Sarasota .NET Pub Club

Microsoft MVP C# Award for 2008

Dave Hayden — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:36:00 GMT

I am once again honored and humbled by being awarded the distinction of Microsoft MVP in C# for 2008. This is my 3rd year receiving the award and it always brings a smile to my face at the start of each year. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

My goal is to remain active in the community through blogging, speaking, and newsgroups.

You can find me blogging regularly on four sites:

I have 3 speaking engagements in the next month and hope to see you there:

I am an MSDN Forum Moderator, so you can catch me in many of the Microsoft MSDN Forums as well as numerous CodePlex Forums for the various Patterns & Practices Projects.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes!

Sarasota .NET Developer Meeting - Debugging Techniques in Visual Studio 2005 - INETA Speaker Jon Goodyear

Dave Hayden — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:32:00 GMT

If you are a .NET developer that lives even close to Sarasota, Florida, I highly recommend you show up to the next Sarasota .NET Developer Group Meeting where Jon Goodyear will be demonstrating the new debugging features of Visual Studio 2005, including writing custom visualizers.

The meeting will be on Wednesday, November 9th, 2005 at 6pm at the Sarasota Community Foundation ( View Map ).

I, personally, can't wait to see what Jon has in store for the presentation. Debugging is one of the more critical, and yet often perplexing, tasks required of every .NET developer. I guarantee you will leave the presentation a better developer.

If you haven't done so already, make sure you register on the website to receive announcements on upcoming events.

See you there...

Sarasota .NET Developer Meeting - Hot Tips on .NET 2.0 - INETA Speaker Ken Spencer

Dave Hayden — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:17:00 GMT

With the upcoming releases of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 (Nov. 7, officially) - now is the time to start preparing yourself to use the new technologies, if you haven't begun already.

Tonight (October 20th) @ 6pm - see a session titled Hot Tips on .NET 2.0. We have noted author and speaker Ken Spencer traveling in for this INETA sponsored event. Learn why .NET 2.0 and VS 2005 will rock your world. Ken will show you lots of tips on 2005 and answer questions why you should move to 2005.

This session will include lots of demos with only a few (2 or 3) slides so it will be heavy on content with a focus on WinForms and the .NET Framework. Ken will show you lessons he has learned in teaching this technology for 9 months and building many real applications with it. As always, plan to join us for pizza and libations afterwards at the CnB pub.

We're meeting this month at the Sarasota Community Foundation ( View Map ), located at 2635 Fruitville Rd., Sarasota, FL 34237 (just west of Tuttle on the north side of Fruitville).

See you there...

Sarasota .NET Developer Meeting Rocked Last Night!

Dave Hayden — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 13:25:00 GMT

If you are a .NET developer within driving distance of Sarasota and not attending the monthly Sarasota .NET Developer meetings, you are passing up a huge opportunity to

Learn about .NET technologies and tools.
Hobnob with other cool .NET developers in the area.
Meet employers in the area looking for skilled .NET developers.
Hang out with our regional Microsoft Developer Evangelist, Joe Healy.
Win free swag.

Yesterday's meeting was an INETA sponsored event. INETA Speaker, Shawn Wildermuth, did a phenomenal presentation on ADO.NET Tips & Tricks. Shawn is well-spoken, extremely knowledgeable, and very friendly. His presentation provided a lot of good information on how to use ADO.NET to achieve a performant, scalable, and maintainable data layer for your winform and web applications. He answered a ton of questions from the group and I am confident everyone took some new knowledge and programming tips away with them.

My hats off to INETA for sponsoring the event and providing someone of Shawn's caliber to the group.

If you want to stay informed of the Sarasota .NET Developer meetings, make sure you register on the offiical website. Meeting information and reminders are sent out to those registered on the website.

Next month we are car pooling to the Tampa Code Camp. If you plan to go, make sure you register for the event as I know the event is over half full and there are probably only 50 spots available. Space is limited, so if you don't register for the code camp, you don't get to attend the event. I've seen the sessions, and they are awesome.

Sarasota Florida .NET Developer Pub Club Meeting This Evening

Dave Hayden — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 16:09:00 GMT

After the Sarasota .NET Developer Meeting this evening, we will meet around 9pm at the Cock & Bull Pub in Sarasota for an informal .NET Pub Club meeting.

Cock & Bull Pub
975 Cattlemen Rd
Sarasota, Florida 34232-2809

Map

See you there.

Sarasota .NET Developers Need To Make Some Noise at Microsoft Sponsored Events

Dave Hayden — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 16:47:00 GMT

At the last Sarasota .NET Pub Club Meeting I was told that Microsoft will only be sponsoring events in the Sarasota area once a quarter now rather than once a month, because there aren't enough Sarasota .NET Developers attending the Microsoft Events. Now you have to travel an hour to Tampa to see Microsoft once a month.

If you are a Sarasota .NET Developer, I highly recommend you come out to the events. Come out to the Sarasota .NET Developer Meetings, especially the one happening in January. Keep tuned here and I will post the announcement / agenda as soon as I get it. Unfortunately, the announcements have been coming to me last minute, so I can't tell you when the next meeting is exactly.

Personally, I would like to create a more intense .NET Developer Group. I like the idea of some of the Code Brew group ideas where everyone shares some knowledge and/or gives a demonstration on various topics as well as entertains questions from everyone. This way in a 2 hour session everyone walks away with a lot of practical knowledge on a lot of subjects. I hope to bring this up at the Sarasota .NET Developer Meeting in January if they don't pick an evening I can't attend.

Come out to the local events so we can get Microsoft back here once a month!

Sarasota Developers and Programmers - Sarasota .NET Pub Club Meeting - Florida

Dave Hayden — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:40:00 GMT

The Sarasota .Net Pub Club will be gathering at the Cock & Bull Pub this evening (Tuesday, October 26) from 6-8 pm.

Cock & Bull
975 Cattlemen Road
Sarasota, FL 34232
(941) 341-9785

Sarasota .NET Pub Club - BBQ and Sarasota Red Sox Game - August 17th 2004

Dave Hayden — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 20:51:00 GMT

Update: 8/16/2004 - Received an email from Stan Schultes saying the .NET Pub Club meeting on the 17th is canceled due to a scheduling conflict.

The Sarasota .NET Pub Club will be having a BBQ followed by a Sarasota Red Sox game on August 17th from 5:30pm - 10pm at Ed Smith Stadium. An RSVP is required. You need to email Stan Schultes. The first 25 RSVPs get in.

The last Sarasota .NET Pub Club BBQ was a blast, so if you couldn't attend, please try and make this one. The cool thing about the club is that it is very informal and all beginners, hobbyists, and professionals are welcome. The only thing required is a little .NET Love :)

.NET Pub Club - Sarasota .NET Developers - Florida

Dave Hayden — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 10:13:00 GMT

The Sarasota .NET Pub Club hit the ballpark last night to watch the Sarasota Red Sox beat the Palm Beach Cardinals 3-2 in 11 innings. Here are some pictures.

This was my first event and the people and ballgame were great. We had pre-game festivities from 5:30 - 7:00pm, complete with free food, drinks, and a few prize giveaways. I never win anything, but somehow managed to have my prize ticket drawn and won a copy of Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.

The ballgame was excellent with seats right behind the third base dugout. It was “Dollar Night” as well as “Intern Abuse Night“, so we were able to watch Russ Fustino's daughter as well as two other interns 1) wearing grass skirts, 2) dancing, 3) having a pie eating contest, 4) doing “bat” races, and 5) being pelted with water balloons. Great fun!

I met up with Bob Young from the .NET Pub Club, who is starting a Sarasota .NET User Group, which will be associated with INETA and is sponsored by the Sarasota PC Users Group (SPCUG). The first meeting will be August 11th from 6:00 - 8:00pm at the Sarasota Middle School, Room 262.

Russ was hinting we may have another .NET Pub Club Meeting at the ballpark in August, so stay tuned.

Sarasota .NET Pub Club Hits The Ballpark!

Dave Hayden — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 08:50:00 GMT

My first Sarasota .NET Pub Club event. Looking forward to meeting other developers in the area.

Another first in Sarasota Florida! .NET Pub Club hits the Ballpark!
July 22 - Come out for a BBQ before the game on Microsoft. 5:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M. with the Sarasota Red Sox Game to follow at Ed Smith Stadium (2700 12th Street Sarasota, FL). The first 25 RSVP's get in. RSVP is required. RSVP to Stan Schultes.

I left Stan's email off the post so he didn't get spammed to death. If you don't know it, send me a message via my blog or check out the latest MSDN Flash.