To summarize: TechEd India 2009 was the most successful in terms of community involvement. As beautiful as the famous Charminar of Hyderabad. (see picture on left).

Organizations like INETA APAC, Culminis, PASS and Microsoft India, jointly engaged in bringing all user group leaders together, promoting the respective user groups and enabling great networking opportunities between the leaders and attendees of TechEd India.

Background: About 1 month before TechEd volunteers from INETA APAC, Culminis, PASS, Microsoft India team, and Microsoft UGSS, formed the India Community Council(ICC),  an initiative spearheaded by Microsoft User Group Support Services(UGSS). The objective was to align the efforts of the various organizations in a country and to explore areas of synergy. TechEd was the perfect ground to see the power of the ICC. And they definitely proved their mettle. Further invaluable help was provided by Ashwin Kini, the Culminis APAC chair.

A plan was made to engage the community along the ideas stated in the left column below:

1. Encourage community participation pre-TechEd	1.With Microsoft India’s help, a discount of 25% was negotiated for all User group members wishing to attend TechEd. 1.1. A template was made available to leaders via which they could announce this benefit to members. 1.2. Members interested in the offer were given a survey url to indicate their interest. A day before TechEd volunteers provided this list to TechEd event agency to ensure at time of payment, members got 25% discount. (Despite the severe recession 65 community members took advantage of this offer). 2. ICC members were given free entry. 3. INETA APAC(facebook, Spaces), Culminis blogs, sites announced benefits for the community, and mailers + phone calls were made to all UG leaders.
2. Promote all User Groups of (INETA APAC, Culminis & PASS), create awareness of these organizations, MVP Program and Microsoft UGSS, ensure all attendees are aware of the above.	1. A Community Booklet was created, containing details of all user groups in India, via efforts of ICC + other volunteers. A professional company was engaged(Printo), their help was invaluable. Community booklet was included in the attendee kits, ensuring all are aware of the various user groups across India. In addition, UG leaders were provided Community booklets, so that they could distribute it to their group members.
3. Engage TechEd Attendees, Promote leaders and groups, create buzz and encourage at least 10% of TechEd audience.	1. Two contests were organized. 1.1 Culminis, INETA APAC, PASS, Leader Hunt Contest for TechEd India 2009. Enabled attendee interaction with all leaders(Culminis, INETA APAC, PASS) who are present at TechEd. Approximately 300 attendees participated. 1.2 INETA APAC True or False Contest. Enabled attendees to be aware of INETA APAC benefits and sign up as volunteers.  Approximately 300 attendees participated. 1.3 There was also a dart game where a lots of goodies(Stress balls, T-shirts, Caps) were given to attendees. The queue at the dart game counter was just amazing. (The Xbox guys helped by providing part of their booth to enable this.)
4. Networking opportunity for speakers, attendees, UG leaders, volunteers.	An exclusive Community Evening was organized, primary sponsor was Microsoft UGSS, Culminis and INETA APAC also partly sponsored the same.  Networking, free beer and munchies. It was an evening attended by close to 100 people (consisting of leaders, members, speakers and Microsoft personnel). The ICC members were formally introduced to the attendees. The entrance to this exclusive event was guarded by our enthusiastic leaders/volunteers Nauzad, Surendra Mishra and Pinalkumar Dave followed by turns by other volunteers.
5. Involve 3rd party speakers, Microsoft Regional Directors, other valuable speakers etc.	Pre-TechEd, behind the scenes Sanjay Shetty, was involved in getting 3rd party speakers, such as Sanjay Vyas, Dr. Nitin Paranjpe, Raj Chaudhuri, Meena K and Ranganathan S. In addition, Microsoft RD’s like Praveen Srivatsa, Venkatarangan TNC, also delivered some fantastic sessions.
6. Leader Summit	One of the things local Microsoft encouraged was to engage leaders much more, and in order to help with that, they offered free entry to TechEd for all leaders of groups in India. The ICC capitalized this wonderful opportunity and informed all leaders, in addition, INETA APAC and Culminis sponsored leader accommodation at TechEd, since quite a few leaders were attending this proved to be hugely beneficial, about 14 leaders attended this special summit, along with leading MVP’s. It was held on day 2 of TechEd for about 2 hours. INTEA APAC, Culminis and PASS shared their plans for FY10 with leaders. Additionally, Culminis, INETA APAC, PASS representatives, respectively met up with their group leaders in separate meetings.
7. Upcoming mini-UG TechEd’s in 8 cities.	Microsoft announced their support to Community, UG led, mini-TechEd’s in 8 cities. These will be targeting both IT Pro’s and Developers. Topics that are being delivered are:  IT Pro: Win Server 2008 R2; Virtualization; Exchange server Developer: WIN 7; IE 8 /SL3 & Visual Studio 2010 Microsoft would enable UG leaders to get content from TechEd on the above + leaders are encouraged to have local speakers for whom virtual training could be provided. INETA APAC, Culminis, and UGSS could support funding of these Community TechEd’s.
8. Special Session for UG leaders	Concept Visuals – presentation by Sanjay Vyas was an exclusive introduction to leaders on how Concept Visuals helps in easy learning + presenting of any information. The best comment after the session which I heard from a leader was “I was doing Windows programming for 6 years and now I finally understand what’s happening”. It was an eye opener for all.
9. New User Groups support	Hyderabad – Soni Somarajan and Srinivas B.N. were two new potential leaders who stepped up to help with Hyderabad UG. Patna – Monika Jha(encouraged by UG leader Surendra Mishra) has decided to start the Patna User Group, focused on UI/Designing Agra – Similarly, INETA APAC volunteer Mahesh Mitkari, is working with a potential new leader in Agra.
10. Goodies for UG leaders and their members	On the last day, UG leaders were given giveaways to take back to their user group communities, which they could utilize at the upcoming mini-TechEd’s. ICC members and volunteers, put their hands together to coordinate these efforts.
11. UG content in localized languages	Microsoft is helping encourage submission of information in localised languages, so far I believe, there are volunteers for Gujarati, Kannada, Hindi and hopefully the upcoming mini-UG TechEd’s will bring many more languages to the fore. These video recordings would be promoted across the country.

A bunch of leaders from India, are meeting up at lunch today at the community zone. Introduction to the INETA APAC FY10 plans will be given by Kashinath TR.

Looking forward to meeting all leaders.

It is a contest based on your architectural skill. Microsoft gives you a challenge - details on a system they'd like you to architect. In the allotted period you work out the architecture in line with the expected solution brief. Your submissions would be judged based on the judging criteria and the top three candidates would be invited to Tech.Ed-India 2009 showdown to present their proposal in front of a live audience and a panel of judges. You match wits against your peers to see who can architect the best system to address the challenge … and, get ready to WIN BIG in the process.

Showcase your architectural skills by participating here: http://virtualtechdays.com/toparchitect/default.aspx

Presenting at large events such as TechEd

Session abstract: Presenting at large events such as TechEd involves a lot of preparation. Too many speakers leave far too much to chance. Doing a good job does not happen by accident. In this session, Greg will share experience and tips related to the process of getting selected, preparing content and delivering that content. Many of the tips can also be applied to improving the delivery of technical material in classroom or user group situations.

Presenter Bio: Greg Low is an internationally recognized consultant, developer and trainer. He is the country lead for Solid Quality, a SQL Server MVP and one of only three Microsoft Regional Directors for Australia. Greg also hosts the popular SQL Down Under podcast (www.sqldownunder.com), is a board member of PASS (the Professional Association for SQL Server) and an author with Microsoft Press and Rational Press. He regularly speaks at large events around the world.

INETA APAC invites you to select a convenient time of your choice for this webcast, fill the survey(takes less than 3 minutes) and we will notify you of the final survey results and the exact webcast timing.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=AdhgSxdrRqvyUP9KZQRWpA_3d_3d 

Please note that Survey closing date is : May 4, 2009

Could you believe it a group focussed on encouraging the green revolution in IT. If I’m not wrong this is the first group of it’s kind in the world.

The Green IT Special Interest Group (SIG) is an independent, not for profit organisation that is empowered through a volunteer organisation of professionals and through the broad support of industry associations.

The Green IT Special Interest Group works with ICT Professionals and clients of ICT services to address today’s sustainability challenges and identify solutions for a better tomorrow.

The ACS Green IT Special Interest Group (SIG), chaired by Phillip Nyssen, ACS Qld Board Member, started in Brisbane this year. Its role is to drive IT industry awareness, knowledge and adoption in response to climate change and carbon accounting.

Website: www.acs.org.au/greenit

You can get involved with them by signing up here http://www.acs.org.au/greenit/register.htm

I think this is an extremely interesting group doing good in their own Green way ;-) Love it.

Is your group doing more than IT stuff? If you are we’d love to hear about IT ;-)

In recognition of the tremendous work done by technical user groups around the world, and in particular the Culminis, INETA and PASS associations, Microsoft would like to offer each user group a free one year subscription to TechNet Plus Direct.

Each subscription will be for a specific named individual, but of course that person can then use the subscription to help the user group members as appropriate within the terms of the license.

One member of your user group will be given a one year TechNet Plus Direct Subscription. TechNet Plus Direct is a premium yearly subscription that offers access to a comprehensive set of resources and tools designed to help IT Professionals evaluate, deploy, and support Microsoft products. During the subscription year, the chosen user will have access to the following TechNet Plus Subscription Benefits:

• Evaluation software : Download and install over 70 titles of full version Microsoft software, without any time limits, for evaluation and proof of concept purposes.
  
• Pre – Release Betas : Get access to selected Betas before release to general public.
  
• TechNet Technical Library : Download the updated Microsoft Knowledge Base to your device, and have access to security updates, service packs, resource kits, utilities, technical training, and
  product documentation.
  
• eLearning Courses : Each subscriber has the opportunity to take three selected (recently released) eLearning courses every quarter. A total of 12 for each subscription year.
  
• Managed Newsgroup Support : Receive a reviewed response to any query posted on a TechNet Newsgroup within 24 hours.
  

• Online Concierge Chat : Access 24/7 instant message chat support with an online search professional that can help you locate specific resources.
  
• Technical Support Incidents : Access two Technical support incidents per subscription year, and a 20% discount on additional support.
  
• TechNet Magazine (availability varies by region).
  

After the one year subscription term lapses, the subscriber will need to renew. For more information on how to buy additional TechNet Plus subscription or renew existing TechNet Plus subscriptions, please visit http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/bb892754.aspx

Please note that this offer is valid during 2009 and is restricted to one subscription per user group. If your user group is a member of Culminis, INETA and PASS you are still only entitled to a single subscription, not to three.

In order to take advantage of this offer you will need to provide Microsoft with the contact details for your user group and for the member who will hold the subscription. By providing this information you grant Microsoft the right to contact you regarding this offer and other user group related matters. You also grant Microsoft the right to pass your contact information to the Culminis, INETA or PASS associations in order to validate your membership.

To register your user groups free TechNet Plus Direct subscription, please complete the form at https://connect.microsoft.com/UGSS/Survey/Survey.aspx?SurveyID=7794&wa=wsignin1.0 . Once this form is completed, the subscriber will receive an email with details of how to register their account within a few days, at which time they will also be able to select a language option for their account.