My experience at Experts Live Australia

by Jeroen Burgerhout a year ago 4 min read

Last 19 and 20 September 2023 I was in Sydney, Australia for Experts Live Australia. In my previous blog post I already wrote about this, because I was allowed to speak there. Here is a small summary of this event which was held for the first time.

My journey started on Saturday 16 September around 18:00 CEST. Then the plane took off from Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Bangkok, Thailand. Then I had more than 7 hours to bridge a transfer and then to go to Sydney, Australia. I arrived there on Monday, September 18 at 06:30 AEST. Completely broken, jetlagged, I went looking for a cup of coffee at the airport.

After 2 coffees, I took the train to North Sydney, because that was where my hotel was and the Microsoft building, where the event was held. I was there around 09:00, but my room was not ready yet. So, I sent a message to my friends from the Microsoft 365 Modern Management Meetup and Steven Hosking and Ben Reader were having breakfast 2 blocks away.
So, I went there and drank coffee. Then we went to the Microsoft building to work there. We were in the Surface Studio, and I got an explanation from Steven about the how and what of the equipment that is hanging and standing. In the meantime, I walked past the demos for my sessions for Wednesday.

Around 12:00 pm I got a call from the hotel that my room was ready, so quickly went to the hotel to sleep. In the evening we had agreed to have something to eat on the corner. Mark O'Shea also joined, as did Morten Knudsen. He had also travelled to Sydney to speak at Experts Live Australia.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Today is the big day. After breakfast, at the hotel with Morten, super breakfast by the way, we walked to the Microsoft building. There we were welcomed by Alessandro Cardoso, who arranged the event. Gradually the venue filled up with people and the sessions started. During the day I talked to a lot of people, acquaintances (from X/Twitter) and unknown people. There was a cozy atmosphere during this day.

In the evening I went to dinner with a group of people at a Malaysian restaurant in Sydney. Then back to the hotel.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Still jetlagged.... After waking up, having breakfast with Morten again and then continuing our way to the Microsoft building.

Today is the day that I am going to give 2 sessions, for the very first time. The first one was already at 09:00, so that took some getting used to. I started handing out stroopwafels because that's what the Australians love!
During the session it was sometimes a bit of a search for words, but all in all it went fine. Good questions received and hopefully answered well.

Then take a break, because at 11:45 I already had my next session. Here too it took some getting used to, but again during the session and after good questions and feedback were received. I'm just happy about that.

The rest of the day took it easy, talked and handed out stroopwafels. In the evening it was time to have dinner with Steven, his girlfriend and Ben. Great food. Only the service was not great. After a few beers it was time to go to the hotel, because the next morning it was check out morning and I went to breakfast somewhere on the beach.

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Last day in Sydney. But first breakfast. Not at the hotel, like the past few days, but somewhere near the beach. Steven and Ben picked me up and after half an hour's drive we were at Dee Why beach.
With a nice sun, about 19 degrees, seemed like 25 degrees, we ate our breakfast, went to the beach and then, unfortunately, Steven took us back to the airport.
Ben had to go back to Melbourne, and I had to go back to Amsterdam. Via Singapore I landed in Amsterdam in the morning of Friday.