Northeast Roadshow and More!
Get those calendars out! Chris and I will be hitting the road again this September bringing you the latest and greatest developer topics from Microsoft. It’s the Northeast Roadshow: Food for Thoughts Tour, the same brand you know and love with a few twists…
We’re visiting more venues (seven in all), including a return to Albany/Troy, NY and new stops in Manchester, NH and Warwick, RI.
For four stops we’re piggybacking off of the TechNet Unleashed: Game On Tour, meaning great IT Pro content in the morning (courtesy of your IT Professional Evangelist, Dan Stolts) , followed by the developer content that is the Northeast Roadshow!
Note, TechNet Unleashed and the Northeast Roadshow are two distinct events, so if you want to attend both, be sure to sign up for each event separately. The dates, venues, and registration links are right below, followed by the Northeast Roadshow agenda and then the TechNet Unleashed agenda.
| City | Date | Event | Registration Link |
| Manchester NH | Sep. 10 | 1 – 6 p.m. | Northeast Roadshow |
| Rochester NY | Sep. 18 | 10 a.m – 3:30 p.m. | Northeast Roadshow |
| Troy NY | Sep. 22 | 8:30 a.m. – noon | TechNet Unleashed |
| 1 – 6 p.m. | Northeast Roadshow | ||
| Waltham MA | Sep. 23 | 1 – 6 p.m. | Northeast Roadshow |
| Augusta ME | Sep. 24 | 8:30 a.m. – noon | TechNet Unleashed |
| 1 - 6 p.m. | Northeast Roadshow | ||
| Farmington CT | Sep. 29 | 8:30 a.m. – noon | TechNet Unleashed |
| 1 – 6 p.m. | Northeast Roadshow | ||
[Updated 8/1: Due to venue logistics, we’re unable to visit Warwick on this edition of the Roadshow, but we’re hoping to add it to next quarter’s series.]
Northeast Roadshow: Food for Thoughts Tour
After a long summer, you’re probably hungry for more tools and techniques to feed your development efforts. Touring the northeast this fall for the tenth Roadshow, road and code warriors Jim O’Neil and Chris Bowen have cooked up a select menu of sessions that are sure to please the heartiest of appetites. From current tools and technologies to practical insights, there is plenty to digest!
Reservations are required, so register today for a seating at these free and relaxed technology events.
You’ll see how Chris and Jim handle the heat of the demo kitchen, dish out knowledge, and pepper guests with half-baked humor, all the while being grilled by audience questions.
The Agenda – A Four Course Meal for the Mind
(Rochester attendees, note that program starts at 10 a.m.)
1:00 PM – Essential Patterns, Practically Served
Design patterns, they’re important but often presented with unappetizing formality, like getting only the oat bits from a box of marshmallow cereal. We’ll sample a small set of key patterns, but also show you how free frameworks and tools (such as Enterprise Library, Prism, Unity, Velocity, and others) put each of those patterns directly into practice – so you can too. You’ll leave with a mind full of practical technology and a healthy understanding of how to turn underlying patterns into recipes for success.
2:15 PM – 7-Up(grade) Your Applications
Refresh your existing applications by pouring in some the new features of Windows 7 via the managed-code Windows API Code Pack. We’ll quench your thirst for how to incorporate the Taskbar, jumplists, and Libraries by taking the cap off an existing Windows Forms application and adding new capabilities, all the while retaining compatibility for your XP and Vista users. We’ll have you bubbling with excitement, able to give your applications that extra pop.
3:30 PM – Silverlight Snacks that Satisfy
There’s a generous amount of delicious ingredients in Silverlight 3 and we’re going to focus deeply on some of the most enriching. We’re going beyond the standard fare in this code-heavy session to create an application that leverages the new out-of-browser and offline execution features, local and remote connections, local data storage, and more. You’ll see that Silverlight 3 applications can be fortified with features so they can go well beyond being eye candy.
4:45 PM – Chips off the .NET Block
As seasoned developers, we know there’s a mix of options on the trail to implementing requirements. From staples like value types vs. reference types, interfaces vs. classes, Strings vs. StringBuilder, to other more exotic ingredients you may have yet tried, this session will dip into ways to leverage .NET, offering a taste of the impact they have on code execution, performance, and extensibility.
5:50 PM – “Check Please!” – We’ll box any leftovers, collect your comment cards, and distribute an array of giveaways.
TechNet Unleashed: Game On Tour!
After a long summer, you’re probably ready to get your game on with some tools and techniques to speed up your IT strategy. Touring this fall, the East Region TechNet team of John Baker, Dan Stolts, Blain Barton and Yung Chou are bringing you a game plan of sessions that are sure to spike your productivity. From current tools and technologies to practical insights, there will be plenty of action for everyone!
Reservations are required, so register today for a seat at this free and fun technology event.
1st Down: Migrating Windows XP to Windows 7: Get it Done with the Microsoft Deployment Tools
You've gotten the handoff on upgrading your desktops from Windows XP™ to Windows 7™ and you know there isn't a direct upgrade path, so what’s the best strategy? This session will give you the answers and tools that will make your migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 an easy touchdown. First we’ll discuss standalone migrations using standard methodologies. Then we’ll explore large scale migrations with the Microsoft Deployment Tool Kit 2010 technologies, covering the "Lite-Touch” Installation (LTI) method leveraging User State Hard-Link Migration which will minimize network traffic and get the migration done in a timelier manner. What tools will we use? The User State Migration Tool (USMT) in the Automated Installation Toolkit (AIK) has everything you need to kick off the migration and deploy Windows 7 without a single fumble.
2nd Down: DirectAccess™ With Windows 7: No More VPN!!
Looking for ways to save some money and enable better employee productivity on the road? Tired of being unable to VPN from certain remote locations? Then DirectAccess is the solution you’re looking for! What is DirectAccess? DirectAccess provides secure, seamless, always-on networking and represents a fundamental shift in the way network boundaries are defined and how access is managed. It provides a consistent experience regardless of location, device, or network topology. It “just works” and accommodates today’s flexible “offices” and requirements for remote connectivity. Not only does it give an “always on the corporate network” experience for end users, but it also provides administrators the ability to manage remote machines through the DirectAccess connection. That's right, if it’s connected to the Internet, it’s connected to the corporate network… SECURELY, and therefore the manageability of remote resources is greatly improved. This session will explain in detail what DirectAccess is and will demonstrate how to configure both the client and server components of DirectAccess.
3rd Down: Optimizing Your Environment with Remote Desktop Services™ and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
You’ve been successfully using Terminal Services for some time now and have enjoyed the ability to centrally manage your remote desktop environment. But there have been challenges in Terminal Services. Interference issues such as printer drivers, applications that take resources away from other users, and users wanting to remote to a desktop instead of the server. Windows Server 2008 R2 represents a paradigm shift in remote connectivity. Come and see how the next generation of terminal services, now called Remote Desktop Services (RDS), can take you to the next level. RDS has been expanded to include Hyper-V integration for deploying virtual machine-based desktops in addition to the standard session-based remote connectivity. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is an emerging desktop optimization vehicle and delivery architecture to centralize the storage, execution, and management of desktops in a data center. In this session we will examine the architecture, essential services, and user experience of RDS and VDI while walking through deployment scenarios based on business requirements.
4th Down: Score!
We’ll call it a day, collect your surveys, and you just might score one of the day’s giveaways.