Beginning of #TechEd – Early Bird WTF.

Thought I’d moan a bit more about the organization… By registering early, you get given, I quote the guide, ”a reserved seat” at the keynote.

When you check in, you get given a nice wristband supposedly giving you access to those seats. Comes in a nice plastic bag, together with a cap.  But no explanation notice explaining that, in fact, you need to come 30 minutes early to have your seat. So the wristband gives you the right to arrive early when no one else is there to choose a good spot. But it’s not reserved.

Of course, the very heavy booklet provided with the conference bag doesn’t mention those 30 minutes. Neither is any sign in the conference centre. Nor do the ladies giving you the goods in the morning.

So no “reserved” seat for me, because the reserved seat wasn’t really reserved at all. Fair enough.

But then one of the attendants that was managing the event replied, after my questioning:

“- you’re 15 minutes late, it was at half past for early birds
- but no one bothered telling me this
- well it must have been indicated, you should’ve been on time
- but there’s no sign, no documentation, no nothing about being there at half past?
- well we had those three rows over there. Don’t be late next time”

So it’s my fault no one mentioned we had to be there half an hour before? Or that you didn’t print it? Or that the documentation doesn’t show it anywhere?

Add to that there’s no Wifi in the room and not a single twitter mention anywhere, or facebook group, and I have to wonder what happened between last year and this year.

At least we get a nice conference bag, of about the same quality as the one from last year. As that one is nearing the end of its useful life, the new one arrives just on time.