Well - exciting times at the moment - seems like Ireland has got some amazing speaker karma working for it right now. We are all very much looking forward to Steve Ballmer's visit tomorrow, with Rafal Lukawiecki, Mike Hernandez and Donald Drake also speaking - we are all set for a great event. For the launch of Visual Studio 2005 in November, we are also lining up a great series of international speakers including Andy Lees (Microsoft VP Server and Tools Marketing) all the way over from Redmond.
Then, on top of all that, Robert Scoble (world-renowned blogger from Microsoft) is coming over right at the end of November to speak at IT@Cork's National Technology & Business Conference on November 30th. He will join Charles Handy (world-renowned writer, broadcaster and lecturer) to speak on topics that relate to the conference's theme "Breaking the Barriers".
Robert is giving the opening address discussing blogging and emerging trends in software. The first session of the day is on Governance, Standards, Certifications and new compliance requirements. The second session will be led by Charles Handy. Charles helped start London Business School and has a gift for looking 20 years ahead at ways society and its institutions are changing.
In the afternoon, there will be two parallel tracks: one looking at "Growing Irish Technology Business" and one Technical Forum Session, chaired by Stephen Lawlor and Tom Raftery and featuring Robert (again! :) and Amanda Waite from Sun. This should be a great look at where both the Microsoft and Java platforms are heading. Note you can register for this session without attending the main conference.
You can register and pay online on www.itcork.ie. Fees are as follows:
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€275 - full conference fee for it@Cork members
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€375 - full conference fee for everyone else
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€125 - technical afternoon session only (limited places)
Of course if you are a blogger yourself, you will probably also be interested in the 'Irish Geek Dinner with Robert Scoble' that Tom Raftery is organizing on the night of the conference in Cork. You can check out all the details on the following wiki.
Robert has also kindly agreed to extend his trip to Ireland by a day and will be coming up to Dublin on December 1st for an INDA event. You can find out more information on www.developers.ie.
