Mikal thinks it's a bit creepy that you need a secret handshake to submit a session breakout paper for Tech.Ed 2006 in the US. For as long as I've known (but that's probably only been the last few years) open submission of papers has not been accepted for Tech.Ed US. You've had to have been invited to submit a session (though the invites have been widely distributed amongst MVPs, RDs, authors, other influentials, former speakers etc).

I suspect that the organisers for the US event are overwhelmed as it is dealing with the large number of submissions. I was lucky enough to present at Tech.Ed 2006 (Boston), and when you're up against the likes of Mark Russinovich (Sysinternals) and Mark Minasi (the author) let alone Microsoft's internal top-guns (everyone from Raymond Chen through to Steve Riley) the competition is pretty fierce. For what it's worth, there are plenty of non-Microsoft people presenting as it is...