BenkoBLOG : Events

Join us for some In Person Events!

benko — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:17:23 GMT

Register today

Here is a quick summary of the events scheduled in March.

ArcReady	MSDN Events Unleashed	TechNet Events Unleashed
St. Louis, MO – March 5, 2009 9:00 AM	St. Louis, MO – March 5, 2009 1:00 PM	St. Louis, MO – March 5, 2009 3:00 PM
Downers Grove, IL – March 9, 2009 9:00 AM	Downers Grove, IL – March 9, 2009 1:00 PM	Downers Grove, IL – March 9, 2009 3:00 PM
Austin, TX – March 10, 2009 9:00 AM	Austin, TX – March 10, 2009 1:00 PM	Austin, TX – March 10, 2009 3:00 PM
Knoxville, TN – March 10, 2009 9:00 AM	Overland Park, KS – March 10, 2009 1:00 PM	Indianapolis, IN – March 12, 2009 3:00 PM
Overland Park, KS – March 10, 2009 9:00 AM	Indianapolis, IN – March 12, 2009 1:00 PM	Irving, TX – March 19, 2009 3:00 PM
Indianapolis, IN – March 12, 2009 9:00 AM	Irving, TX – March 19, 2009 1:00 PM	Chicago, IL – March 23, 2009 3:00 PM
Nashville, TN – March 13, 2009 9:00 AM	Columbus, OH – March 20, 2009 1:00 PM	Houston, TX – March 24, 2009 3:00 PM
Irving, TX – March 19, 2009 9:00 AM	Chicago, IL – March 23, 2009 1:00 PM	Detroit, MI – March 31, 2009 3:00 PM
Columbus, OH – March 20, 2009 9:00 AM	Houston, TX – March 24, 2009 1:00 PM
Chicago, IL – March 23, 2009 9:00 AM	Mason, OH – March 27, 2009 1:00 PM
Houston, TX – March 24, 2009 9:00 AM	Detroit, MI – March 31, 2009 1:00 PM
Bloomington, MN – March 25, 2009 9:00 AM	Waukesha, WI – March 31, 2009 1:00 PM
Cleveland, OH – March 26, 2009 9:00 AM
Mason, OH – March 27, 2009 9:00 AM
Detroit, MI – March 31, 2009 9:00 AM
Waukesha, WI – March 31, 2009 9:00 AM

Speaking at MDC 08

benko — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:14:27 GMT

Today I’m presenting at Minnesota Developers Conference on “Playing with Possible”…a collection of short demos that together show how you can leverage new technologies such as LINQ to browse books on Amazon using a Silverlight control deployed in SharePoint. Whew! That’s a lot of technologies.

I’ve built this talk around the idea that it might be fun to see how we can do so much more with these new technologies with less code. I’ve done webcasts on most of these topics, but not bundled together (although watch my blog for information on when I can get it scheduled…October maybe?)

If you’re interested in the code, check out the downloads section of www.BenkoTips.com for the complete project and the slide deck. You’ll need to tweak the web.config of your SharePoint instance to deploy the web part, ping me if you want some help.

Enjoy!

SharePoint Code Camp anyone?

benko — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:00:55 GMT

I'm excited about all the opportunities to see what's going on in this rapidly changing technology world. Recently we saw the start of the Silverlight User Group in the Twin Cities. This weekend we saw the genesis of yet another group!

The SharePoint code camp was huge! What a day! We had over 140 people attend on Saturday’s all day first ever code camp for SharePoint in the Twin Cities. With over 6 tracks to choose from and 20+ sessions the crowd was big, loud and having fun from start to finish. A lot of excitement and enthusiasm not only from attendees but also from the partners who worked so hard to pull it off. It’s amazing how ready the community is for this type of event.

Sometimes it's just fun to be there. Saturday was one of those days! By the way, if you're interested in other upcoming conferences and events, check out the updated list of links on my website www.BenkoTIPS.com

Enjoy!

Didn't make it to MIX?

benko — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:06:33 GMT

Not a problem...you can watch the sessions online by going to VisitMIX and selecting the track you're interested in. Some great technical sessions are available for download, and there's even a cool Silverlight control for picking which ones.

Very cool site: http://sessions.visitmix.com

Enter the Mpls & Des Moines Demo Contest to Win COOL Prizes!

benko — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:25:22 GMT

ANNOUNCING Visual Studio 2008 Install-Fest Demo Contest!

Want to show off your VS2008 or .NET 3.5 skills? If you answered, yes, this is your opportunity to strut your stuff!

During the Visual Studio 2008 Install Fest & Holiday Party on December 12, 2007 at the DMACC West Campus, and on December 13, 2007 at the Microsoft office in Bloomington MN, we'll be having a demo contest in the auditorium. Here's the scoop ...

What do I need to do?

Anything, actually! If you've done something cool with VS2008 or like/dislike some of new features or having been messing around with .NET 3.5 (LINQ, XLINQ, WCF, WF, WPF, etc). We'll take it!!! Silverlight? Astoria? If you can code it and you can show it, enter to win. What's the rules?

5 to 10 minute time limit for demo
You must show code (pre-written code ok if you explain it during the demo)
The code must be your own
It must run

Top Prizes go to best demos by vote of those in attendance

What do you get out of it?

Well, first, the recognition from your peers as an expert with VS2008/.NET 3.5. Second, speakers will be entered into a special drawing for two prizes donated by MS! Top prizes include XBox-360's and/or Zune. All Pre-registered demo contestants will also receive a full licensed copy of Visual Studio 2008 Pro.

How do you sign up to demo?

Great question! To register and sign up, please send me an email at Mike.Benkovich@microsoft.com with your topic! Limited to 10 entrants per contest.

Anything more?

That's it! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

We hope you will join us!

Twin Cities Code Camp

benko — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:14:52 GMT

What did you do last Saturday? I had the great chance to hang out & present at the Twin Cities Code Camp (http://www.TwinCitiesCodeCamp.com/TCCC/) and talk about some great new stuff that developers might find interesting. These include an overview talk about new technologies for working with data, including LINQ and Astoria, and then a talk on the significance of XAML and how it is used in both full WPF applications and in Silverlight.

The data talk was a combination of topics I've covered in webcasts, MSDN events and conference talks I've done in the last few months, including how LINQ works, the Entity Model Framework, and Web Data Services - Astoria. As developers we need to be aware of what's possible, and if there are easier ways of accomplishing a task with less code that means that we'll deploy less code and reduce the support costs associated with it.

In the User Experience talk we covered how XAML is impacting the types of application interfaces we can build and the techniques for deploying it. This included a full WPF application for a fictitious product called the VPR-1000 in which we went through animating the interface. And then we built some Silverlight applications both from the 1.0 release as well as 1.1, and then we looked at using the AJAX Futures media control to play videos on your page.

As per usual I've posted the code to http://www.benkoTIPS.com for registered users. Check it out & let me know if I missed anything.

Enjoy!

Thank You Heartland Dev Conference!

benko — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:44:00 GMT

I just got back from the HDC07 in Omaha. It was great to see so many people that I recognized and to have the chance to catch up on what's going on. We had Scott Guthrie (http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu) from Redmond in town doing the keynote and as usual I saw a lot of very cool things to share at my next events. Speaking of which I'm in St. Louis next week talking about some fun topics including Visual Studio 2008, Astoria Web Data Services, and how you can take advantage of Silverlight with AJAX. Should be fun!

<a href="http://technorati.com/claim/rpfjb8tkh9" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>

Rocking in the Heartland

benko — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 05:15:52 GMT

Here I am...Rock you like a Hurricane!

Wow! This Friday I had the chance to make it to Omaha for the 2006 Heartland Developer's Conference. As one of the major non-MS run events in the central region, this event has doubled it's participation and attendance each year over the 3 years it's been around to the tune of 500+ attendees this year. This is a coordinated effort by the user groups in the region to show what's possible with the technology. What a show!

I wanted to thank everyone that came to see the session on Visual Studio's Team Edition for Database Professionals. We had some great interaction despite my failing voice. Not only were there great questions, but I felt like we really had some fun demonstrating the power of this new tool. It was a great time, and if you didn't make it, you can see a webcast in a couple weeks in which I'll cover much of the same stuff, although on webcasts we don't have a live audience asking the hard questions. It will still be fun, and I hope you can join me.

Anyways, HDC was a great event, hopefully you'll be able to join us next year.

BenkoBLOG : Events

Join us for some In Person Events!

Register today

ArcReady

MSDN Events Unleashed

TechNet Events Unleashed

Speaking at MDC 08

SharePoint Code Camp anyone?

Didn't make it to MIX?

Enter the Mpls & Des Moines Demo Contest to Win COOL Prizes!

Twin Cities Code Camp

Thank You Heartland Dev Conference!

Rocking in the Heartland