So I have a few minutes to decompress and give kudos to the great folks at SSWUG.org for putting on a great vConf. What’s a vConf? You mean you don’t know?

Well, take a look at the partner site at vConferenceOnline.com. They’ve got a great setup going. Essentially the pre-tape each session in the studio. That way the quality is controlled and ends up great. (Next one is slated to be in HD). Then they have created an asp based solution (Gotta wonder why ASP?  ) that handles making the appropriate “rooms” available at the appropriate times during the actual virtual conference. All from the comfort of home, the office, the library or even your favorite coffee shop.

This time, they ran 3 rooms simultaneously for the Business Intelligence conference I attended. The format allows the first half of the day to have these sessions running. The second half of the day the re-run the first half of the day. This way you get a chance to see secondary sessions that may have been running at the same time in the morning.

There were actually 4 conferences going on at the same time. A SQL Server, Business Intelligence, .Net Developer and MS Sharepoint were all available. Each conference was a separate registration fee but for the price you cannot beat it.

Well, take a look at the partner site at vConferenceOnline.com. They’ve got a great setup going. Essentially the pre-tape each session in the studio. That way the quality is controlled and ends up great. (Next one is slated to be in HD). Then they have created an asp based solution (Gotta wonder why ASP?  ) that handles making the appropriate “rooms” available at the appropriate times during the actual virtual conference.

The video quality is very good and continues to improve. The content distribution network they are using seems to be quite well suited for such multimedia distribution. Note, you’re going to need some decent bandwidth to get the best quality.

There are set times for exhibitor booth visits which has gone through a great overhaul this time. On demand vendor videos, downloads and of course vendor chat rooms.

Here’s the best part. 3 days for one conference was $100, actually $10 less since I’ve been to the previous two. That’s a BARGAIN when you consider typical conference costs, meals, lodging, travel and more. You certainly do miss out on the personal interaction however they are working on ideas for that. Currently during each presentation, appropriate chat rooms are available for participants and the speaker.

So, yup, I’ll continue to go as long as the quality of the experience and information remains high. Kudos to those who helped put it on.

Kudos Stephen Wynkoop, Chris Shaw and the rest of the gang.