Today was the opening of the WPC in Toronto. We’d had a very late finish the night before, so I was unable to rise early enough to drag myself across to the Fairmont for a UK Dynamics pre-conference session, so instead I made breakfast and watched group yoga in the park in front of the building.
My first session wasn’t until 2:30pm, but I decided to get registration done early, and strolled over and found the WPC16 registration at the Toronto convention centre, which I found was no more than 15 minutes walk. I got a bit lost and ended up on the north side, despite the fact that registrations were on the east. The centre is split up into north/south, and by numbered levels (100 being north/ground, 800 being the very bottom of south).
There’s somewhere between 12,000-16,000 attendees this year, and the conference hall is massive. The “hangar” for serving daily meals would probably fit two jumbo jets inside.
- WPC Registration
- No access
Unfortunately, I was denied access pretty much everywhere, as people were still setting up. I couldn’t find anything to do at the centre, so I opted to do a little shopping. The largest centre in downtown Toronto is the Eaton Centre on the east side – a fair hike from where I’m staying. I meander my way north/north-east weaving between the streets.
- Return to Front St
- Head to Eaton Centre
Along the way I stopped to look at some of the older buildings which lined the path. I ran into Ben from Brisbane who was heading down with a colleague from Codify to register. Moving on, I found Eaton Centre and navigated to the lower level to pick up some hot wheels for the boys (and to price Lego).
Once done, I traced a path to the metro stop, and took the subway to the St Lawrence metro station. This shaved about 10 minutes’ worth of walking off my return trip to the unit.
Along the way I discovered the Canadian walk of stars.
- Bought Hot Wheels
- Metro to St Lawrence
- Walk of Stars
Back home, I showered (this became a regular theme during the days) and then made my way back to the conference for the “first time attendees” event. This largely meant a bunch of people in a room in a forced networking scenario which was not terrible. I ended up bumping into many of the people I met at the time, later in the week.
- Back at unit, shower
- Return to conference
- Attend FTA (First Time Attendees) session
After the event finished, I walked up to the Sheraton with one of the Aussies I met at the session. We boarded buses and they took us north to a rooftop bar.
- WPC 2016 Opening
- Walk to Sheraton
- Bus to MSFT AUS dinner
- Canapes and city views
Here we enjoyed food, wine and beer and chatted in an animated fashion, watching as the sun slowly descended on Toronto.
- Bus back to Sheraton
- Walk home
At some point, with the keynote looming, I decided to head downstairs and to catch a bus back to the Sheraton.
From here, I walked back to the unit, taking in the sites as I went.
- Skype for an hour
- Bed!
Back at the unit it was time for a Skype to home, and then bed.. ready for the next day.