Here are some of the pictures I took while in LA for PDC09. I had a great time and I hope that I get the chance to attend more conferences.
The Standard has its name upside down for the logo.
I tried to take a picture of the desk at night, but it was pitch-black dark, with only small lights under the counter top in the back. When I entered, there was live jazz music playing (loudly) and it felt much more like a nightclub than a hotel.
The lobby is very pretty.
Red and white are quite prominent throughout the hotel.
Here's the main part of the hotel room. Very minimalistic.
The platform bed was pretty comfy.
Notice the glass wall that connects the bedroom to the bathroom.
Here it is from the other side. Wanna watch TV from the shower?
But it certainly wouldn't be a good room if you wanted privacy in the shower.
I loved the effect of the stripes: Curtains, Wall, and Lamp all lined up so nicely.
Here's the diner in the hotel where I had breakfast the first morning.
The diner was pretty well stocked.
LA Convention Center
Welcome to PDC09
It was pretty crowded, even on Monday.
Walking through downtown Monday night.
Brad Abrams (@brada) walking with us up toward a Tweet-Up at Hotel Figueroa.
Hotel Figueroa.
After the party at Figueroa, I went back to my hotel where I learned the the rooftop serves as a nightclub, and there were a bunch of PDC attendees there.
There were heat torches and a fireplace behind the crowd.
David Poll (@depoll) enjoying the party.
A full keynote room.
Another shot with a little better lighting. This is when I realized how large the crowd was going to be for our keynote demo.
The Big Room where all of the booths are set up. I was on my way to work our booth after Tuesday's keynote.
Getting ready for the swarm of attendees to come in after the doors are opened to the Big Room.
Our Web Platform includes a bunch of products, including Silverlight (lower-left corner). That's where I would be.
This is where I answered countless questions from scores of attendees. I was shocked how many of them knew who I was before I introduced myself. Some knew me from Twitter and some knew me from my blog. It was lots of fun hearing about so many different ways people were using my team's product.
The convention center Wednesday morning at 7:00am.
People are starting to fill the seats Wednesday morning.
But don't worry, there are plenty of seats in the back.
Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) and I were walking around going through talking points in preparation for the keynote demo.
I made sure to grab this photo op before the keynote, so that even if our demo failed miserably, I had Scott Hanselman and Scott Guthrie (@scottgu) smiling. :-)
Just a tiny, tiny part of the back stage operation. It's nothing short of a major TV production.
Another small part of the back stage operation.
The rooftop pool at The Standard Wednesday night. If the place wasn't also a nightclub, I would have taken a dip to release the tension from an insanely hectic day. But alas, there were a few hundred people around that had a different purpose for the area. Notice the movie that is playing across the street. In this picture, behind the 3rd chair from the left is a projector, displaying the movie on the other building.
Just a few of the people that are way cooler than me, having a good time paying $10-$15 per drink.
A full-size model of a Mars Rover. We learned that NASA uses Windows Azure for the images gathered from Mars.
Another view of the rover.
Impressive piece of machinery.
I was quite relaxed on the last day of the conference.
A couple of smaller rovers. The small one was designed in the I-DEAS software that I worked on at SDRC. I remember seeing the designs for it when I worked there.
Scott Hanselman broadcasting live for Channel 9.
This device can be used as a "joystick." Just by looking at your target, and then concentrating, you can shoot the bad guys in the game. Controlled only by concentration/relaxation, and head movement, and built from components that you can buy at electronics stores.
Brad Abrams presenting on RIA Services. I was sitting about half-way back in the room.
Dinesh Kulkarni giving another presentation on RIA Services. We were glad to see so much interest.
Dinesh Kulkarni, Mathew Charles (@mathew_charles), Brad Abrams, Nikhil Kothari (@nikhilk), Jeff Handley. The conference is over! And thanks to David Makogon (@dmakogon) for taking the picture!