Speaker Idol is an interesting contest here at TechEd 2007 put on by Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell from DotNetRocks.
The contest is modeled after it’s eponymous namesake American Idol with the winner earning a speaker slot for TechEd 2008 June 9–13!
I was honored to be on the judging panel for the first heat and was blown away by the quality of the presenters.
We had Kent Alstad, Mike Azugar, Bill Baldasti, Bob Roudebush all present for 5 minutes. Then four judges: Stephen (Tempo Tempo) Forte, Kate (C++ Queen) Gregory, Tim (Smart Client) Huckaby and myself all gave the speakers pointers on what they did well and how they could improve.
Bob Roudebush came out on top for the first heat and will be headed to the finals.
Congratulations Bob!