Prairie Dev Con MVA Challenge!

Just because Prairie Dev Con is done doesn’t mean the learning ends! We’re running a Microsoft Virtual Academy Challenge through the month of November that you can take advantage of to learn Microsoft technologies as well as earn bonus MVA points!

Here’s how it works:

Between November 12th and November 30th Prairie Dev Con will tweet a MVA course a day (to follow us on Twitter, go to www.twitter.com/prairiedevcon).

Once you complete the course, send a copy of your completion certificate to me at darcy@prairiedevcon.com. You’ll receive 100 MVA points!

Next, challenge a colleague! Tweet “I challenge my followers to complete this course for 100 MVA points @prairiedevcon” (or something like that…be creative, but ensure you include the @prairiedevcon in the tweet).

Once your colleague has completed it and tweeted as per above, we’ll record an extra 50 MVA points for yourself as a referral bonus! Remember, you must include @prairiedevcon in the tweets for us to track this.

So get out there, get learning, and have fun!

Prairie Dev Con Saskatoon–Session Resources

I’ll be posting links to session resources (slides, demos, etc.) as I get them in. Check back here often for updates! If there’s a particular session you’d like to see that isn’t posted let me know and I’ll ping the presenter.

Thanks!

D’Arcy

SignalR – James Chambers

http://jameschambers.com/2013/11/signalr-resources/

“Web Performance & You” and “Websites for Everyone,Not Just Us” – Devon Rathie-Wright

https://t.co/fbzLQ7JCad

Agile Teams and Rich UI with Knockout.js and Coffeescript – Amir Barylko

http://orthocoders.com/presentations.html

More to come!

Attendee Update Email–Oct 30th

Hello Attendees!

With only a few days left before the conference, I wanted to touch base again and highlight a few important items!

Conference Schedule

The conference schedule is posted! You can view it at:

http://www.prairiedevcon.com/schedule

We’ll have copies of the schedule available at the conference for you.

Attendee Survey

Please take a quick second to answer our attendee survey, especially if you have any food preferences/allergies that we need to know about!

You can get to the survey by clicking here!

Venue and Parking

The conference will be at the lower level of the Park Town Hotel, with registration outside the Oak room.

Note that the venue charges for parking on their lot.

Session Specific Information – Android Workshop and Usability Testing

For those attending the “Getting Started with Android Development” hands on lab, please be advised that you must bring your own laptop to develop on. Also, please install Android Studio (its free) before the session. You can get it from:

http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/studio.html

For those attending the “Instant Gratification Usability Testing” clinic, we’re looking for some volunteers to offer up their own websites for review! Please send an email if you’re interested to darcy@prairiedevcon.com.

Attendee Contest  - Win a $100 Best Buy Gift Card

We're running a contest with our friends at Microsoft for attendees only! Entering the contest is easy, click here to head over to our blog to read all the details!

Thanks!

Thank you for being part of our first Prairie Dev Con in Saskatoon! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me at darcy@prairiedevcon.com.

Thanks,

D'Arcy Lussier
Prairie Dev Con

PrDC Saskatoon Attendee Contest

We’re running a contest for attendees of Prairie Dev Con Saskatoon with a $100 Best Buy Gift Card as the prize! Entering the contest is super easy, here’s how!

Step 1 – Register for The Developer Movement

The Developer Movement is a program put on by Microsoft where developers can earn great prizes for…well…developing!

Registering for The Developer Movement is your first step towards winning a conference pass! Simply visit https://www.developermovement.ca/ and sign up to receive the latest updates!

Step 2 – Watch Two Microsoft Virtual Academy Courses

Once you’ve registered with The Developer Movement, head on over to the Microsoft Virtual Academy - http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com! MVA is an ever-growing collection of online training sessions in various Microsoft technologies – and its entirely free!

So your second step is to register for the Microsoft Virtual Academy (make sure to use the same email address you used to register for The Developer Movement) and watch two of the following courses:

Fundamentals
C# Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners
Programming in C# Jump Start

Windows 8
Windows 8 UX Design Jump Start
Essentials of Developing Windows Store Apps using C# Jump Start
Advanced Windows Store App Development using C# Jump Start
XAML Deep Dive for Windows & Windows Phone Apps Jump Start
Developing Windows Store Apps with HTML5 Jump Start
Advanced Windows Store App Development with HTML5 Jump Start
Building Windows Store Apps for iOS Developers Jump Start

Windows Phone
Windows Phone 8 Development for Absolute Beginners
Building Apps for Windows Phone 8 Jump Start
Build Apps for Both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Jump Start

Visual Studio/ALM
Applying ALM with Visual Studio 2012 Jump Start
Administering Visual Studio TFS 2012 Jump Start
Software Testing with Visual Studio 2012 Jump Start

Web
HTML5 & CSS3 Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners
Developing in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 Jump Start
Building Web Apps with ASP.NET Jump Start

Lightswitch
Building Business Apps with Visual Studio Lightswitch

Step 3 – Email Prairie Dev Con That You Completed Steps 1 & 2!

Once you’ve registered for The Developer Movement and you’ve watched your two videos, you’re ready for the last step!

Send an email to info@prairiedevcon.com and tell us your name and what email you used to register for The Developer Movement and Microsoft Virtual Academy, as well as the titles of the two videos that you watched. We’ll validate your details with Microsoft and enter your name into the draw for the gift card!

Its that simple!

This contest will close at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, November 5th. We’ll announce the winner on Friday, November 8th.

Remember, this is only open to registered attendees of the conference!

Don’t Delay!

Register for The Developer Movement and Microsoft Virtual Academy today! Watch your two videos, then email Prairie Dev Con with your details and you’re in the draw!

Any questions, comments, or clarifications, please let me know!

Thanks,

D’Arcy
Prairie Dev Con

Early Bird Extended to October 18th!

I’ve heard from a few people that are still in the process of putting through requests at work to attend Prairie Dev Con this November in Saskatoon.

So to ensure enough time for everyone, we’re extending our early bird pricing of $399.99 to October 18th! That’s two more weeks where you can get a great price on a fantastic two-day technology conference! And remember groups of 3 or more get an additional $50 off each registration!

See you at Prairie Dev Con in November!

D’Arcy

You Could Win Your Conference Registration!

Would you like to win a free pass to Prairie Dev Con Saskatoon? Well we’re running a contest where you can do just that! Here’s how it works.

Step 1 – Register for The Developer Movement

The Developer Movement is a program put on by Microsoft where developers can earn great prizes for…well…developing!

Registering for The Developer Movement is your first step towards winning a conference pass! Simply visit https://www.developermovement.ca/ and sign up to receive the latest updates!

Step 2 – Watch Two Microsoft Virtual Academy Courses

Once you’ve registered with The Developer Movement, head on over to the Microsoft Virtual Academy - http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com! MVA is an ever-growing collection of online training sessions in various Microsoft technologies – and its entirely free!

So your second step is to register for the Microsoft Virtual Academy (make sure to use the same email address you used to register for The Developer Movement) and watch two of the following courses:

Fundamentals
C# Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners
Programming in C# Jump Start

Windows 8
Windows 8 UX Design Jump Start
Essentials of Developing Windows Store Apps using C# Jump Start
Advanced Windows Store App Development using C# Jump Start
XAML Deep Dive for Windows & Windows Phone Apps Jump Start
Developing Windows Store Apps with HTML5 Jump Start
Advanced Windows Store App Development with HTML5 Jump Start
Building Windows Store Apps for iOS Developers Jump Start

Windows Phone
Windows Phone 8 Development for Absolute Beginners
Building Apps for Windows Phone 8 Jump Start
Build Apps for Both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Jump Start

Visual Studio/ALM
Applying ALM with Visual Studio 2012 Jump Start
Administering Visual Studio TFS 2012 Jump Start
Software Testing with Visual Studio 2012 Jump Start

Web
HTML5 & CSS3 Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners
Developing in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 Jump Start
Building Web Apps with ASP.NET Jump Start

Lightswitch
Building Business Apps with Visual Studio Lightswitch

Step 3 – Email Prairie Dev Con That You Completed Steps 1 & 2!

Once you’ve registered for The Developer Movement and you’ve watched your two videos, you’re ready for the last step!

Send an email to info@prairiedevcon.com and tell us your name and what email you used to register for The Developer Movement and Microsoft Virtual Academy, as well as the titles of the two videos that you watched. We’ll validate your details with Microsoft and enter your name into the draw for the free conference pass!

Its that simple!

This contest will close at 11:59 PM on Friday, October 18th 2013. We’ll announce the winner on Monday, October 21st 2013.

You may be wondering “What if I purchase my conference pass and I win the free pass?”. Not to worry – in this scenario we’d refund your conference registration.

Don’t Delay!

Register for The Developer Movement and Microsoft Virtual Academy today! Watch your two videos, then email Prairie Dev Con with your details and you’re in the draw!

Any questions, comments, or clarifications, please let me know!

Thanks,

D’Arcy
Prairie Dev Con

PrDC 2013 Saskatoon Call for Sessions is Open!

The next Prairie Developer Conference will be November 4 – 5, 2013 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan! We’re looking for sessions that speak to the cloud, mobile, and web development, patterns & practices, and general software development topics.

Prairie Dev Con is a technology agnostic conference, and we look for sessions that cover a wide range of platforms, tools, and technologies. .NET, PHP, Java, Android, iOS, etc. – all are fair game.

The online form to send in your sessions is at the link here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PrDC13SaskatoonSessionSubmission

Selected speakers will receive 2 nights hotel accommodations (if coming in from out of town), a free pass to the conference, and an invite to the speaker’s dinner. Out of town speakers will be slotted for a minimum of 2 talks, local speakers will be slotted a minimum of 1.

Deadline for submissions is August 2, 2013! Accepted sessions will be posted on August 5, 2013.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with me at

darcy [at] prairiedevcon [dot] com

Thanks!

D’Arcy