Tech-Ed Europe is about to start and I join Bill O'Brian in the multitude of really envious people that would love to be there.
Instead I'm trapped here in Dublin, craving for news from Amsterdam.
I don't have any reasons to complain, really. After all, I was in Orlando just a few weeks ago.
In fact, I consider this coming event as an occasion to go through my mind maps and, once again, reflect on my recent experiences.
Bill recommended Gregor Hohpe's session on event-driven architectures.
I cannot agree with him more.
Gregor is a true expert on asynchronous messaging patterns and co-wrote what I consider the best book on this subject (Enterprise Integration Patterns).
By the way, if you believe that asynchronous messaging technologies such as Message Queuing (MSMQ) are not for you, I actually implore you to go to one of Gregor's sessions.
Maybe you will think about it next time you will wake up early trying to book tickets for your next U2 concert and the site goes down because suddenly there are too many requests that the server can't cope with ;-)
In addition to Bill's favorites, I would include Ron Jacobs's "ARC313 - Patterns for SOA". The patterns and anti-patterns described in that session are simply invaluable and I'll be certainly sharing some thoughts about them in the future.
Finally, I certainly suggest spending some quality time at the so-called Chalk-&-Talk/Cabana sessions. It is such an excellent way to meet a lot of talented people and share insightful ideas and tips!