The 3-day event filled with knowledge and networking opportunities

November 12-14, 2015

Ameristar Casino & Resort
One Ameristar Blvd
St. Charles, MO 63301 (Map)

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Level 100 Sessions


"JavaScript" is Not a Dirty Word

If you’re an ASP.NET Web or Client Side developer, the name “JavaScript” may induce feelings of dread or even terror. It’s weird. It’s not type-safe. It’s kind of flaky. It’s hard to debug. Heck, it’s ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: James Bender

Topics: JavaScript  


3 Simple Things for Increased Productivity

You want to be more productive, but in the world of cellphones, instant messaging, social networks and cube life, it can be tough. In this session, you'll learn how to get more than 15 minutes of actu ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Michael Eaton

Topics: Software Career  


A crash course in responsive design

With the increasing variety of web enabled devices entering the market, the next generation of the web will need to be more flexible than ever before. In this session we will explore how Responsive De ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Ed Charbeneau

Topics: User Experience  


A Swift Introduction to Swift

Swift is an exciting new language introduced by Apple during WWDC 2014. Taking cues from modern languages such as Rust and F#, Swift is a refreshing replacement for the aging Objective-C language. App ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brent Schooley

Topics: Development Practices  


Advanced Visual Studio for Beginners

Visual Studio 2015 in all its varients is a powerful tool that most developers use only a fraction of. In this talk we will explore all the little features that distinguishes Visual Studio as the indu ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Bryan Roberts

Topics: Visual Studio  


Agile Transitions From The Trenches

There's been a lot of talk recently about Agile software development. As people try to make the transition, they generally find themselves stumbling and maybe even giving up on Agile altogether. In th ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Lee Brandt

Topics: Agile   Development Practices  


An introduction to Azure hosting for the ASP.NET developer

This session targets developers and teams considering the move to Azure for their applications and wanting to get a complete walkthrough of setting up a new project targeting Azure, figuring out how b ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Kevin Grossnicklaus

Topics: Azure & Cloud  


Arduino Programming with Visual Studio 2015

The Arduino family of microcontrollers is a big player in the Maker movement. These simple, cheap, open-source microcontroller boards enable the rapid prototyping of projects. They will probably get e ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Matthew Heironimus

Topics: IoT   Visual Studio  


Arduino, Pi, Edison - What's the difference?

There are so many boards you can buy to build "Internet of Things" devices: Arduino, Netduino, Raspberry Pi, Electric Imp, Intel Edison, etc. - and the list is growing all the time! In this session we ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jesse Phelps


Automate Your Workflow, Enhance Your Workflow, Maintain Your Sanity with Gulp

Have you ever joined a project already in development? Maybe you've taken over a project from another developer. It's a fact; the majority of projects these days have multiple developers working in un ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brandon Krueger

Topics: Development Practices   DevOps  


Be a Data Liberator with Power BI

Do you want to be the hero that liberates your team's data with first class visualizations in less than an hour? This session will show you how to do it. Power BI is a full offering that allows you to ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Steve Howard

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Database/SQL  


Build Awesome Mobile Apps With Visual Studio, HTML5 and the Ionic Framework

We all know how important it is to have a native mobile app for your business these days. In the past, shipping an app on multiple mobile platforms either required separate codebases, kludgy write-onc ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Mike Hamilton

Topics: Cross-Platform   HTML5   Visual Studio  


Career Development - State of the St. Louis IT Market

What the current local conditions are of the St. Louis IT Market and guidelines for directing your career to the level you are seeking. ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: John Maglione

Topics: Software Career  


Carpe Diem

Seize the day in everything that you do. This course talks about embracing what comes naturally to each of us and using it to create and grown your daily success. This course will talk to how attitu ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Katherine White

Topics: Software Career  


Chef on Azure - Let’s Get Cooking

Infrastructure as code is becoming increasingly popular across the industry. Automating configuration management creates a repeatable and testable process for infrastructure deployment, allows for sel ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Alexandra Rosenbaum

Topics: Azure & Cloud   DevOps  


Clean Code

Inspired by Steve McConnell’s “Code Complete”, Uncle Bob’s “Clean Code” and Andrew Hunt’s “The Pragmatic Programmer”, this session reviews best practices for writing code in a style that’s easy to cre ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Steve Green

Topics: Development Practices  


Coder Careers: Leaders, Managers and Guides

Being a developer (or analyst or tester) is a very different role than managing fellow developers (or analysts or testers). In this session we will explore: 1. Do you really want to be a manager? ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Melissa Green

Topics: Software Career  


Continuous Delivery & Operational Visibility

Leverage the capabilities of the cloud to enable Continuous Delivery. Continuous delivery, however, is more than just the rapid development, testing, and deployment of application features. It also i ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: R. Michael Querimit

Topics: Azure & Cloud   DevOps   Visual Studio  


Data Governance - Whose responsibility is it?

Data fueled applications are everywhere in the organization. New projects are acquiring data from outside the organization at an exponential rate. Business partnerships are being formed and data is ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: David Harper

Topics: Database/SQL  


Database Projects in Visual Studio

Simplify coordination of changes across multiple teams, environments, applications, and projects. While storing all iterations of changes in a version control system. I will be talking about the featu ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Ronnie Hicks

Topics: Database/SQL   Visual Studio  


Deconstructing the Scaled Agile Framework

With so many process frameworks and methodologies out there, it’s hard to know where to begin. And just when everyone seems to be warming up to agile, here comes SCALED agile. But how is SAFe really d ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Angela Dugan

Topics: Agile   Architecture Practices  


Design Pattern Abuse

There is a right and wrong way to use design patterns. In my experience, this has been a surprisingly controversial topic. Don't believe me? Come with your experiences and opinions. I'll bring mine an ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Patrick Delancy

Topics: Architecture Practices  


Developing for the Microsoft Band

Extend the experience of your application to your users' wrists via a new dimension of interaction. Create a personalized, data-rich, custom experience and enhanced scenarios that will engage your use ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Scott Spradlin

Topics: IoT  


DevOps on the Microsoft Stack

Understand the FULL story on how Microsoft can help with DevOps regardless of what technology or architecture your customers are using in this demo-heavy session. You’ll be sure to see a mix of open s ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Randy Pagels


Discover PowerShell DSC

PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) is a PowerShell extension that enables you to automate configuration management. With DSC, you describe how you want a machine setup, deploy that configura ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Josh Gillespie

Topics: Development Practices  


Distributed Agile

We live and work in a global and distributed environment. It is no longer the norm to have everyone in one location for software development projects. Whether people are working from home, or the othe ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jonathan Mills

Topics: Agile   DevOps  


Electronics 101 for IoT Developers

Making the leap in to IoT development used to be riddled with obstacles, ranging from choices of programming languages to cost and features of development boards to the pain of getting these devices a ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Adam Barney

Topics: IoT  


Entity Framework for Non-Sadists

Goal: Writing concise, readable, and efficient Entity Framework queries Summary: With Entity Framework being the Microsoft recommended method for data access, it’s imperative that developers learn ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Nathan Gomez

Topics: Entity Framework  


Everybody Into The Pool! Node.js For .Net Developers

It seems like Node.js is showing up everywhere these days. It’s a hot topic at user groups, Microsoft supports it in Azure, heck, even people at your day job are talking about it! Why not get your toe ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Matthew Soucoup

Topics: JavaScript  


From Introvert to International Speaker in Two Years or Less

Why do people speak at conferences? And how do they get started in the first place? Rest assured, the barriers to entry are surprisingly low and the benefits are immense. Get into major conferences, ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Cory House

Topics: Software Career  


Game On! Level: Tell me a Story. Intro to Unity and Visual Studio Scripting

Ever wanted to build video games but was at a loss on where to start? Well, now a days it is easier than it ever has been to build video games and deploy them to multiple platforms using a Free IDE ca ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jeffrey St. Germain

Topics: Development Practices  


Gender Imbalance in the Science and Tech World

It's no secret that the science and technology world today is dominated by men. Fortunately, over the past few years there has been an uprising of awareness and progress in efforts to balance the fiel ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Haz Parakrama

Topics: Software Career  


Getting Started with 3D Printing

The future is here! Right? 3D printing seems like something straight out of a science fiction movie, but is it everything we've dreamt it could be? In short, no. Not yet. Jumping in to 3D printin ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Adam Barney


Getting Started with Ember.js 2.0

Ember.js is an exciting client-side application framework that makes it very easy to get a lot accomplished with very little code. Once you understand the basics of how Ember.js handles basic web appl ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brent Schooley

Topics: Architecture Practices   Development Practices   JavaScript  


Getting your Web Projects Production Ready with Gulp

With modern web applications, there is a lot of give in take. Less and Sass make for simpler development, but I have to compile them for use. Splitting out my .js files makes my code more readable and ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jonathan Mills

Topics: ASP.NET   JavaScript  


Git your .NET On!

People generally don't think of version control systems as cool. That was before Git came along. Git is a distributed version control system that gives developer a level of power and flexibility that ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: James Bender

Topics: DevOps  


Go Mobile with Xamarin and C#

Considering nearly two-thirds of American adults now own smartphones, it’s no wonder mobile development is becoming increasingly popular. With Xamarin, you can quickly become a native application deve ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Krystin Stutesman

Topics: C#/Language   Mobile  


Hands On with the Internet of Things

Get hands on with Microsoft Open Source and IoT initiatives. In this session, we will play with Raspberry PI, Arduino, and Sensors to create a real time feedback loop that takes data from the Amerista ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brian Blanchard

Topics: IoT  


How TFS 2015 is Going to Rock Your Agile world!

If you’ve been using Team Foundation Server for a while, you know it can do everything short of making you a latte as you walk into your morning scrum. TFS has come a long way in the last 10 years, an ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Angela Dugan

Topics: Agile   DevOps  


How to Climb the AngularJS Learning Curve

AngularJS is one of the most popular JavaScript Frameworks. It checks all the boxes that one would want in a framework: “2-way binding”, “MVC”, “Declarative html” and “Easy DOM Manipulation”. Lately ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brian Yuan

Topics: JavaScript   MVC  


How to Succeed in OSS Without Really Trying

Let's not kid ourselves - OSS is fun to create but that's really just the beginning. In order to have a truly successful OSS project, it requires discipline, sometimes years so. I've been lucky enough ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jimmy Bogard

Topics: Software Career  


Implementing Continuous Integration in .NET for cheapskates

Using Continuous Integration in your project is a great way to significantly reduce integration problems, identify and resolve issues quickly, and develop cohesive software more rapidly. In this sess ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Matthew Henroid

Topics: DevOps  


Into the next dimension: The future of Big data, AI & Augmented reality

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of data; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of the imagination. In this talk we will learn ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Ed Charbeneau


Intro to Calabash and Xamarin Test Cloud

With 18,000 different Android devices and various flavors of the Android OS installed on said devices, ensuring quality via testing on Android is extremely difficult. Enter Xamarin Test Cloud. In t ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Ben Bishop

Topics: Cross-Platform  


Introduction to Amazon AWS

Amazon AWS is the other main player in cloud computing. They have many of the same offerings as Azure, but also some that are different. We'll take a look at the basics such as SQS, S3, EC2, SNS, and ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brian Korzynski

Topics: Azure & Cloud  


Introduction to Dev-Ops: 2+2=5

As professionals in the software development industry, we're asked to deliver value more quickly to our business overlords. We have suffered through terminology changes of how to act: Agile, ALM, and ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Chris Kadel

Topics: Agile   DevOps  


Introduction to DocumentDB

DocumentDB is the document database offering on the Azure platform. We'll take a look at what is, how you can use it, how much it costs, and how it compares to other cloud-based document database offe ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brian Korzynski

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Database/SQL  


IoT: Raspberry Pi 2 + Windows 10 = Limitless Possibilities

With the release of Windows 10 a whole new world has been unleashed as it relates to the Internet of Things. In this session we will explore device construction and programming using Visual Studio 20 ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Mitchel Sellers

Topics: IoT  


Lessons Learned from Working Remotely: No Pants Required

Stuck in a cube and want to convince your boss to let you work remotely? Already working remotely and struggling to be productive? What are some things you can do to make life easier as a lone(ly) dev ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Michael Eaton

Topics: Software Career  


Level Up with PowerShell

Time is a valuable and precious resource, and it seems there are never enough hours in a day. Come learn how PowerShell can empower you to be a more effective developer. We'll look at how PowerShell c ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brent Stewart


Leveraging Dynamics CRM in the Digital Customer Era

IDC predicts that by 2016, 65% of organizations' infrastructure investments will target systems of engagement and insight rather than maintaining existing systems of record. As we move into this new ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Sheila Shahpari


Own Your Own Career – Advice from a Veteran Consultant

I have witnessed or committed many mistakes during my decades of consulting. I will pack into this presentation as much advice as I can about managing your career and your customer as you traverse the ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: David Giard

Topics: Software Career  


Rapid Mobile Prototyping with Xamarin.Forms

Prototypes are extremely useful, but can be expensive and time consuming to create - especially if you are asked to create them for multiple platforms. In this session, you will be introduced to wiref ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Krystin Stutesman

Topics: Cross-Platform   Mobile  


Reclaiming Agile Development: Don't let the cat die...

Regardless of how you feel about felines, dead cats stink. What also stinks is what is happening to agile development practices. What started as a movement to increase quality and usefulness of code w ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Paul Holway

Topics: Agile   Development Practices  


ReSharper: Discover the Secrets

Whether you’re new to ReSharper or have been using it for years, there are a host of lesser-known features that can save you loads of time. ReSharper is used by a growing number of developers to speed ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Ondrej Balas

Topics: Development Practices   Visual Studio  


Scenarios for Taking Advantage of Cloud Computing

You’ve heard of the cloud but you are unclear how it is relevant to you and how to use it for your business. In this session, I will cover a number of scenarios in which cloud computing can help a bus ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: David Giard

Topics: Architecture Practices   Azure & Cloud  


Share your passions with others using podcasts

Sure some podcasts such as the awesome Dot Net Rocks show have been around for 10+ years, but that does not mean you have to just sit back and be a consumer, become a producer! In this session, you ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Kevin Harvell

Topics: Software Career  


Sincerely, Allan: Tales of a Woman in Tech

As a 15+ year veteran of the startup world, including over 5 years designing and managing online game properties for EA, SOE, Disney, THQ and others, I've had an interesting perspective on life, the u ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Heather Wilde

Topics: Software Career  


Smaller Not Taller: Defeating the Mobile Application Architecture giant

Making the right decisions for a mobile project can be a very involved process of trial and error before you find a good fit. Wouldn't it be nice if you had a map? In this session we will compare fram ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Heather Downing

Topics: Cross-Platform   Mobile  


Soft Skills - the new required skill to succeed

Technical skills are not the only skills required to be successful in this industry. Creating software is a social activity. Understanding and adapting to the environment and culture is vital in your ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jenissa Moore

Topics: Software Career  


Soft Skills in a Professional Environment

This course will cover what soft skills actually are and how they help to build a person professionally and technically. It will cover important soft skills that will best influence and assist in the ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Katherine White

Topics: Software Career  


SQL Server Q&A with Dan and Kathi

Do you have SQL Server questions but don't know whom to ask? Bring your questions to this SQL Server Q&A open forum. Microsoft Data Platform MVPs Kathi Kellenberger and Dan Guzman will on hand to an ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Dan Guzman

Topics: Database/SQL  


Start Up and Git Done: Using Visual Studio Online

Want to change the world? Make a lot of money? Preferably both? For a limited time only, I'm offering a few lucky individuals the opportunity to invest in my exciting new startup! The official details ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jeff McKenzie

Topics: Visual Studio  


Stop Killing Requirements!

As many organizations have moved away from waterfall into more agile-based processes requirements (both business and functional) tend to get shoved to the curb. In this session we will explore how bus ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Melissa Green

Topics: Agile  


Team Foundation Server Building Extravaganza 2015

Things like continuous integration and automated build are pretty ubiquitous in the industry today. Microsoft has changed the build system significantly in TFS 2015 and in this talk, we intend to tak ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Chris Kadel

Topics: DevOps  


The .NET Execution Environment (DNX) and its Ecosystem

Microsoft is investing heavily in the Open Web and cross-platform development. This investment has led to the creation of the .NET Execution Environment (DNX) and a host of new tools to support it. ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Darren Hale

Topics: Cross-Platform  


The API Economy

Who would have thought that API's would be such a popular new "face" of organizations? For some companies, these API's are a new way to attract customers. For others, API's offer a completely new reve ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jeff Fattic

Topics: Azure & Cloud   DevOps   Web Services  


The Business Side of Starting Your Business

Starting a business is a dream for many professionals, and IT pros are no exception. The draw of independence, growth, and profit potential are all appealing to the right kind of individual. Indeed be ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jeff Strauss

Topics: Software Career  


Tools and Techniques for Efficiently Running a Software Company or Managing a Software Team

Managing a software team or company can be tricky and one of the things we often get asked about is how we do this efficiently. During this session ArchitectNow President Kevin Grossnicklaus will di ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Kevin Grossnicklaus

Topics: DevOps  


Trends in the World of Data

Are you curious what the proverbial Jones family is up to? This session is designed to look at some of the data industry "mega trends" that are not only disrupting how we view data, but how we store ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: David Harper

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Database/SQL   Security  


User Experience at Every Level

"User Experience is included at every level of business. This can be seen in the culture of a company. Through the content, products and services that the employees create, the company engages with it ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Christina Aldan

Topics: User Experience  


What Should I Learn Next? Owning the Tech Adoption Curve

Today, more than ever, we’re overwhelmed with a seemingly endless list of technologies to consider. Frameworks, libraries, and even languages come and go at such a furious pace that no individual can ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Cory House

Topics: Development Practices   Software Career  


What's new in C# 6.0 and Visual Studio 2015

With a new Visual Studio, a new iteration of the C# language is also released. Both are refinements of their prior versions, but it is always nice to know what are the new things that Microsoft have p ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Muljadi Budiman

Topics: C#/Language   Visual Studio  


Why A Ten-Billion-Dollar Snapchat Is Good News For You: Knowing and Getting Your Market Value

Don't we love to talk about the latest twenty-something overnight Internet billionaires, and their apps worth so much on paper, in stock, for cash, or even in trade for countless strands of bright, sh ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Jeff McKenzie

Topics: Software Career  


Why and How of Code Review

Is code review needed? Why should we do code review? How can code review be facilitated? What are the things that should be looked at during a code review? A lot of people have heard of code review, b ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Muljadi Budiman


Why did my Website/Web Service do that?

In this session we will use API Manager and App Insights (Low cost monitoring solutions in the cloud) to pinpoint performance issues in a production application. Find that slow service or controller q ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Brian Blanchard

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Web Services  


Why React?

Are you building apps with jQuery, Angular, Backbone, Knockout, or Ember today? Well come hang out with the new kid on the block! React offers a variety of novel ideas that will completely change the ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Cory House

Topics: JavaScript  


XAML: So easy, a web developer can do it

You're a web developer with years of experience creating amazing web applications, but you've just been assigned to a *gasp* WPF project! Because you're an expert developer, you're expected to love th ... more

Level: Beginner

Speaker: Michael Eaton