Code Camps

Register now - SQL Saturday #9 in Greenville, SC

Lou Vega — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:57:00 GMT

SQL Saturday is a free, one day conference organized mostly by local Information Technology Professionals. The conference sessions cover a wide range of Microsoft SQL Server technologies from beginner to advanced. Whether you are a DBA, software application developer, Business Intelligence architect, or IT Manager there are sessions scheduled to meet your needs. The conference has attracted some very experienced and knowledgeable presenters who have presented at some of the largest conferences in the industry. SQL Saturday #9 will be held, Saturday October 11th, at ECPI's Greenville Campus 1001 Keys Drive #100 Greenville, SC 29615. Doors open at 8:00 A.M. Door prizes will be given away at the conclusion of the conference. Space is limited, so please register now at www.sqlsaturday.com. For other technology events and news in Update South Carolina visit www.gsatc.org .

Jacksonville Code Camp - Fay did not stop it!

Lou Vega — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:15:46 GMT

Friend and fellow SC UG leader Chris Eargle and I headed down to Jacksonville Code Camp on Friday night wondering what might be in store for us since Fay had dumped so much rain over the past few days. We were assured by the JAX CC folks that Fay wouldn't stop them. Even with a venue change, Fay didn't stop them so huge props to the folks in Jacksonville for pulling this together and managing it through the changes dictated by that storm blowing through.

Getting down there was a small adventure. Turns out *someone* (cough Chris!) was using an inferior mapping product which will remain nameless and it just so happened that it "auto-suggested" a fix for the destination address which unfortunately wasn't caught until we exited off I-95 towards a rather dark and more run-down area of Jacksonville. I remember saying to Chris there was no way there was a Hyatt hotel anywhere on that street we were turning down based on the faulty map address.

That whole experience with the map felt like this:

We mastered the Spectral Wolf and got back on track and finally arrived at the hotel...only we were too late for the hotel restaurant for dinner so we grabbed a quick meal in the sports bar and then I had to call it a night.

Waking up early the next morning we headed out to East Pointe Church (the site of the code camp after relocating due to Fay). The church actually was a pretty good facility. They had plenty of rooms available for the sessions.

Although I hadn't signed up to speak at this code camp (I only found out about it roughly a week or so before hand) I always travel to code camp with a slide deck. Figuring there would probably be a couple of last minute cancellations due to the weather I approached Jonathan Bates about speaking and he was glad to have me fill in. I ended up giving the Windows Mobile State & Notifications Broker talk where I build a call blocking application.

While I was there I got to re-connect with folks I haven't seen in a while (Joe Healy, Russ Fustino, fellow GWB'er Scott Dorman) as well as meet plenty of new folks. I also got to meet some in person for the first time that I had only previously knew online. All in all a great time.

Richmond Code Camp

Lou Vega — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:52:19 GMT

I had such a great time up in Richmond last year for Richmond Code Camp that I'm planning to head back there again this year. The folks up in Richmond are planning this event for Saturday, October 4, 2008. You can find out more at their web site: http://richmondcodecamp.org/default.aspx as they continue to post information.

Although last year I "just attended" (for the very first time actually!), this year I plan on giving a presentation on Windows Mobile development. Hope to see you there!

Atlanta Code Camp 2008

Lou Vega — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:53:08 GMT

First of all - a huge thanks to all those folks in Atlanta who pull this thing together each year. They really do put on a good event in Atlanta and I look forward to it (almost to the point of bugging Jim via e-mail) each year.

This was actually my 2nd code camp where I didn't speak...though I did have some slide decks ready in case there were some last minute cancellations. I actually missed a chance to speak since I was helping Bill move furniture while Jim was looking for me to cover a session.

It was cool to see those folks I only get to meet at these events since we're all so spread out. Doug & Glen, Jim, Josh, Chris, Bill, Paul and I'm sure I'm forgetting others. Plus I got to meet several people who've seen my presentations in the past and it was nice to hear they remembered me and were looking forward to seeing me speak again (though I'm sorry to disappoint since I didn't speak this time). I actually got to finally meet David Silverlight which was cool. BTW - if you're reading this and went to Code Camp and are not registered with Community-Credit - go ahead and register, collect 5000 points for attending Code Camp and be on your way to winning some ~~cool~~ stupid prizes!

Both the sessions I attended in the morning were great. I started out with Bill Ryan's Home Server presentation which definitely gave me some ideas that I need to implement with regards to having a Home Server on my own home network. The second session I attended was Bruce Thomas' Windows Mobile LOB presentation which also gave me some neat ideas on how to improve my own Windows Mobile applications. If you've never seen either of these guys present before and have a chance to then by all means go see them.

A couple of things I thought were done well also from the point of view of one planning a code camp were:

1) Big Item Prizes - entrants were given five tickets. There were 5 "big" prizes (Xbox, Zune, Software, etc.) and you put your ticket(s) in the bowl for the prizes you wanted to win. So if you already have an XBOX at home and want to win a Zune instead, you won't "accidentally" win an XBox. At the end of those drawings the remaining tickets are all combined and those are drawn for books, shirts, etc. I won a book!

2) Food - there was a multi-tiered lunch system where ticket folks were split for the lunch lines versus all going out at once. While I actually missed that part - the food I ended up eating was pretty good. I hadn't tried the Pizza Mia's yet and it was pretty tasty!

3) Speaker Feedback - Rather than collecting all speaker feedback then giving it to someone to sort through and tally the results, each attendee was given multiple feedback forms and gave those directly to the speakers at the end of the presentation. This way speakers get "instant" feedback.

4) The lounge - Doug bought in a whole bunch of Xbox's (Xboxii, Xboxen?) and had a HALO 3 room set up and a Rock Band room set up. Those were a great way to spend time and I actually spent one of the afternoon sessions playing Rock Band with Josh since I had arrived a little late to head into the session. There was also an "Expert's Lounge" which I didn't get to visit but it was basically a place where people could talk and ask more detailed questions of speakers who were finished with their sessions if they wanted to.

5) Glen (and a few others) shot video throughout the day as part of an attempt to document what it takes to pull of a code camp as well as what code camp is like. Looking forward to seeing that!

I'm headed to Roanoke Code Camp in March!

Lou Vega — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:58:28 GMT

Wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it but really wanted to after talking with Robin last October at Richmond Code Camp...but now I'm heading up to Roanoke for my first Code Camp of 2008!

Right now I'm planing for two presentations - one on code analysis and one on Windows Mobile 6.

For those interested in more info about the code camp in general see their site here: http://www.rvnug.org/CodeCamp.aspx

Twin Cities Code Camp and Richard Simmons?

Lou Vega — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:03:32 GMT

What the heck do those two have in common?

On Friday I arrived at the Charleston, SC airport all set to fly out to Chris' house for code camp. Having just gone through the TSA security line and in the process of collecting all my stuff and re-packing I heard a voice off behind me that sounded familiar. Being from the Charleston area I turned around figuring I might know the person and say "hi" but imagine my surprise when instead I turned around to see this guy:

(ok the picture is pretty bad - I've got an old cell phone)

There he was talking to some other guy - when he saw me looking he just waved.

I thought that might be the end of that but then when I got to my departure gate to wait on my flight I find he’s waiting in the same area…and on the same flight (leaving CHS to ATL with follow-on to MSY).

He’s a trip to see in person because the flamboyant personality you see on TV is the same one I saw in the airport. He readily posed for pictures with everyone who came up to him and asked. I thought things got ridiculous when people started handing cell phones to him so he could talk to their mom, dad, husband, wife, friend, etc. but he handled it nicely and talked on each phone he was handed. When our plan finally arrived at the gate and the passengers on board exited so we could begin loading, he got out in front of them all yelling “Welcome to Charleston everyone – we’re so glad you could make it here today!” much to the surprise of the folks leaving the plane.

All in all it certainly made for an interesting start of my trip to code camp.

4 Code Camps in 4 Weeks - done!

Lou Vega — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:29:19 GMT

The past weekend marked the end of my Code Camp "tour" covering 4 states and 4 Code Camps in 4 weeks straight.

October 6th - Attended Richmond Code Camp 4, Richmond VA - arrived a little too late to fill in a speaker slot for someone who dropped, had fun in my very first code camp as an "attendee only" :)
October 13th - Helped host South Carolina Code Camp 4, Charleston SC - also gave a presentation on Windows Mobile Gaming for Fun and Profit
October 20th - Spoke at Charlotte Code Camp, Charlotte NC - Topic: Dynamic Code Analysis with VSTS.
October 27th - Twin Cities Code Camp, Minneapolis MN - Initially I'd planned on attending only but when I found out Rocky was sick with the flu, I offered to give my Dynamic Code Analysis presentation in his time slot - so I ended up speaking and only about 5 people walked out when I announced I wasn't Rocky ;)

Interestingly enough - this was the same month D'Arcy announced his "Geeks loose your gut challenge" so I did the whole thing without my usual 6-pack a day of Mt. Dew - bonus! :)

4 Code Camps in 4 Weeks

Lou Vega — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:31:46 GMT

Today marks the 3rd Saturday in a row I've gotten up before the crack of dawn to head out for a Code Camp :)

I started on October 6th - driving up to Richmond for Richmond Code Camp 4. Last weekend I didn't have a long drive, but since I was helping to organize and set up SC Code Camp 3.0 I showed up by 6AM. This morning I got on the road by 5AM so I could make it to Charlotte Code camp.

I'm scheduled to give a presentation on Code Analysis using Visual Studio Team System later this morning and I'm glad to know that *next* weekend I don't have to get up quite so early because I'm flying out to MN for Twin Cities Code Camp :)

Once I make that one I'll have completed 4 Code Camps in 4 weeks - sweet!

SC Code Camp 3.0 tomorrow!

Lou Vega — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:35:32 GMT

Charleston, SC hosts this years South Carolina Code Camp - if you're not already signed up - go ahead now...see you there!

Richmond Code Camp

Lou Vega — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:56:29 GMT

Many thanks to all the folks who pulled together to bring us Richmond Code Camp 4!

I drove up from Charleston, SC leaving home at 3AM to make the drive up to Richmond. It was mostly uneventful until I was pulled over by a VA State Trooper just 20 minutes outside of Richmond (more about that in a later blog post).

I actually arrived there shortly after the first sessions began, but just a little too late to help them out by speaking since some of their scheduled speakers weren’t able to make it on short notice. In a small way that turned out to be pretty neat because this is the first time I’ve been to code camp without speaking. I think I still prefer to be involved volunteering, speaking or both…but after the 6+ hour drive I was happy to just relax and enjoy the sessions. After Code Camp I went to stay with my uncle who has a nice place about 20 minutes north of Richmond. My aunt and uncle hooked me up with a nice dinner, place to sleep and then breakfast in the morning before I headed on 95 again back to Charleston.

I ran into Robin Edwards again during Richmond Code Camp and she told me about the Roanoke Valley Code Camp she’ll host early next year – so I’ll be up in VA again for that one.

With Richmond Code Camp 4 complete, I’ve got just 3 more Code Camps in my “4 in 4 Code Camp Tour”:

· October 13: South Carolina Code Camp 3 – organizing, speaking, volunteering

· October 20: Charlotte Code Camp – speaking, volunteering

· October 27: Twin Cities Code Camp – possibly speaking, crashing at Chris’ house (again!).

BTW – SC Code Camp is this Saturday, October 13. If you are in the area (or are a code camp junkie) then come on down. We’ve got a great lineup of speakers and lots of cool stuff to give away (see if you all don’t come down to Code Camp we “have” to keep all this cool stuff for ourselves *grin*) including an Xbox…sweet…too bad I’m not eligible to win it…but most of the rest of you reading this are!