This code camp was better than last session.  Last time we had major problems with doors being locked, no Internet, and an abundance of the same technology.  This code camp was completely different!  We were given a WEP key for the wireless Internet, the doors remained unlocked most of the time (I only got one call about someone being locked out), and there were few Microsoft presentations.

What I Liked:
There was a lot of technology that was different than the same-old topics.  It was great to see presentations on the Mac platform and I really wanted to attend the Ruby on Rails presentation but XNA was also that hour and I choose that instead.  There were also a lot more people out this time due to better advertisement and involvement of the Java community.  And as always, I actually feel like I learned something; or at least a lot more than I do from most any other of this type of event.  I also learned a lot from the different presentations styles and I have found how I like to present. 

What I didn't like:
Most presentations ended really early!  The one on Core Animation went only about half of the time allotted.  That means we're just sitting around waiting for the next session and that is a big waist of my time!  I also don't so much like the idea of the "tire kickers" giving presentations.  I was to some degree guilty this time because I don't feel like I have mastered WPF, but I could answer any question the general audience had and so I think that was good enough.  My qualm is when you have a pretty basic question (remember, this is the first time I have heard of this new technology) then I would expect the presenter to be able to answer so long is it's not an off-the-wall question.  I think the idea is to have people in the area that are "experts" in a subject give presentations that help the community learn about this technology and possibly answer some questions.  Also, when people RSVP the night before (as almost all did) then there is a pretty darn good chance they are coming!  Why would you expect that only 80% are coming?  We ran out of Pizza *really* early on!  Also, last time each presenter had some little nic-nac to give away at the end of their session.  Lots of people had those but they brought them themselves.  I still think we should have had some presentations twice (the more popular ones), and I still think that we should have more sessions going on. There was one hour where I didn't want to go to anything!   My list little qualm is that I don't think Neumont University is really a good central location!  I think we are loosing a lot of people because of the location. 

Overall
I know it looks like the con's outweigh the pro's but that is not true.  It was a really good code camp and I think that in 6 months when we have our spring code camp it will be a lot better!  I hope more people from SolutionStream will get involved this year but I think Bruce and I both gave really good presentations.  Bruce had a good showing and was a big hit.  I had almost 100 people at my session and they all seemed to really like it.  I didn't have nearly enough time to present the content I wanted to.  I think I could have taken a day to present just WPF!

If you enjoyed the Code Camp, please leave a comment and let me know what your thoughts were.

Thanks!
Nathan Zaugg