Developing For .NET

I’m happy to announce an event that I have been working on with Kevin Griffin, president of the Hampton Roads .NET User Group (HRNUG).

One of the frustrating things for me as a Blend Speaker and self-proclaimed “Blend Evangelist” is that at most Code Camps or User Groups I just don’t feel like I have enough time to really dig in and show as much Blend goodness as I would like.  And my presentations always run long because I’m just so excited and I hate to leave anything out!

Last year I was lamenting the situation to Kevin, and he joked around and said we should have a “Joel Camp” so I could talk about Blend all day long.  We’ve had a lot of laughs about that ever since, but as time went on we got a little more serious about it.  After one Code Camp, where I had submitted 5 separate Blend presentations, the idea of a “Blend Camp” became something we were seriously discussing.

That was last fall, and no one’s schedule was allowing any such event to go forward.  Intrigued by the idea, I also began thinking about putting a site together dedicated to hosting Blend Tutorial Videos.  I even purchased a domain name and some hosting access, but time and laziness being what they are, I never got very far in the project.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…

So between all the Code Camps and other things going on in the Mid-Atlantic, the idea of an all day event just kept losing ground.  Fortunately, Kevin never quite forgot the idea and he came up with a viable alternative: instead of one long day, what if we did a week of lunch and learn webcasts? That’s great! I can do that! 

And so I am proud to announce the first ever Blend-O-Rama! Kevin and HRNUG are going to host the event on LiveMeeting, and I will be giving the presentations.  We are going to do one presentation each day, Monday through Friday, July 19th – 23rd,  from 11:30 to 1pm EST.  Each day will cover a different topic:

July 19th – An Introduction to Expression Blend
Microsoft Expression Blend is the premier GUI editor for WPF and Silverlight applications.  In this presentation you will receive an introduction to the Blend UI and how to use it to quickly and easily build an application interface.  Topics will include Configuration, Layout Controls, how to leverage Blend with Visual Studio, and more.

July 20th – Data Binding in Expression Blend
Data Binding is one of the key features of WPF and Silverlight.  This presentation demonstrates and explains the Data Binding tools and features of Blend.  Includes discussions of Data Context, Value Converters, Element Binding, Sample Data and more.  With these tools you really can bind anything to anything.

July 21st – Templating in Expression Blend
An introduction to using Microsoft Expression Blend to leverage Templating in WPF and Silverlight applications. Templates provide a powerful way to enact GUI changes in the application presentation layer without requiring code behind manipulation. The power of Templating provides unlimited potential for enhancing your GUI.

July 22nd – Animating Business in Blend
Discusses how to use animation to enhance line of business applications and demonstrates how to create and employ them in Blend. Topics will include Animations, Triggers, Events, and the Visual State Manager.

July 23rd – Advanced Topics in Blend
Discusses how to take Blend to the next level. Topics will include Behaviors, Graphic manipulations, Audio and Video, Theming, and more.

Registration is now Open

The most awesome news of all is that, thanks to HRNUG, this event it totally FREE!  Registration for the event is now open.  You can also click on the banner in the sidebar or this page, or watch Kevin’s website or HRNUG’s website for more details.  Please pass the link around, tweet about it, etc., everyone is welcome!  And through the magic of LiveMeeting we will be fielding questions from you the audience!

Drum Roll Please …

I’m probably going to regret this later, but remember that Video Tutorial website I mentioned above? Today I am officially announcing that I will launch the website during the event.  Who knows, it worked for getting my certification: maybe setting a date will be the motivation I need to finally get the website going!