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Heartland Influencer Summit

Friday, I braved the early morning tumultuous weather in Columbus to travel to Detroit for a meeting with our Microsoft Heartland District's leaders Jeff Blankenburg (Developer Evangelist) and Josh Holmes (Architect Evangelist). Thanks again for the invitation, guys.

The topic of the day focused on how Microsoft can best help the developer community. Most of the 20 or so attendees were affiliated with the local user groups in the district. Hey, at least they [Microsoft] are asking. Microsoft may not always get it right but I've been pleased at the creation of roles such as Developer and Architect Evangelist. This alone really bridges the gap between Microsoft and the community. Now Microsoft just needs to increase the budget for these road warriors. [hint, hint]

As a thank you for attending the meeting, Jeff handed out USB Rocket Launchers. Somehow, he scored them from Micro Center for around $10. Nice work, Jeff, they're $35 on Think Geek! Anyway, my 3-year-old couldn't be more enamored with this toy. I hooked it up to the laptop in the kitchen and he has already mastered it! This kid loses interest approximately every 36 seconds but he played with this launcher for over an hour the first night. Good times.

Comments

Jeff Blankenburg said…
Jeff,

I'm glad you're enjoying the rocket launcher. To be correct, they were $30 at MicroCenter. If I said $10, I apologize.

It was a very productive meeting, and I hope to have more of those in the future.

Thanks for coming!

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