Conference recommendation

Conference recommendation

Old forum URL: forums.lhotka.net/forums/t/9688.aspx


emathias posted on Thursday, October 28, 2010

As an independent developer working primarily in Silverlight and WPF, I have to pay for my conference attendance/hotels/food/etc. myself.  There are quite a few to select from and I need some feedback from other CSLA-heads regarding the question...

"If you had to pick only one, which developer conference provides the best bang for the buck for the CSLA developer?"

 Just trying to maximize my time used and minimize my expenses for the 2011 calendar. Thanks for any help. 

RockfordLhotka replied on Thursday, October 28, 2010

fwiw, I am one of the conference chairs for Visual Studio Live!, which in 2011 will be in Las Vegas, Redmond and maybe a third location in the southeast US. I also sometimes speak at Dev Connections, and often speak at Microsoft Tech Ed US, and sometimes Tech Ed EMEA.

Of course at none of these do I usually get to do a ton of CSLA-specific content, the exception being occassionally at Visual Studio Live!, where I've been able to do a workshop or session that is largely about CSLA from time to time. These conferences are all general developer conferences (except Tech Ed, which has at least as much focus on IT Pro stuff as dev stuff).

So I'm clearly biased - I put a lot of work into organizing the content for Visual Studio Live!, and I think we do a good job. But Dev Connections is also a very good third-party conference with similar content.

For more Microsoft-focused narratives, Tech Ed or PDC or MIX are the right choice. Those are all larger shows, directly produced by Microsoft, which means they have much bigger expo areas, and there's more "spectacle" involved than with any other shows.

Finally, I really like the Patterns and Practices Symposium. It is a traditionally smaller event - <200 people, one track, all top-notch speakers. It is focused on architecture, patterns and practices, with a bit of deep technology tossed in. I've spoken at this event since its inception and due to its more intimate format, I really enjoy it a lot.

emathias replied on Thursday, October 28, 2010

Thanks Rocky, when it comes to Las Vegas, I'm pretty much a pig in slop!

I'll keep an eye on the VSLive website for updates of the Vegas show.

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