Things you don’t notice at Tech.ed

I continue to be amazed at the behind the scenes logistics at TechEd Berlin and the massive amount of work involved in making this event run smoothly.

I know about the fact that we need to feed 7200 people and that we need someone to look after that – but its the other ‘stuff’ that has blown me away.

Crew Catering.  all the folks in black need to be fed.  There’s a separate restaurant for over 500 of the folks in black

Cleaning.  The toilets need to be cleaned, the rubbish bins need to be emptied and the floor needs to be vacuumed.  It’s a good idea to clean the toilets during the sessions, so that they are free in the breaks when needed.  This cleaning army is all scheduled by Theresa

All the crew have walky talkies.  There are over 330 Motorolas at the venue which all need to be charged.  Everyone with a motorola needs a little directory printing so you can contact the correct person.  We have 2 guys on site looking after that at all times. 

The team of bag stuffers.  A small team of people who have put all of the free things into your delegate bags.  You all have the same items in each bag.  These items need to be delivered / printed / couriered to the area behind the registration desk before the event starts so that all of the bags are ready in time.  The empty crates / boxes packing need to be cleaned out.

Security.  The teams of people checking your badges as you go through are all briefed by the team so they know who to let where.  All of these need to be scheduled so they all get chance to have a break, get lunch etc etc. 

Registration.  The team of staff processing registration need to be briefed on procedure, which items to check, need training on how to process a registration – and what to do if there’s an anomaly.  And they all need to have coffee breaks too which needs to be scheduled.

The Learning Centre.  The whole hall needs to be managed, the TLC experts need to be scheduled so that the correct folks are at the booth at one time and there are no gaps.  The folks from the product team need to be scheduled outside of their session times.  This all needs to be coordinated.

The Exhibition hall.  All of the exhibitors need to arrive before the event, set up their stand – the correct stand which has been ordered/ designed or delivered according to the plan.  All of the goods have to be couriered, the electricity points must be in the correct location to match up with the stand design which has been agreed as per plan for weeks. An amazing task

The Community area.  All of the competitions need to be coordinated, the gifts purchased and delivered to the correct part of this massive venue by the correct day to be delivered to the correct hall.  The signs need to be placed in the correct place, to match the conference guide map, and the directions should also point to the correct place.

I could go on and on and on about this – there would be so much to talk about – but having seen Teched as a delegate, a Microsoft speaker, and now a member of the Teched team, its fascinating to find out that the things I’ve taken for granted about the event have been carefully planned, discussed, documented and choreographed for months before the event to make it as good as we can possibly make it.

And for 6 days only.

Wow…

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