Tonight was the Hopper Conference Sponsors’ Treasure Hunt and party.
Each of the Gold Sponsors had a location in which they could offer
a party or entertainment or just a table for giveaways. Conference
participants each had a map and got a stamp when they went to the
location for each company. Sun’s table was the final stop for the
treasure hunt so we collected the maps, complete with all the stamps
plus the name and email of the participant. The maps will be used for
the raffle drawing tomorrow morning on the final day of the conference.
There are some great prizes. Sun contributed a full JavaOne conference
pass to the drawing.
I spent most of the evening at the Sun table in the gazebo in the rose
garden. During the conference, Sun gave away over 700 pounds of
mugs, notebooks, pens, bracelets, toiletries bags, hats and company
information. We know the weight because we had to ship the stuff to
San Diego. We are shipping home just two small boxes of paper after
giving away the final dozen boxes of stuff tonight.
I did get to visit the other sponsors’ locations briefly so I am coming
home with three new t-shirts, a frisbee, and some other toys. At the
Microsoft party everthing was red while Cisco had a Hawaiian theme.
IBM had a drawing every ten minutes for a small prize. HP featured movies
and movie toys (sadly, all gone by the time I got there). Google hosted
a wild party with dancing and games and fancy colored bar drinks.
Most of the Sun staff went the rounds but ended up back in our gazeebo
talking with each other. We so rarely get together from all over the
country, it is fun just to visit and get to know each other better. We
ended up cheering and clapping as each group of treasure hunters came
through to us with their maps all done. It was an enjoyable evening.
KatysBlog 