Gilbane Boston 2010

I just arrived in Boston this evening for the Gilbane Content Management conference. The conference is being held at The Westin Copley Place and I will be presenting a session on “Open Source Tools Changing the Content Technology Landscape” in the first time slot on Thursday morning. I look forward to attending a variety of sessions and networking with many of the leading CMS solution providers who will be present at the event.

I have to admit, travelling from coast to coast is a real journey. I departed from Vancouver International Airport early this morning and flew via Air Canada ( thank goodness for personal entertainment systems on the back of every seat ) to Montreal, Quebec and then made a connection to Boston, Massachusetts. Overall flight time was about 7 hours but with the 3 hour time zone adjustment and short layover it took around 11 hours in total which means the entire day was a write-off.

One of the benefits of being selected as a speaker at the Gilbane conference is that I am able to provide free conference registration for one special guest. The preference was to invite someone who was local to the Boston area – which actually made the selection quite simple. Eric Swanzey from Swanzey Internet Group is a member of the DotNetNuke Fusion Partner program and leader of the DNN Boston User Group. He has been an active member of the DotNetNuke ecosystem for a number of years and I was very happy when he accepted my invitation. Eric and I will be meeting tomorrow and I am confident that we will be able to have dinner together this week as well – I am looking forward to trying some of the world famous Boston cuisine.

My father had his 60th birthday in October and my brother and I were scratching our heads for a suitable birthday present. What do you get for a retired guy who is very comfortable and content with his life? Well, my father has been a loyal fan of the Boston Bruins for as long as I can remember and this conference in Boston actually offered the perfect opportunity to cross an item off of his “bucket list”. So he will be flying out on Thursday and we are going to attend the Boston Bruins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning NHL hockey game that evening at the TD Gardens. It should be a night to remember ( hopefully the Bruins can shut down Steven Stamkos for one night )…