We hope you are getting as excited as we are for ODC 2008 which is less than a week away! As you pack your bags and get ready to head to San Jose, we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the activities and logistics for next week.

Please click here for a current ODC 2008 Agenda!

• Registration Information: Registration is located in the Main Entrance of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and will be open during the following hours:
  Sunday, February 10: 10:00am – 7:00pm
  Monday, February 11: 7:30am – 8:00pm
  Tuesday, February 12: 7:30am – 5:00pm
  Wednesday, February 13: 7:30am – 1:45pm
  
  
  Please bring a piece of government-issued photo identification (driver's license or passport) with you to registration.
• Hotel Information: If you reserved a hotel room through the event registration website, you can confirm your hotel dates by returning to www.odc2008.com and selecting the Returning Services option in the Register Tab. Any changes/cancellations to your hotel reservation must be handled directly with the hotel. As a reminder, changes made within 72 hours of your scheduled arrival will incur a charge to your credit card of one night’s room and tax.
• Pre-conference: Three pre-conferences are being offered for those new to Office development or interested in deep-diving into specific topics before the conference. These pre-conference sessions will run concurrently on Sunday Feb 10, 2008.
  
  For more details, visit the ODC pre-conference page here.
• Connect and Register - Sunday, February 10, 5:00pm – 7:00pm: Beat the registration rush while joining us for snacks and drinks on Sunday evening. Special guest Hugh MacLeod, avid blogger (www.gapingvoid.com) and creator of “The Blue Monster” will be there helping us kick off the conference. While you are there, pick up all your conference materials.
• Schedule Builder: EventPoint Schedule Builder for ODC will go live at 10:00 am on Sunday 2/10/2008. This tool provides attendees with a simple interface for creating personal schedule while at the event. The catalog portion of the Schedule Builder tool allows the attendee to filter the session list by Track, Timeslot, Speaker, and other categories defined by the event content administrators. A simple one-click mechanism adds a session to the attendee's calendar. Additional information for this website will be posted on www.odc2008.com when it is made available.
• Expo Hall and Reception: Visit the expo hall Mon-Wed to network with SMEs from Microsoft, find out about solutions from our sponsors and exhibitors, relax in the gaming lounge or sit in on one of the interactive theater sessions.
  
  Expo Hall Reception will take place Monday evening Feb 11, 2008 6-8 pm.
• Attendee Party - Tuesday, February 12, 7:00pm – 10:00pm: Join us for the Attendee Party on Tuesday for a journey through the history of technological advances both past, present and future, and enjoy cocktails, snacks and lively entertainment.
  
  Badge Requirements: Please be sure to wear your Office System Developer Conference badge for access to the Attendee Party. Guest badges will be given onsite to those who purchased Guest Passes.
• Unconference - Your chance to win some cold hard cash! On Wednesday, February 13, from 12:30 – 1:45, bring your most creative ideas to the breakout sessions for our first ever “Unconference”! This is the opportunity for YOU – or your esteemed colleague - to present on a topic of interest and relevance for your peers. Since space is limited and we can’t take all volunteers, we are asking for nominations.
• Monday, February 11 until 5PM, NOMINATE yourself or your peers to present on topics of interest through the online registration tool.
• Tuesday, February 12 until 5PM, VOTE on your top 5 favorites from the complete list of possible sessions, again through the online registration tool
• Wednesday, February 13, sessions with the highest votes will present and be rated.

The best part? The highest rated session wins $1000! The second and third place winners each get $500! So roll up those sleeves and get those talks/PPTs ready!

• Contests:
  Sleepless – the ultimate Office Dev Contest Finale
  www.infusion.com/sleepless
  After three weekends, several cities, round-the-clock SharePoint and Office training, and much frantic coding, the Sleepless event comes to the Office Developer Conference for the grand finale. Which team will walk away as the Ultimate Sleepless Office Dev Con Champion? Join us on Monday in the Exhibit Hall for a first-hand look at the finalist solutions!
  
  The champion will be announced during the general keynote session on Tuesday
  
  OBA Solution of the Year Contest
  The first annual OBA Solution of the Year Award winners will be announced at the 2008 Office Developer Conference. The objective of the OBA Solution of the Year Contest is to recognize excellence in Office Business Applications solutions developed by Microsoft partners and published on the official partner site for OBA solutions, www.obacentral.com. Awards and recognition will be based on frequency of solution views at OBA Central as well as evaluation by a panel of experts.
• Your feedback is important!: After each session we ask that you take a moment to fill out the evaluations that will be made available. This will help both the ODC organizers and conference speakers and will give you a chance to win some cool giveaways via random prize drawings throughout ODC 2008.