MMS has yet another famous attribute:
The Speaker Shirt
 MMS Speaker Shirt |
The MMS Speaker Shirt (supplied to the speakers, of course) has to be the most comfortable shirt you will ever wear. This
Port Authority original is a pleasure to put on. It's 98% cotton and 2% spandex.
 Speaker Shirt Label |
The cotton makes this shirt pleasing to the skin, and the spandex means you have full mobility because the shirt "stretches" with your movements. This is great for someone like Ed Aldrich who uses his hands alot when he speaks. Ed started using his hands more during his sessions because of the year he used "sailor-type" language on stage (this is captured on the MMS DVD for that year -- sadly, the technology wasn't in place to provide actual censoring "beeps").
 MMS Speaker Shirt Logo |
Another MMS memory: Incidentally, the speaker shirt that I (Rod Trent) wore on 9/11/2001 is shown below. This shirt brings back a strong memory for me, since I was wearing the shirt right when the Twin Towers were being bombed by Al-Qaeda. I was schedule to give a session on SMS Installer at the
SMS & Win2k conference in
Berlin, Germany. Right before I went into my session, I noticed
everyone gathered around a couple televisions in the bar area. Curious, I stopped by to see what they were watching. To my amazement and horror, the first airplane had just impacted the first tower. I stood and watched for another 5-10 minutes before I had to give my SMS Installer session. I gave my session quickly and then hurried back to the bar area to find that both towers had been hit. I was supposed to fly out that afternoon for home (back to the States), and this had definitely put a halt to that flight. I spent the next 10 days in Berlin trying to get home. After trying hard to get a flight out of Berlin for those 10 days (I visited the
airport once a day, every day), I finally had to travel the rail to
Frankfurt where I was able to catch a flight home the next day. It was a scary time, to say the least. I was originally scheduled to leave straight from home to speak at that year's Australian conference. Suffice to say I didn't make it. Instead, I gave my entire presentation over the telephone while an Altiris person (
Holly Charlesworth)in Australia forwarded the slide deck for me.
 9-11 Speaker Shirt |
 9-11 Speaker Shirt Logo |
I (Rod Trent) have been lucky enough to attend all but one of the MMS's, and speak at all but three of them. I've even been flown to Europe once to speak at a MMS, and Australia twice.