Register Now for VA Smalltalk Summit 2009

[wembley]

Register Now for VA Smalltalk Summit 2009 - A Virtual Conference You Can Attend Online

On April 21 - 22, 2009, we'll be offering a series of complimentary webcasts that bring together customers, community and key members of our Smalltalk team. Here is a summary agenda:

Day 1: MANAGEMENT & TECHNICAL, April 21, 2009

• VA Smalltalk: Today, Tomorrow...and Beyond
• VA Smalltalk 8.0
• Not Your Regular Pet Project: Using Smalltalk and Seaside in the Enterprise
• Creating VAStGoodies.com - a VA Smalltalk Seaside User Experience
• Experiences with Enterprise Application Integration using MQSeries and Web Services

Day 2: TECHNICAL, April 22, 2009

• RESTful Web Services in VA Smalltalk
• Web Services in VA Smalltalk: Enhancements for 8.0, Overview of Deployment Strategies and Debugging Tips
• Implementing Genetic Algorithms Efficiently in Smalltalk
• Gaining Object Persistence
• Open Q&A – Instantiations Staff

To see a full agenda and to register for one or more sessions:

• Visit the Instantiations WebEx registration site.
• Click "more" at the bottom of the list to view all the sessions.
• Click on individual session titles to read their descriptions.
• View the list, check sessions of interest, and click on "Register" to begin the registration process.

If you have questions, email vastsummit2009@instantiations.com.

[marten]

Is there a way to test the technology prior the event ? Actually it would be bad, if one notice, that some stuff is not working due to local technical problems - at least considering sound etc ...

Marten

[marten]

Is there a way to test the technology prior the event ? Actually it would be bad, if one notice, that some stuff is not working due to local technical problems - at least considering sound etc ...

Marten

I went to that site and my first tests (under Ubuntu 8.10/AMD) went pretty well. Then I tried to view some recorded sessions and this simply failed, because WebEx told me, that Java has not been enabled (which is not true). Then I try to join some meetings - failed. Strange ! Additional downloadable software is only available under Windows and MacOS.

Therefore I would like to know, what actually is needed for that event ....

[wembley]

Marten -

I am on the phone with WebEx technical support now since I can't get on from Firefox on Ubuntu 7.10. I will post instructions for Linux when I get them from WebEx.

[wembley]

Marten -

OK, 1-1/2 hours on the phone with a WebEx technical support guy and it still doesn't run in Firefox on Ubuntu 7.10. I got several different and conflicting bits of advice from this guy, but none of them did any good.

WebEx has a Toll Free number in Germany (go to http://support.webex.com/support/support-overview.html and click on Contact Support to see the contact numbers. If you do call and they can get you running, please post here.

But my best guess right now is that if you aren't using Windows or OSX, it isn't going to work. Sorry ...

[daswartz]

Some of the sessions which I would like to hear are at very inconvenient times. Will recorded playback of the sessions be available after the summit?

Thank you
Doug Swartz

[wembley]

Some of the sessions which I would like to hear are at very inconvenient times. Will recorded playback of the sessions be available after the summit?

Yes, all sessions will be recorded and available for playback after the event.

[schepurny]

Some of the sessions which I would like to hear are at very inconvenient times. Will recorded playback of the sessions be available after the summit?

Yes, all sessions will be recorded and available for playback after the event.

I don't mean to rush you, but are they available yet? And if so, where?

[marten]

Some of the sessions which I would like to hear are at very inconvenient times. Will recorded playback of the sessions be available after the summit?

Yes, all sessions will be recorded and available for playback after the event.

I don't mean to rush you, but are they available yet? And if so, where?

They mentioned - during the conference - one or two weeks ...

Marten

[marten]

Register Now for VA Smalltalk Summit 2009 - A Virtual Conference You Can Attend Online

After all - nice virtual event. Not many technical problems, some nice presentations, the publishing of VA80 was a nice present - but I have to admit: I missed the contact to other attendees, the reactions of them. After the first session I went to Skype and opened an account and I have to admit: pretty good way and very cheap.

At least in the Q&A sessions of each talk (and especially in the Open Q&A session) I liked to see/hear more "real" people, asking their questions via Skype (if possible and in addition to the other questions enterey via keyboard) - just to give a more personal feeling of the whole event.

After the last session closed I sat in front of my computer and ask myself: "And now ? That's it ? All gone ? Ok, I go to bed ..."

Perhaps for the next event: consider (small) videos, more pictures of the persons and the possibility to make video conferences with other attendees - e.g.between the talks. (if this is possible ...)

A big "thank-you" to Tina Kvavle, which did a *very good* job in organizing/managing the event and sessions.

Considering the technical answers, well Instantiations could hire lots of developers to fullfill all the wishes of the customers.

One the one side, the Windows platform is by far the most important platform. But very special support for Windows ? Not really on the agenda. Mike Taylor showed, that most of the people leaving Smalltalk were leading towards Java (not .NET). This would indicate, that people were looking for multi-platform solutions. Very difficult to interpret. Updated look and feel for Linux (Gtk was mentioned several times) - not on the agenda.

But after all: the new version is there and now we have to play with it ....

[daswartz]

I would also like to congratulate and thank Instantiations for a very good "green" event.

Like, Marten, I found what I missed most was the ability to interact with other people attending the conference. There were various topics montioned during the Q & A periods that I would have loved to discuss with the questioners, but there was no way to do so in the particular format chosen. I suggest for the next such conference (I hope there will be more) that avenues be created for this kind of discussion. Maybe a Twitter Channel, or a more real-time bulletin/discussion board like HyperOffice or Etherpad or Thinkature.

Doug Swartz

[marten]

The recorded sessions are available now and ready for download - when playing the recordings one is able to
see the list of attendees - just to get an impression, how many people were online, listing to the sessions and how large the active user base is

Marten