The PowerShell Summit is the number one conference where PowerShell enthusiasts gather and learn from each other in fast-paced, knowledge packed presentations. PowerShell experts from all over the world including MVP’s, Guru’s, community leaders and PowerShell team members, will once again join together for a few days in Bellevue, WA. to discuss and learn about maximizing PowerShell in the workplace. If you want to share your PowerShell expertise or story, then this is your official call to submit presentations for selection!
The North American PowerShell Summit 2016 will take place at the
Meydenbauer center in Bellevue WA. on April 4-6 2016. The Summit is a community event, with community based speakers. That means we need **you **to submit sessions. Members of the PowerShell team will be attending, and speaking, as in previous years as will a number of PowerShell MVPs. One of the goals of PowerShell.org is to help build the PowerShell community and that means helping and developing new speakers. You don’t have to be an established speaker to present at the Summit - just knowledgeable about your topic and enthusiastic about PowerShell.
Ever wonder what it’s like to attend PowerShell Summit? Attendee Tommy Maynard blogged about his entire experience - including the build-up anticipation prior to the event - and it’s a great set of reads. Check it out.
We offered our first in-person, proctored VERIFIED EFFECTIVE exam at PowerShell Summit in April 2015, located in Charlotte, NC. While the exam is not intended as a diagnostic or learning tool, there are definitely some observations I can share from glancing through some of the submissions so far. First, the exam isn’t easy. 31 people signed up to take it (our room capacity; more would have if we’d had space), and only 12 turned in submissions. Of those, fewer than 5 are probably going to pass by the end of the grading process.
The PowerShell community descended on Charlotte, North Carolina for the third annual PowerShell Summit - North America this week! Enthusiasts, MVPs, community leaders, and the PowerShell product team came to discuss the latest and greatest ongoings in the PowerShell world. The festivities kicked off in downtown Charlotte at the Ri Ra Irish Pub this last Sunday. New network connections were made and old friends reunited over fine brews in the Victorian-style public house before getting a good nights’ rest before the three day summit.
We’re announcing a venue change for PowerShell Summit Europe 2015. Although we’re very appreciative to Microsoft for offering the use of their office in Kista, our registration velocity warrants a larger venue, and gives us the opportunity for a more central location. Dates are not changed. We will be at the Scandic Klara hotel, which is near to the HTL Kungsgaten, both of which has sleeping room available as of this writing. Both are as close as we can get to Stockholm Central station, and both are near a tram line. We are recommending that attendees **reserve sleeping rooms immediately. **A government congress at the waterfront convention center has made room inventory tight. Our registration website has been updated with the additional attendee capacity.
First: Because e-mail these days is actually unreliable, what with spam filters and all, please know that we’re relying on you to keep yourself informed on Summit updates. Following the Summit category on PowerShell.org, and watching the @PSHSummit Twitter account, are the reliable means of doing so. First: Summit Europe is happening. There was some confusion because a draft blog post from a month ago got resurrected somehow, but the Summit is on. **Second: **We’re almost sold out. I think we literally have 2 or 3 seats left. There was a rush over this past weekend. **Third: **We’re exploring other venues in Stockholm and Kista, which would afford us more room. I expect to have this pinned down no later than mid-May. The dates will not change, and the Kista area will probably not change. But pay attention so you’re not going to the wrong building. Watching the Summit category and @PSHSummit Twitter page is vital, especially closer-in. **Fourth: **Hotel inventory in central Stockholm is dicey because there’s some giant conference at the waterfront conference center. There are rooms available just outside the central area, as well as in Kista. So long as you’re close to a tram line or Metro stop, you’re good to go - the Metro will be able to get you to whatever venue we select (we’re ensuring that). **Fifth: **That is all. Have a good week :).
Registration for PowerShell Summit Europe will commence on February 27th, 2015 at roughly 12:01am server time (I believe the server is in a Pacific time Azure datacenter). We will be limited to roughly 100 attendees. I want everyone to understand the basic rules of engagement for this. Setting up and running this event involves significant financial risk. While in this case the event venue, a Microsoft office in Kista (near Stockholm), Sweden, isn’t charging us huge fees and requiring us to commit to hotel rooms and the like, there is still risk. _Most of that risk is not borne by PowerShell.org, _but for the most part by myself, personally. Our speakers also commit to covering their own travel expenses (something we’re hoping to offset this year). In addition, PowerShell team members are taking time away from the product to attend, which is a huge logistical commitment because it’s such a relatively small team. For the Europe 2014 event, we had very poor registration numbers almost until the last minute. We also had to work very hard to drum up topic submissions from European speakers. Those two facts worry us a lot, because it suggests that there isn’t a strong and engaged community interested in this event. If that’s the case, we don’t want to barge in and run the event at all. As a result, we’re going to be taking a pretty risk-averse approach this time, and I wanted to be up-front and forthright about it. So: We’re going to evaluate the registration numbers and velocity in mid-April. By then, we need to see at least 20-30 registrations. (We usually achieve that in the first week of registrations for the North American event.) If we’re not hitting that level, then the event is subject to cancellation (and everyone will naturally get a full and complete refund). Also know that, should we make it past that point, registration will end by August 15th 2015 or when we fill the available space, whichever comes first. In other words, last-minute registration won’t be a thing. The success of this event **depends on the European members of the overall PowerShell community. **
You
need to help get the word out. We aren’t going to be advertising, soliciting Microsoft’s help, or other techniques. This isn’t a commercial conference; it’s being done by the community and for the community - and if the community can’t make it happen, then it won’t happen. Our agenda will be going online shortly, and you should head to http://PowerShellSummit.org to find the registration links (after reading the introductory material, click “Europe 2015” for details). We’ll get it all posted and ready for February 27th - it won’t be live until then. **Help us get the word out. **Tell co-workers. Use Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. Attend user group meetings and spread the word. We’ve got about 6 weeks to get 20-30 people signed up to make sure we’re covering base expenses and making this happen.
Topic submissions for the PowerShell Summit Europe are still open. If you want to be considered as a speaker please submit your topic very soon. At the moment there aren’t enough submissions to enable us to put on a quality event. The 2014 European Summit was an excellent event with many good sessions – now is the time to submit your sessions. We need your sessions. We have a policy of accepting sessions from new speakers as well as established experts. It’s not who you are but the quality of the session that counts. Details on how to submit session proposals are available here https://powershell.org/2014/11/24/call-for-presentations-for-powershell-summit-europe-2015/ Please submit your proposals soon as we can’t run the European PowerShell Summit without them! As a note, we are confirmed for Stockholm (or within a a short subway ride of Stockholm) for the timeframe indicated, although we don’t have the exact venue yet. It’s important that we get sessions lined up soon, so that we can begin general registration.
