Another event I visited this week was the ASP.NET roadshow, an event organized by Microsoft. I had hoped for some more TechEd speakers dropping by but the whole day was presented by one Dutch trainer. Xander from InfoSupport gave a good introduction to ASP.NET. Nothing wrong with that. ASP.NET is big and in the flood of the many features he discussed were new things for everyone. Perhaps it was to much for attendees new to .NET. And they appeared to be the target audience. I think this is a show which travels, so may I give some suggestions to make it a better one:
- The speaker has a C# addiction. Nothing wrong with that, hell of a language. But in the course of the day he did some VB bashing which (VB).NET does not deserve. Not to mention the points where he was just wrong.
- The invitation to the event had seen a better marketing than content manager. It was vague enough to read anything you want between the lines. I had read what I had hoped for, not what was.
- The invitation explicitly invited to bring your notebook. Many a visitor did. Alas there was nothing to plug into and no part of the program even touched any hands-on activity.
- The location was 'De School voor de toekomst'. This translates as school for the future. But something like WiFi was unknown and the “comfortable“ chairs were of a type which have been banned long ago. My back still hurst.
But I had a good day. Social activities were surprising. Of course Hasan Fadili, DotNEd speaker was there. As well I met an old fellow (biology) student, who I had last seen over 25 years ago. He had also switched to IT. And there was somebody from the same village I live, he had made the same (long) journey. The world is small. (I have to admit they recognized me first. Besides new glasses I really do need some training in social skills :>)
Peter