IT Pro Toronto Meeting - The First One

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:01:24 GMT

Well here it is.

IT Pro Toronto. The first meeting. The inaugural session.

That first chomp of pizza and pop.

With the lack of Technet Monthly's something was definitely amiss within the Toronto Region. And you know what? A monthly meeting of semi like minded geeks is it.

Enter IT Pro Toronto. A free user group for the Toronto area ironically meeting in Mississauga of like minded (or semi like minded?) people looking for a chance to sit down, check out some technology, meet each other or just get a free dinner... :)

Check one out. Register at www.itprotoronto.ca. Meeting is the Third (3rd Tuesday) of every month. Next one is April 15th 2008.

The first meeting happened here at 30 Eglinton Ave in Mississauga. Facilities were offered up by Nexient for this session. Swag was there by sponsors (Microsoft Technet was involved in this) as well as some hosting company who's name I will have to put in here. I didn't sleep much that day.

The key session tonight was all about Hyper-V. And possibly how to run without a KVM... ;)

Well after all, it WAS the first session. Mitch Garvis (Pronounce that as a hard G folks not like that naughty street in Toronto eh?) was running the show as the Master of Ceremonies, or Great Guru or whatever Holy title should be bestowed to him. He was like a little kid drooling and giggling talking about Hyper-V.

Ok he was VERY professional in what he did and how he did it, but you could SEE his eyes light up talking about this new virtualization technology in Server 2008. Being that he was a "working WITH Microsoft but not FOR Microsoft" it was a little more fun since he would (and could) crack jokes about those "silly marketing Powerpoint presentations" as he would skim through them for the GOOD stuff.

Yep useful information! It's always buried in there somewhere!

A few licensing jokes came up as well. (I DID mention there were computer geeks here right? Licensing is HILARIOUS in the right context). "Just hang up the phone and call again if the answer doesn't suit you." an un-named individual stated. (Hey I'm going to protect the innocent here!)

There was some break time where people popped their eyes about to see if they knew anybody. Any you know what? People DID! There were those that recognized various MVP's that popped their heads in and certain Microsoft people showed up. It was a chance to shake hands and ogle Smartphones.

Even the Friday Funny Guy couldn't hide. Who would have known they published it on Technet?!

Then of course there was the traditional "Assaulting of people who asked questions" with swag. Mitch was of course highly critical of 'innappropriate swag'. Only the highest quality swag at his meetings. "A 64 MEG memory key?! Who put this here?! WHO?! I want names!!!"

The "offender" was quickly pointed out and the key was used to attack a Friday Funny Guy. That'll teach him to ask SBS 2008 questions at a Hyper-V meeting.

But it was a blast.

Then there was of course the "Big Swag Giveaway" which yielded an interesting answer. About half the room owned Xbox360s. Half didn't of course. But that does lead towards the fact that half COULD play Rockband or Guitar Hero III.

Poke poke. Poke poke.

Afterwards there was a "post meeting caffeine blast out" at the Second Cup. Funny thing. It seemed to be an invisible Second Cup as this poor Friday Funny Guy couldn't find it.

But all in all the meeting was a blast.

Check it out. If you are too far from Waterloo to go to WWITPRO, this is perfect for you.

Even if you're not? Come along, it's a blast.

ye110wbeard's Land of Silly Un-Official Funny Fridays Site: Organizations

IT Pro Toronto Meeting - The First One