Twin Cities Code Camp

Code Camp 5 Speaker Sessions Are Almost Full

Fri, 09 May 2008 03:32:55 GMT

The event is 5 months away, and the speaker slots are filling up very quickly. If you want to speak, visit the home page for contact information, but do it quickly - otherwise you'll be on a waiting list.

Video Upload Complete

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:50:45 GMT

I've finished uploading all of the videos I have to the Facebook group. There's 3 more left but the conversion process would create huge files and I don't have the time right now to tackle this problem (it's a long story taking Canon .MOD files, renaming to .MPG, and exporting to .AVI which creates the huge file so Movie Maker can handle it and make a .WMV file). Code Camp 3 isn't represented because I didn't film that day (I really don't know why I chose to not record that day...oh, well). But for future Code Camps, I'm definitely going to be running around with the camcorder, getting clips of the talks, interviewing folks, taking pictures, etc., etc.

Code Camp 5 is Official!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:14:28 GMT

We've just announced the date for the 5th Code Camp - it's Oct. 11^th. Visit the site for more details.

Evaluations

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:35:57 GMT

I just received the evaluation data - thanks to all of those who took the time to fill it out. Overall, the response was very positive, which is a good thing to see. I want to address a couple of recurring topics that came up in the comments:

Bigger event area. This was the easily the biggest issues. Basically, we're outgrowing the NH facility. The issue is, if we move to another facility, we need to ensure that the cost stays low so we can keep the "free" in Code Camp. While we're already looking at different venues, we've decided to keep the 5th one in the Fall of 2008 at NH. If we still run into overcrowding issues and room temperatures problems we'll go with another facility. We're going to see if we can add overhead projecters for the rooms so everyone can see the content, even if the room gets too full.
Longer sessions. Some attendees said a couple of sessions needed more time. We originally had the sessions at 50 minutes for the 1st Code Camp and that was way too short. I'm concerned that if we go over 75 minutes we won't have enough time to get enough sessions in. It's a balancing act and I think 75 minutes hits the sweet spot.
Diverse topics. The 1st Code Camp was very diverse, and since then, it's been more or less MS-focused. I would love to see more topics that are not tied to Microsoft in some way. If someone wants to see a topic presented, they're more than welcome to present it themselves, or feel free to contact a speaker and let them know about the event (or let me know about them and I'll contact them myself). I personally do not set an agenda in any way. I'm just looking for people who love to talk about what they do.
Session descriptions. The descriptions are online, but we'll print those descriptions in the packet in the future.

Again, thanks for the evaluations. The event is driven by the community, and your comments guide us in making it better for you. See you at Code Camp 5! (Yes, a date is forthcoming...)