero and a HUGE hit over here! (Max, we don’t approve of hacking, it’s very funny advertising though!).