Shedding Some Light

Geek Gatherings LLC posted the speakers and the sessions they are assembling for your learning pleasure this October. Head over to Speakers, Southwest Fox sessions and Southwest Xbase++ sessions for all the details. A terrific line up of top notch presenters and some outstanding topics. Registration will open June 1st with the same prices as last year. We are meeting at the same conference center and hotel as last year too.

I am giving my usual and timely updated VFPX.Edition(“2015″) session and a brand new productivity session called Your Developer Life Improved By Thor, which I am very psyched about.

White Light Computing is a Platinum Sponsor again, our 12th straight sponsorship of Southwest Fox. White Light Computing is also doing two $150 scholarships to two lucky attendees that register before the July 1st deadline (get the Super-Saver rate for sure).

There are ways to help promote the conference, and please send any testimonials you might take time to write to: info [AT] geekgatherings.com. Please get the word out at your office, at user groups, on the various community forums, and any other place developers get together. We appreciate all the help and support you can offer.

Already looking forward to the conference this year as there are some terrific offerings and fun planned. Only 161 days until we gather in Gilbert.

The call has gone out!

We’re inviting anyone interesting in speaking at this year’s conferences to submit topics. You’ll find the Call for Speakers at http://www.swfox.net/callforspeakers.aspx. Please read the complete Call for Speakers document (linked from that page), and use our proposal submission application at https://geekgatherings.com/Submission. Session proposals are due by March 9. (Yes, this is earlier than in prior years. We have some publicity plans that require us to have a little more lead time than in the past.)

As in the past few years, we plan to offer a good selection of topics in core VFP development, extending VFP, using VFP with other technologies, and VFPX, as well as technology sessions to help VFP developers become better developers, not just more expert at VFP. We are looking for a few sessions on paths forward for VFP developers and we’re looking for a few deep-dive post-conference sessions. The Call for Speakers also lists some topics last year’s attendees specifically requested.

Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions. We’re looking forward to seeing your proposals. We expect that, as usual, choosing among them will be one of the hardest things we do all year.

And don’t forget, we will be opening registration in mid-May.

White Light Computing is a sponsor again, our 12th straight year.

Only 238 days until we gather in Gilbert.

Listen to Andrew MacNeill interview myself with Tamar Granor and Doug Hennig about Southwest Fox/Xbase++ 2014 on the FoxShow #79. If you haven’t registered yet, be sure to listen for a special offer in the show.

I have numerous examples for my Southwest Fox session “Inspiring Everyday Practical IntelliSense”, but they are mostly the ones created from my own needs and a few I have borrowed from other developers over the years. But I want to present the “best of” from our Fox Community to show off the power of Intellisense and most likely increase my own productivity. If you are willing to share, email me rick AT rickschummer DOTCOM. I’ll give full credit during session when I give it. Many thanks in advance.

Registration for Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++ is now available. See the speaker page for a list of speakers and the session page for a list of fantastic sessions. The Super-Saver Registration, which saves you $125, is available only through June 30th, so don’t wait. You also can select a free pre-conference session at the same time.

White Light Computing is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor for the eighth year. Our whole team will be at the conference. Frank Perez and I are speaking at the conference too.

Putting on a conference is a risky endeavor. Conference centers require a guaranteed minimum income to block the dates of a conference; for a conference like Southwest Fox/Xbase++, that minimum is in the tens of thousands of dollars. We have to commit to the conference center by July 2nd and need your support by July 1st to make that commitment. We will not do “We need your help” appeals this year so please do not wait, get registered by June 30th! We know most of you like to wait until the last minute to avoid the credit card bill arriving too soon. We will not charge any attendee credit cards or cash any checks until sometime in the second half of July or early August (once we’ve committed to going forward), so this no longer is a reason to wait.

I look forward to seeing you in October!

Last minute, just 14 hours to go! Now is the time to get your ideas submitted.

Just a reminder that session proposals for Southwest Fox 2014 and Southwest Xbase++ are due by 8 AM EDT this Friday, March 21. If you’re interested in speaking, please see http://www.swfox.net/callforspeakers.aspx for instructions. We look forward to hearing from you.

We are grateful for all the submissions so far, but we are anxiously awaiting to hear from the rest of you what you would like to share with your peers. Thanks for considering.

We’ve issued the Call for Speakers for both the Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++ 2014 conferences. If you are interested in presenting at either conference, please check out the Call for Speakers page.

This is your chance to share what you know with others in your development community. There is no higher calling as a software developer and a great opportunity to take what you have learned and bring that knowledge to your peers in person.

Someone recently asked the organizers why they should submit sessions to a conference their boss is going to send them to anyway, and what they would get from the experience. Honestly, speaking is really more because you want to do it than what you can get from it. We responded with the following:

1. Preparing materials is a great way to really learn a topic deeply. (my personal favorite reason)
2. There is the pleasure of knowing you are sharing your knowledge with others. For some of us, it is addictive.
3. For independent developers, it’s also a great way to become known as an expert and as a result sometimes you get more business.
4. You get invited to the speaker dinner. Who doesn’t want food and drinks and some laughs with your friends?

There are many more reason to speak at a conference. It is personal and the reasons for doing it are personal. Additionally, you get my personal gratitude. I know the effort it takes to prepare sessions and I know the sacrifices made by each person who accepts the challenge. Speakers are remarkable in so many ways.

All the details are found in the Call for Speakers doc.

Once again, Geek Gatherings is using the conference Submission, Registration, and Evaluation site developed by White Light Computing. Think up some topics and make it your next stop.

Guidebook

Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++ have gone mobile! We’ve created a conference schedule on Guidebook, a popular mobile guide for events. Simply install the Guidebook app on your mobile device, then load the Southwest Fox/Xbase++ 2013 guide. You’ll be able to see complete session descriptions, view the conference schedule, see speaker photos and biographies, create to-do items, and best of all, create a customized schedule of sessions.

See our Guidebook page for details on how to set up our guide on your mobile device.

Broadcasting Sessions

For the last 7 years we have broadcast the conference Keynote and this year we are adding one conference session we think will interest Visual FoxPro and Xbase developers.

1. Keynote: “In Code We Trust” by Christof Wollenhaupt
2. “Project PolarFox: Sneak Preview” by Steffen Pirsig

See SWFoxTV for all the details including dates and times. Sessions should be recorded if all goes well in case you are busy with other things and cannot watch it live.