A 360|Conferences event
Having trouble with your code? Maybe need some design feedback?
This year we’re launching the 360|iDev labs. Labs work like at WWDC and other events, our awesome speakers have agreed to hang out in the new lab area and help our attendees.
The lab schedule is below the regular schedule. Take a look.
We left a few spots open for drop in lab help.
We how the labs will be a great way for the community to grow and he each other.
I’m biased, obviously. I like competition, but hate johnny come lately type stuff that dilutes the market without providing benefit to the community/customer.
I hate seeing an event fail, I hate seeing a business fail, it sucks, 360|Conferences is slowly climbing out of bootstrap and into slight profitability, I know the pain of having no money, as do many if not most app devs at one point or another.
As such, seeing Appcon, fail before it even started, doesn’t bother me. I hope they refunded everyone’s money.
What does bother me, is saying that the community isn’t ready for their “groundbreaking event”.
Groundbreaking? Let’s be honest.
Birds of a feather? Been there, done that.
Fast pitch? not interested, but have done ignite style fast pitch things. It works at Ignite events, not conferences IMO.
Expo? Do it each time.
40 sessions by experts? Yeah we know all about having that many awesome community experts in one place, we do it 2x a year!
The App Developer community, primarily the iOS community is crazy strong, and growing daily!! To say the community is the reason an event fails is disingenuous at best. When Tom and I started 360|iDev, we barely knew the community, we opened our doors, approached those who we either knew, knew about, or found, and from there have continued to build something that we’re proud of, and hopefully the iOS developer community is proud of.
Look at the image below, I’m thinking there’s another reason appcon failed, and it has nothing to do with size or strength of the mobile developer community. Heck the modern, (again IMO) technologies that matter… are thriving and growing.
So I personally and on behalf of 360|iDev, call BS on appcon. Let’s show the organizers, just how ready the community is!! See you in Austin!!
So I’ve made some site badges, grab ‘em and put up on your site. Blog, twitter homepage, whatever.
You can get the 200pix and the 250pix size.
But wait, what about the money?
Yeah so we’re trying something new. When you add the badge to your site, you can use an eventbrite affiliate link, to earn $25 every time someone uses your site and registers for 360|iDev.
Of course you don’t have to sign up as an affiliate, that’s entirely up to you, but if nothing else, show the love for 360|iDev and put the badge on your site and link here to the main site.
It’s easy. Just:
See you in Austin!!
As an iDeveloper (You know what I mean.) you have a lot of choices; iPadDevCamp the weekend after, Voices that matter in Seattle, etc. All things being equal, compare what you get from each and see what makes sense for you to attend. If you don’t agree it’s 360|iDev… Let us know. You won’t get as much technical content, community, and fun from any other event, really.
CHeck out the schedule, description of sessions, and of course, the awesome speakers list!
Of course, it only makes sense right!
the iPad runs the iPhone OS, so why wouldn’t we give it the attention it deserves? The best part is that we’ve already got sessions about it, which means, 360|iDev San Jose is the first/best place to go to learn about the differences between building games/apps for the iPad vs. the iPhone.
Several speakers have and are updating their sessions to address the iPad, Kendall is hosting a panel on Wednesday all about the iPad. (This isn’t like panels at other events, where there wasn’t an actual iPad present)
The iPad definitely represents the next step in the iPhone OS, and Apple’s mobile computing strategy, and app and game developers are chomping at the bit to release their wares for this awesome new device.
Get your iPad April 3rd, come to 360|iDev to unlock it’s potential.
Register now! Don’t miss the developer conference that will super charge your career! Register now!
We’ve got great news!
The San jose Marriott has extended our room block price! Now you can get our AWESOME Room block price of $99 starting Thursday the 8th, all the way thru Friday the 16th.
That means you can arrive early, stay late, all for $99!
Don’t miss out on this great offer!!
It occurred to me, that it might be a good idea to make it clear what does/doesn’t happen at 360|iDev for those who might not know.
If you haven’t registered for 360|iDev, you’re missing out. This is a quote from past speaker Jake Behrens, “@360iDev Thank you! The conference put my life in a direction I never imagined I’d be in. You rock!”
That’s high praise and exactly what we’re trying to do. We want to be an event where great things can and do happen, and we think we do a pretty good job of that :)
So yeah, iPad this iPad that :) The best part of Apple’s new iPad, is that it runs the iPhone OS, that means our awesome speakers and attendees now have one more kick ass platform to write apps and games for.
That also means that 360|iDev is now THE event for developers writing apps for the iTouch, the iPhone, or the iPad. You won’t have to wait for WWDC, or for the next 360|iDev around the end of summer some time. You can get awesome iPad related sessions right now, this April.
We’ll be working with our speakers to update any presentations that make sense, to include iPad related materials, but right now we know for certain, Kendall Gelner, who’s delivering our Sunday Adv. Debugging session, will be leading a panel discussion on the iPad.
This panel will be awesome, how can it not be. 360|iDev falls right around when the iPad should begin shipping. That means there’s gonna be a lot to talk about!
We’ll keep you posted as we update more sessions to include iPad stuff.
Don’t miss out on the most technically deep conference for developers around. 40+ sessions, 40 speakers, 4 days, hands-on training. All for a really awesome price! Half the price of most training sessions, which only cover 1-2 things.
If you haven’t heard, we have an official hotel. That’s right, boys and girls. There’s a spot where all the party people are going to staying under one roof. It’s the spot where you can stumble or crawl to your bed after an all-night rager of drinking, coding or perhaps a bit of both.
Why an official hotel that’s not connected to the conference center? For one, the conference center is on eBay’s HQ. They are trying to run a business, not make your beds or pick up your mess. Aside from that obvious reason, we want to keep having fun after we leave eBay. We’re still gonna party at Ebay after the last sessions; However, instead of taking the post functs to someone’s room, we want to take the party to downtown San Jose!
One thing that’s always nice at a conference is bumping into the “superstars”. While it happens a lot at the conference, it’s tough to pull someone aside to buy ‘em a drink to say thanks for contributing to the community. While we (the organizers) may not be the superstars you’re looking for, we will be at the hotel with all the speakers (who are the superstars). If you’re flying all the way to the show to meet and learn from these people, why would you bother staying anywhere else? Yes, it would be silly, especially after you read up on the deal we have for you!
We have a room block of Sunday night thru Tuesday night. We lined up an amazing rate of $99, for you all because we love you so. :) You don’t think we love you? How about this? In addition to the low rate of $99 for a Mariott (read: Not Sleazy 8 or Motel 6), we’ve also negotiated free wi-fi access for everyone’s guest rooms. That alone will save you some additional coin.
Assuming you’re arriving Saturday to take advantage of our awesome Sunday Hands-On training, and staying until Wednesday to make sure you don’t miss the final panel, that’s likely to be “tablet related” you’re still only paying about $125 a night when you average the prices. Compared to other hotels in the area, that’s a damn good deal. Saturday night and Wednesday night are a bit beefier on the price because the majority of people just stay Sunday to Wednesday, so that’s what our block is for.
I’m sure you have all been to conferences where there’s the, “Which hotel are you at dialogue?” Then there’s time and effort spent on who will go where and when to meetup, etc. Make it easier on yourselves and sure to be newfound friends. Just stay at the Mariott so you’re all in the same place and will be easy to find each other. We’ll be there, the speakers will be there, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be.
You can book online, easy peasy :) Just click here.
While you’re booking your room, you have registered for the conference right? We have so much awesome lined up it’s hard to contain ourselves when talking about it :) Register now!
I was grabbing a bite to eat at Sam’s #3 the other day when I ran into Brian Robbins. I met Brian for the first time at 360|iDev Denver, he was a speaker there, just like he is in San Jose.
Me: Hey Brian! How are you man?
Brian: (Sits across from me) Hey John! Grabbing some lunch? (I point to my Haystack, a totally yummy pile of Chili, cheese, and fritos) I’m good. Getting excited for San Jose, I can’t wait!
(Brian orders ‘Two Dogs WET’)
Me: What do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?
(I take a few bites of my Haystack. You can’t let these things sit too long. Chili and cheese and fritos don’t stay together long)
Brian: That in spite of all the hoopla and attention and stories of ridiculous success or failure, it is actually possible to build a solid business without having a big hit title.
Me: (Nodding) Totally, with what? hundreds of thousands of apps? A million? Not every app is gonna a mega publicity blockbuster. There’s a lot of people doing well that we probably don’t know. I think it’s good that developers here this stuff. What session are you most excited about, besides your own of course :)
Brian: (His dogs arrive, smothered in chili, one red, one green) Dave Whatley gave a great talk in Denver and Keith and Natialia have a lot of great information to share. As it stands right now those are probably the talks I’m looking forward to the most.
Me: David’s session was great last time! He’s a good guy, with a ton of great information to share!
(I finish off my haystack, and ask the server for a milkshake, they make a mean milkshake at Sams)
What are you most looking forward to at 360|iDev San Jose?
Brian:It’s a tie between getting to reconnect with all the great people I met in Denver and having fun at another Game Jam.
Me: The Game Jam is gonna be off the hook! Touch Arcade is sponsoring, so it’s gonna be even better than Denver!
(My milkshake arrives. mmmm mmmm)
What would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|iDev to convince them to come?
Brian: (His plate is clean, a common phenomenon at Sam’s) First climb down off the fence, there’s no reason to put yourself in harm’s way like that. Once your feet are firmly planted back on the ground go get your ticket to 360iDev. 360iDev Denver was easily the best iPhone conference I went to last year and I expect San Jose to be just as good.
Me: Better, much, much better! (We both laugh and toast, me with my milkshake and Brian with his water)
Brian: I better get a move on, busy day. Was awesome to bump into you John! (He stands and starts to walk toward the register)
Me: Oh hey Brian! Who do you think would win? Lion Voltron or Vehicle Voltron?
Brian: (Without even pausing) Lion Voltron every time without question.
Don’t miss out! 360|iDev will be awesome this April! It’s gonna be a blast, we promise you’ll be telling us you’ve gotten your money’s worth by Monday night! Register now, don’t miss out!
