Parties

360idev – it’s a wrap

October 5, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

I don’t even know where to begin, trying to wrap up the conference. David does a really great job of capturing why we do what we do, read it. It’s worth the read, but here’s a few of the many gems of why I love doing what I do.

We’ve raved on this blog about the speakers already, so I’ll wrap that up with, EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS AWESOME! That’s really all there is to say. Special thanks to David Whatley, not only did he agree to speak at the last minute, but also stepped up to moderate a frakkin’ awesome lunch time panel on “The App Store” that inspired us to make sure panels are a bigger priority in future schedules.

We had a really great time, Tom and I both agree, the 4 days of actual conference make up for the 5 months of looking for sponsors, selling tickets, dealing with hotels, etc. It’s so amazing to be with such an incredible brain trust, exchanging ideas, talking opening about troubles and successes in iPhone development.

So much cool stuff happened too, that the mind wobbles, whether it’s every attendee getting a Mobile Sketchbook, courtesy of Apress and Dean Kaplan, or Aurora Feint Releasing Open Feint 2.1.

Our official sponsor, Apress provided 30 some odd books for our raffle, and Ebags (Local Denver Company!) provided 5 backpacks as well. The raffle is our way of encouraging attendees to participate in session surveys, and it works. We had a ton of submissions and since each submission is an entry in the raffle, those who submitted for each session they attended had awesome odds, and it showed.

We also got to experience what will now be a full fledged feature of the conference. The Game Jam. Mad props to Noel for throwing it together. I admit I was little unsure whether 1 night was enough to roll out a game, even a rough one. Turns out it’s enough time to turn out several.

Filed Under: Community, Content, Denver, Drinks, Gaming, Geeking Out, Hands-On, Keynote, Networking, Parties, speakers, Sponsors Tagged With: awesome, Denver, Hands-On training, Keynote, speakers, Sponsors

360iDev Party Highlight: iLime by KeyLimeTie

September 18, 2009 By Tom 1 Comment

iLime by KeyLimeTie

Our friends at KeyLimeTie have created a great new service called iLime. It’s a service to help you implement Push Notifications. To help get the word out about it, they’ve sponsored a party for the fine attendees of 360|iDev.

Join the iLime team Tuesday night. The party will take place right outside the meeting rooms. They’re party will even have an opening act: The Compilers (a local Denver band). After the compiler set, the iLime demos will start to play in heavy rotation. There won’t be a need to stay in the demo room, walk around and just check in now and then. See what the guys have to offer and tell them thanks for the party.

If you can’t wait until Tuesday night to learn about iLime’s Push services, no worries. Chris Grove, Enterprise Architect for Mobile at KeyLimeTie, will be giving a session. Here’s the details:

Integrating Push Notifications in your iPhone application with iLime

Monday, September 28, 1:00-2:20 P. M.

Chris Grove, Enterprise Architect for Mobile, KeyLimeTie

Integrating Push Notifications in your iPhone application with iLime
Monday, September 28, 1:00-2:20 P. M.
Chris Grove, Enterprise Architect for Mobile, KeyLimeTie

With the internet, there’s no need to wait until Tuesday or even Monday of the show to get in touch with these guys. You can follow them on twitter (@iLimeBuzz) or drop ‘em a line at info@ilime.com to get the conversation going. I’ve been chatting with them for weeks, and they’re a great bunch of guys.

Remember the only way to get into the party is to be at the show, so go buy your ticket pronto. We’re down to the final week. Don’t miss your chance on what’s going to be a great event!

Filed Under: Denver, Drinks, Gaming, Parties, Reasons to Come, speakers Tagged With: iLime, KeyLimeTie, Party, Push

360iDev – Live Music Tuesday Night

September 14, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

So there’s these 3 guys I know, all musically talented, all developers. What do you get in that perfect storm of talent? The Compilers of course!

Tuesday night, before we get into Full on Rock Band mode! The compilers will play a set to get everyone going! Beer, some grub, live music, and a ton of iPhone developers, can’t think of a better way to spend the evening after a day at a conference :) I’ve had them play at Ignite Denver and they’re great!

Better yet, being the technology guys they are, a few songs actually use the iPhone as an instrument! So yeah music that is relevant to the conference! Hard to beat that!

So make sure Tuesday night after the last session you join us in the main room for The Compilers before we kick off the party!! It’s gonna be awesome!

Filed Under: Announcements, Denver, Drinks, Geeking Out, Parties Tagged With: awesome, Denver, music, Schedule

360iDev – got Plans wednesday night? (30th)

September 11, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

Interesting story, and why we love doing what we do.

We got an email from Ali a while back, she’s out of work, looking to volunteer for the show, because she couldn’t afford the reg price. We noodled on the idea for a while, and while we typically don’t need a lot of man power (That’s part of why it doesn’t cost much to attend) we wanted to help out.

We wrote her back and agreed to let her volunteer around the conference. Before you open up a new email, we’ve accepted 2 people to help out, which is 2 more than we usually accept, and we’re not accepting more, we would if we could, but we just can’t, our margins aren’t high enough on each ticket to give away 20 or so to those who can’t afford it.

Back to the story, the only night Ali isn’t free is Wednesday night (which is ok, we normally have no official activities on Wed. night) because her band is playing at a local venue in Denver, just north of the conference.

So as of now, we have an official/unofficial outing for Wednesday night. We’re going to trek (It’s walkable, but not short) to Larimer Lounge to see Choke the Word perform!

Ali sent us a few MP3′s so ya’ll can see what they sound like. If you dig it, print out this sheet of tickets. They get points for every ticket that comes in and if they get 50 they get more bookings, so help ‘em out. It’ll be fun!

Songs:

Horseman

In June

Secretion

It’s stuff like this that makes this job awesome! Not only do we get to help people when we can, but we can be a part of things external to iPhone development sometimes and just enjoy music. Did we mention the band that’s playing Tuesday AT the conference? More on that next post.

Filed Under: Community, Denver, Geeking Out, Networking, Parties Tagged With: Denver, location, music

360iDev – Get Yer Game on!

August 18, 2009 By John 4 Comments

Chuck Smith brought up a great idea, and we’re more than happy to help support and promote it.

What is it?

iPhone Game Tournie! The two current suggestions are Worms(iTunes Link), and Tap Tap Revenge(iTunes Link) but Chuck is open to other suggestions. Leave a comment if you’re intersted or wanna propose a different game.

For our part Tom and I will help figure out how to set up something so everyone can watch some of the heats on the big screens around the conference.

So if there’s a game you’re pretty bad ass at, let us and Chuck know so we can get this bad mama jama ironed out!

GAME ON!

Can’t play unless you’re there! Register now to be a part of the best iPhone conference in the country! See you in September!

Filed Under: Community, Denver, Gaming, Geeking Out, Parties, Reasons to Come Tagged With: awesome, Denver, Gaming

360iDev – iPhone Dev Conferences Compared

July 31, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

With a few alternatives to 360|iDev coming up, we thought it might make sense to talk about the options available to the community. This way those, who haven’t decided, can make the most informed decision.

You basically have 3 choices: iPhoneDevCamp, 360|iDev, and Voices That Matter. (in Chrono order)

Name	iPhoneDevCamp	360\|iDev	VTM: iPhone Conf.
Dates	8/1 – 8/2 Party (7/31)	9/27 – 9/30 (Parties 3 nights)	10/17 – 10/18 (No party listed)
size (capacity)	500	400	unknown
speakers	33ish	40+	14
Price	$50	$499 (First 100 were $360)	$699 (Early bird $495 thru 9/13)
Audience	Hobbyist/Developer	Developer/Business	Developer
Location	Silicon Valley, CA plus satellite locations	Denver, CO	Boston, MA

So what makes sense for you? Well, let’s go through some of the driving reasons for attending a show and find the one that best fits you.

Travel: If travel is not an option, then go to the one that’s close enough to walk or drive to. If travel is an option, then flying to iPhoneDevCamp or 360|iDev are the best options since you get more bang for you buck.

Attitude: By this we mean, the attitude of your fellow attendees towards the iPhone platform. If you’re a hobbyist that just wants to see what the hype is about, then go to iPhoneDevCamp. At $50, you’re gonna find yourself surrounded by a bunch of hobbyists. If you serious about making a living on the iPhone Platform, then 360|iDev is the best as we talk about the business side as well as the development stuff, have hands-on sessions (for free) and almost twice as many dev sessions as VTM.

<armsInAir>Supah-Stars!</armsInAir>: If seeing some big names from the Mac and iPhone world is your goal (and really, for some it is), any of the 3 will give your opportunities to “see” some superstars. We’ve never been to the other two, so we can’t speak for them. However, at 360|iDev, the superstars also party with you on 3 nights so you can meet them, chat with them and (if you really want to) get their autograph! If you do get autographs, give a token bone to the organizers and ask for theirs. We want to feel special too. LOL

Timeliness: If you can’t wait, get your butt over to Yahoo HQ (or one of the satellite locations) for iPhoneDevCamp since it starts tonight (well a party does, the real meat is Saturday). Next up would be 360|iDev at the end of September and then VTM in mid-October. Ask your boss when would be the best time to go and run with that one.

Community Vibe/Action: Again, we’ve never been to iPhoneDevCamp and the VTM show has yet to go down. We were told though by those did attend IDC and 360|iDev last time that our show had a stronger community vibe. People wanted to interact and get to know each other. The interaction was so good that the idea for App Treasures was born at our conference. You gotta admit, that’s pretty cool. New ventures formed from the connections made at 360|iDev

History: By this we mean show history. iPhoneDevCamp is on rev 3 and it shows. The camp has changed quite a bit from what it was the first time. 360|iDev is on rev 2. It was built on a tested formula and it showed. Attendees loved the show as you can read here. VTM is on rev 1, so will be a new experience for all involved. If a track record is important, then definitely weigh your options carefully.

The purpose of this post isn’t why you should be at 360|iDev. We do want you there, but having you know your options is more important to us. We want everyone to attend the event that makes the most sense to them. Hopefully, the competition feels the same, but again, we can’t speak for them.

That being said, if you read the chart and made us your choice, click here and reg now! We’ve sold out the first 100 cheaper tickets and sales hasn’t really slowed down since. Get in before it’s too late!

Filed Under: Announcements, Community, Content, Denver, Geeking Out, Networking, Parties, Reasons to Come Tagged With: Community, Denver, Schedule, speakers

360iDev – The Great American Beer Festival

June 5, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

gabf-059 Like Beer? Yeah us too, well me at least.

If you’re coming into Denver for the conference, come in a day early and catch the Great American Beer Festival, an annual tradition in Denver, which happens to end on September 26th!

Tickets for Beer fest are on sale now, and typically sell out, so don’t lolly gag.

What do you get for the cost of your ticket?

“Ticket prices for each of the three evening sessions include a festival program, a commemorative tasting cup, unlimited one-ounce samples of your choice of more than 1,800 beers, and a festival guide to help you navigate the floor.”

What do you get for the cost of your 360|iDev registration? 4 days (3 if you go to the beer fest) of awesome technical sessions from some of the biggest names in iPhone development.

Tickets are already flying out the door for 360|iDev, so I wouldn’t wait too long to register, especially if you want the super cheap tickets :) Register Now!

Filed Under: Announcements, Denver, Drinks, Parties Tagged With: Beer

360|iDev Evening Festivities – Sunday, Monday, Tues

February 20, 2009 By Tom 1 Comment

Lots of people have been asking: Should I stay near the conference center? What they’re really asking is: Are we gonna party? The answer is: Oh yeah, you betcha. The best thing is spouses/significant others/partners are invited to join you: FREE. Just let us know they’re coming so we can make sure to have enough stuff.

We have 3 nights of great networking opportunities for you. The nice thing is that you won’t have to go very far to party. Each night’s revelry will be at the conference center, right outside the meeting rooms.

What can you expect? We’ll have some appetizers to fill your belly along with some beverages to wash it all down. You can share a beer with a speaker or chat over a root beer float with a fellow attendee. If you’re on twitter and made a drink suggestion, we passed that along to our caterer. If there’s some particular appetizers you like, drop a comment and let us know. No guarantees, but we’ll at least ask if we can get them.

In addition to drinks and munchies, we’ll also have some Guitar Hero III and Rock Band action going on. You’d better practice before you arrive, because the competition tends to be fierce.

These are the sponsors that you can thank for each night’s party, in addition to the time slots for each day.

Sunday – 6:30p to 8:30p – Nitobi and 360Conferences

Monday – 5:20p to 8:30p – O’Reilly

Tuesday – 5:20p to 8:30p – Medialets and 360Conferences

If you haven’t registered yet, you should do so now. Prices went up to $350, but that price alone is worth the 3 nights of networking. Not to mention that you get 4 days of awesome sessions and training thrown in at no extra charge. ;)

Filed Under: Drinks, Networking, Parties