Los
bolsos de TechEd
 After years of regulation grey, black and silver the Barcelona bag sports the colours
of the sun, and like the TechEd 2001 logo reflects the colours of the
Catalan flag. Initial reports coming out of the exhibition said the bags were
"garish" and "lurid", but on
actual inspection under the unforgiving Spanish sunshine, they actually
prove to be quite tasteful, really.
At the very least, you can see the bags from a
great distance, and so if you see a cluster of them you can do one of two
things: a) follow them, or b) avoid them like the clichéd plague.
If you are out for the evening with your wife, trying
to enjoy a quiet spot of tapas in your favourite little secluded
bar in the University area off to the left of the Ramblas, and want to
avoid the TechEd crowd, they stand as a useful warning. If you are looking
for where the coaches are pulling away from today as opposed to where they
were yesterday, then they serve as a useful pointer.
 when
wasps attack!
 We assume that the
pre-show reports of tasteless yellow bags was due in part to the
contrast to the US TechEd bags, which were object lessons in yuppie chic,
an understated portable-hugging piece of technoluggage that wouldn't look
out of place in the Sharper Image catalogue. But this
underscores the fundamental difference between the European and US shows,
that is to say we are Europeans and they are Americans.
The American shows are, in style anyway, typically
all-business, no-nonsense affairs, and the styling and design of the
merchandise is suitably tasteful and classic. You can't however transfer this grey
and black sensibility to the parched streets of Spain. Spend a
 day walking
about in a heavy black or grey T-shirt in Barcelona and you'll be reduced
to a large puddle of bodily fluids in about 3 hours flat.
As such the show T-shirt ha been similarly re-thought,
now being a lovely
deep shade of red, with the orange and red TechEd logo emblazoned small at
the front and large at the back.
You can compare and contrast these new stylish items
with past years efforts by
clicking on this link,
but we agree that this year's are the best for some time.
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