The MossyBlog Times Archives 2007 - 2009 : BarCamp

Seattle BarCamp

scbarnes — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:11:06 GMT

Seattle BarCamp is on this Sunday (15th June). I'll be attending and some others from the Silverlight / WPF crew.

For more details check out:

Where
Adobe Conference Center, 701 N 34th St., Seattle (Fremont)

Brisbane BarCamp

scbarnes — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:23:55 GMT

A few weeks ago, Peter Ward contacted me about setting up Brisbane BarCamp, we had lunch, threw some ideas around and the end result is it's on.

This Saturday 24th Novemeber, the first (of what I hope many) BarCamps will take place in Brisbane Australia.

You can read more details specifically here:

http://barcamp.org/BarCampBrisbane

I'm looking to secure some goodies from the Microsoft give-away vault(s) and hopefully I can convince our Audience Marketing folks to dig really deep on this one :)

Special thanks to:

For devoting both money and time to this event.

I sadly can't make it as I'll be in Tropical North Queensland enjoying a holiday in what appears to be a cyclone coming my way. I'll be at the next one for sure and am really annoyed with myself that I couldn't attend.

The best and funniest part of all, is this will be held a bowls club. That's right "beer prices of 1978" is what you're all thinking. When we threw some of the ideas around, we agreed that we wanted to keep it informal, happy vibe and well like the name suggest, have it where there is a bar handy.

I say this as a few BarCamp's I've been to (whilst were great!) didn't actually have access to a bar? I think beer helps in this style of setting as it chips away at the nerves if you will and within 2xBeers you'll be guaranteed best mates with everyone in the room.

Sit back, have a cold one and listen to the session in whatever way it's being presented. It's also important to note that this isn't just a Microsoft only technology discussion, the idea is to open it up to others (ie ensure the spirit of BarCamps apply here). So if you're anti-Microsoft, still come a long :P

Perth has a interweb.

scbarnes — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:50:40 GMT

I'm finally back on deck after a week out on the road, and after spending a few days in Perth I've settled on the fact that this city is piping hot when it comes to the interweb.

I must admit, it was my first time in Perth and I jokingly expected to see a fairly medium sized city in the middle of the desert. Instead I found a city worth visiting again that's for sure.

The main reason for my attendance was Perth BarCamp, which was a great first time event for one and all. A lot of things were discussed around the web and I felt really welcomed (being an Eastern Aussie wasn't sure how the Wild Westerns would take to me being there). There were some great topics discussed and my favorite was @madpilot and his off the cuff discussion around Ruby on Rails (even I learnt something new about it).

The day ended with a "Silicon Beach" discussion, where folks were outlining a plan to see what can be done in terms of putting Perth on the IT radar, in that given its location and lifestyle why shouldn't it be an Aussie "Silicon Valley".

It was a great discussion to be honest and it's something that I walked away thinking that there is definitely passion in Perth when it comes to the web industry, and I for one am more than happy to support the folks in WA anyway I can.

I guess the walk away point I took, was that despite the massive divide (5hr flight) between Eastern seaboard and Western, there is a thriving community and they should also have access to international geek-celebs should they visit our shores. I can appreciate their plight in having to hand a hat around to invite folks to fly over, so I'll see what I can do to encourage some "Easities" to jump on the plane(s) as it's actually a nice city to visit.

Special thanks to the BAM & BarCamp Perth organizers for making me feel at home in Perth, you folks did an awesome job and I promise next time I'll spend more time giving a more deeper overview of all our new toys here at Microsoft (so much to tell you, so little time).

(Be sure to check out Perth BarCamp for a summary of what went on, see you next time!)

Don't forget Perth folks, that Shane Morris is there this week doing the Age of User Experience roadshow, so do attend as it's a must see event.

In Perth.

scbarnes — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:09:17 GMT

I arrived in Perth last night and spent most of this afternoon walking around for a bit of a wonder, to check out the CBD and try and absorb as much of Perth as I can (First time here).

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with some of the local User Group leads and we touched on how Microsoft could do better in this part of the region. It left me walking away with a number of ideas that I'll unpick when I get back home next week and see what can be done to do more in this part of the region.

That being said, I was impressed at how switched on these guys were, and their approach by appearance seems to be very focused around driving more awareness around Microsoft's offering through deeper community involvement.

I'm also going to be at Perth Barcamp this Saturday and looking forward to seeing what the Perth Web community has been up to in person, and it looks like a fantastic line-up. I'll be doing my rant on Silverlight and I've worked on a brand new presentation to spice it up a bit more as I got some great feedback on my Spiderman vs Batman (with Yoda) decks at WebJam.

The key for me is to have fun, relax, geek-out with some coders & designers and look at ways in which Microsoft can contribute more to the overall community.

I love my job.

An action packed 2 weeks.

scbarnes — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 05:30:29 GMT

I'm racing against the clock, getting stuff ready for the next 2-3 weeks of events etc, and there's a reason why my twitters are low.

First up, this Wednesday night, I'm walking into the Brisbane Flash Platform User Group den to give a rant on Silverlight so if you can attend, please do so!

Meeting Details: 6:30 pm - ?, Wednesday, 20th June 2007
If doors are locked, call 0414 328 902 for entry
QANTM Auditorium
QANTM House
Level 9, 138 Albert St
Brisbane City
(Opposite the "Coffee Club")
Find it on WHEREIS:
http://www.whereis.com/whereis/retrieveEmailMap.do?linkId=-;7243212240990709884

I'm also getting ready to upload some of the goodness I've been working on for some time now, with regards to Silverlight. My ambition is to have it all installed online, viewable and ready for all to view by REMIX07 in Melbourne (which is sold out!!!). I'll show a more interactive version at the WebJam next week as well (REMIX sponsored event).

Then, REMIX07 is finally approaching. We'll be in Melbourne mixing it up with the Aussie web community whom are looking to attend and seeing what Microsoft can do better, but also showcasing what Microsoft has to offer today.

Then, I'll be getting ready to jet over to Perth for Barcamp which is going to be exciting for me as I've never been to Perth firstly, and I've been wanting to meet some of the local Web folks there for quite some time, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the WA folks can do in the web world.

June: Conference, Jam, Camp & Usergroup etc.

scbarnes — Sun, 27 May 2007 13:39:00 GMT

I thought I'd post a list of events I'll be attending this month, these are subject to change based on health etc but also I'm sure I'll uncover new ones as they are discovered.

June 07 - (Sydney) WebJam Part 3, I'll be given a demo on Silverlight special ops project which is uber secret and may involve Britney Spears? (It's a joke between me and Lachlan). I hope there aren't any Adobe Staffers like the last Web Jam @ WebDU.
June 13 - (Brisbane) Coldfusion User Group. I attend these user groups as despite my Microsoft affiliation, I still do some Adobe coding (even more so now that Atlanta folks have began work on Silverlight + CFML)
June 13 - (Brisbane ) Brisbane Sharepoint User Group. Since I started to play around with Sharepoint + Silverlight, I've grown a fond attachment to Silverlight and thought it would be worthwhile to attend these for future knowledge share.
June 19 - (Brisbane) MSDN User Group (QLD). I've been bad as of late, but have made a point of going to these whenever I can make it. No excuses next month!
June 20 - (Brisbane) Flash Platform User Group were I'll be showcasing Silverlight to the Flash Platform folks, don't worry they are well guarded against my evil Microsoft powers hehehe.
June 23 - (Melbourne) ReMIX07, We are basically taking all of the goodness we liked about MIX07 and re-doing it downunder in Melbourne. It's a must see conference!
June 30 - (Perth) BarCamp. I've been absolutely keen to get over to Perth and meetup with the web folks there, so now I have the perfect excuse (I usually look for 3 reasons to travel as to not waste Microsoft's money).

If you know of any more that I should attend (future ones as well), please let me know as I'll be keen to come along and even present something if one wishes.

Tomorrow (Monday 28th May) I'll also be presenting the ARC Australian Postgraduate Award Industry Scholarship (Microsoft) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which I'm looking forward to.