Tokar, just based on how things went for the Portland event, I saw no reason to get there early. The invite said 6:30, but a half hour later, the silly thing hadn't even started yet, and the band was still blaring away with "Like a Virgin" covers and the like (incidentally, the singer sounded more like Gwen Stefani doing Madonna than Madonna). People were being checked in that whole time, but most everyone had already gotten there by 6:30 and moved into feed on the sliced meats and salad bar. People also liberally enjoyed the use of the floor in front of the band, since MS thoughtfully neglected to provide chairs. I recommend bringing ear plugs.
You do get a slim bag with the media for VS.Net Academic and XP Pro NFR, and that's essentially it.
If you "forget" your student ID, bring a printout of the confirmation email, which at least in my case made no mention of having to bring an ID (I realize a separate mail did mention that, but neither the confirmation mail nor the sign-up page did). Who knows, hypothetically speaking, not that I ever did such a thing, one might get in that way.
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