One of the things that I am looking forward to at DevConnections in Las Vegas (besides the conference, besides the sessions and besides to my return to Coral Reef where I Kathleen Dollard and I ate 3 nights in a row last year...) is seeing my friends that I only see from one conference to the next. Although I'll definitely miss Alex Homer and Dave Sussman (and didn't see them in October as i didn't go to the MVP Summit), there is a whole host of friends and people who I admire and really enjoy a chance to chat with, who are speaking at Connections (too many to list) that really make these events extra special. Take a look at the speaker list for VSConnections, ASPConnections, SQLConnections and the special 20th anniv C++ Connections (which is bringing together the C++ elite - many academics as well as practioners).

This is of course only enhanced by all of the conference attendees as well. Last spring, I had a great time hanging out at the INETA booth in the exhibitors hall and helping people find user groups in their area or even encouraging them to start one! Getting a chance to "expand" on the sessions is also great - there is only so much you can cover in the time frame of the sessions - and it's fun when people are interested in digging further into a particular area over lunch or a beer or just hanging out in the common area.

When it gets close to time to leave home, leave my beautiful little state, leave my pets and hubby behind, I start getting sad and wondering why I have chosen to do this. But as soon as I arrive at the conference hotel and am immersed in the buzz of so many people with the same passions as myself, there is no question as to why I am there.

One new entry to the Connections conference is Charles Petzold who is going to talk about ink as a new medium for developing applications. You should have seen Charles doing his tablet pc talk last winter at Windows Anywhere. It was a rare opportunity to actually watch him think as he demonstrated how one experiment led him to another and then another. I sure hope his talk is not scheduled at the same time as any of mine.