At the start of this year the DPE (Developer Platform Evangelist) group decided to do a Roadtrip to promote the launch of Vista, Exchange and Office. The NxtGenUG team knew it was an opportunity not to be missed and decided to hold an event with a difference.

how about the Cargo hold of an Argosy airplane? (not flying). Thanks to Midland Air Museum for the loan and setting up of power to this aircraft – we could not have done it without you.

What we hadn’t planned on was the coldest night of the year (as of 23rd January) and the fact one of the heaters was blowing cold air for the first session.

When Mike Taulty, Daniel Moth, Martin Parry and Mark Johnston (The Ant Hill Mob) arrived in Chuga Boom they were surprised and impressed. They even got a guided tour of the cockpit of the Argosy!

We’d managed to cram over 40 seats, projector screen and a table for the laptops into the cargo hold and we were ready for takeoff.

To cover Vista, Office 2007 and .NET 3.0 in 90 minutes was optimistic to say the least. The guys made a good job of it though, with some great demos. Mike’s workflow shape stood out in particular.

At half time we all defrosted over piping hot fish and chips, washed down with a cup of tea, in the warmth of the canteen. Charles Torre from Channel 9 arrived to see some grass roots user group activity– decided we we completely bonkers, but shot some footage. Charles then allowed me to get some interviews with the NxtGenUG members on why the community and NxtGenUG was important to them.

Back in the freezer we did the second half of the event, both heaters now on warm, with a swag giveaway at the end.

So, all in all, a cold night (-3 when i got in my car), with hot demos, and luke warm plane gags from Daniel