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)

Register Now!

Level 200 Sessions


3 Platforms at once? Yes with Xamarin Forms

Following their Multi-platform compilation, Xamarin recently released Xamarin.Forms as an attempt solve the greatest source of frustration for developer, especially mobile developers: interface design ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jason Farrell

Topics: Cross-Platform  


A Look at Team Foundation Server 2015 Build vNext

Team Foundation Server (TFS) has a powerful build system for years. Nevertheless, the next version of TFS will introduce a completely new system. Wondering what this is about and why (again) belongs t ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Paul Hacker

Topics: Cross-Platform   Visual Studio  


Agile Metrics that Matter

When it comes to development methods, lean and agile have clearly taken the lead. In the spirit of Kaizen, this session will take a look at the measures we can glean from agile teams, why the are rele ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Clint Edmonson

Topics: Agile   Development Practices  


Animate all the Things!

Perhaps you’re working on a HTML5 game, or maybe you just want to add a bit of flare to an otherwise boring web page. Animations (even subtle ones) are an essential part of the user experience in toda ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jason Follas

Topics: HTML5   User Experience  


Application Architecture Jumpstart

This presentation distills the best industry guidance into a hands-on approach to designing application architectures. Along the way, we'll examine the key decisions that must be made when choosing ou ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Clint Edmonson

Topics: Architecture Practices  


Apps Are Making Us Dumber

As applications get smarter, design becomes more spartan. Augmented Intelligence allows us to be more anticipatory with our software, and user experience turns into a world of distraction free not ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Heather Wilde

Topics: Architecture Practices  


Are these security defects in your apps?

From lazy dev mistakes, to misconfigurations of frameworks, to accidentally disabling security features in code, and some design flaws sprinkled in for good measure—this talk will be a run down of com ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Tim MalcomVetter

Topics: Architecture Practices   Development Practices   Security  


Be the Center of the Universe with REST & ASP.NET Web API

RESTful services are the next big new, yet not so new thing. After years of dealing with SOAP Developers, Architects and even Users are looking for a simpler alternative for working with resources on ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: James Bender

Topics: ASP.NET   Development Practices   JavaScript   Web Services  


Big Data for the SQL Ninja

Is your data getting too big for SQL? Do you want to work on big data? Hadoop has become the way to store and process big data. If you can write a SQL statement, you can query Hadoop. Let's spend ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Matt Winkler


Bootstrap and MVC

Bootstrap is added by default to MVC because it gives you a great head start on design. In this session we will discuss how to extend MVC to write less Bootstrap markup and the challenges of integrat ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Scott Kuhl

Topics: Development Practices   JavaScript   MVC  


Building an Analytics Platform in Azure

Hadoop, Azure Data Lakes, SQL Server, and PowerBI can all play nicely together. When we capitalize on the burstable scale of Azure, a new vision for analytics starts to emerge. In this session we will ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Marcus Crast

Topics: Azure & Cloud  


Building the Next Generation of MVC Applications on ASP.NET 5.0

ASP.NET 5.0 is Microsoft's biggest and boldest change to its web development stack since ASP.NET replaced Classic ASP. Many of the core skills you have with MVC, Web API and SignalR will carry forward ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Adam Barney

Topics: ASP.NET   MVC   Visual Studio  


Certification: Azure Infracture Services 70-533 Study Session

Any IT Professional working with Microsoft Azure will want to prove their knowledge through passing the Microsoft Certification Test 70-533 in order to achieve the "MCP - Product Specialist: Implement ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Kevin Remde


Chef, Meet Azure

You’ve all seen the little Chef icon when deploying to Azure. What’s it mean? How can you use that in your Azure deployment? In this session we will show you how to integrate Chef on Azure into full d ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Trevor Hess

Topics: Azure & Cloud   DevOps  


Consuming Hypermedia in AngularJS

ReSTful services are all the rage, but most companies skip the HyperMedia part of ReST. This is because it can be hard for the new single-page apps to consume them and get all the benefits of the Hype ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Lee Brandt

Topics: JavaScript  


Create Geospatial Applications with SQL Server, .NET, and the Entity Framework

What are your nearest stores to somebody’s current location? Which policy holders are within 10 miles of a given storm’s track? What percentage of the raw materials in your product was harvested withi ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jason Follas

Topics: Database/SQL   Entity Framework  


Creating Single Page Applications with ASP.NET MVC & Angular

Developing for the web has been ever changing in the past few years. In this session we will take a practical look at creating a Single Page Application that integrates ASP.NET MVC with Angular.js an ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Mitchel Sellers

Topics: ASP.NET   JavaScript   MVC  


Dependency Injection: Eliminate Hidden Dependencies

Enterprise software solutions can be a challenge to maintain and extend. Hidden dependencies and tightly coupled code is often to blame. In this session we will explore a technique to address these c ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Christopher Roberts

Topics: Development Practices  


Don't Forget the Middle-Tier: Pragmatic Middle-Tier Design

In the age of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and the constant debate on whether monolithic or micro services might be the best design path, let’s not forget middle-tier design, which is foundatio ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: John Gobble

Topics: Architecture Practices  


Double Down with DevOps

Are you ready to ease your deployment pains while at the same time making yourself more marketable? DevOps may be a hot buzzword that will get recruiters on the phone, but it will do more for you than ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Duane Newman


Enabling Big Data for .NET Developers

Are you ready to move into the world of Big Data? In this talk we’ll introduce Microsoft’s latest addition to our Big Data services in Azure, offering data developers the ability to process any data, ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Matt Winkler


Full Stack REST with ASP.NET 5, React.js and React Native

Designing and consuming web APIs is simple, but hypermedia-rich REST APIs can be daunting. Hypermedia breaks the client-server coupling, allowing clients to adapt and react to instructions from a REST ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jimmy Bogard

Topics: ASP.NET   JavaScript  


Fun with Mind Reading: Using EEG and Machine Learning to Perform Lie Detection

Today, we have the technology to “read minds” (well, EEG waves!). Using an EPOC headset from Emotiv, I can capture the big data stream of EEG from our brains. In this session, I will share my results ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jennifer Marsman

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Machine Learning  


Hands-Free Apps: Cortana Integration and Speech for your Windows Universal Apps

Cortana is the digital assistant that was first introduced in Windows Phone 8.1, and has since been incorporated into Windows 10 and the Microsoft Band. Using voice (or text) commands, users interact ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jason Follas

Topics: Development Practices  


How to Not Suck at Unit Tests

How to Not Suck at Unit Tests We're told that good devs write unit tests, so we read a couple of tutorials and start writing assertions left and right. We're feeling good. We're in the Red, Green, ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Ben Bishop

Topics: Development Practices  


Identity Management for Your Apps with Azure AD

Developers and organizations often need to manage access to many applications both on premise and in the cloud. In this session Mike will explain what Azure Active Directory has to offer your applicat ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Mike Green

Topics: Azure & Cloud  


Identity Solutions Today with Azure Active Directory

Azure Active Directory (AAD) is one of the largest identity and access management services today. AAD provides identity management for Office 365 and for the Azure platform itself, but it can also wor ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Alexandra Rosenbaum

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Security  


Introduction to Azure Machine Learning: Predict Who Survives the Titantic

Interested in doing machine learning in the cloud? In this talk, I will discuss different types of machine learning (clustering, classification, regression, and anomaly detection) supported by Azure ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jennifer Marsman

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Machine Learning  


Introduction to Hadoop and HDInsight

In this session we will introduce HDInsight, the HortonWorks Hadoop distribution on Azure. We will talk about what Hadoop is, review HDFS, Hive, Spark, Flume, and talk about why it is gaining popular ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jim Welch

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Database/SQL  


Introduction to SQL Server Graphical Execution Plans

Tuning T-SQL queries is both an art and a science. SQL Server comes with several free tools you can use to understand just what is going on under the hood with a particular query and how the performan ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Kathi Kellenberger

Topics: Database/SQL  


IoT and Azure – Better Together

Easily the most over-used buzzword of the year, IoT is everywhere. It is a big deal and Microsoft is making big bets on IoT for both Azure and Windows. We will go through this strategy and talk abou ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jim Welch

Topics: Azure & Cloud   IoT  


Making the Most of C# 6 - Understanding Language Features

Visual Studio 2015 is finally out in the hands of developers and we have yet another revolution in the C# language and a number of great time saving and code quality improvements. This session will u ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Mitchel Sellers

Topics: C#/Language  


Microsoft Azure Without Microsoft

Microsoft Azure is a highly-scalable cloud computing platform. But what if my business is built on Linux and Oracle? What if I build iPhone or Android apps for a living? What if I’m a PHP developer or ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: David Giard

Topics: Azure & Cloud   Cross-Platform  


Mind the Gap: Building Cross Platform Applications in Visual Studio 2015

This is a session that will dive into building cross platform mobile applications using Visual Studio 2015 with Cordova. I will cover creating Cordova applications, access device features such as the ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jeffrey St. Germain

Topics: Cross-Platform   Visual Studio   Web Services  


React.js for the .NET Developer

Heard about React.js and want to get in on the party? A fast-paced walkthrough of building a responsive, single page app using React.js, this session will provide a solid foundation in the basics of R ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Mark Meadows

Topics: JavaScript  


Real-Time Cross-Platform Mobile Apps using Xamarin and SignalR

Refreshing is out, real time data is in. No longer is it good enough to expect your users to pull to refresh or reload an app to get the latest data from your service. Modern frameworks have made it ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Spencer Schneidenbach

Topics: Cross-Platform   JavaScript  


Refactoring CSS with Sass & Compass

Does your CSS code remind you of an episode of Hoarders? In this session we'll look at how to apply back-end development principles like OOP, DRY, SoC, and Encapsulation to CSS using Sass and Compass. ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Ed Charbeneau

Topics: HTML5   MVC   Visual Studio  


Scaling architecture for your shop

A dive into scaling architecture to meet your business' needs. When making these decisions it is easy to get bogged down in a myriad of decisions on is an ORM needed, should we go with Web API or WCF ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Paul Sears

Topics: Architecture Practices  


Securing Login Systems

With all the recent hacks occurring across several industries, security is becoming a big deal in the eyes of users. This session will explore the basic threat models for a login system and cover the ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jonathan Gorday

Topics: Security  


SEO for Developers

You built a great website! Your stakeholders love it! Fast forward a month and now the people who were singing your praises are complaining that there's no traffic and no one can find the site. Wh ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Joel Kauffman


SpecFlow for Agile Teams

Acceptance Test-Driven Development is a test methodology that picks up where Unit Testing ends and can be leveraged to make testing a collaborative effort for the entire agile team. We’ll look at t ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Alejandro Ramirez

Topics: Agile  


SQL Server Indexing Strategies

This intermediate level session includes key considerations for optimizing SQL Server performance with proper indexes. A brief review of traditional b-tree and memory-optimized index structures is fo ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Dan Guzman

Topics: Database/SQL  


TAP into async programming

The Task-based Asynchronous Pattern introduced with Visual Studio 2010 provides a simple way to manage asynchronous and multithreaded code, and the async programming model introduced with Visual Studi ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Chris Dahlberg

Topics: C#/Language   Development Practices  


TFS & GIT: How to Enable Remote Teams To Work Efficiently

Git is a free version control system known for its speed, reliability, and non-linear development model. Created by Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux), Git is a distributed version control tool whereas ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Derrick Cawthon

Topics: DevOps   Visual Studio  


The Justice League . . . and how our developers made us into Super Heroes!

This session will be presented by two Project Management Super Heroes who will be dressed for the part (Mandi Septer and Jenifer Spencer). It is a "how to" in reverse. It will be over what we have l ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jenifer Spencer

Topics: Agile   Project Management  


The Secrets of LINQ: the modern day Houdini

To many, LINQ is magic, but when you pull up the curtains, turn on the lights and see what the magician is doing, all becomes clear. You to have access to all the same constructs that LINQ uses to do ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Brian Korzynski

Topics: C#/Language  


The Top 5 Mistakes You are Probably Making with SQL Server

SQL Server is a popular and powerful relational database system. It's easy to install with just a few clicks. Create a database, and you are in business. It will run great without much attention...unt ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Kathi Kellenberger

Topics: Database/SQL  


Think Like an Attacker: Web Security (feat. ASP.NET 4.6/5 and MVC 5/6)

We've all implemented things such as authentication, authorization, login forms, etc., but many developers do so without really understanding what's going on under the hood. By truly understanding how ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Haz Parakrama

Topics: ASP.NET   MVC   Security  


Use Cloud-Based Load Testing Service to Find Scale and Performance Bottlenecks in Your Applications

Do you find it painful to set up infrastructure to run performance and load tests? Do you think load testing is an expensive affair? Do you have a need for testing your service with a large burst load ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Randy Pagels


Using Microsoft Azure for Disaster Recovery

Come learn the fundamentals of Microsoft’s pubic cloud and see how you could be using Microsoft Azure as part of your wider disaster recovery (DR) plans. As you think about your DR strategy, there co ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Kevin Remde


UX for Developers

With the everchanging landscape of devices, web and native applications on both mobile and Desktop, developers are increasingly expected to understand how to create user experiences. UX expectations a ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: John Alexander

Topics: User Experience  


Windows 10 for the Enterprise

Windows 10 brings a wealth of new features and solutions to the enterprise. In this session you'll learn about new security, management, and deployment features of Windows 10, and we'll show you some ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Kevin Remde


You arent using Xamarin? You really should be

Xamarin is cross compilation framework that allows developers to have their cake and eat it too. Leveraging a consistent language and the ability to share large amount of across multiple platforms, n ... more

Level: Intermediate

Speaker: Jason Farrell

Topics: Cross-Platform