I attended my 5th Code Camp this past weekend - Richmond, VA this time. Not only did I learn a lot, I had a great time. I learned a lot as I prepared for the presentation I gave on branding a Windows SharePoint Services site, I also learned from every session I attended, and from the many conversations I had with other speakers and attendees. I could easily turn into a Code Camp evangelist (aka junkie). I think it is one of the best ideas in a long time for training and networking within the Microsoft developer community. I'll give a quick 10 great things about Code Camps (I know I could list many more), but these are the ones that personally benefit me.
1. Free knowledge from folks actually using the product.
2. Choices - I get to choose from 3 -5 topics (and often levels of difficulty) for each session.
3. Opportunity to present to a friendly group of IT professionals
4. Learn from my presentation a) while preparing b) when I do one more thing and the code no longer runs c) questions and feedback from the attendees
5. Meeting new friends and peers - I've made new contacts at every Code Camp I have attended
6. Hooking up with old friends - keeping in touch with those I met at prior Code Camps
7. User Group networking - I have found that user groups help other user groups and they really enjoy helping other user groups
8. SWAG (of course) - in Richmond the top prize seemed to be “marketing material” on a laptop pad that protected fertility of something (not sure if it's the laptop or the user)
9. Great food (of course)
10. FUN !