Post-Conference Workshops

Post-Conference Workshop, Dec. 5th, 2008

• Test-Driven Development Workshop (TDD) workshop by Scott Bellware & Jean-Paul Boodhoo

  Through test-driven development, programmers learn how to produce systems of objects that are easier to understand and learn, more appropriate to the requirements at hand, and more resilient to change. Additionally, by introducing thorough testing early into the process, bugs are found and fixed quicker, reducing cost, increasing predictability and driving better software.

  Pre-requirements: Laptop with Visual Studio 2008 installed, minimal experience with .NET, OOP concept.
  Note: This workshop is a hand-on lab, space is limited register early.

• Building Business Applications with Silverlight 2.0.

  Make plans to stay an extra day after the conference to take advantage of this opportunity to join veteran software developers Rod Paddock and Jim Duffy as they give you a head start down the road to developing business-oriented Rich Internet Applications (RIA) with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in positioned to revolutionize the way next generation Rich Internet Applications are developed. Microsoft’s commitment to providing an extensive platform for developers and designers to collaborate on creating the next generation of RIAs is very clear and its name is Silverlight 2.0. In this intensive, full-day workshop, Rod and Jim will share their insight and experience building business applications with Silverlight 2.0 including a review of some of the Internet’s more visible Silverlight web applications. Make it a priority to not let yourself or your organization get left behind. Come join Rod and Jim as they provide an in-depth look at the future of Rich Internet Application development with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0.

• Query and Index Tuning in SQL Server 2005 and 2008 by Itzik Ben-Gan

  This seminar teaches you how to optimize problematic queries by tuning indexes and writing efficient code. The seminar covers in detail internal structures and index access methods, which are the fundamental building blocks that you need to be familiar with in order to master the art of query tuning and  optimization. One you get familiarized with those fundamental building blocks, you will learn how to put your knowledge into action by benchmarking various indexing options, analyzing their performance, and choosing the most ideal design. The seminar will also teach you how to tune and optimize your solutions by applying query revisions that can yield improvements in orders of magnitude in many cases. The seminar will also teach you how to get rid of cursors when set-based solutions are most appropriate, and how to identify the uncommon cases where cursors are the last resort that will yield better performance than set-based solutions.

  If time permits, the seminar will also discuss compilations, recompilations and reuse of execution plans.

  
  The seminar will cover new features in SQL Server 2008 where relevant.

Register for one day TDD pre-conference with Scott Bellware and the main conference

Includes three days of training (Dec. 2-4, 2008), Keynote, continental breakfasts, lunches, evening activities as well as the TDD pre-conferences with Scott Bellware presented on Friday Dec. 5th, 2008.

Early registration (4 Days)	Cost CAN	Cost USD
Before Septembre 13, 2008	1348.00$	1350.70$
Between September 13th and 30th, 2008	1448.00$	1450.90$
Between October 1st and October 31st, 2008	1548.00$	1551.10$
Between November 1st and December 1st, 2008	1648.00$	1651.30$

Register for one day post-conference Silverlight 2.0 and the main conference

Includes three days of training (Dec. 2-4, 2008), Keynote, continental breakfasts, lunches, evening activities as well as the post-conferences with Rod presented on Friday Dec. 5th, 2008.

Early registration (4 Days)	Cost CAN	Cost USD
Before Septembre 13, 2008	1348.00$	1350.70$
Between September 13th and 30th, 2008	1448.00$	1450.90$
Between October 1st and October 31st, 2008	1548.00$	1551.10$
Between November 1st and December 1st, 2008	1648.00$	1651.30$

Register for one day Advanced T-SQL post-conference with Itzik Ben-Gan and the main conference

Includes three days of training (Dec. 2-4, 2008), Keynote, continental breakfasts, lunches, evening activities as well as the Advanced T-SQL post-conferences with Itzik Ben-Gan presented on Friday Dec. 5th, 2008.

Early registration (4 Days)	Cost CAN	Cost USD
Before Septembre 13, 2008	1348.00$	1350.70$
Between September 13th and 30th, 2008	1448.00$	1450.90$
Between October 1st and October 31st, 2008	1548.00$	1551.10$
Between November 1st and December 1st, 2008	1648.00$	1651.30$

Test-Driven Development (TDD) Hand-on workshop by Scott Bellware & Jean-paul Boodhoo

Friday Dec. 5th, 2008, 08:00 - 17:00
Location: Hilton Toronto
Room: Carmichael
Cost: 399.00$ CDN

Scott Bellware, Bellware.NET      Scott Bellware is a software professional based in Austin, Texas. He is the founder and leader of the AgileATX community of agile software practitioners in Austin. Scott is a recipient of Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional award. He has been working in .NET and the .NET community since April of 2001.

Jean-Paul Boodhoo, jpboodhoo.com consulting inc.      Jean-Paul S. Boodhoo is an independent consultant who spends most of his days helping teams realize success through the adoption and application of agile practices. He has a passion for sharing information with the development community which he often tries to do on his blog at http://www.jpboodhoo.com/blog. He can be reached at jp@jpboodhoo.com. When not developing, he can be found relaxing with his amazing wife and their four beautiful kids.

Through test-driven development, programmers learn how to produce systems of objects that are easier to understand and learn, more appropriate to the requirements at hand, and more resilient to change. Additionally, by introducing thorough testing early into the process, bugs are found and fixed quicker, reducing cost, increasing predictability and driving better software.

Attendees will learn how to apply TDD‚ principles in an interactive, hands-on workshop. Attendees are encouraged to bring laptops. Attendees without laptops will still be able to follow along with the workshop.

• TestDriven.com (http://www.testdriven.com/)
• Patterns of xUnit Test Automation (http://tap.testautomationpatterns.com:8080/index.html)

Pre-requirements: Laptop with Visual Studio 2008 installed, minimal experience with .NET, OOP concept.
Note: This workshop is a hand-on lab, space is limited to 20 attendees.

Register for one day the TDD pre-conference on Dec. 5th, 2008 with Scott Bellware
Includes the TDD pre-conferences presented on Friday Dec. 5th, 2008 by Scott Bellware.

Cost CAN	Cost USD
399.00$	399.80$

Note: Registration for the main conference is not required to attend the sessions. You can register for the pre-conference and post-conference workshop individually from the registration page.

Building Next-Generation, Business-Oriented, Rich Internet Applications Using Microsoft Silverlight 2.0

Rod Paddock, Dash Point Software, Inc.     Rod is president and founder of Dash Point Software, Inc. DPSI is an award winning software company based in Seattle, WA, specializing in application development and software training. Dash Point specializes in Visual Studio .NET, VB 6, Visual FoxPro, and SQL Server development. Dash Point Software was the winner of the 1999 Visual FoxPro Excellence Award and a finalist in 1998. Dash Point was also a finalist in 1996 at Windows World Open. Rod has been a very popular speaker at a wide variety of developer conferences in North America and Europe since 1995. His most recent speaking appearance was at the XML Connections conference in October 2002. Rod is the editor for CoDe Magazine and his writing credits include articles for database publications such as Data Based Advisor, FoxTalk and Dbase Advisor. He has also authored a number of books including Visual Basic 5 for Web Development, Visual Basic 6 for Web Development, and Visual FoxPro 6.0 Enterprise Development. Rod is also the V.P. of Technology for Red Matrix Technologies and the architectural visionary behind the DataClas middle-tier component and SQLAudit product lines.

Jim Duffy, TakeNote Technologies      Jim Duffy is founder and president of TakeNote Technologies. TakeNote, a Developer's Choice Award winner for hands-on training, specializes in .NET software developer training and helping clients create business solutions with Microsoft enterprise technologies. Jim is a Microsoft Regional Director, a Microsoft MVP award recipient since 2003, and an INETA speaker. Since starting TakeNote in 1992, he has conducted hundreds of software developer training seminars and is an energetic and entertaining speaker at regional user groups and international developer conferences. Jim's expertise is with VB, ASP.NET, SQL Server and Visual FoxPro-to-.Net conversions. He has a BS degree in Computer and Information Systems and over 25 years of programming and training experience. He is an active blogger and has been published in leading developer-oriented publications including CoDe Magazine. He also served as the technical editor for ASP.NET 2.0: Visual Blueprint for Developing Web Applications. On Sunday mornings you will find him behind the microphone as a co-host of Computers 2K8, a call in radio show on WRBZ (AM 850), 850 The Buzz, in Raleigh, NC.

Friday Dec. 5th, 2008, 9:00 - 17:00
Location: Hilton Toronto
Room: Casson 
Cost: 399.00$ CDN

Make plans to stay an extra day after the conference to take advantage of this opportunity to join veteran software developers Rod Paddock and Jim Duffy as they give you a head start down the road to developing business-oriented Rich Internet Applications (RIA) with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in positioned to revolutionize the way next generation Rich Internet Applications are developed. Microsoft’s commitment to providing an extensive platform for developers and designers to collaborate on creating the next generation of RIAs is very clear and its name is Silverlight 2.0. In this intensive, full-day workshop, Rod and Jim will share their insight and experience building business applications with Silverlight 2.0 including a review of some of the Internet’s more visible Silverlight web applications.

Attendees will walk away from this focused, day-long session having learned the latest essentials of Silverlight 2.0 development. Topics will include how to create and deploy a Silverlight 2.0 application, how to create a UI with XAML, how to work with Silverlight 2.0 controls, how to access and integrate data within your Silverlight 2.0 applications via LINQ, WCF, and web services, how to apply visual design and styling features, how to integrate design changes in Expression Blend with code changes in Visual Studio 2008, how to use the control to create islands of richness on your ASP.NET pages, how to create your own custom Silverlight 2.0 controls, and a review of architectural considerations for your application.

Silverlight 2.0 Fundamentals

Register for one day Silverlight 2.0 Post-conference on Dec. 5th, 2008
Includes the Post-conferences presented on Friday Dec. 5th, 2008.

Cost CAN	Cost USD
399.00$	399.80$

Note: Registration for the main conference is not required to attend the sessions. You can register for the pre-conference and post-conference workshop individually from the registration page.

Query and Index Tuning in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008

Friday Dec. 5th, 2008, 09:00 - 17:00
Location: Hilton Toronto
Room: Jackson
Cost: 399.00$ CDN

Itzik Ben-Gan, Solid Quality Learning.     Itzik Ben-Gan is a Mentor and Founder of Solid Quality Learning. A SQL Server Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) since 1999, Itzik has delivered numerous training events around the world focused on T-SQL Querying, Query Tuning and Programming. Itzik is the author of Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: T-SQL Querying (MSPress), Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: T-SQL Programming (MSPress), and a co-author of Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000 (APress). He has written many articles for SQL Server Magazine as well as articles and whitepapers for MSDN. Itzik's speaking activities include Tech Ed, DevWeek, PASS, SQL Server Magazine Connections, various user groups around the world, and Solid Quality Learning's events to name a few.

This seminar teaches you how to optimize problematic queries by tuning indexes and writing efficient code. The seminar covers in detail internal structures and index access methods, which are the fundamental building blocks that you need to be familiar with in order to master the art of query tuning and  optimization. One you get familiarized with those fundamental building blocks, you will learn how to put your knowledge into action by benchmarking various indexing options, analyzing their performance, and choosing the most ideal design. The seminar will also teach you how to tune and optimize your solutions by applying query revisions that can yield improvements in orders of magnitude in many cases. The seminar will also teach you how to get rid of cursors when set-based solutions are most appropriate, and how to identify the uncommon cases where cursors are the last resort that will yield better performance than set-based solutions.

Register for one day to the post-conference on Dec. 5th, 2008 with Itzik Ben-Gan
Includes the post-conferences Query and Index Tuning in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008 on Friday Dec. 5th, 2008 by Itzik Ben-Gan.

Cost CAN	Cost USD
399.00$	399.80$

Note: Registration for the main conference is not required to attend the sessions. You can register for the post-conference and post-conference workshop individually from the registration page.