So long, little MEC v2, we hardly knew ye
To the excitement of many, two years ago Microsoft resurrected the Microsoft Exchange Conference. To many in the Exchange server community, this represented a renewed focus on Microsoft's part towards providing top-notch information to the Exchange community. Though I found the timing to be a bit suspect (after all, MEC had been gone for 10 years), it was a welcome resurrection even though, at the time, I was the speaker chair for the Penton Media Exchange Connections Conference.
Alas, nothing lasts forever and apparently MEC v2 is already being canned in favor of a bigger, better, more stupendous TechEd. The new event, now called Unified Microsoft Commercial Technology Event, will roll TechEd, MEC, the SharePoint, and the Lync conference.
I am disappointed in this latest devolution of Microsoft's conferencing strategy. Unfortunately, large conferences tend to have to their sessions dumbed down a bit to a lower common denominator. Smaller conferences, like MEC or Connections, does allow for more detailed and specialized sessions. And, it does allow for more interaction with the presenters and vendor subject matter experts.
#IWasMEC