Main Presentation

Be sure to join us on April 13, 2010 for the John and Jeremy show. John Oswalt and Jeremy Sharp will be taking us on a awesome ride through some of the most talked about content that was presented recently at the Microsoft Mix conference in Las Vegas, NV.

Mark your calendars and get ready for the Microsoft Mix Download!

Title: The Microsoft Mix Download

Come hear a download of the latest Microsoft technology news that was announced at the Microsoft Mix 2010 Conference. Topics will include the latest updates on ASP.NET MVC 2, Open Data Protocol (OData), Visual Studio 2010, ASP.NET 4, Silverlight 4, and the new Windows Phone 7 Development.

Presenters:

John Oswalt is a Lead Developer/Analyst for Tyson Foods, Inc. based in Springdale, AR and a Microsoft Certified Professional in ASP.NET. He is currently the President of the Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group (@nwadnug). He has over 10 years experience in developing websites and applications. His passions for programming languages include ASP.NET, C#, HTML, CSS, VB.NET, SQL, JavaScript, and many others. He is the owner of a few different types of blogs on the internet (Technology – letsblogabout.net) and (Sports – www.callthehogs.com). You can also follow him on Twitter (@joswalt).

Jeremy Sharp is a graduate of the University of Arkansas in computer science, Jeremy has devoted his entire career to the development of Intranet, Internet and Extranet enterprise business applications for both large and small corporations. Over the last ten years he has worked in a variety of industries, including consumer products, health care, education and transportation. Jeremy's client list comprises many well-known local and national names, including Tyson Foods, Arkansas Occupational Health Care, North West Technical Institute and J.B. Hunt.

When:

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM – Main Presentation
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM – Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where:
The Jones Center
922 East Emma Avenue
Springdale, AR 72764

Room: Kansas Room (226)

Come join the NWA .NET User Group on April 7th at 5:30 PM and learn the benefits of Windows Live and Mesh Frameworks!

Lightning Presentation

Title: Continuing Education in Information Technology

Description: In the IT field, you have to keep learning. Whether you keep learning because you want to, or because you have to (if you don’t, someone else will), many options exist for IT professionals to expand the breadth and depth of their skill sets. This presentation will explore several different options for continuing education in the IT field, including self-learning, traditional training, conferences, and a couple of interesting part-time graduate school programs.

Presenter: Jeff Mullins is a faculty member and Associate Director of the Master of Information Systems program for the Information Systems department in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. Prior to his move into academics, Jeff spent more than 10 years playing various roles in the IT department at Tyson Foods, including .NET and Java application development, business analysis, and project management. Jeff also recently founded Windsong Solutions, a small IT consulting, development, and training firm.

Main Presentation

Title: Lap Around the Live Framework and Mesh Services

Description: Learn about the Live Framework, our latest offering for developers programming against our Live Services from any device, platform, runtime, or programming language. See new and future services (such as Mesh Services), protocols, APIs, and tools which enable your web, service, or client applications to access, store, and synchronize user data with Live Services, obtain audience analytics data, and more

Presenter: Chris Koenig is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft, based in Dallas, TX. Prior to joining Microsoft, Chris worked as a Senior Architect on the Architecture Strategy Team for The Capital Group in San Antonio, and as an Architect, Developer and Development Team Lead for the global solution provider Avanade. As a consultant, Chris worked with a variety of clients from many vertical markets, ISVs and other solution providers on enterprise-class Windows and web-based applications. Today, Chris focuses on building, growing, and enhancing the developer communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. Chris is a devoted husband and father of four awesome children who keep him very busy. In his spare time, Chris serves as Scoutmaster for his oldest son's Troop, and Committee Chair for his youngest sons' Pack. Chris also enjoys traveling, cooking, camping and playing guitar.

You can contact Chris through his blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/chkoenig, via email at chris.koenig@microsoft.com, or via Windows Live Messenger at chris@koenigweb.com.

Swag:
JetBrains ReSharper License
Infragistics Resource DVD
Infragistics NetAdvantage
Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation
Application = Code + Markup A Guide to the Microsoft Windows
Presentation Foundation
Microsoft 6 Office Business Application for Office SharePoint Server 2007
Programming Microsoft Office Business Application

When:
5:30 PM - 5:45 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
5:45 PM - 6:00 PM - Lighting Presentation
6:00 PM - 6:10 PM - Intermission – Presenter switch over
6:10 PM – 7:30 PM – Main Presentation
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM – Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where:
The Jones Center
922 East Emma Avenue
Springdale, AR 72764
Room 130 (Generations Room)

NetMeeting URL: http://snipr.com/nwadnug
Link RSVP URL: http://snipr.com/epmzx

Check out the new ASP.NET MVC Training Kit being provided by Microsoft. The ASP.NET MVC Training Kit includes presentations, hands-on labs, demos, and event materials. This content is designed to help you learn how to utilize ASP.NET MVC.

You can download and find more information about the kit by clicking here. 

I found out about a great piece of Mockup software to quickly generate a mockup screen for your applications called Balsamiq Mockups. The software is distributed as an Adobe Air application that you can install locally to your PC.

Mockups For Desktop allows you to work on your UI wherever you are, regardless of your Internet connection. It works on planes, at coffee shops, and wherever you like to do uninterrupted work. Import and Export features ensure seamless integration with all the other versions of Mockups, for when you get back online. Plus you can load and save multiple mockups files, use all keyboard shortcuts and lots more.

Here is an example screen mockup that you can create in the software:

I was able to quickly create a web page template as a demo for a project that I am working on in only a few minutes of work. The Balsamiq Mockup software has many templates to use to create mockups. You can even create your own templates or download more at http://www.mockupstogo.net/.

I have not had any problems with the application so far and would recommend you trying it out on your next project as a quick way to mockup a screen for a presentation to your customers or to be used by your developers to create the real screen.

As Jay Smith stated, Ryan Wells has announced the next meeting of the Northwest Arkansas CocoaHeads group.

CocoaHeads is a group devoted to discussion of Apple Computer's Cocoa Framework for programming on MacOS X. During monthly meetings, members present on their projects and offer tutorials on various programming topics.

To find out more about CocoaHeads visit their site at http://cocoaheads.org/.

The next meeting of the Nwa CocoaHeads will be March 12, 2009.  Ryan has encouraged everyone to to bring their favorite Xcode tips and tricks and come ready to learn.

This meeting will be held at Arsaga's Espresso Cafe (map), Mission & Crossover, Fayetteville, Arkansas,  http://cocoaheads.org/us/FayettevilleArkansas/index.html

You can also so monitor #nwacocoa on twitter. 

As Jay Smith mentioned, if you haven’t already registered for the Nwa Code Camp you need to get with it.  The event is schedule for April 25 and space is limited.

To register please visit http://codecamp.nwadnug.org and click on the register link at the top of the screen.

This is the first attempt to have a regional event in Northwest Arkansas and we will be closely monitoring attendance to determine if we should continue to create events of this nature in this area.

There will be 3 tracks with 12 sessions on various topics, everything from SharePoint, Windows Communication all the way to iPhone development. This event is being sponsored by the local Northwest Arkansas .NET Users Group.

Please forward this information on to everyone you know that would be interested and encourage them to attend. Think of this as free training in a time where training and travel budgets are being cut daily.

We need your help making this an event a huge success in our area.