How many of you have ever attended a “Lunch and Learn”.  For those of you not familiar it typically will involved a Partner, Vendor or someone with some information to share, and often involves food (Usually Pizza or Sandwiches).

Here are the typical conditions following lunch and learns “Wow, you mean there’ll be free food? Sure I’ll come to the lunch and learn!” or “I’m interested in that topic, but I love free food!”

Yes, those are very true and strong conditions when it comes to lunch and learns.   Now let’s shift the tables a bit, and you become me.  Hi, I’m Christopher and I’m vegan, and I love people and technology.  So what does this mean?

If I am attending a lunch and learn, it is NOT for the food.    When I attend these events it is because I want the “Learn” component of the lunch and learn.  Even when it’s a subject that I know implicitly, it also has it’s value of my ability to ask questions (Both those questions I want to know the answers to, and those which others may not be asking but they really need to know the answers to and it isn’t being covered).   These same guidelines apply to user groups as well, which is to say, whenever I go somewhere it is RARELY if ever for the food.

Just think about that, if you ever see me at a Lunch and Learn, a TechEd Party, User Group meeting or who knows what – I am either there to learn, meet you, or educate in my ever so technical evangelist way, but I’m never there for the food, nor am I ever there to be the ‘know it all ass who wants to show you what I know’.  I’m more interested in what you know and if you have any questions or challenges, I love solving problems!

I did this before I did it for a living, and if I won the lotto tomorrow (Let’s make that Tuesday, for $180million please) I’ll continue to do it, because I care more about the education and growth of our community than I do anything else.   An attitude of growth, sincerity and caring matter far more to me than egos, or free food :)   Think about it the next time you meet a Vegan Technologist, we’re definitely not in it for the food ;)

So, with TechEd 2 weeks away, here is an update on Parties going on!

For a Calendar of events, be sure to check out the Krewe which has a breakdown of the public events! http://www.expta.com/2009/04/krewes-teched-2009-calendar.html

Sunday May 10, 7PM – Party with Palermo

Monday May 11, 9PM – SpringBoard Series Community Influencers Party (Code: TEUS-TN)

Tuesday MAy12, 7PM – Trika Embeds bowling into TechEd Party scene at LuckyStrike – DevParty

Tuesday May 12, 8PM – ClusterFunk

Wednesday, May 13, 8PM – Krewe Pub Crawl

Thursday May 14, 6PM – Tech-Ed “Jam on IT” Party

And.. there’ll be others I’m sure.  I’ll talk with the various Vendors to see what events they have planned and get back with updates :)

If you saw my previous post on this subject, the Win7 Beta exam is now available to be scheduled!

71-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring counts as credit towards the following certification(s). MCTS: Windows 7, Configuration

Registration begins: April 27, 2009

Beta exam period runs: May 5, 2009– May 18, 2009

Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: WIN7J

Due to the fact that I’ll be on the Bus from the 1st-11th, and at TechEd from the 11th-15th – I’m stuck taking it on the 18th! :)

So, take this opportunity to sign up for this beta exam, schedule and go take it! Focus more on the ‘schedule and take’ and less on the “where are my formal studying guides” :)

So, if you haven’t seen my countless posts on the subject of “Getting on the Bus” I will be on the Bus, and I will be at TechEd this year :)

My official ‘announcement’ is finally up on the MSLCommunity Who’s on the Bus? Rider #9: Christopher Kusek (Atlanta to Los Angeles) and when on the road I will be doing constant updates on Twitter, Blogs (here and the MSLBlog) some live video on Ustream or BlogTV, and who knows what else! (I have no idea myself!)

I’ll be representing myself, the technology community, certification, education, learning, mentorship, and NetApp on this trip, so if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

So, if you happen to be in any of the cities we’re stopping, or the locations’ were visiting, I encourage you to come up and say hello! :)

Below is the (up to date as of today) itinerary of all of the places we shall be visiting!

My Goal: To meet (and make friends with? :)) 1000 people between the tour and the ride to TechEd, so help me meet that goal! :)

The Career Express tour, day by day:

Friday, May 1st: Atlanta, GA

• United States Army School of Information Technology, in Fort Gordon, GA, 8:30am – 11:00am
• Ask the Experts at New Horizons Atlanta 3:00pm – 6:00pm
• Book signing with Eric Griffin, author of the Microsoft Press book, “Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition Step by Step” at Barnes & Noble (Buckhead store), 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Saturday, May 2nd: Atlanta, GA to Greensboro, NC

• Gwinnett Technical College, Lawrenceville, GA, 9:00am – 12:00pm

Sunday, May 3rd: Greensboro, NC to Philadelphia, PA

• Philly TechFest 2009 sponsored by Springhouse Education and Consulting Services, 12:00pm – 4:00pm (featuring live rounds of “Are You Certifiable?” Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 previews, and more)
• Microsoft Career Express at Cheyney University (Center City campus), 6:00pm – 8:00pm (register here)

Monday, May 4th: Philadelphia, PA to Cincinnati, OH

• Philly TechFest 2009 at Springhouse, 8:00am – 10:00am
• Antonia Pantoja Charter School, 7:30am – 9:00am (private event)
• Edward W. Bok Technical High School, 10:45am – 12:00pm (private event)
• MCP “Tweet-up” in Columbus (be sure to follow us on Twitter for details!)

Tuesday, May 5th: Cincinnati, OH to Indianapolis, IN

• MAX Learning Luau at MAX Technical Training in Cincinnati, 11:00am – 1:00pm (featuring Windows 7 previews, lunch, drawings and more!)
• “Bring a Friend” Night at “LANTech Training, Indianapolis, 5:00pm – 7:00pm (bring a friend interested in starting a career in IT, and you both might win a TechNet Plus subscription (and your friend might win a laptop, too!))

Wednesday, May 6th: Indianapolis, IN to Kansas City, MO

• Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, 8:00am – 11:00am (featuring Windows 7 previews, IT Career guidance, and more—request info here)  (updated registration link)
• New Horizons Kansas City 12:00pm – 3:00pm (featuring Windows 7 previews, Windows Server 2008, .NET 3.5, SharePoint sessions and more—register here)
• Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, 6:00pm – 8:00pm (repeat of morning event)

Thursday, May 7th: Kansas City, MO to Denver, CO

• MCP Study Break, Red Rocks Community College, Lakewood, CO, 8:00am – 10:00am (featuring live rounds of “Are You Certifiable?” and Windows Server 2008 exam prep sessions)
• Ask the Experts at Ameriteach, Greenwood Village, CO, 4:30pm – 8:00pm (featuring live rounds of “Are you Certifiable?” sessions on Windows 7, SQL Server, OCS and more—delivered by stellar MCTs!)

Friday, May 8th: Denver, CO to Santa Fe, NM

• Get Off the Bus! Free day for our intrepid but tired riders—come join us as we explore Santa Fe (follow us on Twitter to see where we’ll be!)

Saturday, May 9th: Santa Fe, NM to Phoenix, AZ

• Glendale Community College, 8:30am – 10:30am (details coming next week)
• Microsoft Technology Round-Up, Training to You, Phoenix, 12:00pm – 3:00pm (featuring Windows 7 previews and Windows Server 2008 certification sessions) (registration link updated)

Sunday, May 10th: Phoenix, AZ to Las Vegas, NV

• “How to Thrive in Your IT Career” at Netcom, 2:00 – 3:30pm (featuring Windows 7 preview)

Monday, May 11th: Las Vegas, NV to Los Angeles, CA

• Greet the Bus at TechEd 2009, 9am

Wait, what? LCDS? Who? When? Maybe even How?!

There’s a new version of the Microsoft Learning Content Development System!

Hey now, let me get this straight, you’re saying not only does Microsoft provide countless tools for Learning and Education through Programs and Blogs, but they also provide you tools so you can build your own education programs yourself?!

Yes, yes that is correct! The Learning Content Development System (LCDS) Is exactly that tool!

Not to mention that they even have ‘sample course titles’ that you can use to get yourself started creating your own education or training packages! To which I denounce ‘sweet!’

I never would have known about this if not for our good friends at the MSLearning Blog, so special thanks to them and especially Ken Rosen for his post on this – Roll Your Own E-Learning