Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A Silverlight 3 FireStarter event narrative

by Adam Kinney via Adam Kinney on 8/12/2009 8:43:00 PM

Minimal event description:

FREE Silverlight and Expression Training on Sep. 17 in Redmond and online presented by Microsoft product team members and evangelists.

Flavorful description:

When you wake on Sept. 17th the year of 2009 you have a smile on your face. Not only did you get the day of for “training”, but the “training” is actually something you’re very interested in.  Maybe you haven’t had the chance yet, or you’re looking for additional guidance; but today you’re going on a tour of Silverlight 3, Expression Blend, SketchFlow, the Silverlight Toolkit, RIA Services and XAML Power toys.

• Mithun Dhar starts the day off with a welcome and logisitics.You notice his navy blazer, wondering if he’s warm or not.
• The crowd cheers  and waits expectantly for disco moves as Scott Guthrie presents the keynote, explaining how Silverlight is awesome in so many ways.
• Tim Heuer enters next with a smile on his face and a load of scenarios where Silverlight is a smart choice. As he mentions your specific scenario, you’re convinced training was a good idea today.
• Break time – you run to the bathroom, too much coffee this morning.
• Adam Kinney welcomes you back from the break, actually you specifically as you were the last one back in. You begin to blush but Adam dives into Expression Blend. You can tell he enjoys the tool and the joy starts to spread among the audience.
• Lunch! – free food! free drinks! cool.  You find the one or two people you know there and find a place to sit down. Conversation ranges from the weather to Silverlight to something caught in between your teeth.
• After lunch and returning to your seat, Janete Perez keeps you from taking your after-lunch nap by building prototypes in SketchFlow very quickly.  You’re intrigued.
• Justin Angel and Shawn Oster take the stage.  You’re distracted by the fact Justin is wearing sunglasses inside, but your reverie is broken when they begin racing through all of the available Silverlight Controls. What a full framework.
• Brad “no microphone needed” Abrams takes the stage and shows you the RIA Services framework. First the multitude of controls and now line of business application building blocks out the wazoo.  You’re set and can’t wait to try this when you get home. Or maybe just tomorrow morning at work.
• Break time – 52 different types of free drinks are available in the sliding door refrigerator.  You counted.
• One of the first ones to return to your seat this time, Karl Shifflett shows off XAML Power Toys. You know this is cool stuff, you’ll want to look at again, but you are completely lost in the palm trees on Karl’s Hawaiian shirt.
• All of the speakers come back to the stage for a Q & A Panel. Discussion is lively and casual, you’re happy to be here in person.
• The conference officially ends, and you find your favorite speakers and listen to them answer a few questions from the circle around them.
• Ready for dinner and some Silverlight time you head out and twitter: FINALLY building something in Silverlight 3....mwa ha haaa...

Register to attend in person (Microsoft Campus Redmond, WA).

Register to attend online.