Although the event is just under a month away, Cleveland Day of .NET has already made a huge impact on me. Being on the planning committee has forced me to step out of my comfort zone and make moves that are typically difficult for me to make.

Officially, I'm in charge of swag and other stuff like it - the badges, programs, T-shirts, etc. Unofficially, I think I've been involved in all sides of the planning - speakers, sponsors, some website involvement, and a little venue discussion. To participate in an event as an attendee is one thing; to be a presenter is another. However, to be on the planning committee and to make it grow from an idea to an event is a huge thing.

I remember a few months back when we were tossing the idea around that we needed an event here in Cleveland. There were three of us at first, and now there are seven of us who are on the committee to make this event happen. I'm working with an awesome group of guys - some of the most talented, enthusiastic people I've worked with in awhile. We have had a lot of support along the way from those who've been in our shoes, and we definitely couldn't get this far without their guidance.

Tomorrow, I will be down in Wilmington, checking out the Central Ohio Day of .NET. I'm looking forward to hearing various talks, meeting some of the speakers, and meeting my Twitter friends (my Tweeps)! I'm also looking forward to seeing those that I've already met (Cleveland Tweeps, except the elusive Corey). I'll be making a lot of notes on the day so that we know what to do or what not to do at the Cleveland event.

I've been asked to live blog from down there, since a friend of mine missed out on registration (despite me reminding him of it consistently for the past few months). If I'm not caught up in socializing too much, I might actually sneak in a blog post or two. Otherwise, I'll post a recap of the event on Sunday.

Being on the planning committee has forced my inner leader out. It's forced me to be more talkative, more outgoing, and more social. If I see something that could benefit us, I have to take the initiative to make it happen. Stepping out of my shy shell has been tough, but honestly, I'm glad that it's happening. These Days of .NET are definitely taking me to where I need to be, and I look forward to seeing how this weekend and how the Cleveland Day of .NET will further impact me.

Labels: Cleveland DoDN, CODODN

After talking to someone earlier tonight about being a sponsor for our Cleveland Day of .NET, I realized that some of you may not understand just how excited I am about this and just why I've decided to try to help where I can with the planning. As quiet as I tend to be, when the mood strikes, you get the excited part of me as well.

As we're planning the event, I realize just how passionate our group is about programming, .NET-related topics, and being involved in the developer community in general. We talk about this event wherever we go, to anyone who will listen to us. Tonight, I actually spoke up about it at the SQL SIG. I didn't stay in the corner with one of my committee teammates to announce it; I actually walked to the front of the room and talked briefly about it. I mention it here, and I mention it a lot when I'm dealing with my programmers lunch crew. Sometimes, I wonder if I mention it too much, but then I realize that the more I talk about it, the more people hear about it, and the more they hear about it, the more they need to register at our site and come out for an awesome and exciting day!

We're looking for sponsors for our event. Now why am I posting it here? I know that my readers work for interesting companies and may even have more contacts in the Cleveland area. I know that you can point other people to read this blog and others can see that there is hope for Cleveland. And the more people read this, the more chance of getting sponsors that we may not even know about.

So why would any company want to be a sponsor at a Day of .NET to begin with?

Days of .NET attract talented .NET programmers from the local region, as well as neighboring regions. The events are free to the attendees, as sponsors help cover the costs for the venue and everything else that it takes to make a successful event happen. By being a sponsor for the event, you're getting your name out to the developer community. You're letting us know that you're out there as a resource or that you even care about us enough to contribute to our event. It gives you a chance to get your company's name and reputation out there, and it also gives you a chance to see just who's out in the programming community, who you are supporting by providing valuable products and services, and who you want working for you. We know there are plenty of companies out there who value their developers, but we don't know specifically who all is out there - so tell us about yourselves! Get your name out there and be an exhibitor/vendor at the Cleveland Day of .NET.

So how can you become a sponsor?

If you have any swag that you want us to giveaway at the Cleveland Day of .NET, contact me and we can work out those details. From books to XBox games to even an XBox (ok, I might be pushing my luck here but it doesn't hurt to throw it out there anyhow), giveaways are a good way to get the point across that you're committed to us. Even if you don't have swag but still want to help, check out what we have in the way of sponsorship levels in our sponsorship prospectus. If you have any questions, contact us and we will be more than happy to work with you!

How long do you have to decide whether you want to make that top donation and get your logo on our T-Shirts?

May 1st is our cut-off date for sponsorships, so get your top-level sponsorship in now! Your logo will be displayed on a T-Shirt that each attendee will get at the event on May 17th.

Why should your company support the Cleveland Day of .NET?

Obvious answer... Cleveland rocks! Should there be any other reason? :)

If you want to hear more from the excited camp on this, feel free to email me and I'll answer any questions to the best of my abilities.

If you're a developer, please pass this blog entry on to your employer if you think they can help us out. Then go to our website and register to attend! Come out on May 17th and join in on the excitement, as we've got speakers on a variety of topics already wanting to come to Cleveland and share their passion with us. We definitely want to know more and reach as many people as we can!

Labels: Cleveland Day of .NET, Cleveland DoDN, May 17th

That's right - a bunch of us got together and said, "Cleveland needs one of these here!" So we're putting on a Day of .NET event on May 17th, with more details coming.



So, keep an eye on the Cleveland Day of .NET website for more details! And look forward to seeing more ads like this in the future.

Now if only I had Clippy.... ;)

Labels: Cleveland Day of .NET, Cleveland DoDN, IronPython

Music has always been part of my mind, body, and soul. From listening to it to practicing one of my instruments, I'm almost always doing something that involves music. Once I picked up programming, I wondered how to program sounds to come out of the PC speaker.

So I spent many nights on my parents' computer, tinkering in QBASIC. I eventually figured out how to get the sounds out of the PC speaker and how to get them to sound right so that a song could play. This is what I came up with:


DrMario$ = "O4L8A#BA#BAGGAA#BAGG"
PLAY "X" + VARPTR$(DrMario$)


As time went on, I figured out how to create MIDIs and would spend some spare time away from my computer keyboard to put my MIDI keyboard to use.

Now that I'm into programming again, my music talents are playing second (bass) fiddle. However, I've grown up since playing with QBASIC, and the PC speaker no longer easily amuses me. But I'm still curious about things that make sound, especially the Speech Synthesizer. So with IronPython, I figured I'd check out the Speech Synthesizer and how to invoke it. It was actually very easy to do. Here's what I created:


>>> import clr
>>> clr.AddReference('System.Speech')
>>> from System.Speech.Synthesis import *
>>> ssSpeech = SpeechSynthesizer()
>>> ssSpeech.SpeakAsync('Cleveland Day of .NET Rocks!')


I was watching a presentation this morning on IronPython that gave me some other ideas as well, but seeing how simple speech looked, I just had to try it out for myself.

If you're wondering why I chose IronPython for this, you'll have to come to the Cleveland Day of .NET on May 17 to see my presentation on IronPython. Details will be posted as they come, but definitely keep the date reserved and keep an eye on the site!

Labels: Cleveland Day of .NET, Cleveland DoDN, Day of .NET, DODN, IronPython, Master Chief, MIDI, music, QBASIC, sound, speech