Friends
For many years, I have wanted to attend a conference such as the SW Fox
2012
For me, this is a very long trip, and airfares alone as substantial.
In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
--
Kind regards
Sytze de Boer
Kiss Software
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I would love to just to meet people. But for the job I do not think so. I
went to Prague a few times and it was great but cheap. As for what I learnt
there, I never used it. I would like to go to the French one but I do not
speak the language well enough.
Al
-----Original Message-----
Friends
For many years, I have wanted to attend a conference such as the SW Fox
2012
For me, this is a very long trip, and airfares alone as substantial.
In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
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On Mon, Sep 3, 2012, at 02:44 AM, Sytze de Boer wrote:
> In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
I'd only go to put faces to names and meet people, to be honest. I've
never been to one.
--
Alan Bourke
alanpbourke (at) fastmail (dot) fm
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SET CONFLICT_OF_INTEREST ON
As you might know, I am one of the organizers and speakers of Southwest Fox so my opinion is a twisted and biased one.
Buyer beware.
It is my belief that conferences are for a lot of people, but not for everyone. Those who do not learn from listening to
others speak might not benefit from the conference. If you don't learn things by reading a white paper you might
consider skipping the conference. Those who do not benefit from networking should not come, after all it is like a forum
or listserver or Twitter, but live and in HD. That bothers some people. If you prefer learning about vendor products by
reviewing a Web site instead of talking to a sales person in person, then a conference might not be for you. If you
prefer to eat alone, and not talk shop at every meal, then a conference is not really a good idea.
On the other hand, if you want to learn more about your craft, hear of tools that integrate with your favorite
development platform, expand your mind past your normal comfort zone, and meet like-minded people, there is a good
chance Southwest Fox might be a perfect fit for you.
Early-bird deadline has been extended until September 5th, so we can save you $50 for use on your bar/food bill when you
are out networking with some of the finest people in our community. If you are going to sign up, I'd suggest learning to
the FoxShow teaser interview with the SWFox organizers for a special offer.
Just to be clear though, other than a handful of speakers who pop up here, very few people from ProFox come to Southwest
Fox. I don't want you to come expecting to see all the regulars you see here on ProFox. But I see this as a big benefit
too, as you get to expand the people you know from the Fox Community. Once thing is for certain, the people who come are
really passionate about VFP and software development in general. I suspect you also will walk away with new ideas and
energy unlike any you have felt before.
SET CONFLICT_OF_INTEREST OFF
Rick
White Light Computing, Inc.
www.whitelightcomputing.com
www.swfox.net
www.rickschummer.com
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Sytze de Boer
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 09:45
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: SW Fox 2012 Opinions
Friends
For many years, I have wanted to attend a conference such as the SW Fox
2012
For me, this is a very long trip, and airfares alone as substantial.
In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
--
Kind regards
Sytze de Boer
Kiss Software
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On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 6:44 PM, Sytze de Boer <sytze.kiss@gmail.com> wrote:
> Friends
>
> For many years, I have wanted to attend a conference such as the SW Fox
> 2012
> For me, this is a very long trip, and airfares alone as substantial.
>
> In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
>
> --
> Kind regards
> Sytze de Boer
> Kiss Software
Some things in life are worth doing at least once. I think a
professional development conference is a good example. I went to my
first Devcon in Ft. Lauderdale Florida at my own expense and I thought
it was worth every penny.
Some tangibles you get at a conference include:
Some faces w/ names - I feel better shooting Ed or Ted an email out of
the blue with a question since we've at least met face to face... They
probably hate it, but for me it works out great... <g>
You get a better feel for where you are professionally and how good
you are at your craft. Some people are always newbies trying to get up
to speed quickly, some are rock stars that do mind boggling things,
some are like most of us in between... being a lone wolf most of my
career it was good to figure that out... I realized I was a lot better
at Fox than I thought, but had a *long* way to go to be truly elite
status (and I was already MCP at the time).
You will see/hear people talk about doing things you might have only
vaguely heard about, but at a conference you just might see it in
action. I thought I knew what Fox/computers were capable of, then sit
down for a beer with someone that is ho-hum about something that will
make you drool... you will walk away with many instances of "if only I
can work something like that into my system" or "I gotta go back to my
room and play around with that!!"... for me it was web services and
the TRY/CATCH technique that had just been implemented...
Rick can probably back me up here (or contradict me), but it's a lot
of fun! Devcon had a lot of glitz to it, but they tried to entertain
you (or allow you to blow off steam). I would think (never having
been) that SW Fox is more to-the-point, which is probably a good
thing.
Cons:
It's expensive... but if your tax laws work at all like ours, you can
write off a lot of it as a biz expense, you just have to front the
money which for some of us can be daunting... as it happened in my
case I had a chunk of severance pay sitting around so treated myself
to a Devcon.
There's a good chance you won't use much of anything you see or learn
there... a lot of us are entrenched in what we are doing, or our
products are just too shrink wrapped already to roll out something
radically different, at least right away. You will be frustrated with
all these new toys you know how to do, or are willing to put effort
into learning more about, but they could easily end up sitting on the
shelf despite your efforts.
Stress - you are away from your job or business and especially in your
case, supporting remotely isn't always the easiest thing to do, even
more so when you are tired from running around all day and night at
the conference. Make sure you have a solid platform in place or at
least a good support infrastructure to keep things going in your
absence...
Worth it? Hard to say, but I doubt you would regret going...
--
Matt Jarvis
Eugene, Oregon USA
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I'll chime in. Full disclosure: I'm presenting at SWFox and I've run
the FoxForward conference in Atlanta in 2006 and 2007.
Yes. Yes dammit. If you consider a portion of what you do "art" or a
"craft" (above banging out code), then you owe it to yourself to get out
of your basement, and talk to other people. I know I enjoy talking with
so many smart people! Their smartness lifts up my game. I learn as
much in the hallways and at the lunches, as I do in the sessions ... and
that's saying a lot because there's some really good sessions!
Do it. Sign up now.
On 09/02/2012 09:44 PM, Sytze de Boer wrote:
> In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
>
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You could get this at user meetings if you're lucky enough to have one
nearby. But if it was affordable I would go. I would go to the Prague one
again if it existed. But from UK to USA plus costs and hotel. I can't
warrant that.
Al
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On
Behalf Of Kevin Cully
Sent: 04 September 2012 18:18
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: Re: SW Fox 2012 Opinions
I'll chime in. Full disclosure: I'm presenting at SWFox and I've run the
FoxForward conference in Atlanta in 2006 and 2007.
Yes. Yes dammit. If you consider a portion of what you do "art" or a
"craft" (above banging out code), then you owe it to yourself to get out of
your basement, and talk to other people. I know I enjoy talking with so
many smart people! Their smartness lifts up my game. I learn as much in
the hallways and at the lunches, as I do in the sessions ... and that's
saying a lot because there's some really good sessions!
Do it. Sign up now.
On 09/02/2012 09:44 PM, Sytze de Boer wrote:
> In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
>
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I find going to conferences worth the time. Luckily so does the company I
work for. Since no new VFP efforts will be started in the company, SW Fox is
no longer justifiable. I just got back from DevLink in Chattanooga,
Tennessee. I got to spend some time with new people, learned some
information about .NET and ideas about how I could better code my VFP work
using ideas from Functional languages like F#. Alan Stevens, a former VFP
coder that does .NET and Ruby development these days, is an enthusiastic
presenter that doesn't talk about code anymore. He talks about soft skills.
How to better communicate with clients is one of them. One of his
statements, when he was talking about the skill level as a developer, went
something like this. "You're here at this conference because you are wanting
to go to the next step." That's true for me. There were several sessions
where I heard the speakers say, program in a different paradigm. It helps
you program in your language better. If you work in an OOP language all the
time, try something like Ruby or Python, or a Functional language like F# or
Scala.
As for CONS, Matt Jarvis covered them well.
Enjoy it!
Tracy
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On
Behalf Of Sytze de Boer
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 9:45 PM
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: SW Fox 2012 Opinions
Friends
For many years, I have wanted to attend a conference such as the SW Fox
2012
For me, this is a very long trip, and airfares alone as substantial.
In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
--
Kind regards
Sytze de Boer
Kiss Software
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I went to SWFox for the first time in 2008 and 2009. I had to miss 2010 and
2011 for family reasons, BUT I AM GOING AGAIN IN 2012 and I can't wait to be
there.
There's just something fun and energetic about being at any conference, but
I will say this is my favorite, and I've been to plenty.
I find it very motivational to be among developers with such diverse
backgrounds and skills. I always leave there encouraged to explore new
things, sharpen my skills, and, very important... GET INVOLVED with a few
new frieds.
Don't be afraid to introduce yourself to others, and just jump right in to
and crowd. At SWFox, I guarantee you'll be accepted and welcome.
Hope to see you there!!
Hey everyone - Want a good laugh??? Read my message post on UT from October
2008 just after I returned from my first SWFox trip:
http://www.universalthread.com/DataEntryThreadView.aspx?ID=1356189
Here, I'll just paste in the message for you (from UT 2008-10-21):
"Craig Boyd is AWESOME. That man is High-Energy and super-smart. This was
the first time I had met him, but I've been an admirer of his for a long
time just by following him and his work on the web in various places. He is
not really anything like I imagined, and I mean that in a good way. He
always gave me a lot every time I saw him at the conference and between
sessions, even though I am just a nobody in the VFP world. I even sat with
him and Bo at lunch one day.
Are you kidding me? Sitting at a table having lunch with Craig Boyd and Bo
Durban, right after having spoken to Doug Hennig and Rick Schummer, Tamar...
Ken Levy (not a speaker, but he was there), Rick Strahl, Andy Kramick,
Andrew MacNeill,.... Cathy Pountney, Mike Feltman, Toni Feltman, Barbara
Peisch, and Christof Wollenhaupt.
I was like a little kid running around drooling all over myself because of
all those VFP celebs I was hanging with. Call me a name-dropper, that's ok.
I'm sure I'll find plenty of ways to sneak those names into my conversations
with all my jealous VFP friends who did not attend.
All those guys and gals were so welcoming and really so down-to-earth, but
yet still professional, top-notch, and somehow respectfully elite among the
crowd.
It was bar far the most fun, enjoyable, and fulfilling developer experience
I have ever had.
I will absolutely be back next year. Guaranteed!"
My favorite part of that thread was a reply from Charles Hankey:
"Were you cured of any lingering diseases? I hope you saved a napkin or
something as it may have powers ... ;-) (sorry, couldn't resist - I do
understand the enthusiasm and these really are nice folks and the feeling
you are talking about has been very common among first-time attendees at Fox
conferences for as long as I can remember.)"
And my reply to him:
"I was not cured of anything... But, as I'm sure you can tell, I am
convinced that any one of them could have performed such a miracle if the
need for one had existed. :)"
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On
Behalf Of Sytze de Boer
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 8:45 PM
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: SW Fox 2012 Opinions
Friends
For many years, I have wanted to attend a conference such as the SW Fox
2012
For me, this is a very long trip, and airfares alone as substantial.
In your opinion, are these conferences worth while.
--
Kind regards
Sytze de Boer
Kiss Software
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On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 1:35 PM, Tracy Pearson <tracy@powerchurch.com> wrote:
> I find going to conferences worth the time. Luckily so does the company I
> work for. Since no new VFP efforts will be started in the company, SW Fox is
> no longer justifiable. I just got back from DevLink in Chattanooga,
> Tennessee. I got to spend some time with new people, learned some
> information about .NET and ideas about how I could better code my VFP work
> using ideas from Functional languages like F#. Alan Stevens, a former VFP
> coder that does .NET and Ruby development these days, is an enthusiastic
> presenter that doesn't talk about code anymore. He talks about soft skills.
> How to better communicate with clients is one of them. One of his
> statements, when he was talking about the skill level as a developer, went
> something like this. "You're here at this conference because you are wanting
> to go to the next step." That's true for me. There were several sessions
> where I heard the speakers say, program in a different paradigm. It helps
> you program in your language better. If you work in an OOP language all the
> time, try something like Ruby or Python, or a Functional language like F# or
> Scala.
>
----------------------
I didn't got because I have been traveling every weekend the month of
Aug and was wore out. Dealing withMom's house has been more than I
bargained for.
Glad you enjoyed yourself in Chatt. I have some friends who just
moved up your way or so I think that you are close. He is a PIC
programmer.
--
Stephen Russell
Sr. Analyst
Ring Container Technology
Oakland TN
901.246-0159 cell
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