The MVP Summit has come and gone for 2008 and once again I was just blown away by the experience. This was my second summit and I came back extremely motivated and inspired to make sure I have a third. Just being around the other MVPs and the people at Microsoft makes you feel like you should be better at what you do. Just smart and inspiring guys all around.
I personally want to say thanks to the entire XNA development team. You guys are doing a fantastic job and I really felt my time there the entire week was well spent. Hopefully listening to us complain doesn't make you dread the summit too terribly much. You guys are my rock stars! I'll keep trying to do my part to keep the community excited about your product, but to be honest, I'm not sure you really need me. The product speaks for itself and you guys are rocking it out there in the community already. I wonder if I should send this to that email address I was given during the keynote...what was it Ballmer at something?
Meeting the other XNA MVPs who I know through our community involvement was a blast. Great to finally have faces to the forum and IRC nicknames I've known you as for so long. We have a great group of MVPs and I'm looking forward to seeing each of you again next year. Then once again we can swap stories while I drink and drink and drink and drink some more. We might even have a drink or two after that as well.
Before I forget, I need to give a big thanks to Scott Hanselman. He seems to have his fingers in every pie. In this case, he's the reason I made it to the summit on time. If he hadn't twittered me on that Monday morning, I would have just mozied on up to Seattle sometime that afternoon. I had totally blanked and didn't realize there was an opening address, a lunch and open sessions on Monday.....so thanks Scott (and Twitter!).
Running late, not remembering which hotel I was staying at (and later not remembering which room I was in or even which floor), suggesting we can solve problems by just waiting for people to die, drinking way to many whiskey sours, being told secrets we can't share, meeting new friends, "XBox 360 MVPs rule!", mother fetcher, DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS! speeches. All in all a great week and something I'm glad to have been a part of.
I'm back, working on new content for my site and coding on various game projects, but I can't wait to go again. It's going to be a lot of effort and I'm going to have work hard to keep up the pace so I can earn the right to go again next year but it's all worth it. Am I going to see you there?