NO!
Technet is on the road, showing us Performance Point, Search Server and SQL2008 stuff. I went to the session on the first two, given by Andrew Fryer and Viral Tarpara respectively.
Both excellent chaps and guys who I don’t hesitate to recommend for their respective specialisms. But, today at the Inchyra Grange hotel, Falkirk, they were so far off target that it could prompt a bad-taste joke.
Up-front-declaration; the technologies look great. Targeted tools for specific jobs. Does what it says on the tin (probably), no “yeah, but…” about them. Great stuff.
From Andrew, the quality of presentation was so far below MSFT standards, ouch; demo rule #1 = know it, practice it. Unfamiliarity with the product is not excusable in this forum. On top of that, the balance of the whole set was out. It wasn’t clear if he thought he was addressing a business or technical audience!
Message to Viral, lose the graduated reflection from your slide titles! Grrr, that has become such a caricature even within the “Web2.0″ world. What a distraction.
Viral is a good presenter, eloquent, flowing – American. However, going off-piste is fun for a skier but it’s not a spectator sport.
Anyone past row 3 can only actually view half of the screen in that room and the small font on the Sharepointy style admin screens can’t be seen from half-way back.
Remember, it’s the audience’s gig, not yours.
I’ll repeat, the products look great – but this is actually the first time I’ve seen people walk out of an event like this.
We may have been lab rats but we don’t like being told it, especially when the experiment doesn’t work.
