TechFest 2006: What I Saw

Going to Microsoft's TechFest is a sure way to revive my thrill at working here. Picture it: the huge rooms in the conference center filled from wall to wall with booths of brilliance. (Most of the ideas and inventions seem brilliant to me. And those that I can't understand, I'm positive must be!)

It's show-and-tell for our researchers. I really am awed every time I go to one of these. Of course, I can't say much of anything specific about what I saw, but I did get a good look at the foot-powered user interface. I'd love to see that implemented around campus!

My very favorite part isn't any specific booth or research area, though -- it's the What I Saw page. Those huge rooms filled with booths? They're also filled with people, lots of them, crowds around every demonstration. I'm not much for crowds anyway, and I can't see over anybody's head unless they're still in grade school, so this is a challenging situation. And the solution charms me with its simple elegance: At each booth is a badge reader. I scan my employee badge at every booth that catches my interest. Immediately, a web page is created, associated to my logon, and every booth I scan at is added to the page, with links to the demos and content and images for each booth. I have my own personal TechFest at my fingertips, back in my own office, to peruse at my leisure.

Is that cool or what?