BKeeney Briefs

Real Software announced today the dates and location for the 2012 Real World event.  It will be held in Orlando Florida May 24-25.  I think it’s great news that the Real Software is bringing back Real World.  I’ve always enjoyed them and I highly recommend going to one if you’ve never been to one before.

Thoughts in no particular order:

• I’m glad it’s not in Austin, TX again.  I like Austin, but there’s not much draw to come back year after year.  Orlando, FL is an obvious, “let’s take the family” location and should be a draw.  How much of a draw remains to be seen.
• The early bird discount is $500 and then increases to $600 and finally to $700 for last minute bookings.  The pricing seems a little hefty, but then this is at a premier hotel rather than a hotel out by the airport.  It’s nice that early booking gets you a 30% discount coupon in the Real Studio Store.
• Orlando has a ton of stuff to do:  Disney World, Epcot Center, Seaworld, Harry Potter World, Universal Studios, Kennedy Space Center (a short drive),  and much, much more.  The drawback is that none of it is cheap so be prepared to drop some cash to do those things.  But, as they say, this is a destination location so you come knowing that it’s going to cost you.
• Does the location make that big of a difference?  It depends.  The two ARBP conferences were in non-destination locations which meant very few brought their families and that meant we were all happy with minimal accommodations.  We were all just happy to be in a room talking about Real Studio.
• The May 24-25 dates are the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day weekend which is the start of the summer holiday season in the United States.  Will people be willing to take their summer vacation early?  I don’t know.
• Perhaps one of the bigger issues is what to do with the kids.  For many school districts school is still in session.  For my son his last day of sixth grade will be May 25.  The timing already limits its appeal for me and my family.
• It’s cute they used one of my old quotes on their announcement page.  It’s from one of the previous Real Worlds.
• No word yet, obviously, on speakers or tracks.  It’s many months away yet and I would suspect Real Software will announce a call for speakers.

I love the Real World events and normally I’d say it’s a no brainer but the timing is awful for my family.  What do you think of the announcement?  Does having it in a destination city appeal to you or not?  Would you bring the family?

The official press release will go out soon and will go through the official REAL Software distribution channel but I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer.  It’s almost (but not quite) as exciting as announcing to your friends and family that you’re going to have a baby.

Mark your calendars and start making plans to attend the REAL Studio Summit 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia.  The event takes place on March 19th and 20th, 2011 and is sponsored by the Association of REALbasic Professionals and REAL Software!

We are very pleased that REAL Software is participating.  They will be sending a couple of people and will most likely present a couple of sessions.

Speaking of sessions, the call for speakers will go out soon as well and with the advanced notice I think we’ll get some really great speakers on a variety of topics.  We will be targeting some people in the RB community based on their contributions on the RB Forums and NUG list and we hope to get some commitments soon.

I was always a big fan of the old REAL World events – not because of the sessions (though those were important) but because of the relationships you developed (no pun intended) with other REALbasic developers.  Let’s face it, many of us don’t know another REALbasic developer that lives near us.  I feel lucky that I found six in Kansas City and when I get together with them there’s a kinship that’s hard to explain.  I’m energized about the platform and I get inspiration from them when they tell me what they do with REAL Studio.  To me, that’s what the REAL Studio Summit is all about.

The official conference page is at http://www.arbpmembers.org/real-studio-summit-2011 and the Call for Speakers page is at http://www.arbpmembers.org/real-studio-summit-2011/call-for-speakers.

It’s not too soon to think about 2012.  Pacific Northwest? MidWest?  Europe?  If you have a local group of RB users you might want to start thinking about it and contact me if you’re interested in being the contact team.

This just in from an official email from REAL Software:

We are sorry to inform you that the REAL World Regional Events have been cancelled.  Though we had a lot of initial interest, we found that a number of people who intended to come are not able to due to schedule conflicts and other reasons.  While we are selling more licenses this year than last and the REALbasic community is growing, we have concluded that the reality is people are still watching their expenses more closely due to the economy.

Wow.  I’m not even sure what to say about this.  I was supposed to speak at the REAL World Chicago event.  I’m so glad I was procrastinating in figuring out travel plans.

From an ARBP standpoint I’m very ticked off because people canceled their reservations to the RB Colorado Summit because they were going to the regional events.  This took the wind out of the ARBP conference and cost us attendees.  I know this because more than a few attendees pulled out just after RS’ announcement.

What are your thoughts on this?  Why do you think they canceled the events?  Was it because of the lineup?  Was it not technical enough?  Was it the cost?  The economy?  What does this say about their commitment to the RB community?

The REALbasic Colorado Summit was a success!  I think we all had a good time and learned some things about REALbasic.  I attended and enjoyed all of the sessions and hopefully everyone else did too.

I did two sessions.  The first was on the Reporting Tools available for REALbasic.  Did you know that in 18 months there’s been an explosion of options?  Where there was only one commercial option now there are several (including the new RS reporting tool).  There are also some interesting (and usable) open source alternatives available. It was also the first session.  No pressure there. 

My second session on Saturday was a filler (or emergency) session due to a speaker cancellation and I talked about the results of the 2009 ARBP consultants survey (I’ll eventually turn it into a blog post).  I unfortunately was not as prepared for it as I would have liked but it was meant to spark discussions in the room, which it did.

The offices of Inspiring Apps was a great location in downtown Boulder.  It’s an interesting area and I highly recommend visiting.  After the conference ended on Saturday some of us car pooled up to Estes National Park and, along with several thousand people, watched some Elk (I guess it was mating season).  The park was beautiful and the scenery was breathtaking.

The attendees were awesome as always.  We had a nice mix of people and had a few ‘newbies’ in the crowd and they asked some great questions.  The award for the longest flight was from Australia though Germany was a close second.  Otherwise there was a nice mix of people from across North America.

As with Real World, I’ve come back energized with some new ideas.  Isn’t that the point of going to a conference?  Learn a few things?  Ask questions?  Come back refreshed?

I’ll post more later after I catch up on work!

I’m analyzing the results of the latest ARBP survey (about REALbasic consultants) and I came across an interesting answer considering that the Colorado Summit is coming up next week.  In one question we asked how REALbasic consultants found work.  We had a set of canned answers with the option to add your own.  Several RB consultants  said in the ‘other’ response that they picked up work at Real World.  Of course the numbers are pretty low, but the fact that people went out of their way on the survey to include it speaks volumes.

This answer isn’t surprising, really, since the last couple of Real World events had companies trolling for RB developers.  To me, this has always been one of the best reasons to go to Real World.  I know I turned down work at Real World 2008 because I was already 100% committed to a project already.  Hopefully there will be a few at The Summit as well to make it profitable as well. 

There are still some slots available for the conference if you’re interested in going.  Hope to see you in Boulder!

The REALbasic Colorado Summit is heading into its final stretch.  We’re all very excited about getting together and exchanging knowledge.  Some of the topics I’m particularly interested in because I can come away with ideas that can save me time (which means money).

We’ve pitched the event as a way to learn some advanced REALbasic skills and to meet and discuss RB with other RB professionals.  That’s all true, but one thing I think we’ve done a poor job of saying is that there are other reasons to come to the Summit.

If you are evaluating REALbasic as a development environment the Summit is an excellent place to learn more. I doubt you’ll find more REALbasic professionals in one room all year long (and that includes the REAL Software regional events in my opinion).  You’ll be in room filled with full-time pro’s that have used REALbasic for years.  A few in attendance have worked for REAL Software and can offer some advice that’s hard to find elsewhere.

Need to find a REALbasic developer?  Many of those in attendance are REALbasic consultants and live and breathe REALbasic day in and day out and have been exposed to, literally, hundreds of different applications.  If they can’t help you I’m sure they know another developer that can!

Have technical questions regarding your REALbasic application?  Again, you’ll find a boatload of people that can help you that do this for a living for others.  At REAL World it wasn’t uncommon to see developers going through their RB app to get suggestions from others in hopes of making a better app.  I don’t expect anything different at the Summit.

The Summit is going to be an intimate event because of its size.  REAL World, for some people, was intimidating because it’s hard to break into a group that seems to know each other very well.  With under 50 people at the Summit it should be very easy to mingle with everyone.  Since I always fight being a wall flower (No, really!  Stop laughing!) I’m going to make sure no one is left out.

There will be a lot of ideas and information disseminated in the sessions but it’s the talk that occurs outside of the official sessions that is most interesting and valuable (in my opinion).  It’s generally one-on-one, or in very small groups, and it’s never recorded for posterity.  The after hours events have a tendency to be  fun a well because no one is being ‘official’.

So there’s my alternative reasons for attending the REALbasic Colorado Summit.  To official website is at http://www.inspiringapps.com/REALbasicSummit/.  The Association of REALbasic Professionals site is at http://www.arbpmembers.org/.

Happy coding and hope to see you there!

Join ARBP on Thursday, September 10th for an online chat about the Colorado REALbasic Summit. The special guests will be Joe Strout of Inspiring Applications and myself (not that I’m all that special).

This will be a 1 hour moderated chat, beginning at 9 PM ET. Don’t miss your chance to ask us about the Summit, the sessions, or general REALbasic programming questions!

These moderated chats are open to any member of ARBP.  Membership is free, so sign up today!

Colorado REALbasic Summit:
The Colorado REALbasic Summit will be held from Thursday September 24th through Saturday, September 26, 2009 in Boulder, Colorado.

Website: http://www.InspiringApps.com/REALbasicSummit/
Pricing: $199 for ARBP members, $249 for non-members

ARBP offers several types of memberships to REALbasic developers:
Free, Personal ($50) and Professional ($100). Visit the website and click on “Membership Benefits” to learn more.

Members-only Website: http://www.arbpmembers.org

Hot off the presses, here is the latest schedule for the REALbasic Colorado Summit:

Friday
——
9AM  Reporting Tools, Options, and Techniques
Bob Keeney

10AM Cocoa and Reporting Features in REALbasic
Geoff Perlman

11AM SQLite Power Tools
Ryan Vail

12-2 Lunch

2PM  OO Database Framework and Introspection
Seth Verrinder

3PM  Profiling and Performance Tweaking
Joe Strout

4PM  Version Control, And Why it Rocks
Aaron Gerber and Mathias Gran

5PM  Business Roundtable

Saturday
——–
9AM  Building REALbasic Plugins
Christian Schmitz

10AM Usability & Design Techniques
Jay Crain

11-1 Lunch

1PM  TBD

2PM  Facilitated RB/RS/Summit Feedback Session
Brad Weber

The official website is http://www.inspiringapps.com/REALbasicSummit/.  Attendance is limited so if you’re interested I recommend signing up sooner rather than later.

See the official announcement here:  http://www.realsoftwareblog.com/2009/08/announcing-2-regional-real-world-events.html

REAL Software used to hold an annual event called Real World in Austin every year where the REALbasic faithful would gather and immerse themselves in REALbasic for a couple of days.  It was fun and you could learn some good stuff as well as pick the brains of other RB developers.  Citing the worldwide economic downturn and a projected lack of attendance Real World was canceled and we were told about ‘regional events’ to be announced later.  These are it.

I think this is a good thing/bad thing.  It’s good because people will attend a regional event because it doesn’t cost them as much to attend.  If you were thinking about using RB you might be tempted to go to one closer.  From a marketing perspective it’s a good thing.

The bad part is that the events will (most likely) be less technical and become more of an overview of REALbasic and REAL Server.  If you wanted to learn some advanced object oriented programming for databases techniques then these regional events probably aren’t for you.

It’s a one day event in Atlanta and Chicago.  They will have a keynote address and an unknown number of sessions.  Sessions topics to be announced later.  Pricing is $250 ($200 if you register before October 20th).

So what are your thoughts?  Do you find the regional events appealing?  Do you think they’ll get into the technical details of RB or will it be more about sales and marketing of the products?  What are your thoughts on the price?  Does this change your opinion of the Colorado Summit sponsored by ARBP and Inspiring Apps?

The Colorado REALbasic Summit schedule page has been updated.

http://www.inspiringapps.com/REALbasicSummit/schedule/

I’m doing a presentation on Reporting Tools, Options, and Techniques which is pretty wide open topic.  It is, however, a topic that’s very near and dear to my heart.  I’ve done a pure Graphics object, On-Target Reports and RSReports tutorials that are in the ARBP source code repository.  They continue to be popular.  I think I have my work cut out for me to include other recent additions as well as looking at pure Windows only solutions.  Regardless, it should be very informative.

Seth, BKS employee extradorinaire, is doing a session combining Object Oriented programming, advanced RB techniques and databases all in one session.  Imagine, if you will, a database class that knows when the class that represents a table doesn’t have all of the required fields and has events for before/after create/save/load/update.  All-in-all I think these techniques are very useful.  We’re using them in a lot of our projects now.

Anyway, check it out.  We hope to see you there!