PrDC 2016 Mobile App is Ready!

Our mobile application is now ready for the 2016 Prairie Dev Con! Here's how to get it.

1. Get Guidebook From the Google or iOS App Stores 

We use a tool called Guidebook for our mobile application. Guidebook is like an app that hosts event apps. We used it for last year's event and it worked really well. The application is free and doesn't require an account.





You can get it from the Apple app store by clicking here.

You can get it from the Google Play store by clicking here.

You can also see the web version of our Guidebook by clicking here.

 

 

2. Search for 'Prairie Dev Con 2016' in Guidebook

In Guidebook you can search for a specific event's guide. Enter 'Prairie Dev Con 2016' to find ours!

 



3. Start using our Guidebook!

Our Guidebook comes with the following features:

• Schedule: You can view the sessions, their timeslots, and the rooms they'll be in.
• My Schedule: You can also add sessions you're interested in to your own personalized schedule
• Map: This is a map of the conference venue, showing where the session rooms are
• Twitter: See tweets with our event hashtag #PrDC16 or our Twitter handle @PrairieDevCon
• Session Feedback: Here is the link to submit your session feedback, powered by SurveyMonkey

There's also a To-Do list if you want to make notes, and an Inbox where conference updates and announcements will be pushed to during the conference.

Let us know what you think of our Guidebook, and we'll see you at the conference!

D'Arcy

Watch the Monsters on Channel 9, Meet Them at the Conference, and Win Some Gift Cards!

PrDC speakers James Chambers, Simon Timms, and David Paquette have started recording videos around the new ASP.NET Core upcoming release and they've been made available on Microsoft's Channel 9 site! We're running a contest to celebrate, and you can win by getting some awesome info on ASP.NET Core and possibly winning a $50 Best Buy gift card!

Here's how it works:

• Watch Episode 9: What Makes a Controller
  (Click here to be taken to the video's page on Channel 9)
• Fill out the quiz we've put together about what the video covered
  (Click here for the quiz) 
• On Tuesday at lunch we'll draw from all the correct submissions for the two $50 Best Buy gift cards!

Easiest contest ever! Also check out the other ASP.NET Monster videos in the series to get ready for ASP.NET Core!

Not coming to Prairie Dev Con?

No problem, we’re going to do one draw for a $50 Amazon Gift Card for those that aren’t in attendance! We think the Monster’s content is THAT GOOD that we want everyone to be encouraged to check them out! So get watching and submit your quiz entries today!

Prairie Dev Con 15–Post Event Attendee Email

Hello Attendees!

Thank you very much for coming out to Prairie Dev Con! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did putting it on and the speakers did presenting their talks! I wanted to touch base on a few items:

Session Materials

One of the speakers, Joe Kuemerle, has put up a Github repository where you can find materials from the various sessions. We’re in the process of collecting them so check back over the next week for new additions!

https://github.com/TechConf/PrairieDevCon2015

Event Survey

We have a short survey to collect your feedback on the conference. It’s really short and the feedback will help make Prairie Dev Con Winnipeg 2016 a fantastic event! The link to the survey is below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PrDC15WpgSurvey

“What Is Computer Science” – Help a High School Computer Science Teacher Out!

Larry Wachs, the Computer Science teacher at Sturgeon Heights Collegiate, is looking for some help from those of us in the industry. He’s looking for people to record a short video clip giving a glimpse into what Computer Science is like in the real world. For more information on this initiative please visit our blog: http://prairiedevcon.blogspot.ca/2015/03/what-is-computer-sciencehelp-high.html

Thanks again, and we’ll see you next year!

D’Arcy Lussier

Prairie Dev Con

“What Is Computer Science”–Help a High School Teacher Out!

Larry Wachs, the computer science teacher at Sturgeon Heights Collegiate here in Winnipeg, is looking for some help from those of us in the industry. Here’s his ask:

“What is Computer Science?

As a high school Computer Science teacher, this is a question I have to answer ALL THE TIME from students, parents, and others. I try my best to answer, but if you’re willing I could use your help!

You can help by filming a short (approximately 5 second) video response on your smart phone, camera, etc. and say “This is Computer Science”.

The key to this is that you do it in your place of work, or some other cool background for the video. For example: in front of all your employees saying it in unison, with some of your development of cool projects going on in the background, the cool office settings you have, or in front of the view outside your office windows. The idea for this is that it will show the diverse nature of Computer Science and the potential it has for the future. These responses will be put together with others to make a short video for teachers to promote Computer Science education.

Please send your video responses or links to video responses to:

manitobaCSTA@gmail.com

Thank you for your time!”

This is a fantastic endeavour to help promote Computer Science within Manitoba high schools so please consider doing a short video and helping Larry out!

Thanks,

D’Arcy

Win a Conference Registration with Microsoft MVA!

We’ve held this contest in the past, and we’re offering it again for the Winnipeg 2015 event! You can win your conference registration by completing a module from one of three Microsoft Virtual Academy courses:

• One module from What's New with ASP.NET 5
          OR
• One module from PHP for Azure
          OR
• One module from Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions

Take a screenshot of your 100% completed module* and email it to info@prairiedevcon.com. We’ll make the draw out of valid submitted responses on February 13th!

Already registered for the conference, or not wanting to miss the early bird pricing? No problem – if you already registered and you’re selected as the winner we’ll just refund your conference registration amount.

Good luck!

*Note: In completing a module, you must also complete any associated assessments.

Dear Startups–You’re Invited to PrDC in March!

Dear Startup,

Hi! You may have heard about Prairie Dev Con – or maybe not, so let me do a little intro. I’m D’Arcy Lussier and I’ve been putting on this technology conference since 2010. Since then its grown and we’ve seen fantastic speakers and sessions, and seen our technology community grow.

We haven’t seen you guys as much though. I know – startups are busy, startups don’t have tonnes of money, and startups need to focus on their product. But you need to get some technical feeding too; drink from the tech firehose, talk with others who have built or are building companies and products, and meet others in our tech community.

So I’ve done a few things to try and make Prairie Dev Con something that you, the startup, will find value in.

Startup Pricing
The biggest announcement is that we’re offering startups a special discount. Regular price of the conference (non-early bird) is $650.

Startups can send people for $275!

Why the discount? Because the startup community of today is the mid-to-large employers and businesses of tomorrow. Manitoba needs you, and we as a community want to support you as you grow.

We do need to put some parameters around what a “startup” is for this though, so here’s the criteria:

• Employ up to 10 software developers (Independent consultants are not considered startups)
• Have yearly revenues of less than $1 million
• Have been in business less than 2 years

Content Meaningful for Startups
We have a lot of awesome technical content for the conference, but we also have some folks who bring real world startup and entrepreneurial experience as well!

Derick Bailey, who operates the podcast hosting service SignalLeaf, will be talking about the “5 Stages of Entrepreneurial Grief”.

Leonard Cervantes, Product Manager for Mobile Apps and Emerging Platforms at CBC, will speak on getting the most from your team and how to manage a difficult stakeholder.

Eric Boisjoli from Manitoba tech company Bold Innovation Group will share about a scary lesson learned around scaling applications.

Mario Cardinal, co-founder of Slingboards Lab, will share his experiences developing a mobile application.

And there’s others as well!

So Consider Yourselves Invited
We’d love to have you come out and experience Prairie Dev Con! We’ve tried to remove as many barriers-to-entry as possible to have startups become part of our Prairie Dev Con family. You can get all the details about the conference, including information on registering, at our website:

www.prairiedevcon.com

Thanks, and I hope to see you out in March!

D’Arcy Lussier

Prairie Dev Con Winnipeg 2015–Speaker, Sessions, Registration Info Posted!

I’m always excited to do this blog post – the one where I announce that the list of speakers and sessions for Prairie Dev Con’s Winnipeg event March 2 – 3 2015 is now online!

Speakers

We have an incredible roster of 36 speakers coming out this year from all over North America, including…

• Leonard Cervantes - Product Manager for Mobile Apps and Emerging Platforms at the CBC
• Dave Haney - Part of Stack Overflow's core development team
• Wesley Reisz - Enterprise Systems Design Lead for HP Enterprise Systems
  

Sessions

There was such a strong response to sessions, and so many amazing talks, that for the first time ever in Prairie Dev Con history, we’ll be running six rooms to accommodate the over 60 sessions featured for our Winnipeg event!

Workshops

Dylan Smith will be putting on a full day “Introduction to the CQRS and Event Sourcing Patterns” workshop on Wednesday, March 4th!

Registration

Registration is now open, and Prairie Dev Con is still one of the most affordable professional development events in Canada!

Take advantage of our early bird pricing of $549.99 until the end of January, and groups of 3 or more still get a group discount of $50 off each registration!

Check out our Website!

Head on over to www.prairiedevcon.com to get all the information about our speakers, sessions, Dylan’s workshop, and how to register!

I look forward to seeing you out at Prairie Dev Con 2015 in Winnipeg!

D’Arcy