MEC is Back!

[The_Exchange_Team]

In the late 90’s and first years of the 21st century, our team along with many of you were part of one of the most valuable technical education and community events in the industry. This event, focused entirely on Microsoft Exchange Server, brought together thousands of Exchange administrators, architects, consultants and partners with an abundance of the Exchange product group itself, hunkered down in a conference center to do nothing but soak in the goodness of Exchange.

Together, we shared deep insight about the latest product details and received a tailored education that helped all of you in the community move your infrastructures forward successfully and helped us on the Exchange team build a better product. Along the way, we had a pretty great time together, got to know each other and returned home better for the experience.

After a mysterious ten year hiatus, filled with spirited requests from the community at large, MEC IS BACK!

The premier event for deeply technical information on all things both Exchange Server and now Exchange Online and the best place to engage directly with the Exchange product group and your peers in the community is returning in 2012.

Visit MECisback.com today and in the coming weeks and months to get informed and stay informed about the details of how this conference will make its return. I will be back on EHLO periodically to tell you more. It is going to be epic!

Michael Atalla
Director, Exchange Product Management

[#2]

Greatness!

[#3]

:) in the late 90's I was in school.....All excited to know more of it now MS Exchange....!

[#4]

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So long developer conference with enterprise technologies as a bolt-on (aka TechED).

[#5]

Oh Michael, this is such exciting news - I cannot wait! Thanks for hearing the community, and for making this happen! See you there!

[#6]

sniff...sniff....  brings a tear to my eyes....     Currently working through the mental image of Archie Bunker & Edith sitting by the piano singing a few bars of  "those were the days".....    

There are a ton of great memories  (and defintiely a few missing ones) of the MECs over the years and soooo looking forward to its return.    

If you've been to one in the past... come on back.  If you've never been to one... you need to come to this one and start your own MEC memories.

[#7]

Orlando City Hall? Did you rent a conference room for the day? ;)

[#8]

WOW! Fantastic news! I'll be there

[#9]

Awesome news.  I always thought folding MEC into TechEd diluted the experience somewhat.

I still carry my laptop in my MEC 2002 bag to this very day!.   :)

[#10]

That was one of the first conferences I ever attended (MEC) in Orlando. Looks like we might be heading back to Orange County Convention Center again.

[#11]

MEC Kicked @rse in the past, good to see it coming back, cant wait... Open, Open, Open....

[#12]

Here's my blog post about MEC '99 & 00 and MEC in general

info.izzy.org/.../MEC_is_BACK.aspx

[#13]

Here's my blog post about MEC '99 & 00 and MEC in general (this time signed in)

info.izzy.org/.../MEC_is_BACK.aspx

[#14]

That are great news! I remember a MEC in 1999 in Hamburg, and much better, a MEC in Nicce, Exchange 2000 was just released and we all stood in the foyer, talking with Tony (Redmond) about his Exchange 2000 book!

[#15]

Yay, this is fantastic news :)

[#16]

I am thrilled that MEC is making a comeback.  Exchange has its own ecosystem of folks that are passionate about the product and we have missed MEC for 10 years.

One question...why the coordinates to some location in Kissimmee, FL?  I think I put them in right...but others are saying it is Orlando.  On Google and Bing it is showing next to a lake in Kissimmee, FL.

[#17]

Nicce 2001 was an awesome conference. Any chance that there will be also a MEC Europe?

[#18]

Great to see all the enthusiasm!  Would love to see more MEC stories here or on blogs.  If you blog about your experiences with MEC, be sure to let us know on Twitter with #MECisBack or right here on EHLO.  We really want to make this event great for the community, so let us know what you liked most about past MECs.

@Lars - We'll try to do better than a conference room at Orlando City Hall.  :)

@Missy - A lot of people are making this happen, but thanks for the kind words.  Very excited to bring MEC back after 10 years.  I have great memories of MEC myself and look forward to its return as much as you are.

[#19]

Awesome news, but Orlando again?  C'mon Microsoft, there are better places for tech conferences than Orlando. It's the reason I'm not going to TechEd this year.  Been to Orlando 3 times already.  You need a new venue!

[#20]

Whats next - Interact ;)

[#21]

Smile, 2000 at Nice the party was called "Beach Party" and the Band was Kid Creole and the Coconuts. But how about your plans having MEC also in Europe? It is not so easy for us European Guys to get to conferences in USA. It's always a matter of time and money ......

[#22]

WOO HOO!!!!  I was at MEC in Anahiem in 2002 and thought it was a great experience.  I can't wait to sign up for this one!  Thanks MS for listening.

[#23]

Awesome!  I still have my Agents of Change T-Shirt (October 4-7 1999, Atlanta).  I'm not sure what that says about me, but it's a darn good T-shirt.  I hope it also involves Lync too (but still called MEC, on the other hand they could do a lot with MELC).

[#24]

I've been waiting for this för a long time...... I hope that there will be a MEC in Europe as well :o)

[#25]

Am I that old? (but I can't wait)

[#26]

I hope they keep the acronym definition of Microsoft Enterprise Conference (I believe this was the name the last year or so) so we can target ALL enterprise level services such as Exchange, Lync, AD, etc...

[#27]

What a great news !!!

Is there any hope that you bring that into Europe as well?

[#28]

This is great that the MEC is back, but I have already signed up from Microsoft TechEd this year and will not be able to go to the MEC until 2013.  My hope is that there will still be Exchange, AD and Lync information and presentations at TechEd this year!!

[#29]

Oopsie! Because my email alias contains an apostrophe ('), I am unable to sign up for this. Would it be possible to change something on the back end to allow email aliases with apostrophes? And yes, it is a valid character for smtp. :)

[#30]

Finally! Last time it was in 1999 Hamburg…

Excellent news!

[#31]

I thought early bird registration was supposed to start yesterday. I did not see anything on the site or in the emails....

[#32]

Great to have it back. Looking forward to it.