Tickets

Tickets will be on sale tomorrow at 8:13am CST for $349. We’re not doing any early birds, discounts, blaa, blaa, blaa. That $349 covers you for breakfast, lunch, swag and a few other things that we will announce later on. You will purchase tickets through EventBrite at http://thatconference2012.eventbrite.com/. There is also a link on our home page that will redirect later on tonight.

We expect to sell out rather fast so don’t delay. We have a waitlist setup, so if you don’t get in, you never know we might just open up more. Our goal is to include everyone assuming we have the staff to handle it.

Hotel

We have a block rate setup with the Kalahari. You can find more details about it at: http://thatconference.com/Resources/Travel The discount is a rolling discount so if you desire a different room that is ok, we have you covered. The block is first come first serve. The Kalahari is awesome you can see more about it at http://www.kalahariresorts.com/wi/.

Sessions and Speakers Counselors

All of our sessions have been posted to: http://thatconference.com/Sessions. If that wasn’t awesome enough we have a few more tricks up our sleeve. We also have our speakers bio’s here: http://thatconference.com/Speakers but we’re still setting up that tent in camp. Soon we will have some high res head shoots of our counselors.

The Schedule

Coming. Honestly we’ve been so busy getting things ramped up and settled for tomorrow we’re just not there. You will not be at a loss for things to do, just start to practice your cannon balls and laser tag skills.

The Pre-Parties

I am hoping you know by know we’re having a number of pre-events going on leading up to the actual conference and they are all free.

A Date with 8

Are you What’s Next? Have you been waiting to dig into Windows 8? Need a little help? Well that time is now. Why not take a little date with 8 and maybe even with a prize along the way? This Thursday and Friday we’re having a mini-hackathon leading into Chicago Code Camp.

More details and registration here: http://adatewith8.eventbrite.com

That Hack ( June and July )

In partnership with Hackatopia we are running a series of ‘American Idol’ style hackathons.  Win your city, head off to That Conference and convince the audience you have what it takes to win it all.

• Chicago – sold out – http://thatconferencehackchicago.eventbrite.com/
• Milwaukee -  http://thatconferencehackmke.eventbrite.com/
• Madison – coming…
• Minneapolis – http://thatconferencehackmsp.eventbrite.com/

Midwest Give Camp ( Aug 11th & 12th )

Want to use your awesome tech skills to help a little girl change the world? Check out the Give Camp we are putting on the Saturday and Sunday leading into That Conference. http://thatconference.com/givecamp

Stay in The Know

Join our newsletter, signup is right on the front page at http://thatConference.com.

Make some noise!

Help us spread the word. We have been using #thatConference as the hashtag on twitter but that isn’t the only way to get involved. We have a Google Group, Facebook and more are all listed here: http://thatconference.com/Resources/GettingInvolved

Sponsors and Partners

Please check out our partners and sponsors. We have been working over the past year to really do something different here in the Midwest. We couldn’t do it without the help of everyone.

Are you interested in sponsoring? We’re still looking for great partners, all of the details you can find here: http://thatconference.com/Sponsorship/

This begs the question – How can YOU get a token?

It’s easy! If your app is ready and you want to be among those developers who get to submit to the store early, simply attend one of the 100s of free Application Excellence Labs that DPE and Windows are holding around the world.

Follow these steps to get invited to an App Excellence lab:

1. Contact me csell@microsoft.com for instructions on how I can nominate your app for an excellence lab.

2. Create a really great Windows 8 Metro style app (or game) immediately. Get it as ready as if you were submitting to the store.

Hopefully, there will be a lab near you. Right now, we have labs in 40+ countries and we may be adding more.

Of course, coming to the lab is not all you have to do. I have to go back to step #1: You need to have a compelling, functional app that follows our UX guidelines, our performance best practices, and our store certification requirements

The lab is a 4-hour engagement with a trained Microsoft Services Engineer. This person will run your app through a series of tests based on a quality checklist to ensure your app is (or will be) in top-notch shape when you submit. You will also get a chance discuss ways to make your app even better and you will get answers to any questions you might have.

If your app meets the criteria, then booyah! You get a token to register your developer account and (once you have been verified and all that) you will be able to submit your app to the Windows store.  If your app does not meet the criteria, nothing is lost. You will still end up with a much better app and you will be able to submit it when registration opens for all developers.

Good luck. We are looking forward to seeing your apps and helping you to make them great!

Ready, set,,,, take a breath,,, GO

The Windows Developer Event aka The Windows 8 Kick Off

Next Thursday April 26th, Chicago IL

Registration Link

There are still some spots left for what I consider the kickoff event for what will be some exciting times with Windows 8. We’re going to spend the entire day with some of the best designers and developers across the Midwest introducing you to the new world of Windows 8. We will start off the day exploring how computing has changed and how Windows 8 is here to help you. We will hear from guys down in the trenches building applications for the Windows Store. Then it’s time to get dirty with Metro and what it really means. But wait, why not also see how to do some development with Kinect. Of course we can’t go through the day without understand just how the cloud fits into everything and how can we make some cash.

Oh yea, we will have robot’s too. Why? Why Not!

Get your head out of the clouds, HTML5 is here, and the Web will never be the same!

April 27th, Appleton WI

Registration Link

You’ve no doubt heard that before, or something like it. We’d guess that when you did, you got excited, rolled your eyes, or mouthed the word “why?” and furrowed your brow. Perhaps your reaction was a mix of all three.

We wouldn’t blame you for any of those reactions. HTML5 is exciting, and it does have the potential to change the Web as we know it, but it also gets blown out of proportion. What’s more, its true meaning can be elusive. It’s a broad topic, so it’s difficult to wrap your head around HTML5, much less know where to begin with this exciting new set of technologies.

And then there is the cloud. The cloud is changing the way we think about computing.

That’s where our bootcamp comes in.

Over the course of a one-day, we (Clark Sell and Brian Prince) will tell you everything you need to know to get started with the next generation of open web technologies and cloud. We’ll start with an overview of what HTML5 is, and why it matters, before moving quickly through major aspects of the core HTML5 specifications. Then, we’ll discuss highlights of CSS3, major new JavaScript APIs and language features, before we end with a discussion on graceful degradation and adopting HTML5 without leaving older browsers behind.  Throughout the day, we’ll mix in hands-on exercises and labs so that you can leave with a working understanding of these technologies, and how you can begin to apply them immediately.

But what good is your website without a place to put it? To the cloud!

Fox Valley Day of .NET

April 28th, Appleton WI

Registration Link

A great 1 day community conference in a place where the rivers flow in the wrong direction. Join myself and a number of talented peeps across the area talk about everything .NET. You will see things like Phone Gap, Windows 8, node.js, Azure and even a few robots. There are 4 tracks running all day, so you’re head is bound to explode.

I even made a mini garage for my demo. Someone even called it a man’s doll house man cave.

Azure Kickstarter

May 1 – Downers Grove IL, Registration Link

May 3 – Chicago IL, Registration Link

If you’ve been looking for the right opportunity to figure out how to get started with the cloud, your chance is here. We’re putting together a series of learning events, led by some of the nation’s leading cloud experts designed to take you from grounded to flying in just a single day. Better yet, it won’t cost you a thing, and lunch and prizes are provided.

This is a hands on event, not just staring at a presentation, so make sure you grab your laptop, charger, and whatever else you need to keep you company while you actually build something. We’ll also show you how to get your hands on Azure hosting for no cost, so you can cloud up for free!

Strirtrek

May 4th, Columbus OH

http://stirtrek.com

Already sold out but in your in Columbus, so will I. Find me, let’s chat maybe even enjoy a cocktail. I will be breaking out my designer skills and talking about Windows 8 and Metro.

Windows 8 Accelerator Lab

May 7 – 9th, Downers Grove IL

Registration Link

Are you working on a Windows 8 app? Do you want to be ready by launch? Need a reason to get started? Good, well I am going to let you in on a little secret. I am not supposed to tell you about this, but I am going to anyways. I am running an Invite Only Accelerator Lab starting May 7th. This is all about code. None of that presentation stuff. Let’s get that app started or maybe even finished. Let’s take a few api’s and explore them. Over the course of three days we’re all going to build stuff. My goal is to get you ready for market while we all learn something along the way.

A Date with 8

May 17th and 18th, Grayslake IL

http://adatewith8.eventbrite.com

Brought to you by the folks at That Conference we will be spending a day and a half building apps. On Thursday night we’re kicking off things with an App Pitch and then a social at the local pub. Then Friday it’s build! At the end of the day present your app and maybe even win some stuff. Cloud, Phone, Windows 8 are all on the table.

Chicago Code Camp

May 19th, Grayslake IL

http://ChicagoCodeCamp.com

I love community events and this is another stellar one here in the hometown.  This is the 4th year for Chicago Code Camp ( aka CCC ), and it’s shaping up to be a great event. In fact you still have until tomorrow to submit an abstract if you want to speak.

Windows 8 Camp

June 7th, Chicago IL

Registration Link

It’s never to late to get started with something. The Windows 8 Camp is a one day half day eyes forward, half day hands on. A great mix of getting started and getting doing.

That Conference

August 13th – 15th, Wisconsin Dells WI

Registration opens May 16th at 8:13am CST for $349 dollars.

http://thatConference.com

I know you’ve heard of That Conference. Yes, That Conference.

That Conference is your “Summer Camp for Geeks”. Held at the Kalahari Resort in the beautiful Wisconsin Dells, it’s your last chance to get away before summer slips away. Spend three days with a thousand of your fellow campers, geeking out on everything code, apps, web and cloud. Your camp counselors are the best survivalists in the industry, and will make sure you leave with the skills you need. With over 125 sessions to choose from, your head may overheat, so cool off in one of the many nearby pools. Unlike your usual technology conference, you will be camping at the best waterpark in the region. Not happy with all the content we crammed under the tent? Feel free to join our open spaces and tailor your conference experience.

Show 50 on Developer Smackdown Mark and I kicked around the notion of how do people learn. Personally I have a lot different method, and I am always trying to refine things. Newsletters are one important part of my learning process.

Idea’s happen when you least expect them too.

This past Saturday I was messing around with the kids when I had this idea, Metro-Weekly.  I personally try to read the
“news” every day for at least an hour. I use a number of different sources one of which has become two different newsletters produced by Peter Cooper, JavaScript Weekly and HTML5 Weekly. Peter does a great job of curating the news around a given topic and I look forward to reading them every week. So I figured I would follow in his footsteps and produce one based on everything Metro, i.e. Metro Weekly.

Metro, Metro, Metro…

I feel like a bit of a broken record because I find myself always telling people that these  are exciting times to be a software developer. New hardware form factors, the interconnectivity between things, browser wars, focus on user experience, and on and on and on. Think about it, as web developer you can actually write some HTML5, CSS3 and JS and actually produce for almost every platform.  That is crazy, like mind blowing crazy.

My goals with Metro Weekly are simple. Help you grok everything GREAT going on with Metro. Things like, great apps, software libraries, news items, books, articles. Hopefully Metro Weekly will become something you can count on to help you grok Metro.

You can help.

I am just one person, and the community we work in is very important to me. As part of the launch yesterday, people can submit an article for review. I will review them and include them where I can, AND give you the credit for the find. In addition I plan to create a place on the site where we can list all of the user submitted articles for people to read as well. This is an overall area I will continue to expand upon.

The Metro Developer Show

I listen to a lot of podcasts.  A few months back I meet Ryan and Travis Lowdermilk over at The Metro Developer Show. If you’ve never listened to their show it’s a must and very well done. Between their show and this newsletter there is a lot of areas for partnerships. We know it and are actively working on the best ways to share information between each other. I am personally very excited about working with the two of them.

This is just the start. I would love any feedback you might have.

Thanks Pat for pointing out that our pictures are well… You get the point.

August 2nd 2000, the day “csell5” was born. My name is Clark Sell, officially Clark Paul Sell. As it turns out, I am the third Clark Sell in the family, following my dad who followed his. When the birth certificate was written, my parents granted me the middle name of Paul to distinguish me from my dad. They had the right intentions.

Imagine if you will, sitting in the dentist chair. The dentist walks in, has your chart in hand asking you what appears to be valid questions.

"Hi Mr. Sell. How’s your teeth?"

"Good?"

 

"Anything been bothering them?"

"No not really."

 

"Ok, Great. Well, we will just get this shot ready and start working on that tooth."

"WHAT, WHOOOAA. SHOT?"

 

"Yes. Standard practice before we work on a cavity."

"Umm, sorry doc. I think you have the wrong chart.”

 

“Clark Sell right?”

“Yes, but the one who’s 30 years younger and I was just here for a cleaning."

 

"Opps. That would have been funny."

"Right, funny. You should sit in my chair and hear the laughter."

This didn’t just happened once, it happened all the time. In fairness, more so when I was growing up and had the same address. Although, I am the youngest member of AARP with an official card. They swear I am retired.

Oh yea, back to August 2nd. Sorry, I was setting the stage a bit.

So, my dad and I clash with things like names. WELL. It also happens to turn out, he’s into this whole technology thing too. I can remember seeing MSN Messenger thinking that was the most awesome stuff. It was like ham radio for geeks and without all those damn tests. So I signed up and it went a little something like this:

UserName: csell

> Sorry already taken.

"Damnit Dad"

 

UserName: csell1

> Sorry already taken.

"Ah common, are you kidding me"

 

UserName: csell2

> Sorry already taken.

"screw this"

 

UserName: csell5

> Available

"Finally"

Man the creativity was just pouring out of me that day. Now remember, this was before the whole social grid. Before we knew better than to put numbers or oddball characters in our user names. BUT, it managed to stick. Back then, everything became csell5. I thought I was making it easy. I guess I should have just made it Chris.

Then came this whole social revolution, and keeping, I kept. I never thought about it and people started to get used to just trying csell5 @ X. I never thought it would be an issue. Well it is, specifically that #5. It turns out having a number in your username isn’t really a good idea, at least on things like twitter and especially when people confuse you with non other than Chris Sells.

Then one day… Boom! My head exploded all over my desk.

Holy $h!t. That 5 looks like an S. { hands on face } People are going to think I am some weirdo dude who stalks Chris, has a similar handle, twitter picture. Quick, I will just go change it…. twitter.com -> login -> change user name -> "DAMNIT DAD".  Chris, just in case I managed to freak you out, I’m not actually trying to stalk you, but it sure is starting to look like it.

So why not just switch now? Well as I alluded, my dad already has it. You can follow some random dude who doesn’t use @csell, my dad at @clarksell, Chris at @csells and me @csell5. Now I just need to find some hipster who can create me a new identity.

Enjoy…

FWIW, after a few times of that dentist screwing up the reason I was there, I decided to switch dentists. And while I was at it, I switched any other medical related service where my records couldn’t \ shouldn’t be confused with one another.

Well hello caption obvious, welcome to the party.

Ok seriously, Chris is a cool cat, one of which I have a massive respect for. Like most, I have followed his work, learned a lot from him and been lucky enough to meet him. BUT…

I am not him.

We’re not related. My first name isn’t Chris. My last name isn’t plural. He is a legend, writes books, very public, and is just all around badass. I hear he even understands XAML.

I am not him, or the other brother of sellsbrothers.com.

This may seem odd to you at first, but people call me Chris all of the time. I honestly don’t get it. Why? Chris, Clark, yea,,, not even close. Ok yea, they both start with C. Nope, still don’t get it. On the flip side, I can understand putting an ‘s’ on the last name. I hate it but it seems to be common practice to just pluralize things. I get called Clark Sells all the time.  Yea I hate that too.

But wait for it, things get’s better.

I get people who thank me all of the time for his work and I have even seen him get thanked for my work. Some of these “people” have even been on my direct team. Seriously?!?!? This is all so odd to me. Does it bother me? Well at first it did but now I am just rather used to it. The bigger problem, it happens almost every week, at least to me. I am SURE people are not going up to Chris and calling him Clark. I can just see it now. Hey Clark, awesome podcast on Developer Smackdown. Chris stands there with a look on his face that I give on mine when trying to understand the magic behind XAML binding.

Seriously for flipping sake, take a half second and just pay a little more attention. After all it’s kind of rude, and embarrassing for all parties. When you send an email take an extra second and just look at what you typed into the TO: line.

I know, this is all coming from a guy who isn’t very good with names, but this is just different. I do try and try very hard. I will at least recognize when I screw up, and then apologize.

Moral of the story? Take an extra second and figure out who you’re actually talking to. It’s really not that hard. If you’re reading this and you thought I was Chris. Sorry for the disappointment I have no caused, but hopefully you will keep reading. You can find Chris at http://sellsbrothers.com.

Image was taken from Bing Images who took it from somewhere on Chris’s website.

This is a user group, it’s about YOU , it’s about US. Each and every meeting I am going to ask each person: what do you want to get out tonight? You’re spending your free time to come out, so dammit be greedy. It’s 2+ hours with friends, speak up, try something different, and most importantly walk away feeling like you accomplished something and had a little fun along the way.

I want to take a moment and talk about that I like and what I want to continue to work on.

What I liked:

• All of the interaction between people. Seriously this is the best part I think.
• Diversity of tech that people we’re exploring.
• Informal structure. I sure don’t want things to feel like work. Were there on our own time, it should be enjoyable.
• The after meeting. For me the conversation at the bar is great. We share stories, talk tech, and tell crappy jokes.

What I want to work on:

• The overall format.
• Find better focus on real world aka midwestgeeks.net. I know personally when there is something real to work on it pushes you to do more, explore more and not just forget about it. This is just one way to apply something\anything to something that is real.
• Sharing. We’re not doing a good job of coming back together and sharing what we learned. For instance, last night we should have at least shared:
  • Adam, explored what happens when you pop the 5meg limit.
  • The Robot Brothers, we’re playing with Phone Gap and WebSocket. Learned it wasn’t working like they expected. They we’re also showing off Windows 8.
  • Louis, was deep into storage exploring the namespaces
  • Sean, I learned just submitted a jQuery plugin for multi-touch drag and drop.
  • Myself and a few others we’re struggling with Sprout Core working with MidwestGeeks.net

That is all awesome, but we didn’t seize the opportunity to share all of that better.

Once again the meeting was great. If you live around the far northern suburbs of Chicago, come on out, write some code, and have a few beers. Help us out and share the word: http://angleBracket.net

Our next meeting is March 15th.

2 year’s ago I meet this hipster from Austin by the name of Brandon Satrom. If you know us, then you know for the past two years we’ve worked pretty damn close together. We’ve had a lot of fun and meet some awesome people. We’ve covered most of the central region telling bad jokes and trying to spread some web love. From creating a few open source projects, writing articles, speaking, to even throwing our own conferences. We’ve managed to accomplish a few things in such a short amount of time. Together, I even think we’ve managed to change Microsoft to be just a little better than it was two years ago.

Today was his last day at Microsoft. 

Yea that sucks… I would be lying if I said it didn’t bother me, cause it damn sure does. It’s not because he made the choice to move on. I get it. If I we’re in his position, it would have been a very difficult for myself. For the past couple of months now ( or so it seems ), Brandon’s confided in me, as he worked through this. We spent many many hours talking about jobs, careers, job attributes and so on. It feels like it’s been a long two months. 

Why do I say this?

The past two months have reminded me to look at oneself and run the chkdsk. WTF are you doing? Why are you doing it? Is it aligned with you? Are you having fun? Etc. For me ( and I know Brandon too ) there are a few common threads which help keep one grounded. I wanted to share:

• Family and health are first.

I have worked my ass off, and at times at the cost of my family. I will not do it anymore. Does that mean I will not work hard, no, not at all. But it does mean, family and health are always first and I will say no without feeling bad. When I first started at Microsoft ( week one ) I got put in a position with my wife. I will never forget a teammate of mine, Ben told me, "There are things you can do one time, anytime, and things you can do one time, and one time *only*." I don’t think he meant to be inspirational but rather help me make a decision but damn it stuck and stuck hard.

Your daughter will never have another first birthday, your son will only have one first goal in soccer. They will never forget that you were not there to be part of that achievement.

• Follow your passion.

I have done a lot of different things over my career. Sometimes the thing I was doing, wasn’t really good for my career. I was good at it but it wasn’t what I was really passionate about it. Sure we may have succeeded as a team but it was at the cost of me. Don’t feel bad for being greedy. Stay true to who you are and if you don’t know, start doing some soul searching.

• Manage your career.

Look if you don’t, then someone else will. Don’t look back and regret it. No joke, Scott Guthrie many many moons ago ( before I came to Microsoft ) asked me to join the ASP.NET team. I turned him down, I regret not at least exploring the offer. I doubt I would have gotten he job, but you fail at 100% of what you don’t even bother trying.

• Lastly, have fun…

If you’re not having fun, it’s time for a change. Life is to short to wake up every morning and be miserable. There is so much negativity in our career already, why have more.

Yours may be different but have you run chkdsk lately? Are you caught up in the grind?

Back to Brandon…

He might be leaving Microsoft, but we’re still going to work together. Your career is bigger than the job you’re currently in. I wish him the best of luck in his new role and ironically he will be working with Chris Sells.

Since I don’t live in Austin, and can’t take him out for a beer, we had a virtual one over Skype. Ok we really drank beer just not alone. We decided to hit the ole record button too. You can find us rapping about career stuff on Developer Smackdown.

Brandon, thank you for pushing me, thank you for listening to me bitch, and thanks for the laughs. We’re still just getting started.

Play Now

No notes other than be vulnerable. The world we work in today is much different than the past. You should ask yourself, are you doing the things necessary in today’s new market?

Mark and Clark wish Brandon the best of luck in his new role, but he isn’t going far.

Links mentioned in the show:

• Kendo UI: http://www.kendoui.com/
• Chris Williams on Herding Code http://herdingcode.com/?p=380
• Windows 8: http://dev.windows.com
• node.js: http://nodejs.org

Sponsors

ThatConference is a brand new conference coming to the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells on August 13th, 14th, 15th of 2012. This is a conference is founded by Developers who want to create the conference they’ve always want to go to and for a price that’s easy to justify to your boss. First and foremost this is a developer’s conference. 3 days of any technology and nothing but code. You can find more at ThatConference.com.

WebSite Hosting is provided by Applied Innovations.

Music

ReMix.NIN.com, and http://www.podcastthemes.com/

Last week, I was complaining to Scott Seely about trying to get MidwestGeeks.net off the ground when he slapped me upside the head with, "why not do it at Angle Bracket"?

Yea no kidding, there’s the real world.

What’s MidwestGeeks.net? Well right now it’s just an http 503. My plan for MidwestGeeks.net was to build a website that was a collection of all the happenings from around the Midwest. That’s User Groups, People, Events, News, and so on. The goal wasn’t to replace anything out there already but rather point people to everything that is out there and help support the broader community. ( fwiw, I am thinking sprout core )

Our first Angle Bracket meeting was a big success and we want to continue building upon it but our core principals won’t change. Introduce a new web topic every month, pair up, code it, and share with each other. Learn the web together.

Now we’re going to also add the "real world" part into the mix. Let’s build out http://MidwestGeeks.net. For example ( assuming the base site already existed ) this months topic is storage. We could add a feature to MidwestGeeks that enabled a client side profile, maybe something like a list of your favorite user groups.

For the people who want to work on the site, have at it, those who want to work on something from work, or just play around, that is still expected and welcomed.

What happens when MidwestGeeks.net is done? Easy, we will just find something else.

Hope to see you at Angle Bracket.

April 2nd ( Monday )

• Call for speakers opens. We will have a signup form on http://thatConference.com where you will be enter the appropriate information.

April 16th ( Monday )

• Call for speakers closes. Yes that means you have two weeks to get your abstracts in, but there is plenty of prep time.

{ feel free to bribe the organizers here. j/k }

May 1st ( Tuesday )

• That Conference will announce the speaker lineup.

May 16th ( Wednesday )

• Ticket registration opens at 8:13 am cst.

We’re all developers, you know what happens when there isn’t a date out there.  If your planning on submitting a session abstract, start getting those bad boys ready.

Be creative and think different.

We have a block of rooms at a discounted rate of $169.00, when making a reservation make sure you refer them the block name: “That Conference” or Booking ID: “20532”. You can do that either online or via phone:

• Online Reservation, select make reservation
• 877-253-5466

Resort Address:

Kalahari Resort ( on the map )

1305 Kalahari Drive

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin 53965

a note from the past for the future –

One of the goals of mine as we are planning That Conference is to provide transparency into the process, a peek behind the curtain if you will. Maybe your trying to plan something too, and hopefully this provided you one ounce of help.

So, how do you get involved? Let me break down just a few of the major ways.

Email – As simple as it may sound, one of the best ways to provide feedback or just chat with us is via good ole email. You can reach the board members at contact@thatConference.com and we are pretty good at responding within a day or so. Got an idea, want to make a comment, or better yet compliment us; hit us on email.

Google Groups – If you like email but want to collaborate with your peers, there’s a group for that. While small at the moment some of the conversation has been really helpful, while others is just informational. Unlike email, it’s archived and involves the community around it. I often throw out ideas to help me better understand and shape my own thinking. You will find us here: http://groups.google.com/group/thatconference

Volunteer – You just flat want to help. Great, we need a lot of that too. We have another group setup at thatConferenceStaff.groups.live.com. There is an awesome group of people already signed up but we need more. I coordinate all of the broader planning through that. If your interested in helping, just sign up.

Twitter – Of course we’re on Twitter. Follow us, retweet, reach out, I try to watch the stream pretty closely, but after all it’s twitter and it gets always from you at times.

Facebook – Like us baby!!! I’ll admit it, I’m not the best with Facebook. We have a Facebook Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/ThatConference.

WebSite Badges – This is currently in development and should be on our site for download in the next couple of weeks. Our awesome designers at Drifting Creatives are doing whatever bad ass designers do to make awesome pixels. This is a great way to easily show your support.

Sponsorship – Not to be understated our sponsors are very important to our overall success. You can find more about our sponsorship and our thoughts around it here: http://csell.net/2012/02/06/that-conference-call-for-sponsors/.

Lastly, help spread the word – Look we only know who we know. This is a community conference for the entire community. Last week on twitter a few guys said, are PHP guys welcome? HELL YES, and everyone else too. Our only stipulation is, we’re wrapping everything around Web, Mobile and Cloud. Pretty hard not to fit something in those buckets.

This is my war cry. Do not hesitate in getting involved. Regardless of the contribution, they’re all IMPORTANT. Please don’t assume, we all have day jobs too.

a note from the past for the future –

One of the goals of mine as we are planning That Conference is to provide transparency into the process, a peek behind the curtain if you will. Maybe your trying to plan something too, and hopefully this provided you one ounce of help.

Well over a year ago Scott and I we’re sitting in the local pub and dreamed up what we now know as That Conference. There has been a lot of work to date just getting things off the ground. Regardless, I think it’s important to celebrate major milestones and involving sponsors partners is clearly a huge one for us.

That Conference will not be successful without the support of our partners. Every partner I’ve talked to, I have asked them to be creative, "Think Different" ( thanks Apple ), help us help you make it a gigantic win for both. Don’t be afraid to ask, or present us with something different. We don’t want partners who just sit in the corner behind a table. We want partners who want to be engaged and part of the overall conference experience, partners who want to stand out making That Conference the best conference and conference experience in the Midwest.

But, we need your help too. Help us spread the word, make an introduction, suggest someone, feel free to involve us. We cannot do it alone, nor do we want too. So far we’ve meet a lot of great partners and we’ve dug up a few new folks but we’re just getting started.

All of our sponsorship information can be found at: http://thatconference.com/Home/Sponsorship. Help spread the word, and feel free to reach out.

That Conference is a great new opportunity to do something different.

a note from the past for the future –

One of the goals of mine as we are planning That Conference is to provide transparency into the process, a peek behind the curtain if you will. Maybe your trying to plan something too, and hopefully this provided you one ounce of help.

You might think getting speakers is a trivial task but in fact it’s really not. So let’s break things down some and provide a peek behind the curtain.

For us speakers can fit into a few different areas:

• Keynoters. For me, keynotes drive inspiration, entertainment and are different than just the average session. I don’t think ours will be any different in that regard either. thatConference is currently working with a few folks who fit that bill and we look forward to making that announcement when appropriate.

• Sessions. This might be one of the harder things to decide on. When you get hundreds of sessions to pick from, that process can be brutal. Of course we’re going to use technology to solve that problem but it still takes people. Yes we have over 100 sessions but when you start to break down all of the different technology areas, .NET, Ruby, Node, Cloud, HTML5, Mobile and on and on, those categories start to get really small. Bring your ‘A’ game and be creative.

• Sponsored Sessions. Some partners get sessions slots, it’s a fact and one we’re not trying to hide that. Having said that, thatConference has a process in which it will work with our partners making sure the content is not only epic, but representative of the conference, well balanced and attractive.

• Open Spaces. Open Spaces are a great way to tailor your conference experience beyond what is already in ink. To date we have had so many people reach out excited to speak but unfortunately not everyone will get a spot. Open Spaces help address this not only providing an opportunity to speak but speak in the non-traditional setting AND connect deeper with your peers at the conference.

This is all a delicate balance, one of which we take very seriously.

So when does call for speakers open? Our current sketched plan is to open call for speaker around April 1st. This isn’t locked or some April fools joke but we want to announce our speaker lineup before registration. We also want to allow for enough time for people to plan their summer.

Start getting those creative abstracts ready.

a note from the past for the future –

One of the goals of mine as we are planning thatConference is to provide transparency into the process, a peek behind the curtain if you will. Maybe your trying to plan something too, and hopefully this provided you one ounce of help.

Oh yea, #NodeSummit was in the valley in case you didn’t catch the hyperbole, and this was my first trip there.

Heading out there, I felt like a fish out of water, maybe a Northern Pike? Too much? It’s not like SFO did anything to "make" me feel that way but hell it’s the valley right? It’s where things like node.js or "node" were born. It’s the "only place tech happens", or as some people would like to think. I find it funny that in this ever increasing connected world we live, some people in the United States feel as if you have to be in "the valley" to be successful in technology.

—- that! <- yep another Midwestern thing! But this is about node right? Yes, and I will eventually get there.

I have been a node fan since the day I saw it. Not because of anyone person or any particular thing, I just do. People ask me why? They want to get in these damn religious debates, tell me I’m wrong, whatever. It really doesn’t matter, I like it. So what? Node for me, struck the right chord. I can’t tell you why, I can’t yet articulate it yet and I don’t even know if I care too. Oh yea, I suck at it too, but every day I try to get one step better.

"Squirrel!" <- Movie Reference

I joined Microsoft almost 7 years ago. I joined the a financial consulting division in hope to change the world and make Microsoft and it’s customers better. Back then, I loved the financial services work ( not so much anymore ). In financial services, there is no "one" solution ever – PERIOD. We used everything, yes even the Microsoft guy. Ruby, Java, Magic, rs232, whatever. You used the right tool for the job, regardless. I wake up everyday feeling empowered enough to state my belief’s and opinions such that if I yell loud enough, Microsoft leaders will either listen to me or just fire me. I have been yelling about node since I saw it.

FWIW, after "Project X" I stopped yelling quite a bit.

The first time I saw Ryan Dahl talk about node, I saw something. It reminded me of the first time I saw Bill Gates speak. He might not like this, but I saw greatness, humbleness, conviction with credibility and someone who made me feel stupid. As it turns out, I like people that make me feel stupid, but in the right way. It pushes me to learn. Now Ryan didn’t do that intentionally, but his badassery just made me feel such. I had a great manager back in the day that always told me: "Surround yourself around greatness and it will make you better. Surround yourself around negative and dumb shit and you will end up a negative dumb ass." Ryan doesn’t know me, I can’t claim to be "surrounded" by him, but like the other geeks around, I twitter stalk, watch videos, and was one of the few at NodeSummit. I still suck at node or the larger JavaScript EcmaScript for that matter. Maybe one day I will be fortunate enough to have a beer with the guy and see him in a different lens than I do now. Ryan’s humbleness is inspiring. Ryan at NodeSummit, spoke and then turned around and sat down in the audience. That IS – AWESOME!

Chris Clark, your post was titled, your trip to the #NodeSummit and I haven’t heard shit about node yet. Thanks for reading this far then….

As someone planning a conference, and one that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, the conference experience is just as important as the content. I figured coming to the valley, node would be clouded by business pitches and marketing. No pun intended, although that’s a damn good inside #NodeSummit joke. I heard plenty about PAAS or “Platform as a Service” from everyone there. Yea yea yea, everyone has a "cloud", we get it, node enables cloud very easily.

"To the cloud!" The mainframe for the next generation of programmers.

Node was born in the valley. It has funding, and I am sure a lot of it. It may be open source but people are banking big BIG business on this baby. So much so, they threw from what I know to be the first very well organized conference called "Node Summit". Unfortunately for me, the VC goo showed through a bit too much. At this point in the game, I came to see Ryan and hear about node, and what’s surrounding it. I came with the intention to meet new people in the community and hear about the long term vision of node.

#NodeSummit ( as I was told to talk about it ) ( and oh the irony you have to tell people from the valley to use a #hashtag to talk about you ) was VERY well organized. Top Notch! Well executed, and just awesome. First class, intimate event, different than anything I have ever been to in the past. Roughly 400 people ( I didn’t count ) attended from all around the world were there in a very nice facility. As a person planning a big ole conference, I took a few notes.

There were a few high rollers there, and that was pretty epic to be honest. Ryan Dahl, Brendan Eich, Scott Guthrie, Stephen O’Grady, Erik Meijer, Oren Teich, Chito Manansala ( oh yea I had lunch with him, awesome dude ), and more. SOOOO why were all these people there? Hell node is only .6\.7. I mean you have to wonder right? Did they get paid to be there? I’m planning a conference, I get it. I am sure some money exchanged hands at least for some.

Regardless, I didn’t care. To see a panel with Erik Meijer, Brian Beckman, Brendan Eich, Ryan Dahl, and Jonathan Gay talk about the state of things was pretty epic. Hearing Eich, say I spent the majority of 10 days writing JavaScript so we could beat VBScript is pretty damn honest.

Seriously 10 Days huh? Oh, I feel stupid. Back to node.

So, #NodeSummit was cool, really cool. It wasn’t just because I got to be surrounded by people who made me feel stupid, but rather I got to hear from some real companies about their experience with node. What they were doing and WHY they decided to go in that direction. This wasn’t a hands on conference, this wasn’t about the how it was about the WHY. GENIUS. Turns out VC’s have a lot of money cause they know WTF their doing. So I have to just quote Jay-Z here,

"Whats 50k to a mfer like me, can you please remind me?" – Ni**as in ParisGet it? The 50k is Joyent, El Dorado Ventures and EMC Ventures money spent on the conference, that’s not what they care about. Just saying, there’s always motive.

Business cases were being built right in front of me. Companies, Leaders, Geeks, Visionaries were talking about why this was awesome for them. I never once saw a terminal or a node repl. Hell to be honest, I don’t even think I saw more than hello world in node displayed and shit, Scott Guthrie was the one who wrote that one, and on a MacBook nonetheless. ( FWIW, there were some side sessions where people dove deeper into things but I was referring to the main conference. )

OMG, WTF just happened, Seriously?!?!? Microsoft Geek Cred? Hipsters pants toooo tight? Technical conference right? Well, maybe? Remember motive…

I have been doing node since about .3/.4 but really serious as of .5. To hear others talk about their struggles was comforting. Debugger sucks.!.!.!. Did he just say that? I thought it was just me. Thank the good lord, I am not alone!!!

BUT, wait what!?!?!?!

That debugger sucking major ass has lead to everyone finding a better solution to dealing with suckage since there we’re no other choices. Developers are creative people, we created polyfills after all. We can adapt.

But seriously, choice is bad. Yes! WTF?!?!? The lack of choice has lead you to build something better? Ok. I get that…

I have a "little" project on the side built on the backs of node. We got to the point were the thing we were building spiking was turning into reality. Reality was getting very ugly and then something happened to us.

OMG, WTF have we done?!?! Scrap this shit, it is really sucking!

I just hit DELETE! That moment for us happened just at the right time. Start over and let’s start with some damn tests. So we busted out, jasmine, node, blaa blaa and started to re-architect and rebuild. Now I "grew up" ( although still a child ) doing *DD ( mostly TDD ), I don’t need to be sold the craftsmanship love, I get it, but…

This all felt somehow different. It felt wrong but so right.

This was some of my #NodeSummit enlightenment!!! Oh yea, everyone’s doing it… WTF, seriously? In talking with a few node peeps, "Oh yea, well what did you think you were going to do?", "I don’t know, I just thought I was doing it wrong." Bleeding edge geek problems right? OR.. Opportunities? For me, #NodeSummit turned into about the "why node" and validation of what I was already doing. The first day I heard Ryan talking about the importance of node on Windows. He clearly doesn’t want to work on a Windows machine but that is cool, but he does want node to not only run cross platform but to run really REALLY well on all platforms especially Windows.

Oh snap <- whoaa, WHAT???

Ryan then dropped the big bomb on us. He followed up by saying Rails —- up big time by not supporting Windows. WHOAAA, oh no you didn’t Ryan. Rails is the Christ child, didn’t you get the gmail on that????

That day I tweeted this: "I love the fact the #NodeSummit panel is talking about cross platform and equality amongst all. That makes for a solid and open community."

One of my better tweets right? Make sure you follow me then at http://twitter.com/csell5. But srsly it’s about the bigger vision of node and the ecosystem it plays in. NOOOOW before you go sending me some hate mail about platforms and telling me I don’t know what I am talking about. For node it’s about the bigger ecosystem. That to me is very exciting. After all that cloud thing, turns out it serves all too.

But in all seriousness, Node Summit was a great time. I meet some great people, saw some kick ass startup’s while validating a few questions I had about things. Overall it was here were some of my thoughts:

• Small and intimate. I honestly think this was on purpose, after all there is plenty of space but there were only a couple hundred people here.
• Very well organized. DAMN these guys are good. This was no slap it together conference, but really well organized. 
• Friendly. Everyone was very friendly. I meet a number of great and very passionate node people here. People also traveled very far to be part of this.
• Very HIGH profile industry people were here, i.e. People like the creator of JavaScript. ALL of them did there deal on stage and then came and sat down in the audience. All were part of the conference.
• Microsoft got some geek street cred that they deserved.  They announced the Azure support in Cloud 9 and Scott was writing node code from a MacBook.
• Not a lot of how but a lot of why. I was really shocked. Business and industry leaders were explaining why they choose things like node. They were basically educating everyone in the audience on how to build a business case to justify node.
• Some some great startups using node in some very creative ways.
• The Polygot Programmer is here. You better recognize it baby.

{ Rant:

Startups are awesome and the VC that support that eco system are a big deal but for – sake can you step out of your own reality distortion field already????? Good ideas happen everywhere. I meet awesome people everyday looking to do something. You know what they need? Exposure! Where to start? What to do? 

It’s funny you make fun at Windows, like it somehow sucks. Oh yea, 1.2 billion pc’s out there. Oh yea, it was just running that machine you bought your latte from. Just saying. Think a bit bigger. As someone who works for Microsoft we get told all the time we work in our own bubble. I laugh when I get told that, as I work in the field and my job is exactly not that, but I get the larger sediment.

Teach! Expose! Be a leader and not a hoarder.

};

In all seriousness, node.js is huge. It’s a really big deal. Mark my words in 5 years it will be a household tech name. Thanks to Eldardo Ventures for creating #NodeSummit and sponsors like Joyent, Microsoft and many others for making it possible. I give the VC’s a hard time but it’s only cause I want to see my city grow too. If it wasn’t for them, we might not even have a node, although I am pretty sure Ryan would have done it anyways.

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t give some major props to Microsoft. Not because I work there but because they did awesome. Say what you will, but their involvement with node is incredible. I would like to think I had something to do with it, but I didn’t.

Node Summit was all around good. I sincerely hope it happens again, and I hope to come back. To the conference organizers, thank you for putting in the hard work to create a classy event. Next time give Ryan some more time.

p.s. in the time writing this Ryan decided to step down from the core team of node. Well that sucks, or does it? Any technology isn’t shouldn’t be based just on one person. That is a recipe for disaster and it just doesn’t scale. I look forward to what Ryan does next as well as what the guys on the node team dream up.

Not sure what node.js is, why not? http://nodejs.org

If you made it this far – thank you!

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."

Community is everywhere, it’s all around us. Church, Sports, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and of course our own technical communities. When I see people complaining about communities online, I sit there an just wonder, why? Why do they feel the need to invest so much energy complaining online? I am always reminded of what John F. Kennedy said, stop complaining and either be a true part of it or try and fix what you think is broken.  Community is exactly what you make it, nothing more. Community doesn’t owe you anything.

Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world"…

As a software developer I think it’s important to always do two things. One, step back and celebrate. Two, learn from the past while continually improving. When it comes to communities, we all have a thing or two to learn from our peers, not only in "your group", but the groups around you. There is so much to learn, why would anyone ever do it alone?

I want to thank everyone across the Midwest and beyond who helped support me over the past 31 days. I know I missed groups, and this doesn’t stop today. Over the next few months, myself and anyone who wants to help will be starting a new site called MidwestGeeks.net. The purpose of the site is to help consolidate and distribute information across our technical communities, and anyone involved with them. For the past 31 days I’ve gathered a great deal of information about communities across the Midwest, that of course is one example of the information that you will see on the site. It’s just a start of a larger journey, one where we can start to break down some walls and join together.

Wisconsin

Group	City	Post
MADPASS	Madison	http://csell.net/2011/12/29/31-days-of-community-madpass/
MADdotNET	Madison	http://csell.net/2011/12/27/31-days-of-community-maddotnet/
Wausau Area SharePoint Users Group	Wausau	http://csell.net/2011/12/23/31-days-of-community-wausau-area-sharepoint-users-group/
ECRuby	Eau Claire	http://csell.net/2011/12/19/31-days-of-community-ecruby/
Fox Valley .NET Users Group	Appleton	http://csell.net/2011/12/16/31-days-of-community-fox-valley-net-users-group/
Black Hole .NET	Marshfield	http://csell.net/2011/12/13/31-days-of-community-black-hole-net/
Greater Milwaukee Script Club	Greenfield	http://csell.net/2011/12/11/31-days-of-community-greater-milwaukee-script-club/
Chippewa Valley . NET User Group	Eau Claire	http://csell.net/2011/12/08/31-days-of-community-cvnug/
MADdotNET’s Geek Lunch	Madison	http://csell.net/2011/12/07/31-days-of-community-maddotnets-geek-lunch/
WI .NET Users’ Group	Milwaukee	http://csell.net/2011/12/03/31-days-of-community-wi-net-users-group/

Illinois

Group	City	Post
angleBracket	Grayslake	http://csell.net/2011/12/30/31-days-of-community-anglebracket/
Chicago DNN	OakBrook	http://csell.net/2011/12/28/31-days-of-community-chicagodnn-org/
Sangamon Valley .NET User Group	Springfield	http://csell.net/2011/12/25/31-days-of-community-sangamon-valley-net-user-group/
Chicago .NET Ninjas	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/24/31-days-of-community-chicago-net-ninjas/
Chicago SharePoint Users Group	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/22/31-days-of-community-cspug/
Rockford .NET Users’ Group	Rockford	http://csell.net/2011/12/21/31-days-of-community-rockford-net-users-group/
Chicago Sencha	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/20/31-days-of-community-chicago-sencha/
Chicago SBS Users Group	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/17/31-days-of-community-chicago-sbs-users-group/
Chicago Windows Phone Developer Group	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/15/13-days-of-community-chicago-windows-phone-developer-group/
Chicago Visual Studio ALM Users Group	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/14/31-days-of-community-chicago-visual-studio-alm-user-group/
Software Craftsmanship McHenry County	McHenry	http://csell.net/2011/12/12/31-days-of-community-software-craftsmanship-mchenry-county-scmc/
Chicago ALT.NET	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/09/31-days-of-community-chicago-alt-net/
Chicago Information Technology Architects Group	Chicago	http://csell.net/2011/12/06/31-days-of-community-chicago-information-technology-architects-group/
CNUG	Downers Grove	http://csell.net/2011/12/05/31-days-of-community-cnug/
Lake County .NET Users Group	Grayslake	http://csell.net/2011/12/02/31-days-of-community-lake-county-net-users-group-lcnug/

Indiana

Group	City	Post
South Bend Software Craftsmanship	South Bend	http://csell.net/2011/12/26/31-days-of-community-south-bend-software-craftsmanship/
SharePoint Users Group of Indiana	Indianapolis	http://csell.net/2011/12/10/31-days-of-community-sharepoint-users-group-of-indiana-spin/
.NET Users’ of Ft. Wayne	Ft. Wayne	http://csell.net/2011/12/04/31-day-of-community-net-users-of-ft-wayne-in/

Ohio

Group	City	Post
Central Ohio Windows Phone User Group	Columbus	http://csell.net/2011/12/18/31-days-of-community-central-ohio-windows-phone-user-group-cowpug/

Again, a huge thank you to all of the communities leaders for helping me make this possible. Make sure you thank them too.

angleBracket is a simple organization of web enthusiasts who collect once a month to tackle a given topic. We spend roughly 10 minutes introducing a topic and then pair up and start coding. When we decide enough is enough we get back together and share our findings.

You can find more at: http://angleBracket.net

When:

Every 3rd Thursday of the month.

Where:

College of Lake County

Room: TBD
19351 West Washington Street
Grayslake, IL 60030-1198

Who:

Clark Sell | http://clarksell.info

Clark is a web evangelist for Microsoft based in Illinois. A Chicago native who can’t spell, Clark as a kid actually made his money building cars, getting grease under his nails. That art of building would later lead him to software development where he drinks the Web Development Kool-Aid. Writing code is what keeps Clark awake at night, while continually working on his craft and rapping with others over a few cold CORS. You can hear Clark muse about software on his podcast Developer Smackdown, or find his family cruising around in a 1968 Camaro SS.

Pat Paaschp

Pat is a .NET developer for GFX International in Grayslake, IL. A Wisconsin native, he attended the infamous Sheboygan North High School and has enjoyed a great deal of bratwurst and cheese. While earning his Business Administration & Marketing degree he saw a classmate’s Perl/CGI book and decided is what a good idea to avoid all things technology and software related. But, he found himself working with computers and software during his first job when he became the IT department because he could call his older brother who “worked with computers”. When he’s not spending time with his wife and three kids he’s trying to figure out if this WWW thing is really worth all the trouble.

MADPASS is a SQL Server user group.  Our mission statement:

The purpose of this chapter is to serve the community of SQL Server professionals in the Madison area by providing a forum for professional networking, continuous learning, and technical collaboration. In support of this purpose, MADPASS shall endeavor to accomplish the following:

1. Actively advance and promote the effective utilization of products and services by promoting a
   free exchange of information concerning the use of such products and services by members of the organization;
2. To conduct regular meetings and host topical presentations concerned with the products and technologies of interest;
3. Communicate user needs in all areas of interest;

Our meetings cover a range of topics including database administration, programming, and business intelligence. We have networking time each month, along with free dinner and drinks!

When

Fourth Wednesday of each month in Madison, WI.

More Information

• Our website is http://madpass.org
• Twitter is @MADPASS
• LinkedIn is http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3719611&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
• Google + https://plus.google.com/u/0/114506358272850034374/posts.

SQL Saturday

MADPASS is planning the first SQL Saturday in Wisconsin, SQL Saturday #118, on April 21, 2012 as well – http://sqlsaturday.com/118/eventhome.aspx.

DotNetNuke is a very powerful Content Management System for developing websites. Great websites in fact…

Our Hosting Sponsor PowerDNN provides food and drink for the evening and we generally have a great discussion about all things web related. You are welcome to attend this free event, contribute to the discussion, ask questions and take off if the conversation no longer is relevant to you.

You can find more at: http://ChicagoDNN.org

Where you will find links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Meetup.com and The DotNetNuke Users Group

When:

The first Tuesday of the month.

Where:

We are taking the show on the road this year and plan to rotate venues around the city. Because of member requests, we are going to hold one meeting in Downtown Chicago, one meeting in the North Suburbs, and then one out in the Southwest Suburbs. Then we will do it all over again starting back downtown. Locations are being determined so check the website for more information.

Please check the website for current information on when and where the next meeting will be held in 2012.

Who:

Don Gingold | http://SprocketWebsites.com/About

Don launched Gnu Ventures Company in 1996 to help organizations and businesses initiate and improve their Internet presence. Along with partner Kate Gingold, Gnu Ventures puts a creative spin on their combined skills in programming, graphic arts, copywriting and marketing.

Don and Kate are members of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and between them have served as past chairs or board members of numerous committees. Currently they involved with the Ambassadors, the Business Resource Network and several leads groups. Don has over 25 years experience in applying computers and network technology to business, including pioneering work on the Internet with an international corporation.

James Nagy | http://SprocketWebsites.com/About

Jim started developing website solutions with the DotNetNuke® Content Management framework for a national automotive services corporation. For the past few years, Jim and his partner Susan Nagy have been helping companies compete in the global marketplace as J&S Tech Designs, LLC.

James and Susan are members of the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce as well as the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and are involved in several committees including the Ambassadors, the Business Resource Network and several leads groups. He has over 20 years of experience in information technology, software design, user experience programming and executive management.

Phil Wegrzyn

Phil Wegrzyn has been a professional developer for over 22 years, progressing from a mainframe assembler programmer to a web developer and technical consultant with a Chicagoland fortune 50 company.

For the past 5+ years he has been working almost exclusively with DotNetNuke®, deploying, administering, and developing DotNetNuke® sites to handle a wide array of complex functionality on intranet, extranet and internet-facing DNN sites. Phil has also provided training, technical guidance and development services to organizations implementing DotNetNuke® as their CMS.

The Madison, Wisconsin .NET User Group is an enthusiastic open community with a focus on Microsoft .NET and other related technologies.

Everyone is welcome to attend our free meetings – generally the 1^st Wednesday of the month is our presentation meeting where we have a two hour presentations on a select topic – everything from the latest emerging technologies so you’re informed of what’s coming – to – how to more effectively utilize the technologies that you use in your day-to-day programming life so you can maximize your potential!

For our presentation meetings – come hungry as we will provide free pizza – as a hungry developer is a scary thing.

Also — generally on the second Wednesday of the month we have a .NET Lunch where we get together and talk .NET technology while having great food!

At MADdotNET – we focus on empowering the overall developer community with knowledge – so that together we can all increase our connections with one another as well the technology that will make each of us more successful, and thus have more fun, with what we do every day!

Everyone is welcome; we are a mix of .NET professional developers, students, teachers, any one just interested in learning more – we also encourage local recruiters to attend – as they are looking to get the best jobs to the easily the best candidates in entire Madison market!

What we are not are “9-to-5’ers” – those people who’s interest stops when they leave their computers. We are passionate about learning and enthusiastically improve our skills and connections!

Everyone is also welcome to present to the group – it’s easily said that you never know a topic as well as when you prepare to teach that topic to others. Come talk about technology that makes you excited, whether it’s something you use day-to-day or something that you do ( or want to do ) on the side. There are so many great topics, from HTML5 to Kinect, from MVC to XAML, from SQL to jQuery. Challenge yourself and be rewarded from what you learn and can show to others!

You can find more at: www.MADdotNET.com

When:

Generally the 1^st and/or the 3^rd Wednesday of the month, with an additional .NET lunch meeting generally on the 2^nd Wednesday of the moth. See our site and follow us on Twitter ( @MADdotNET ) for all upcoming meeting.

Also – highly encourage you to subscribe to both:

1. MADdotNET@googlegroups.com ( http://groups.google.com/group/maddotnet ) — Our discussion forum where user group members post cool things they find and/or ask any questions on projects that they are working on and want the perspective and experience of the best developers in the area!
2. MADdotNET-announcements@googlegroups.com (http://groups.google.com/group/maddotnet-announcements ) – Meeting and event announcements only.

Where:

Presentation Meetings:

Herzing University Madison ( 5218 East Terrace Drive, Madison ) – Room #120
5:30pm – 6pm: Networking | 6pm – 8pm: Presentation and Pizza

.NET Lunches:

Alt-n-Bach’s ( 2602 Whalen Lane Madison, WI ) – in the Back Room
11:45am – 1pm

Contact:

Lance Larsen | mail@lancelarsen.com | www.LanceLarsen.com

• Not only working software, but also well-crafted software
• Not only responding to change, but also steadily adding value
• Not only individuals and interactions, but also a community of professionals
• Not only customer collaboration, but also productive partnerships

If you are interested in connecting with and learning from other like-minded software artisans in the South Bend area, please sign up and join us at our next meetup.

You can find more at: http://www.meetup.com/sobesc/

When:

Usually Every 2nd Thursday of every other month.

Where:

Innovation Park, University of Notre Dame

1400 E Angela Blvd

University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 46617

Who:

Ross Beehler

Ross is a development manager with Press Ganey, who is very involved in the software craftsmanship movement.

Eric Landes | http://ericlandes.com

Eric is a Solution Architect for AgileThought, Eric helps coach and implement agile solutions in primarily Microsoft environments. He has been using Agile methods for the past 6 years, in a Team Lead/Project Manager capacity. He has presented on Kanban, automated acceptance tests, and other agile topics at different agile conferences, and user group meetings. Eric has a CSM and is a Microsoft MVP.

David Dickinson

Is in currently Chief Technology Officer at Pinnacle, LLC. David has been involved with agile development for over 6 years and has also been involved with Service Oriented Architecture even longer (there is a Channel 9 interview on SOA and agile that David and co did). David is very involved with the software craftsmanship movement.

The Sangamon Valley .NET User Group (SVNUG) is a Microsoft .NET user group based in Springfield, Illinois.  Founded in November 2010, SVNUG’s mission is to encourage .NET development, research, and education in the Springfield, Illinois, technical community.  We meet once a month of an evening for a presentation on a current .NET topic.

For each of our talks, we produce a collection of source code and slides for our members and other .NET enthusiasts to reference as well as a video of the talk on both our YouTube and Vimeo channels.  Our two most popular videos are Scott Hembrough’s presentation “Build Automation and Continuous Integration with TFS 2010” and Keith Reichert and Matt Havenar’s presentation “Expression Blend 4 with WPF”:

Build Automation and Continuous Integration with TFS 2010—SVNUG Presentation #9 (October 2011)

Expression Blend 4 with WPF—SVNUG Presentation #5 (June 2011)

You can find more at: http://www.svnug.com

When:

First Tuesday of every month.

Where:

The Hilton (downtown Springfield)
Conference Center (room varies by month)

700 East Adams Street
Springfield, Illinois 62701-1601

Who:

Allen E. Scharfenberg | http://www.neverminddreams.com

Allen is currently a Software Development Consultant with Capitol Strategies, Inc.—a software consulting firm based out of Springfield, Illinois.  While Allen has a great deal of experience in product development, frameworks, multi-threaded programming, and all that fun stuff, he currently enjoys helping his clients build their own business-critical applications.  Allen is the Public and Member Relations Officer for the Sangamon Valley .NET User Group (SVNUG).  When he is not coding, Allen enjoys spending time with his fiancé Amanda and their houseful of pets.

Brandon Stricker | http://nodnarb.net

By day, Brandon is a systems engineer for Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) in Springfield, Illinois.  By night (and sometimes on the weekends), Brandon enjoys photography and videography—which is lucky for us because, without Brandon’s passion, enthusiasm, and knack for professional-grade video work, SVNUG would not have so many wonderful videos to share with its members and the .NET community at large.  A newlywed, Brandon enjoys spending time with his wife June.  Thankfully, June lets us borrow him and his camera a couple nights a month.

Mark Lovik

Mark is currently a consultant with Capitol Strategies, Inc. in Springfield, Illinois.  With a doctorate in Physics and a penchant for taking on Herculean software development projects, Mark tends to be a busy guy.  Even so, Mark enjoys developing new ideas for talks, blogs, and videos for SVNUG and spending time with his family.

Matt Wilson

Matt is currently an Enterprise Architect with Horace Mann Educators Corporation in Springfield, Illinois.  Matt loves patterns and UML.  Which he loves more, know one will ever know.  When he is not busy working or advising the group on complicated business and compliance issues (okay, they are not complicated to him, but they are to the rest of us), Matt enjoys spending time with his family.

Keith Reichert

Keith is a Software Engineer with Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) in Springfield, Illinois.  Although he loves writing video capturing and editing software for LRS Sports Edge, he also loves spending time with his family.  Keith is one of the four original founders of SVNUG.

David McDaniel

David is a Senior Developer/Analyst with Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) in Springfield, Illinois.  When David is not lamenting Allen’s inability to pay attention to anything, he is spending time with his wonderful family.  David is also one of the four original founders of SVNUG and a former educator.

You can find more at: http://chicagodotnetninjas.org

When:

Typically, once a month.

Where:

Chicago loop.

Actual location varies.

Who:

Alfred Chan

Alfred is currently a software engineer for Kirkland & Ellis, LLP in Chicago. With 8 years of experience developing applications on the Microsoft stack for startups as well as enterprises, Alfred likes to share what he has learned over the years to promote better coding practices. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a geek who participates in various tech events around Chicago. You can also find him sailing on the lake on a nice summer day.

In 2012, we are looking to develop our web page sponsored by New Horizons and provide our members with programs that help educate them in the use of SharePoint.

Click here to access our web page.

When:

Monthly

Where:

New Horizons Center

4613-B Phillips Road

Schofield, WI 54476

(715) 203-1388

Who:

Deeann Johnson

Deeann is an Associate Line Director at Church Mutual Insurance Company in Merrill, Wisconsin. This position has given her the opportunity to actively participate in numerous projects. Her current main project is the development of electronic manuals for Church Mutual. While collaborating on the design of the site, much of the building and technical design of the site has been done by Deeann personally. In addition to developing the site, she has prepared procedure manuals, developed training, mentored others in the use of SharePoint, and provided the overall management for use of the site. When not making plans for future uses of SharePoint, she enjoys spending time with her two children and husband.

Mike Clark

Mike is the Manager of Engineering Services for Cequent Trailer Products out of Mosinee, Wisconsin. His team manages the Engineering change, New Product Launch, and Cost Estimating processes for products manufactured in the USA, Mexico, and China. Mike has been developing on SharePoint for the past 4 years and has created many InfoPath applications to simplify their business processes.