NxtGenUG - Fest07 News RSS Feed

PDC 2008 Announced

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:27:00 GMT

Microsoft have announced the date for the next Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2008 - October 27th-30th in Los Angeles.

Wow, I keep checking the PDC site - and bingo Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC): October 27–30, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. PDC is the definitive Microsoft event for software developers and architects focused on the future of the Microsoft platform.

I had the fortune to attend PDC 2005, and it was one of the best events I have ever attended (apart from Fest07). Read more here

RedGate XBOX 360 Winner

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:12:00 GMT

Last night at the Coventry NxtGenUG Ruby on Rails Event Chris Sexton picked up his Redgate XBOX 360 for submitting feedback for Fest07

FEST07 Red Gate XBOX 360 Winner

NxtGenUG member Chris Sexton was thrilled to bits last night as he turned up for the NxtGenUG Rub-on-Rails event in Coventry. He got to pick up his prize for leaving feedback from Fest07. The prize was an XBOX 360, with two titles: Rare's Classic : Viva Pinata and the unforgettable Lara Croft in Tomb Raider

lovely XBOX 360 with games

The prize had been donated by Red Gate in supporting us with Fest07. Chris's feedback was drawn from all the feedback entries, and he felt a lucky chap.

NxtGenUG Co-Founder Dave McMahon trys to get friendly with Chris Sexton and his shiny XBOX360 - it won't work Dave, he's not gonna let you play on it.

Chris said...

Just wanted to say once again thanks very much for this, and thanks too to Red Gate for sponsoring the prize draw.

My son is very excited and the timing is great because it's just in time for the summer holiday - he's really keen to get going on Viva Pinata!

As for me, other than having a beer and a game of Halo 3 I'm actually really looking forward to getting started on some XNA development too - I thought the XNA night and Peter McGann's talk were very inspiring, and his articles are really well put together too.

So thanks very much for that and for doing what you do. The whole experience with NxtGenUG has been extremely worthwhile and rewarding.

To anyone who is not yet a member of NxtGenUG, becoming a member really is a no-brainer. The sessions are not only highly informative, they are relaxed too which makes for a great environment to learn. All time spent at one of your events is a real investment, and I think the work you do to reduce the EU's "Swag Mountain" is deserving of a Nobel Prize!

Well done Chris. I'm off now to crate up some Galagoogoo's and send them to Chris

About Red Gate

Since 1999, Red Gate Software has been developing ingeniously simple tools that simplify the business of working with SQL Server and .NET. Our tools, which include SQL Compare®, SQL Backup™ and ANTS Profiler™, have become industry standards for developers and DBAs worldwide.

We count Microsoft, HP, Sage, Bank of America, AT&T, The US Treasury, and over 95,000 other leading organizations as customers, and there are over 200,000 Microsoft technology professionals currently using Red Gate products.

Our focus is on Microsoft technologies. Red Gate was chosen as a Global Gold Launch Partner for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, and is a Microsoft Certified Partner and Visual Studio Industry Partner.

Fest07 Speaker Awards

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:16:00 GMT

At Fest07, Rich, Dave and John presented awards to the top speakers in each region - see the main presentation which took the top prizes.

NxtGenUG Fest07 - Main Presentation Winners

At Fest07 we awarded the top speakers, and 'nugget' presenters with trophies. Read below to see which sessions won in each region and earned the illustrious NxtGenUG Fest07 Winners Logo. Well done chaps, and be sure to come back and defend your titles!

NxtGenUG Birmingham - Alun Rogers

Fighting Viruses and Malware
Alun will be doing the main 'Halloween Spooktacular' session, delving into the scary world of viruses, spyware, root-kit scaring us all to death, but then (hopefully) showing us how to fight these threats with Anti-Virus, Firewalls and so on and recommending some best practice for securing our systems and to avoid problems with 'malware'.

NxtGenUG Coventry - Guy Smith-Ferrier

Internationalisation
The global market place is creating an ever increasing demand for internationalized Web and Windows applications. The basics of .NET internationalization are easily acquired in a short timeframe. However, the 'gotchas' and best practices of internationalization demand specialised knowledge and experience. This session shows you the top 10 nuggets of .NET internationalization facts and tips for Web and Windows applications that you should know before you start your next internationalized application.

NxtGenUG Oxford - Barry Dorrans

Hacking Websites for Fun & Profit
How safe are your web sites? Do you know what cross site scripting is? SQL injection attacks? Search engine leaks? Learn how to check your sites for nasties by seeing how it's done and what you can do to secure your sites.

Fest07 XBOX 360 Winner.

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 07:02:00 GMT

Congratulations to Chris Sexton, who was drawn from the hat, to win the Red-Gate XBOX 360 - complete with Viva Pinata and Tomb Raider.

Congratulations go to NxtGenUG member and Fest07 Attendee who's feedback was selected from a hat to win the RedGate sponsored XBOX 360 and two games.

Chris initially said "I'm Over the moon" - stay tuned for a slightly longer quote and pictures of the prize giving.

Many thanks to RedGate for sponsoring this prize - be sure to check out their excellent set of tools

Fest07 Comments

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:27:00 GMT

Fest07 is over, but we wanted to share a small slice of the feedback which we had from the event - Makes us so proud!

So far we have received over 370 items of feedback from Fest07 and we wanted to share just a few of the fabulous comments with you...

Richard van Aken
Loved it. One of the best events I've attended ever!

David Tims
Rafal performed what can only be described as a miracle. Turning a talk on security, something that would normally send me to sleep, into something where I was hanging on his every word! Truly a god amongst speakers!

Ade Bullock
Fantastic event. Organisation was superb - you guys obviously went to a lot of trouble. Food not quite as good as DDD - could have done with an Innocent smoothie in the afternoon. Atmosphere was very good - everyone was enjoting it. 9.00 start was a bit early for those of us travelling down.

Ade Bullock
Great video. Surely you'll be doing tech-ed keynote soon.

Raymond Starkey
Everything was fantastic, this was one of the best techy days I have ever had. (The only gripe was pizza's with no knife and fork to eat them with - its just my gneration!)

Chris Watts
Reminded me that developing software should be a fun and enjoyable experience. Will definitely be back next year, even despite the journey time. If there were other NxtGenUG events nearer to Cambridge, I'd become a full member and be a regular attender. Complements to Microsoft on having a fabulous campus.

Neville Kennedy
A great day with intersting and entertaining speakers and hosts. Very clever(!) how all the talks seemed to link in to each other. Obviously well planned and organised.

Peter McGann
Richard and Dave are naturals, they should be on stage or something. Normally I'm not one to really laugh at "gags" but they come along so naturally and they're so obviously enjoying themselves I couldn't help but be thoroughly entertained. The video was great too.

Conan Ablewhite
Welcoming everyone and bringing them up to speed with a compilation video of the previous 12 months' escapades was a great idea and got the day off to a roaring start :) P.S. I did warn you about the Cingular logo Rich ;)

Nazrul Hussain
This was my first NextGenUG event, and I was extremely impressed with the event. Microsoft went all out to ensure we were fed and refreshed, with good food, frequently. I have to admit, I did have some stereo-typical views of what to expect, but I have to hand it to Rich, Dave and John, they're surely put those views to bed and put on a memorable and most entertaining event. Rich and Dave, the next 'Reeves and Mortimor' or maybe 'Ant and Dec'? The only problem now is that I have high expectations, so the Coventry/Birmingham events have a lot to live up to !!!

Adrian Sutcliffe
Fest07 was spot on. If this was the quality of the first event, you've got a challenge ahead in future years. Getting Rafal was a coup, but having Rafal & swag & pizza, man that was just genius!

PowerPoint from Fest07

Thu, 24 May 2007 18:41:00 GMT

Some of the PowerPoints from FEST07 are now available for Download.

Rafal Lukawiecki has made the PowerPoint slides available from his two fantastic sessions which he delivered at FEST07.
You can download them as follows:

The files are Office PowerPoint 2007 format, which if you do not have this installed you can still view them with the Office PowerPoint 2007 Viewer avialable as a free download here.

Liam Westley has also provided the slides from his great lunchtime Grok talk on Continous Integration.

FEST07 FEEDBACK OPEN

Thu, 24 May 2007 13:29:00 GMT

Feedback is now open for Fest07. Please could attendees log into the site and follow the instructions in this news article. Hope you enjoyed the day!

Let me say a big thank you to everybody who attended Fest07. We had a cracking day, with some excellent sessions from top speakers. We have already had some fantastic feedback, both on the day, via email and through blogs.

In order to build on the success of this event and provide feedback to our speakers we’d like to ask you all to complete the Feedback form on the NxtGenUG site.

You will need to log in – in order to complete the feedback. click this link to start the process...

http://www.nxtgenug.net/fest07/feedback.aspx

We will draw ONE lucky winner to receive an *XBOX 360, Premium Console, complete with two games, plus we still have some SWAG left (can you believe that?) and will be giving some of that away too to the runners up. The XBOX 360 was kindly provided by Red-gate who create essential tools for SQL and .NET Developers. For more information on Red-Gate see.
http://www.red-gate.co.uk/

But thanks to all our sponsors for their support this event and for supporting the group over the last 12 months.,

*FEEDBACK MUST BE COMPLETED BY MIDNIGHT ON THE 4TH JUNE 2007 – The Winner will be notified on the 5th June and will be required to pick up the console from one of our meetings and be willing to provide a quote on the event – and have their picture taken ? (no cash alternative... and all those other standard disclaimers). Prize is only open to attendees of FEST07.

Thanks again for making this event a success and here’s to Fest08. Dave – get the diary out!

I wonder who will complete the feedback First?

Win an XBOX 360!

Sun, 06 May 2007 03:52:00 GMT

Attend Fest07, Leave feedback, and you could be the lucky winner drawn to Win an XBOX 360, complete with games, courtesy of Red-Gate.

Redgate have very kindly sponsored Fest07 with an XBOX 360 - complete with two games: Tomb Raider and Viva Pinata!

To be in with a chance to win it, all you have to do it attend Fest07 - FREE to members, and just 59.99 for non members (see HERE for details), then leave feedback on the site after the event and the next time you attend a NxtGenUG meeting you COULD be walking away with an XBOX 360 console!

Many thanks to Red-Gate for sponsoring Fest07 and providing us with this Unique Prize.

But that's not the only prize we have for feedback, and we'll also be giving away SWAG on the day! - Reserve your place now at this unique event.

Announcing FEST07 Geek Dinner ...

Sat, 05 May 2007 16:52:00 GMT

A 'Geek' Dinner has been organised by Zi Makki of the DDD crew for 22nd May 2007, the evening before FEST07.

Join the NxtGenUG crew for a FEST07 Geek Dinner, kindly organised by Zi Makki who is one of the DDD crew. Zi has setup a Wiki at http://www.zimakki.com/wiki/Fest07GeekDinner.ashx, all you need to do is register and add your details.
These Geek Dinners are great fun, and notwithstanding the title are very 'ungeek-ish'! So come along on the night before FEST07, whether you are attending or not and have some fun and food.
Please not that food and drink are not paid for and everybody settles their part of the bill, Richie ...

Final session announced

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:17:00 GMT

NxtGenUG today announced the final session in the awesome Fest07 line up will be Rafal Rafal Lukawiecki on Software Development Paradigms.

Here is the abstract...

Software Development Paradigms.
The concept of the session is to show the “big picture” of what we have achieved and where we are going. Starting with a brief look of the achievements of the 20th century (OO, Components, Modularity), Rafal will talk about the present model strongly lead by Microsoft’s .NET Fx 3.0, that is Workflows, Connectivity and Security. From that, he will look at the near-term future of Service Brokers. Finally, he will develop the vision of the query-based development, suggesting that most software of the future is likely to be a managed function of a “super-search”, or, in fact, where we all started in 1960s, lambda-calculus and declarative programming, closing another great cycle.

check out the other great session on May 23rd HERE

Fest07 Agenda Online

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:42:00 GMT

The Fest07 Agenda is now live on the site. The moment you've all be waiting for - what gameshow will Dave and Rich be doing? Register Quick! Early bird ends March 31st!

The Fest07 agenda is here

Fest07 Watch

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:38:00 GMT

Richard Costall has a dig around the blogosphere to see what people are saying about Fest07 and has a good laugh!

Drop us an email if you find any more great blogs posts on Fest07

Barry Dorrans
http://idunno.org/archive/2007/02/13/nxtgenug-fest.aspx
"Richard has announced the first nxtgenug conference (and no, I'm not speaking *sulk*).

nxtgenug have obtained Rafal Lukawiecki for the day, (voted top TechED speaker for about 7 years running). They plan to start with the usual keynote and end with another infamous swag give away in the shape of a game show. Anyone who has seen Richard and Dave "perform" know that attendee's are in for a treat. "

Phil Winstanley
http://weblogs.asp.net/plip/archive/2007/02/15/into-the-future-uk-23rd-may-2007.aspx

[Read in the voice of a movie trailer narrator]

"On the 23rd May 2007 in the sleepy Village of Reading, England (For our overseas readers that's in Europeland), there will be an event unlike any event you've ever attended before.

Developers from around the world are in termoil, their tools and languages give them unlimited choice leaving them bewildered and lost. Only two men have the answer to this technological dilemma, and that answer is NxtGGenUK Fest07.

Yes folks, the chuckle brothers are about to embark on their most extravegant outing yet - they're running a conference in Reading this coming May! "

Steve Clayton
http://blogs.msdn.com/stevecla01/archive/2007/02/16/nxtgenug-is-having-an-evo-launch-party.aspx
"Some of Microsoft UK's top MVP's are having an Exchange, Vista & Office shindig on Feb 26th at the Coventry Flying Club.

Full details are on the NxtGen site. Anything involving the dream team of Costall, McMahon and Big Al Rogers has a lot of potential. "

Oliver Sturm
http://www.sturmnet.org/blog/archives/2007/02/13/nxtgenug-fest07-events-events-events/
"You thought DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper day was the least easily pronouncable name for a community event? Well, try this on: NxtGenUG is organizing NxtGenUG – Fest07 (actually I have the suspicion that it’s harder to type than to pronounce after all)! It’s a community event, I guess, being organized by a user group, but then it’s not the same type of free event we’ve seen in the past. As a non-member of NxtGenUG it costs money to attend – I’ll be interested to see whether that works out for them. "

Guy Smith-Ferrier
http://www.guysmithferrier.com/details.aspx?Entry=92
"I don't know which to tell you first: the fact that the Next Generation User Group are holding their own one day event or that Rafal Lukawiecki will be speaking at it. I've mentioned Rafal before on this blog and said that he is a fantastic speaker which is born out by him consistently being rated the top speaker at TechEd. I strongly advise you to take the opportunity to see him obviously mainly because his sessions are stacked with content but also to witness someone who should be giving lessons on how to do it properly."

Dave Oliver
http://geekswithblogs.net/sabotsshell/archive/2007/02/13/106185.aspx
"News is coming out of NxtGenUg HQ that another top-draw developer event run by the UK community is going to happen this year. (if DDD and WebDD weren't enough!)

Fest07 Top Speaker Disclosed

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:46:00 GMT

NxtGenUG Fest07 is pleased to announce that Rafal Lukawiecki will be speaking at the event on the 23rd May 2007 in Microsoft Campus TVP in Reading.

NxtGenUG Fest07 is pleased to announce that Rafal Lukawiecki will be speaking at the event on the 23rd May 2007 in Microsoft Campus TVP in Reading.

Rafal, a strategic consultant, has been voted top TechED speaker for the last 7 years running. He will be presenting on Vista Security and another topic to be announced.

About Rafal

In his role as Strategic Consultant and Director at Project Boticelli Ltd, Rafal is responsible for analyzing, planning and forecasting the changes in the field of Information Technology. Rafal works closely with teams of up to 150 software developers, as well as with investors and their boards of directors, to practice the best principles of the Microsoft Solutions Framework and the Microsoft Operations Framework. Rafal specializes in three fields: study of programming models, security and cryptography, and project and operational management of IT.

Rafal is a frequent and popular speaker at Microsoft conferences. In his spare time, Rafal has been writing a new book on ‘Microsoft Solutions Framework’ aimed at its practitioners. Recently, Rafal has presented at prestigious Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer conferences across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Fest07 Homepage

NxtGenUG Announce Fest07

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:33:00 GMT

NxtGenUG are proud to announce NxtGenUG Fest07 Event - to be held at the Microsoft Campus in Reading on the 23rd May 2007.

What are you waiting for... click here