Conferences are an important part of my training as a developer and as a person who runs a business. I normally attend 4 or 5 conference/events a year. In addition to the three I am presenting at later this year, I will be attending the Business of Software conference in Boston in October, and I am one of the organizers of Southwest Fox (in case you are new to this blog {g}).
I have been invited to present at the following conferences in the second half of the year:
DevLink
DevLink is a conference held in Nashville, Tennessee from August 5th to 7th, 2010. The technical content is for software developers, database administrators, project managers, system administrators, and business analysts. So the sessions cover a wide spectrum of topics. I have not been to one of the previous DevLink conferences, but I planned to attend this year whether I was invited to speak or not based on a conversation I had with the DevLink organizers at last year’s CodeStock conference. I was impressed with their approach and how they offer sessions on multiple development languages and how they cover business topics for people in the industry who are not developers.
Looks like there will be 10 sessions going on during the time slots so picking what session to attend in each slot is going to be a bit challenging to say the least. Also, sessions are offered once so if you miss it and you hear how great it was a lunch or during a break you, well, missed it. There are a lot of topics that interest me for sure and some really good speakers who will be presenting. I am looking forward to sessions on SQL Server, the Entity Framework 4, ASP.NET MVC, Silverlight, lessons learned while being an independent, social networking, project management, and more.
If you are going to DevLink and want to see a good session called Code Reviews: Why real developers do not fear them!, my session is at 2:30 on the opening day (August 5) in the Swang-S110 room. It is the only time I am rehearsing it before Southwest Fox. {g}
Southwest Fox
Doug and Tamar asked me to return to Southwest Fox again this year (I swear I am not making this up as I don’t actually pick me as a speaker, nor do I have final say on what sessions of mine are selected). As one of the organizers I really hope you will attend the premier Visual FoxPro event in North America. This is the seventh year for Southwest Fox and it seems to get better each time we put it on. The presenters are terrific, the networking opportunities are off the charts important, and no where else will you find that white papers are required from our speakers. So even if you miss a session you can read about it as soon as we make them available (which normally is days before the conference starts).
The conference runs from October 14th to the 17th, 2010 with currently three simultaneous conference sessions for each slot (we are hoping to add a fourth if attendance dictates this is financially feasible). There are four different pre-conference sessions to pick from too. On Monday the 18th dFPUG (publishers of FoxRockX, some new VFP books, and Visual Extend) are putting on a post-conference session on Visual FoxPro and Silverlight. There will be some bonus sessions offered on Friday night as well. We also should have lots of vendors so you will be able to check out all kinds of third-party products to help you develop better database applications.
The golf resort is phenomenal, the weather is perfect in October, and we believe we have the perfect situation for developers to relax and learn not only about the latest and greatest Visual FoxPro techniques, but other development platforms and tools. If you need more reasons on why you should attend the conference then check out the page: Why Attend Southwest Fox!
I will be presenting the following sessions and participating in the keynote:
There is a lot of work that goes into putting the conference on each year, but I am probably looking forward to Southwest Fox 2010 more than I have any other Southwest Fox. Last year was off the hook fun for everyone, including the organizers.
And just in case you have not heard, the super-saver registration deadline is coming up this week. Make sure to save a few bucks, get a free pre-conference session, and get in on the more than $18,000 in drawing prizes and scholarships available to people who register before July 1st.
I hope to see you in Mesa.
German DevCon
This is going to be the seventeenth time Rainer has put on German DevCon and I am really happy he has asked me back for my fifth time. The conference runs from November 11th to 13th, 2010 in Frankfurt Germany. This conference has presentations in German and in English so if you understand either of these languages please consider going. I have sat in on some German sessions and still get a lot from them. The language of technology is the same.
Rainer has not posted the details for 2010 yet, but you can stay tuned to the conference Web site to see all the particulars. I am presenting the same sessions in Germany as I am at Southwest Fox with the addition of a session I am calling: How Craig Boyd Makes Me a Hero!
