This past weekend SilverlightDevCamp set foot in Chicago. Hosted at the Clarity Consulting offices in the Loop, things kicked off Friday night with the opening night ceremonies (session overviews & brainstorming, networking, and of course pizza and beer). Silverlight is still quite new to most people and I knew this devcamp was going to be more about learning then anything else.

DevCamps fall into the BarCamp format, or unconference format. Things are pretty loose. You define the time slots and the campers (ie. attendees) step up to the plate, select a slot and talk about whatever is on their mind or what they feel like contributing. For DevCamps, the talks are loosely based on the given theme. In this case – Silverlight or Rich Internet Applications. We had a lot of great sessions. From Ryan Powers opening Keynote, to a real-world application to manage freight-cars, to games, to data, to Facebook integration, all the way to a guy named Samiq who showed us how to build Silverlight applications on the Mac using Aptana. Zack Stepek, Stateline Adobe User Group leader, even stopped in on his way to the Adobe AIR bus stop in Chicago to give us another view of building RIA applications using Adobe Flex and AIR. Chris Bernard finished things up by giving his famous UX talk which always brings the house down. Check out Larry Clarkin’s excellent recap of the event.

At SilverlightDevCamp, I introduced and released-to-web, SilverTwitter. If you look at my blog over to the side, you will see SilverTwitter serving up posts from my Twitter account. Within the next day or two, I will post a write-up on how I built SilverTwitter using Expression Blend and Visual Studio 2008 in a matter of a couple of hours. It was a great learning experience for me and a great excuse to utilize these great technologies.

I’d like to thank all of the folks that made the trek out to SilverlightDevCamp in Chicago. We had folks from New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan and even – Costa Rica (what up, Samiq?!?)! We had great fun, great prizes (someone won a trip to the upcoming MIX conference in Vegas!), and more importantly great conversations. Kevin Marshall and the folks at Clarity did a fantastic job in pulling this together in a short amount of time.

SilverightDevCamp isn’t over. It’s just beginning. SilverlightDevCamps are popping up all over. For Chicago, we’ll continue the conversation over on the wiki site.

If you happened to miss this devcamp, don’t fret. There will be others. In the meantime, experience SilverlightDevCampChicago by checking out these following links…

Flickr: SilverlightDevCampChicago

Twitter: SilverlightDevCampChi

Facebook: SilverlightDevCampChicago

Don’t forget the SilverlightDevCamp is coming to Chicago this weekend. Everything kicks off tomorrow night at 7PM at 1 North Franklin, Suite 3000, Chicago, IL with an opening night mixer and Silverlight application brainstorming session. Things kick into high gear on Saturday with a number of great sessions already lined up and a bunch of Silverlight goodness.

I want to try something at this devcamp and we’ll have to see how it plays out, but hears what I’m thinking. Throughout the camp, all of the campers will be receiving great information and ideas on building Silverlight applications. What I’d like to see is what can someone build in day. The idea is to hold a demo showcase for campers to demonstrate the applications they came up with. It might not be the prettiest application but maybe it’s the most functional. Or… maybe there’s no real substance to it, but DAMN, it looks hot! That will be up the voting campers. And get this… I’ll provide a pass for the winning demo to the upcoming Mix conference in Vegas. How does that sound?!?

I may change up the rules a bit and not a do a vote based on the day, but give the campers some time to put some fit & finish on they’re application and then have an open vote online; say 2 weeks after camp closes. I’ll get everyone’s input and we’ll make a decision on Saturday.

With that, though, bring your ideas to SilverlightDevCamp in Chicago this weekend.

I’d also like to personally invite anyone who’s attending Adobe Max to come join us for some RIA fun as well.

 

Before you pitch your tent at the SilverlightDevCamp, you may want to have a quick gander at these learning resources:

Get Started with Silveright

Silverlight Quickstarts

Silverlight Training Videos

Microsoft Expression Knowledge Center

 

Wow! What a week.It has been non-stop since Monday’s Halo festivities. We had a great turnout at our Halo 3 launch party, with over 170 guests fragging their way through the night at the Microsoft offices in Downers Grove. We had 8-42″ plasma TV’s, 1-46″ plasma TV and 3 HD DLP projectors pumping out the Xbox gaming action throughout the night. We ran a Slayer tournament that had 78 participants vying against one another for a copy of the Halo 3 limited edition plus a Halo 3 faceplate. We were giving prizes away throughout the night including Halo 3 ActionClix, watches, faceplates, controllers, gamer point cards and not to mention a Xbox 360 Halo special edition console! It was certainly a “Wow!” event and I thank everyone for making it a spectacular evening.

Check out the party coverage provided by GamerTagRadio.com and TeamXbox.com.

Looking forward to Halo 4 and the next party!

To celebrate the launch of the highly anticipated Halo 3, the Microsoft Evangelism team in Chicago is hosting a Pre-Launch party on Sept. 24th in Downers Grove, IL. We have a *LIMITED* number of invites available, but you, dear reader, have an opportunity to join in on the festivities. I could come up with some crazy treasure-hunt or logic problem for you to solve to receive your registration code, but frankly, I’m too tired and not creative enough to come up with something snazzy. Instead, I had a little Silverlight fun.

Retrieve your special instructions and registration code here
Update: This event is sold out. All registration codes have been distributed.

That’s it. Simple enough, right?

Of course, you’re likely to have a question or two, so I’ll try to answer them here.

Can I bring a friend? Yes, but please limit it to (1) and make sure they register as well.

Will Food and Drink be served? Yes, of course. Are you kidding? You need something to sip on while you wait to re-spawn after getting a plasma grenade shoved up your…

Can I blog this? Yes. But I ask that you link back to this post for any updates or changes to the registration code.

A few other details to wet your appetite – like you need more. Each attendee will go home with a little something-something. Unfortunately, it’s not the game, so don’t get your hopes up. We’ll also be holding various tournaments throughout the night with some great prizes going to the frag champions.

Be sure to register NOW! When I say we have limited invites, I’m not kidding.

On Friday, September 28th and Saturday, September 29th, Clarity Consulting will host a Silverlight DevCamp at their offices in the Loop. This is a great opportunity for people interested in Silverlight to come together and hack out an application or two.

DevCamps are similar to BarCamps in that it’s a casual gathering of like minded individuals. BarCamps tend to have many different conversations, covering several different topics. DevCamps, however, focus on a particular technology with the idea of producing one to many applications by the end of camp.

This particular DevCamp invites designers and developers to come together and see what they can do in 2-days. We kick-off the camp on Friday with a few discussions on Silverlight as well as some brain storming of what applications we want to build. That leaves Saturday for a full on hack-day where designers and developers will team up to build the applications of their choice. Saturday will culminate with Demo Happy Hour where each team will be given 5-minutes to demo their particular application. And… to make things just a bit more interesting, we will be awarding some unbelievable prizes for the top teams.

If you’re interested in attending, be sure to head on over to the sign up sheet and add your name.

It just so happens that this camp butts up against Adobe Max 2007. If you’re attending Max and happen to be in Chicago over the weekend, head on over to the camp. I’d love a team to gather and work on an application that has Silverlight and Flash playing together. It is possible you know. Adam shows us how.

Also, if you interested in Silverlight DevCamp and your in the Bay area, Silverlight DevCamp San Francisco takes place on Sept. 14th and 15th.