User Group

MvcConf 2010

Recently my good friend and fellow C4MVC junkie, Eric Hexter blogged about an event the ASP.NET MVC community is putting together called, MvcConf. What is MvcConf? MvcConf is a online conference where you can learn about real experiences creating MVC applications as well about what the future holds for creating asp.net apps based on MVC.  We have scheduled community members to present on intro and advanced topics using MVC2 and we have some Microsoft product members who will talk about some of the new stuff coming out soon. Why should I care? If you’re interested in...

posted @ Saturday, July 10, 2010 9:37 PM | Feedback (719)

How do we define community?

During lunch on Tuesday of this past week, ScottHa raised an interesting discussion point by saying that he rarely sees MVPs that are enterprisie ... by that, MVPs that actually work for (day to day) for an enterprise).  Granted, he used to be one himself back when he worked for Corillian.  But as we looked around the group you could see that we were all trying to recollect if we knew of any other MVPs that are enterprisie.  Sadly, we didn't. Now, the point of that discussion was not say that people in the enterprise cannot be MVPs, it...

posted @ Monday, April 21, 2008 7:28 PM | Feedback (612)

Twin Cities Code Camp: Silverlight Presentation

For those of you that attended my Silverlight presentation yesterday at the Twin Cities Code Camp, I just want to say, "Thanks for coming! I hope you enjoyed it!" As promised, you can download the presentation slides and source code from Google code using TortoiseSVN. Again, thanks for coming to my presentation and thanks to Jason Bock for allowing me to come up and be part of a great event!

posted @ Sunday, April 6, 2008 4:35 PM | Feedback (613)

Ask An Expert Live Chat: May 1st, 2008

That's right!  We're having another ASP.NET Expert Live Chat on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 6 PM PST.  Here's more info on the event: Get your tough development questions answered by Microsoft MVPs, Regional Directors, and other industry experts. Community experts will be on hand to answer your .NET- and Visual Studio-related questions. No off topic questions please. Please note that questions regarding upcoming products and future product specs might not be answered. Would you like to participate as an expert? Contact Ryan Olshan at Ryan[dot]Olshan[at]strongtypes[dot]com. MSDN Online Chats - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx Chat Room...

posted @ Saturday, April 5, 2008 12:47 AM | Feedback (659)

IADNUG Meeting: Intro to ASP.NET MVC

That's right, we're having another IADNUG meeting this evening with Chris Sutton from the CR Ineta user group talking about ASP.NE MVC!  If you're free this evening, come check us out! Intro to the ASP.NET MVC Framework Chris Sutton, CRIneta.org The ASP.Net MVC Framework is a new project that the ASP.Net team is working on to give developers an alternate and potentially better way to do web development in the ASP.Net environment. Model View Controller(MVC) is a well known presentation pattern that has been used in many environments with a variety of different...

posted @ Wednesday, April 2, 2008 2:04 PM | Feedback (611)

IADNUG Meeting: Utilizing WPF As A Business Application Platform

As you recall, we cancelled last month's UG meeting due to weather.  For this month, we're having Bryan Sampica, an ASP.NET MVP from Cedar Falls, come talk to us about WPF!  The info for the meeting is below. Hope to see you there!   Utilizing WPF as a Business Application Platform Bryan Sampica, ASI Computer Systems With the emergence of WPF and XAML as a UI framework, we've seen lots of demo's and examples on animating birds, and playing video clips. In this session we'll examine the business...

posted @ Sunday, March 2, 2008 9:04 PM | Feedback (613)

Des Moines HEROES Happen Here Launch Event

That's right, there will be a HEROES happen {here} event in Des Moines on 4/24!    Here's some info on the event: The Des Moines event will celebrate the launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. The event will bring together IT Pros and Developers to get an in-depth, up-close look at the new products and will give attendees an opportunity to meet with our Partners as well as members of the development teams who created the cutting-edge technologies. And all attendees will get a promotional pack containing all three new products....

posted @ Friday, February 22, 2008 11:14 PM | Feedback (611)

Iowa Code Camp

That's right!  The University of Iowa:ITS, CRIneta and Iowa .NET user groups are joining forces to bring the first code camp to Iowa on 5/3/2008 at the University of Iowa Conference Center in Iowa City, IA!! You might be asking, what is a code camp? Well, here are some of the basic ideas: Its for and by developers Free (for attendees) All about code, not PowerPoint presentations What you present on should be available to share with people who attend Never during...

posted @ Friday, January 11, 2008 12:29 PM | Feedback (611)

IADNUG Meeting: Developing Modules with DotNetNuke

Thanks to Mitchel Sellers from IowaComputerGurus for presenting to our user group last night!  We had a pretty great turn out and some really nice swag to give away!  For those of you that were there, thanks for your support! As I mentioned during the meeting, we're going to try something a little different for distributing demo materials (code, ppts, etc.).  I've setup a iadnug, a Google Code open source project, to host our code.  (yeah, clever name I know...)  So for those of you that have SVN or TortoiseSVN installed, you can check out the code.  If you...

posted @ Thursday, January 10, 2008 1:59 PM | Feedback (611)

groop

Running a user group is not easy.  It takes quite a bit of coordination to get sponsorships, line up the venue, line up speakers, find swag, schedule the logistics and the most important, order pizza...just to name a few. At times we've been contacted by our members asking when the website will be updated with the meeting info or when will Levi send out the email blast reminder.  Well, I'm sorry to say, but we get busy with our jobs/families and we end up dropping the ball at times. Wouldn't it be nice we had a tool to...

posted @ Tuesday, January 8, 2008 11:09 PM | Feedback (613)

IADNUG Silverlight Presentation Demos

Well, it's been over a month since the I did my Silverlight presentation at the IADNUG November meeting and I've realized that I've forgotten to post my demo code.  Well, sorry about that.  For those of you that are interested, you can download it from the link below.  Sorry! Files: silverlight_presentation.zip (~20 MB - it include videos).

posted @ Saturday, December 8, 2007 11:05 PM | Feedback (625)

Visual Studio 2008 Demo Contest

Well, as I previously blogged about it, the details are done for our demo contest during the VS2008 InstallFest in Des Moines are finalized.  Here they are: Visual Studio 2008 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 InstallFest & Holiday Party on December 12, 2007 at the DMACC West Campus, we'll be having a demo contest in the auditorium.  Here's the scoop ... What do I need to...

posted @ Friday, December 7, 2007 2:42 PM | Feedback (611)

First Comment, First Serve

I am not sure how many of you out there were planning on attending the VS2008 InstallFest in Des Moines next week.  I completely neglected the fact that because I had registered for the event I would "take" a VS2008 license from the pile.  Well, I already have VS2008 (through MSDN subscription) so I don't need my free license. So if anybody wants it, be the first to comment on this post and it's yours.  Yeah, it's that simple.

posted @ Wednesday, December 5, 2007 9:16 AM | Feedback (615)

Visual Studio 2008 InstallFest Des Moines SOLD OUT!

That's right, the InstallFest event in Des Moines has SOLD OUT!  As of today, there are 13 people on the waiting list.  For all of you that signed up, thanks!  It is because of you that this event will be a success!  Also, if you're interested, you should sign up to do a demo during the event! Those of you on the waiting list, you will be notified of an open spot if someone on the main list cancels.  So if you're on the main list but can't make it, please cancel so somebody on the waiting list can...

posted @ Thursday, November 29, 2007 8:53 AM | Feedback (613)

VS2008 InstallFest - Des Moines - Strut Your Stuff

Alright, earlier this evening I blogged about the Visual Studio 2008 InstallFest that our Des Moines .NET UG is hosting on December 12th, 2007.  If you're interested in coming, please sign up!!  If you would like to ensure a copy of VS2008, it is REALLY IMPORTANT that you sign up at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032360733&Culture=en-US Now the contest info!  Have you been playing around with VS2008 beta1/beta2/RC1 or .NET 3.5 for a while?  If you answered yes, then I recommend you strut your stuff by coming up with a 10-15 minute presentation you can share with the group during the InstallFest! What do I need to...

posted @ Tuesday, November 27, 2007 7:47 PM | Feedback (612)

Visual Studio InstallFest – Des Moines

Everyone in the Des Moines, sign up for this great event our UG is hosting in conjunction with Microsoft!  We're also planning on having a presentation contest to see who can show off the best features VS2008.  More to come on this, so stay tuned!! Visual Studio InstallFest - Des Moines Event Registration: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032360733... ATTENTION DEVELOPERS! Are you ready to be one of the first to get their hands on Visual Studio 2008 when it RTMs?  Join Microsoft and the Iowa DNUG for a Visual Studio 2008 InstallFest and Holiday Party on December 12th, 2007 at the Des Moines Area Community College!...

posted @ Tuesday, November 27, 2007 4:20 PM | Feedback (612)

IADNUG Meeting: Building Rich Web Experiences using Silverlight

On Wednesday, November 7th, I will be presenting about Silverlight to our user group in Des Moines.  Here's the info: Abstract: This is an overview presentation of the feature set that both Silverlight v1.0 and v1.1 have to offer to developers. We will also cover some of the current tools available for both designers and developers to create Silverlight applications. What is Silverlight? Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.  Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#,...

posted @ Sunday, November 4, 2007 9:14 PM | Feedback (613)

Great IADNUG Meeting Last Night

I don't know about you but I think we had a great turn out for last night IADNUG meeting on Regular Expressions.  Jon von Gillern did an excellent job tackling the topic.  I particularly liked the demo presentation-style he used to demonstrate the harder parts of the presentation.  Thanks Jon for taking the time to step up in front of the group and share your finds.  That's what we're all about!  Sharing and community!  Also, thank you to all of you that signed up for the event through ClickToAttend.  Like we mentioned during the meeting, we're in the process of trying...

posted @ Thursday, July 12, 2007 1:39 PM | Feedback (611)

Heartland Developer Conference, I'll be there. Will you?

That's right, I received word from Phil Wolfe earlier this week that I've been accepted to be a speaker (this is my third year!) for the Heartland Developer Conference in Omaha, NE on Oct. 18-19th.  If you check out the speakers page, you won't see my info there but I'm sure it's coming.  For those of you that like my presentations,  here's a list of topics I've been kicking around: .NET Tooling for Oracle - There's some applications out there that need talk with Oracle.  How do I make things as easily as possible to get my work done?...

posted @ Friday, June 15, 2007 11:43 AM | Feedback (613)

ArcReady: Des Moines, Iowa

I would like to thank Denny, our breadth AE, for doing a great job at our first ArcReady event last Friday in Des Moines.  During the event, Denny mentioned that Des Moines will be a regular stop on the quaterly ArcReady visits.  If you would like to attend, please post your email on this post (through comments) and I'll make sure that Denny gets you added to the list.  Also, after the event, we held our first ArcCouncil event.  ArcCouncil is an open forum were we discuss various topics dealing with software development.  For example, the meeting started by...

posted @ Monday, May 21, 2007 11:11 PM | Feedback (612)

Attend Our TechEd BOF: User Groups! User Groups! User Groups!

I'm fortunate enough to co-moderate this session along with Chris Pels, Chris Wallace, Greg Low and Bob Coppedge!  The "how-to start|run|keep-going" user group topic was submitted by all of us as a potential BOF session so we all decided to team up and get a bigger crowd going. Also, seems like Jeffrey Palermo and James Kovacs have theirs selected as well!  I had the pleasure of hanging out with these guys during the MVP Summit and all had a blast! Oh yeah, from the sounds of it, there will be another Party With Palermo TechEd 2007 in the works.  If...

posted @ Saturday, April 21, 2007 11:25 AM | Feedback (611)

TechEd 2007 Birds of a Feather Session: How To Start A .NET User Group

That's, right I've summitted the How to Start A .NET User Group BoF session.  Last year, Nick, Eric, Levi and I were moderators for this same session and had a great turn out (10+)! If you have time, you should vote for it so it can make it for the final cut! Voting Link: https://www.msteched.com/BOF/voting.aspx Here is it's bio: How To Start a .NET User Group This BOF session will be a round table for anyone interested in starting and maintaining an active .NET user group within their local community. We'll share common success and challenges that attendees have experienced. Audience: Developer

posted @ Saturday, March 17, 2007 9:47 PM | Feedback (615)

Thanks, Paul Sheriff!

I would like to thank Paul Sheriff for taking the time to speak to our user group.  He did an excellent job on presenting an intro to OOP. In case you were not there, he has offered a free eBook for our UG members.  Go here, to get it. Once again, thanks Paul!

posted @ Wednesday, March 7, 2007 9:49 PM | Feedback (615)

CRINETA Presentation: Applied .NET 2.0 Programming

That's right, on Monday March 5th, I will be presenting for the Cedar Rapids .NET User Group about .NET 2.0 programming.  Here's the info: Applied .NET 2.0 Programming Are you tired of the same old boring "collection demos" for generics?  Ever wondered how anonymous delegates really work?  Tired of playing with System.Xml clasess to a grip of your .config file?  Or how about adding basic transaction support to common .NET types?  In this session I will show you how you can take some of the new features of the .NET Framework 2.0, (Generics, Anonymous Delegates, Configuration, and Transactions) and apply them to your current development with minimal...

posted @ Friday, March 2, 2007 11:20 AM | Feedback (615)

IADNUG: Billy Hollis on Smart Clients

Last night, we had the privelege of having Billy Hollis present about Smart Client design at our monthly UG meeting.  We were able to book Billy through our membership with INETA. The presentation was pretty good since he covered alot of spects of smart client design, development and deployment.  The crowd was somewhat interactive and over all had a good time. Thanks Billy for talking to our group!

posted @ Thursday, February 8, 2007 11:47 AM | Feedback (618)