Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, talks about the Scripting Guys booth on the first morning of TechEd 2014.

Wow! It is 2:00 in the afternoon, Houston time, and we finally had a chance to sit down. The Exhibit Hall is closed for a few hours to give us a chance to rest and  get ready for the evening reception. From the time the hall opened, right after the Keynote address, until now, there was a constant stream of people coming by the Scripting Guys Booth.

Marc Adam Carter is helping out at the Scripting Guys Booth this year, and he was immediately swamped with people coming up and asking questions about working with the Script Execution Policy in Windows PowerShell.

It was actually a pretty good conversation. One thing that Marc pointed out, is that the Script Execution Policy is a security convenience rather than a security feature. It is more like the buzzer to remind you to fasten your seat belt than the seat belt itself.

In the following picture, you can see that at times the crowd was quit large. Teresa, aka the Scripting Wife, was busy talking to people about starting a new Windows PowerShell User Groups. Don Jones was on hand talking to people about Desired State Configuration, and indeed, he brought copies of a book to hand out to visitors. He and fellow Windows PowerShell MVP, Steve Murawski, wrote it.

Some people came by the Scripting Guys Booth just to say thank you. I met many people who read the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog on a daily basis, and who said that my blog posts had saved them on numerous occasions. That is one of the things that really makes my day. It is exactly the kind of thing I try to do.

One of the things that really made my day was when Taylor Gibb came by. He was this years winner of the Scripting Games, and he won a free ticket to TechEd as a result. He told me he had a 17 hour flight from South Africa…and I was complaining about my 2.5 hour flight. It was really a pleasure to get to talk to someone who has been using Windows PowerShell to the extent that he does. Winning the Scripting Games was a significant accomplishment, and it required a significant commitment of time.

One of the highlights of the morning was when Windows PowerShell MVP and honorary Scripting Guy, Sean Kearney, stopped by. Actually, he swung by several times this morning, to see who was here at the booth. It seems that the Scripting Guy Booth becomes a gathering place for cool people who are into Windows PowerShell. Many people seem to stop by between sessions on a regular basis just to see who is here.

Tonight the booth opens up at 6:00 for the Expo Hall reception. We will have two awesome guests: Jeffrey Snover will be here from 6:00 – 6:30 and Mark Minasi will stop by from 7:00 until 7:30. So make sure you stop by tonight and see these two awesome people.

Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy