Tomorrow marks day one of the first ever Microsoft MVP Virtual Conference. This is awesome, because it’s a conference that I can attend that:

• Doesn’t require time off from work
• Doesn’t require funding from by employer or out of pocket
• Covers a lot of great material

My plan to attend is to tune in at 8am PT (10am CT, in my world) and soak in the inforamation while I go about my daily tasks at the office. Easy, peasy, lemon-squeezy.

With that, I’ve gone through the agenda and list off the top 5 sessions I’m eager to see over the next couple of days. Given, I’ll be watching more than that, but these ones just stood out more than others.

Hope to (virtually) see you there! Make sure you remember to register!

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Fireside: Cooking with Open Source

Day 1 – 10am PT/12pm CT | Jeff Paries & Morten Nielsen

Not only does this session talk about grilling, but it covers an area of interest: the Maker Movement with Arduino along with the open source side of things. My hope is that this session gives me a taste of what to look forward to when I start tinkering with one of these microcontroller boards.

Node.js for .NET Developers

Day 1 – 3pm PT/5pm CT | David Neal & Alvin Ashcraft

Over the past two years, I’ve become quite fond of NodeJS thanks to my familiarily and appreciation of JavaScript. I’m eager to see how David frames this session to show .NET developers why NodeJS is something to look into. Hopefully, I’ll learn a few things along the way too.

Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Automation with PowerShell

Day 2 – 8am PT/10am CT | Trevor Sullivan

What? An IT-Track session, you say? That’s the point. Conferences are meant to expand your horizons and learn a little bit more about what it out there. One thing that has caught my attention over the past month (especially after Build 2015 and the announcement of Nano Server) is Powershell. It seems very IT focused, but with Azure making setting up IT easier for the small-time developer, and Office going the road of SaaS, I think it’s time I learn to tool, and language that can help me manage my own little IT footprint.

Roslyn for Normal Developers: It’s Not Just for Compiler Geeks!

Day 2 – 9am PT/11am CT | John Robbins & Jamie Dixon

Roslyn is the new compiler for C# and VB.NET for Visual Studio 2015. It’s open source, and I’m intruiged because I want to see what developers can do with this technology at their disposal. Sure, it’s cool to say your compiler is open source, but why do I care? That is what I’m hoping to figure out in this session.

Windows 10 and Spartan Microsoft Edge

Day 2 – 11am PT/1pm CT | Chris Love & Ryan Hayes

Okay, this one is a gimme, considering my MVP area (that being Internet Explorer). I already know a lot, but I’m eager to see what Chris and Ryan (moderating) have to say being two of other experts in the browser space! You should check it out, as there are some cool things coming down the pipe, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands dirty with them.

Thanks for Playing.

~ DW