Overall, I found TechEd 2008 (Developer edition) a very worthwhile conference.  It introduced me to new ways of solving various software problems, confirmed many of my own
conclusions of different aspects of software development, and even enticed me to learn more about certain technologies I've been deliberately avoiding (I'm thinking of you, WPF
and Silverlight 2.0 beta).  It was also nice to get away from work for a short time.

When I attend conferences, I find I'm an old-school note taker: carrying around a paper notepad (even though my 100 pound laptop is nestled nicely in my backpack).  So, now I
face the daunting of transcribing my chicken scratches to digital.  My plan is to post up my notes as I get them transcribed.

One of the side benefits of conferences is the swag: t-shirts, pens, notebooks, and other more useless paraphernalia that you can get from Microsoft and other vendors.  Some vendors have drawings to give away cool prizes like X-boxes (last year, one vendor gave away a motorcycle).  Sometimes to enter these contests, you have to submit a business card.  As my company provides me no business cards, I was forced to make up my own: