Last Monday Agora hosted a “booth” at the Toronto event for Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 Launch Event. "Booth” is in quotes because this was not the typical trade-show kind of booth.
The event was set up as a celebration of software developers and all the wonderful things that they do with great tools like VSTS2010. So in keeping with the celebration theme, it was held in a fancy nightclub (Ultra on Queen Street West). So our “booth” was actually two tables at one end of the raised lounge area usually reserved for high rollers (or the guys who try to look like them) ordering bottle service. We set up a large screen running a Powerpoint loop of many of our solutions, had some glossy hand-outs and had a laptop running our Agora Requirements Tracker software (click here for more details)
Drinks were served and there was a brief presentation from the runway in the middle of the room that served as a stage. Again, not your usual trade-show.
But developers are developers, and no matter the venue or the circumstance, the crowd was most interested in cool technology stuff, (and food and free giveaways). So while many lined up for the food, most wanted to explore the software solution that we were showing. Doing demos was easy, we just let people play with the software. There was a fair amount of excitement about Requirements Tracker because it makes the process of creating good software in a team environment significantly easier.
Then, as soon as the free draw was done, everyone bolted for the exits – presumably to go home and play with more cool technology.