MSDN Flash: Volume 14, Number 14 - July 6, 2010
Editorial News and Notes from Developer Evangelist G. Andrew Duthie
Codestock Rocked
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend my first Codestock. Codestock is a community-organized conference, run primarily by Michael Neel, which is somewhat similar to a code camp, but with a reasonable registration fee to cover some of the expenses, and a somewhat different feel.
Given that the event was only around 7 hours away, I decided to drive. Flying might have been faster (or not, given that my Community Megaphone Podcast co-host Dane Morgridge got stuck at the Philly airport for many hours due to cancelled and delayed flights), but I had a ton of gear to bring for recording the podcast, plus I wanted to bring my guitar with me given some of the legendary jam sessions I’d heard about at the evening gatherings.
One of the neat things about Codestock is that it has a strong combination of conference and social activities. The night before the conference officially started, a bunch of folks (mostly speakers, but some attendees as well) gathered at a local pub, organized by Alan Stevens, and later moved over to Market Square for more socializing. This gave folks the opportunity to meet some new people before the conference even began, which was nice. Alan also hosted a post-Stock party at his home, so that those who were sticking around until the day after the conference could continue their conversations in a more casual atmosphere.
As for the actual conference itself, there were tons of great sessions available, with 9 separate tracks, plus open spaces facilitated by the aforementioned Mr. Stevens. I had the privilege of participating in three sessions. The first was a panel discussion of speaker horror stories, which we recorded for the podcast (which should be out in a couple of weeks), the second a Windows Phone 7 session by John Baird that I helped out with, as well as my own Windows Phone 7 session, co-presented by my peer Glen Gordon.
In addition to the speaker horror stories panel, Dane and I recorded two other podcast episodes, one with Mike Neel, and another with Alan Stevens, the first of which should be published by the time you read this.
Hearty congratulations to Mike, Alan, and everyone else involved with making Codestock a great success!
Breaking Down Barriers
One of the things folks may find puzzling about how I and my fellow Microsoft evangelists operate is that those of us who are in “the field” (as opposed to working from Redmond) have a specific geographical territory that we are responsible for. Mine includes Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. One consequence of this was that in the past it was difficult to justify doing much outside of one’s district, since the assumption was that another evangelist could cover those activities more efficiently. But unsurprisingly, most developers don’t really think of themselves as being in a district. Rather, they go to events that sound interesting enough for them to travel to, regardless of what “district” they’re in.
Why am I mentioning this? Because I’d like to make more of an effort to participate in communities and events beyond the four-state area I officially cover, and attending Codestock was one example of this. There is a lot that I personally can learn from other communities (even though I think the Mid-Atlantic community rocks!), and if I bring those lessons back to Mid-Atlantic, and share what works well here with other communities, we all win. Look to see me at more events outside Mid-Atlantic… and if you’re a user group leader looking for a presenter, give me a shout. Perhaps I can get to your neck of the woods for a visit.
It’s an absolute privilege and blessing to work with the developer community for Microsoft, something I’d probably be doing for free (and did, prior to this job) if I didn’t work for Microsoft. And I want to take the opportunity to thank all the great folks in Mid-Atlantic and elsewhere who make our community so rich.
Time for Suggestions and Feedback!
It’s the end of the fiscal year here at Microsoft, and one of the things that means is it’s time to look at how we did this year, and start making plans for next year. You can help me improve my support of the community by sharing your feedback. Let me know if there are things that I’m doing well that I should keep doing, or things that need improvement.
Just drop me a note via my blog, and I will be happy to make your feedback a part of my planning for our next fiscal year.
To find out about and/or promote upcoming local developer and IT pro community events, check out Community Megaphone. Check out our podcast, too.
You can also find out about local and national developer and gadget stuff on my blog. You should also follow me on Twitter.
Want to learn more about the speakers you’ll see at user groups and code camps, and up-and-coming personalities in the developer community? Check out the Community Megaphone Podcast! You can find the podcast on the web, on Zune and iTunes, and you can follow us on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook!
Interested in hosting a Code Camp or similar community event, and not sure where to start? Drop me a line and I can help you get started.
Want to share your information or make suggestions for future updates? You can contact me via my blog.
Until next time...
G. Andrew Duthie
Developer Evangelist, Mid-Atlantic States District
Andrew Duthie has been working with computers since the days of the Commodore PET, hacking game programs loaded from cassette tapes to say funny stuff, and has been writing and speaking about developer technologies for more than a decade. |
