I’m lucky enough to be attending  XChange ’09 at the Gaylord National Convention Center in Washington, D.C. -- and adding to the environment this year is The  Future Tech Leaders event, sponsored by Microsoft and shepherded by Dino White  through his Framsyn Initiative.

The Future Tech Leaders combines 20  kids (ages 14 through 18) from New York, the District of Columbia, Maryland,  North Carolina and Iowa into a workshop setting at XChange, guiding them as they  get hands-on training in PC building, components and applications including the  use of social media like Twitter. White, president and CEO of Dicyn Solutions,  New York, N.Y, said he worked with other  solution provider and business contacts to develop a list of students with an  interest in technical issues who got invitations to the event at  XChange.

White says that he’s asking the kids  that, in exchange for the chance at hands-on training in technology, they go  back to their friends and communities and spread the word about the opportunity  technology brings (along with an idea of how difficult or easy it is to get  one’s hands inside a chassis, hook up components and get a system to work).

On Day 1 of the conference, the kids  have already started working -- with  professional solution providers by their side, helping them each step of the way  -- building small form-factor PCs complete with  Intel dual-core processors and Microsoft’s Windows 7.

We’ll have more on this session  later, but for now it’s an upbeat way to start the conference this  week.