Michael Paladino

Upcoming Community Events

As a .NET developer in the south central portion of the United States, I am very fortunate to have access to a large number of high quality but free or low cost community events.  I wanted to make sure that people are aware of a couple of these events in November and a couple more in January.

I am planning on attending the We Are Microsoft Charity Weekend and am hoping to put together a team of five from Fort Smith.  In fact, Tim Rayburn has graciously offered to give us 2 copies of Windows Vista if we can get a team together.  We've already got a couple of people committed with some others who are still thinking it over. Please let me know soon if you're interested as the deadline to register is November 28.

If you're interested in keeping up-to-date on these types of events in the area, the blogs of Chris Koenig and Zain Naboulsi would be great places to start.  They are both developer evangelists for Microsoft for the South Central District (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas) and often post about local events.

• AgileDotNet Conference 2008

  Dallas, TX
  November 14, 2008 (Friday)
  Cost: Free
  
  Improving Enterprises in conjunction with Microsoft and the Dallas C# SIG invite you to an exciting one-day event to bring together the world of Microsoft .NET development with the world of Agile methods. Designed for both those experienced with Agile techniques and for those new to them, attendees can expect interesting presentations based on real-world experience from some of the industry’s leading Project Managers, Developers, and Business Analysts who have embraced Agile principles within .NET development environments.

• TechDays 2008

  Dallas, TX
  November 18-20 (Tuesday-Thursday)
  Cost: Free
  
  If technology is the backbone of your business, you won't want to miss out on the TechDays '08 event in Dallas. Filled with exclusive product information presented by insider experts, TechDays '08 will show developers, IT professionals, IT executives, and partners how Microsoft technology can take their business to the next level.

• We Are Microsoft Charity Challenge Weekend

  Dallas, TX
  January 16-19 (Friday-Sunday)
  Cost: Free
  
  The We Are Microsoft - Charity Challenge Weekend is a software development competition for a good cause. This 3-day event matches developers with charities to develop applications for those charities. At the end of the 3 days, all of the participants will vote and the winners will be proclaimed champion coders.

• MSDN Developer Conference

  Dallas, TX
  Friday, January 26 (Monday)
  Cost: Free
  
  Prepare yourself for a demanding future. Attend the MSDN Developer Conference. Experience Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Platform. Create applications that seamlessly bridge the gaps between PC, Web, and phone. Be among the first to see Windows 7. See the latest advances in Multi-Touch Application Development. Take your .NET skills to the next level. See sessions on WPF 4.0, Silverlight 2, ASP.NET 4.0, Parallel Programming, Live Mesh and more.