Tag: burgenstock

Microsoft, Web 2.0

Microsoft Belgium gigs

The presentations I gave to Microsoft Belgium this morning went really well and I received tremendously positive feedback. I have been asked not to talk about the content of the talks so I can’t say anymore about those.

I met some cool people there. Dave and Tom organised the event, and ran it really smoothly, despite Aer Lingus’ attempts to sabotage it by getting me there late!

I also caught up with Dirk (thanks for the ride from the airport) and Hans, both of whom I met originally in Burgenstock in September. And I met and had a great chat with Chris today at lunchtime. Chris uses WordPress.com so he can’t be all bad!!!

Web 2.0

I slapped Microsoft in the face (and lived to tell the tale!)

Well, I made it out alive!

I went to the Microsoft internal management meeting in Switzerland (Bürgenstock – a beautiful resort overlooking Lake Lucerne), told them their web 2.0 offerings sucked, and why.

View from my hotel in Bürgenstock

I have to say that their reaction was remarkably positive to my (metaphorically) slapping them in the face! They did challenge some of my assertions (which is the least I expected) but the overall feedback I received was amazingly positive. In fact I received invitations to do more of the same from some of the participants.

The presentations I gave were both difficult to prepare and difficult to deliver because, normally when I am presenting, I am talking up some technology or process. This was the first time I was asked to deliver a negative message in a presentation. Still, now I know I can do that (and do it well, if the reaction of the participants is anything to go by).

The difficulty was, of course, tempered by the location!