Small Business Summit

If you have not had a chance to listen in or don't know anything about the Small Business Summit put on by Microsoft let me say one thing, GO CHECK IT OUT! This is one of the best things Microsoft has done in a long time as far as I'm concerned with great keynotes from industry experts to product demos and information. Of course there is a pretty big Microsoft push but should you fault them for trying to gain a few customers when they are putting out the bucks for presenting the show in the first place.

So anyway SBS (Small Business Summit) is a week long series of live shows which since they are now over are available for viewing any time you have free. Things discussed include The Art of Innovation by Guy Kawasaki to Eric Ligman's Save Money on Software. Eric is more less the defacto expert on Microsoft licensing and you can find him on several Microsoft and non-Microsoft chats or message boards.

If you don't listen to anything else from this week of great information please take 45 minutes to listen in on Guy Kawasaki. The quotes themselves from this show are worth the price of admission as the term goes. Some of the best lines include "innovators do things 10 times better" or probably the one that will get the most references across the web would be "I am not telling you to ship crap". His idea of going to the next curve is what it's all about and something many developers need to grasp.

So take a few minutes each day, pick a show and take a listen. Most you really don't need to see the PowerPoint slide decks so start up the show and toss it to the background while you continue with your work. Its 45 minutes well spent in my opinion.