Sense and Sensibility-ness-ing-ly

Those playing at home may have noticed that I’ve been the slackest blogger in the world of late. I’m working on that changing, however I have become quite the prolific tweeter. I do get the irony that it’s been Twitter that has distracted me from blogging generally, so let’s all ignore that and never speak of it again... besides, get your own damn Twitter account and join the world of social networking.

I’m really stoked to be attending the this year’s Microsoft TechEd conference on the Gold Coast (my first time) – lots and lots of geeks arriving to talk all sorts of Microsoft technologies, with this year’s big focus on Windows Server 2008 Release 2 and the new desktop operating system Windows 7. Full paying delegates have the option of receiving a new HP NetBook with Win7 and Office 2010 pre-installed, so there is lots of excited nerds out there looking forward to their new hardware. The story of the build alone is working its way into geek folklore.

So – a chance for me combine both my interest in all things geek AND Twitter was too good to pass up. A guy I’ve been getting to know through various tweets – Darryl King -  through his company (iReckon) launched a unique service: Tweeterview. It's such a simple and well delivered idea... one of those "why didn't I think of this first?!" things. This allows those with Twitter accounts to formally interview someone else with a Twitter account in a public forum, 140 characters at a time. Sound weird, right, but after completing my first (of hopefully many to come) Tweeterview today I’m hooked. It’s a great application, delivered really well. It’s only in its v1.1 beta stage, but it’s a really compelling way to interview someone – your questions need to be punchy, well thought out and able to deliver in 140 characters or less!

My first Tweeterview was with Michael Kleef (@mkleef) – Microsoft AU legend, now based at Microsoft USA HQ as a part of the Group Policy development team. He’s been to many AU TechEd’s, and even spent a couple helping to organise them, so who better to start with?! He was extremely generous with his time, considering I started Tweeterviewing him at midnight his time (thanks again, Kleefy). I’m really looking forward to connecting with (if I can) other MS legends like @saraford, @jeffa36, @coatsy, & the conference feed itself @auteched to name a few, plus some other geeks attending like @adugdell, @madroo & @csharpzealot (to name a few). One of the cool things already locked in will be that the Tweeterviews will be connected to the live Twitter feeds being shown on plasmas around the conference event, both publicising what’s going on and building the general vibe of the conference. Very cool.

Will it change the world? No. Is it designed to be informative and helpful? I hope so.

If you can think of someone that should be Tweeterviewed for this event, please let me know. If you’d like to be Tweeterviewed for some whole other reason – let me know. Keep an eye out, as I'll blog in the additional Tweeterviews as I lock them in.

I think it’s a great tool, and one I want to share and promote as widely as possible (really well done to the @ireckon team too!).

Hastags to follow: #auteched #Tweeterview
My Twitter account: @themolk