Microsoft MVPs - summit question

Yes, I plan to be there. :)

It'll be great if those who have an experience at previous summits supply recommendations and ideas on hotels, proximities, locations et al... ;)

Don't think I will be attending either. Hard to get leave when I have already take 5 weeks just recently. Would like to look at the agenda and see if I can squeeze in a day or 2 at least.

I prefer Bellevue since it is closer to the Microsoft campus, but the hotels are all in Seattle this year. The Grand Hyatt was the hotel recommended in the VC++ group (and a few other groups...). I'd be ok with the Westin as well.

Both Westin and the Grand Hyatt are not far from each other (and are both seemingly tall structures :D ). So, as far as location and other details go - there may not be too much of a difference.

However, I see that the GH has a better star rating than Westin (or am I mistaken)?

It's popularity among other MVPs can also be a plus... :)

(BTW, GH seems to welcome those that smoke... ;) )Okay, let's make it GH then... :D

So, I presume Brad was talking about the one in Seattle downtown?Yes - like Brad said: All the hotels available to MVPs for the 2007 summit are in downtown Seattle - so the question "Seattle or Bellevue" doesn't arise this time. :)

So, I settled for Westin. :)Same here... :) (Westin from Sunday to Thursday).

Btw, Brad: Maybe you should PM all CG MVPs about this thread? Not all might visit chit chat regularly.

What happens if all the designated hotels are booked?I think it is a little too early to worry about this problem. ;)

The hotels in question are pretty big, and even if 25% of the MVP-population makes it to the Summit, they wont even amount to a requirement of 1000 accomodations. That's really not much.

07:00 am breakfast time... Wow, this really sucks! :D

I saw Ejaz's profile in the MVP awardee list. Congrats Ejaz :wave:

BTW, I also made it this year. Not sure if I am going for the summit though. March is a very busy month for me. I am trying to find out if my company will treat it as "sports leave" (or similar) if I decide to attend. Any more new MVPs from CG this year ?

Just booked Westin as well.

Brad!

Ah, okay... :D :thumb:

The first day breakfast is at 7:30 am but the othe mornings its at 7 am. 7 am is 7 am for me. :(

Just noticed that MS is picking up the bill for the rooms. :thumb:
This makes it a whole lot easier for me to make it.

Any idea if flight bills are subsidized?

I remember that this was the case the last time...

I am not sure if it is for people from other part of the world but for south asians there is subsidy of ~380USD.

Yeah, I didn't find anything in the Newsgroups... Probably should ask the leads.

Oh, thats really not much for people flying 22 hours
What you need for long flights is seats like these

http://www.emirates.com/Images/biz_cabin_tcm12-162219.jpg

BTW, aren't you in Germany ? We have daily flights from Hamburg to New York.

What you need for long flights is seats like theseLOL... If wishes were horses... :) BTW, aren't you in Germany ? We have daily flights from Hamburg to New York."We"?

BTW, neither am I in Hamburg nor is New York my destination. :D ;)

No, but your flight may have a stop at New York. Well... Even in that case Hamburg would have nothing to do with it. ;)

Well, that is a real problem.. it can be a cause of me not reaching there.. :D I may be in Africa somewhere with ~380 USD... :D:D :D

Can't anything be requested for this, Krishnaa? Krishna is not the right person to be asked this question. :D
(Apart from the fact that he is in the US, asking the Gods may bear more fruits... :D)

If anything can be done.. else it is just like ... here is a piece of diamond for you costing 50, 000 bucks and we will give you a subsidy of 50 rupees... Aweful.. thats aweful...
Yes... I think you should approach your employer.

Try your luck. ;)

Yes, I work for Emirates. There are no direct flights from Heidelberg to Seattle anyway so you would have to change flights in at least one city.

Just mentioned it in case you are Hamburg. Our flight can get you to Seattle with one change in New York.

BTW. That was a picture of the business class seat. The first class seat is far bigger. In first and business class you get your own 19 inch touch-screen ( 9 inch in economy class). You get a selection of over 130 movies, 60 TV channels , 40 video games etc. It's a great way to kill time while travelling. See www.emirates.com (http://www.emirates.com) to book online. :)Well... Thanks for the information...

But, such text advertisements on dev-archive are not allowed... :D

(Please convert the contents of your post in to a CPU-consuming-flash and submit it again... :D :D ;) )

To all those that are MVPs from Germany, and also most probably from other parts of EMEA -- there is no subsidy for you people. :ehh: :rolleyes:

I'll subsidize one drink at the hotel bar should several of us get together... ;) :D

Brad!

I'll subsidize one drink at the hotel bar should several of us get together... ;) :D

Brad!
I do hope that all the MVP members of CG will meet one evening for a glass of chit-chat. ;)

Pity that I am too busy with work :( I miss so much over here.

I have registered, but am not yet sure whether I will be able to make it to Seattle of not. I will be in NJ starting Feb, and will have to check with my employer if I can take few days off from work to catch up with you guys. It will be fun to meet everyone here.

i'm thinking about joining the summit as well. it would be great if you guys could tell me which hotel you've decided for. maybe we could get together (finally) ;) . i'll have to talk to Sasha Krsmanovic, my MVP lead to see where the canadians MVP's are going to stay...
As we discussed on the first page of this thread, me, Brad, Sid and Guido registered for Westin. This is a hotel with 800+ rooms, so I suppose rooms should still be available. ;)

If we didn't meet in Timisoara, hopefully, we'll do it in Seattle. ;)

sorry I missed that, I'm trying to get up to speed here, so I might be a little slow in the beginning.

hopefully ;).

I'll let you guys know about the booking.

PS: What dates did you guys decided for the summit?
I registered for the period 11 - 14 (the nights), but I will arrive in Seattle on the 10th, because the flight price is almost half the of one on the 11th. This way I'll have ane day and a half for visiting the city. ;)

This should help:

http://www.seattle.gov/html/visitor/

FWIW - I saw today that the people of Seattle admitted in a national survey that they used recreational drugs more than any other city, except for one other. I think it was San Fransico as #1. ;)

Nothing, really. Let the party begin!
I regret not being able to make it...

I am planning to attend.This is really good to know. :)

I will try Westin.Please do!

All CG members should be confined to Westin... :D

Sorry.. no luck.. will not be able to join you guys.. :) There's always next time, though! :D

I had to make a reservation for Grand Hyatt Seattle since Westin was not available on 3/15, therefore I could not register for a continuous days. This is strange. I will try to ask around if tha can be changed to Westin.
Ah, pitty. However, I think the hotels are pretty close.

So I registered for 11 - 15 March at Renaissance Seattle That's good to know. :)Hopefully we'll meet somehow.Don't worry - we will. :)

Reminds me: I wondered whether all CG MVPs have a CG shirt? If not: Brad, would it be possible to organize that? It has proven to be quite helpful for spotting CG members in the crowd. :)

Reminds me: I wondered whether all CG MVPs have a CG shirt? If not: Brad, would it be possible to organize that? It has proven to be quite helpful for spotting CG members in the crowd.
What about a brand new one? :D

Have any of you that registered on the first day received the confirmation? It should have arrived yet, by my calculations:
Please expect your registration and, if selected, hotel confirmation details via email within five business days. However, please print this page for your records.
Makes me wonder.

i just checked at Westin and only these dates (12 - 14) are available... :mad: !

Btw, I just booked my flight... I will be flying to SEA out of Stuttgart via Amsterdam with KLM and North-West... :) Arriving at Seattle Tacoma on Sunday 11th at 15:25, and leaving on Saturday 17th at 14:00... That basically leaves Sunday evening and Monday morning for pre-summit activities, and Thursday afternoon/evening, the entire Friday and Saturday morning for post-summit stuff (like visiting Seattle in more detail, something I wasn't able to do last time).

How about you other guys? :)

Hm... I wonder what's the "+1" in that schedule? The extra day for flying Air India? ;) :DOh, it is American Airlines this time. :D

That apart, "+1" is an international convention used by travel agents to indicate that the time at the destination belongs to the next day. :)

It is just the difference in time due to zones, the flight from Dallas to Frankfurt is direct. :D

Aha...! Thank you so much for explaining, Sid... ;) :DLOL! That was me taking coal to Newcastle, right? :D

// What with you having been a pilot.. ;) :)

But, other than that - I'll be visiting Delhi between the 1st and the 4th of February (flying back to Bombay on the 4th).

If we manage to make time (what with me being on a short trip and you being in the middle of a move - IIRC... ), we could as well catch up for a couple of hours... ;)I cannot be more disgusted (very very disappointed) of not finding this message of yours in time.. This thread popped up in the subscribed threads list today and I found this message right now. I was (and am) not frequent here these days.. guess, the reason i missed it. I could have had surely took some time out..

Brad, this is a bug with the subscribed threads functionality... it doesn't work right always... it just cost me a meet with Sid... :(

Have fun all of you there, though! :thumb:

i'll be arriving in seattle Sun 11-Mar 2007 21:04.

Going back to the topic, does anyone of you know how is the weather usually during this part of the year? According to wunderground.com temperatures will be between 5-10 degrees Celsius, and with high changes for rain.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=seattle

I'm wondering what clothes I should bring. ;)

I would carry regular / autumn clothes and an umbrella... :)

Probably a sweater too - so that coming back home gets easy... :D

Microsoft did an online presentation about the summit that included weather information. In general, rain in Seattle is more drizzly rather than downpours. I don't remember the URL for the webcast, but you can likely find it from the MVP site.

Brad!

this Lost in Seattle ( http://lostinseattle.com/) map seems interesting.

this Lost in Seattle (http://lostinseattle.com/) map seems interesting.Thanks for the link, Alin! :thumb:

Just a quick reminder for those of you coming from outside U.S. (based on previous experience): Don't forget to bring an AC plug adapter - or you'll have serious problems connecting your laptops / cell phone chargers / whatever. :)

Getting such an adapter in Seattle is apparently not so easy: The one they gave me at the hotel reception desk was a strange contraption which also (needlessly) included a 110V / 230V converter, and had a blown fuse which I had to bridge with a spring from a ball pen... :) And the "traveller accessories" shop at the hotel had adapters - but interestingly, the wrong ones (for people with U.S. connectors visting Europe... :rolleyes: ) :)

Monday then. Wondering how we will find each other there... :)

I'll be arriving on Saturday evening (I'm leaving in 8 hours), so I should have one day to see the city. ;)

I have arrived at Seattle. As expected, it rains. It seems however that my PDA phone does not work here in USA, though it works just fine in Europe and Asia. It does not find any network, which is a big bummer. :sick: And I wanted to bring a second cell with me. ;)

I'm now at Amsterdam, waiting for boarding to SEA - long queue (FIFO, for you others. ;) )

@Marius: Have you tried manual network scan?

See ya... :)

I'm now at Amsterdam, waiting for boarding to SEA - long queue (FIFO, for you others. ;) )

@Marius: Have you tried manual network scan?

See ya... :)
I have checked in at the Westin. Manual network scan does not work. I think it's the phone. It's made in Asia, might not work here. I know other models that don't.

I am checked in at the Westin... Am at room 4332 with a wonderful view (photo of the view comes later :p).

Alin, which hotel are you in again? We could all meet over dinner - just a proposal - applies to all CG-members in the Seattle. Cilu was not reachable on the phone and the Service could not determine if Brad was checked-in.

I'll be away taking a walk in the city in a few moments... (for a change, it is not raining :D).

I am wondering as to where people caught up in FIFOs are at the moment... ;) :D

// Edit - Okay... Here is the view from the desk I am writing this message from...

A new thread...

http://www.dev-archive.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1544374

:)

Well, guys, have a great fun!
Please do not forget to send a postcard to us, which unfortunately remained home... :D ;)

If you are at the registration -- stay there!

We (Cilu, Guido, John and I) will be there in 15 mins. We plan to go out.