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October 13, 2009 - Guild Meeting, featuring Kent Tegels

When: 6:00 PM.
Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Kent Tegels

Topic: In this talk we will example how scripting can be used to leverage atypical data sources with SSIS Data Flows. We will look at how to write a script and library for reading metadata from media files as well as creating custom XML data destinations. Speaker Bio: Kent Tegels is a member of the technical staff at Pluralsight, where he focuses on SQL Server and Business Intelligence. Kent is also an Adjunct Professor for Business and Computer Science. Since the 1980s, Kent has been building systems and educating his fellow developers, administrators and analysts. He spends his time teaching Microsoft technologies to students and developers world wide. Kent enjoys helping people achieve their "AH-HA!" moments.

November 10, 2009 - Guild Meeting Super Double Feature!

When: 6:00 PM.
Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Brent Edwards Sizzlin' with jQuery - 30 minutes Spend some time getting to know the popular JavaScript library, jQuery, and it's powerful selector engine, Sizzle. We will cover the ins and outs of selectors as well as other cool features that jQuery has to offer. Bio: Brent Edwards is a consultant with magenic and has been developing software professionally for around 5 years. He has been involved in projects spanning from the desktop to the web. In recent years, Brent has begun to focus on UI technologies while working on projects that intensely utilize JavaScript and CSS. When he's not cranking out code, Brent can be found hanging out with his wife and kids or riding his wakeboard, snowboard or mountain bike.

Jay Wynia CSI: C Sharp Investigation - 90 minutes Brownfield software development can involve situations where you have to take over a codebase. Whether it's an abandoned open source project or a corporate project, when there's no one around who knows the system, you're left with just the evidence. Reflector and other tools provide a methodical way to make sense of the mess. Bio: J Wynia is a software journeyman, writer and geek from Brooklyn Center. He spends his days working on client projects and often spends his weekends and evenings doing the same. Non-geek interests include traditional Irish music, BBQ and movies.

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Previous Meetings

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September 8, 2009 - Guild Meeting, featuring Jeff Klawiter

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Jeff Klawiter

Topic: Taking control of SQL Server with .NET Do you ever wish you could add some custom code in to your SQL Query but find T-SQL too limiting to get the job done? Do you want the group_concat function from MySQL? We will learn how to add your own functions, aggregates and stored procedures to SQL Server. Even how to utlize LINQ to SQL within SQL itself. Speaker Bio: Jeff Klawiter is a Senior .NET Developer at Sierra Bravo Corporation. After spending the 6 years of his professional career as a PHP programmer he fully embraced .NET. He has worked on projects in ASP.NET, .NET CF 1.-3.5, WinForms, Surface, Silverlight. Everything from handheld warehouse management systems, vending machines to multitouch surface applications. His ambitions in life are to learn all there is to know about programming before he dies and to one day make his own dragon with Biological Programming. He currently holds MCTS Windows and MCPD ASP.NET certifications.

August 11, 2009 - Guild Meeting, featuring Neil Iversen

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Neil Iversen

Topic: Powershell For Developers PowerShell has been positioned primarily as a tool for administrators, but it should also be in every developer's toolbelt. PowerShell can be considered .NET's first scripting language. If you like loose types and dynamic syntax then come check out PowerShell. Learn how to move beyond PowerShell's administrative roots and make it work for you. Speaker Bio: Neil is a Lead Developer at Inetium. He primarily focuses on development in .NET with a specialization in the Office Platform (SharePoint and Office Addins).

July 14, 2009 - Guild Meeting, featuring Rachel Appel

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Rachel Appel

Topic: First Look at ASP.NET 4.0 Get a first a look at the 4.0 feature set from ASP.NET and learn what’s new or improved in ASP.NET 4. This talk will highlight ASP.NET 4 in the areas of Web Forms, MVC, AJAX and Dynamic Data. You’ll see how the IDs are handled in web forms, and get more control over the CSS markup of ASP.NET server controls. You’ll also see how to dynamically template applications and what scripting options are available by using the AJAX 4 libraries. If you're considering MVC, we look at the feature set and understand how to create applications with this technology. Speaker Bio: Rachel has been working as a mentor, instructor, software developer, architect and DBA for nearly 20 years. During her career, Rachel has worked with a variety of languages, technologies and systems and has contributed to projects of all sizes including large scale enterprise applications at some of the world’s leading companies. Rachel is the Vice President of the .Net Valley user group, as well as a leader and regular speaker in the Philly.NET and Central Penn.NET user groups of Pennsylvania. She can also be found speaking at code camps, user groups, community events and conferences. Rachel’s expertise lies within developing solutions that align business and technology using the Microsoft .NET family of products, particularly ASP.NET & SQL Server. She is also an ASP.NET MVP, ASPInsider and holds the Microsoft Certified Trainer, MCAD & MCSD certifications. She is also a member of the INETA speakers bureau.

June 9, 2009 - Guild Meeting, featuring Mike Benkovich

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Mike Benkovich

Topic: Advanced Debugging with Visual Studio 2008 The system’s down, things are broken, what do you do? Before they panic you whip out your trusty Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 instance and attach to the troubled process. Use the tool the way it was meant to be used, quickly to identify the issue and save the day. Join us for this session as we look at tips and tricks for leveraging the power of the Visual Studio Debugger. We look at the scenarios and tools that are available to help you figure out what's broken. Speaker Bio: Mike Benkovich delivers technical presentations around the U.S. as a developer evangelist on the MSDN team at Microsoft. He has worked in a variety of professional roles, including architect, project manager, developer, and technical writer. Mike is also an author of two books, published by WROX Press and APress, which show developers how to get the most from their SQL databases. Since appearing in the 1994 Microsoft DevCast, Mike has presented technical information at seminars, conferences, and corporate boardrooms across America.

May 12, 2009 - Guild Meeting, featuring Lee Brandt

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Lee Brandt

Topic: Getting Started with Behavior-Driven Development. We'll take a look at what Behavior-Driven is, what makes it different from Test-Driven Development and what is the same. We'll talk about why BDD came to be and how it rescues you from the pitfalls of TDD. We'll look at some of the frameworks and even drive some code with BDD. Come see how BDD can help improve the design of your code. Speaker Bio: Lee Brandt is a .NET Solutions Architect for Examinetics, Inc. int Overland Park, Kansas. Lee has been programming professionally for over 10 years and developing solutions in .NET and C# since the early beta releases. He is an advocate for behavior-driven development, design patterns and agile methodologies. Lee spends most of his free time reading about programming, discussing programming and hanging out with his wife Stacey and their dog Frieda.

January 12, 2009 - Guild Meeting, featuring Jason Olson

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Jason Olson

Topic: .NET Framework 4.0 Overview With every successful release of the .NET Framework, more features and changes are introduced into our development lives. But what is being done in the .Net Framework 4.0 that will make our life as developers easier? To make a long story short…. A lot! Speaker Bio: coming soon

November 13, 2008 - Guild Meeting, featuring Donn Felker

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Donn Felker		Topic: Dependency Inversion Learn about how the Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP), Dependency Injection and Inversion of Control Containers help you get your system under test more effectively and how it can help you decouple your code. You will also be introduced to a small subset of dependency breaking techniques that will help you break ground into setting your system up for maintainability. This session is intended to be very audience interactive so that it can help the audience break into the world of dependency inversion and introduce methods that will help you gain confidence when you need to make a change in your code base. Speaker Bio: Donn Felker is a Senior Consultant with Magenic. He has over 8 years of professional experience in various markets that include – entertainment, health, retail, insurance, financial, and real estate. He is a MCTS in Web Client Development for .NET 2.0 and 3.5 and is also a certified Scrum Master. He is the founder and coordinator of the Twin Cities Give Camp (www.twincitiesgivecamp.org), a writer, presenter and consultant on various topics ranging from architecture, development in general, agile practices and patterns & practices. He is an active member in many open source projects on Codeplex as well ranging from development patterns to Team Foundation Server deployment methodologies.

October 7, 2008 - Guild Meeting, featuring Jeff Brand

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Jeff Brand

Topic: ASP.NET MVC Overview This session will introduce attendees to the Microsoft ASP.NET MVC Framework. It will compare MVC to existing ASP.NET Web Forms and show the basics of creating an ASP.NET MVC application. Demos will be used to show how to create a simple product catalog web site. Speaker Bio: Jeff Brand is a .NET Developer in Microsoft’s Developer and Platform Group. Jeff assists customers in evaluating, developing and deploying applications built on the .NET Framework and the Microsoft platform. He has been with Microsoft for twelve years and has served in variety of roles including infrastructure consultant, e-commerce technology specialist, and enterprise technology advisor.

September 9, 2008 - Guild Meeting, featuring Kirstin Juhl

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Kirstin Juhl

Topic: Team Foundation Server - What you as developers need to know. Speaker Bio: Kirstin Juhl is software developer and consultant for Magenic, a company focused on delivering business value through applied technology and one of the nation's premiere Microsoft Gold Certified Partners. Kirstin has been developing software since 1996 when she started a career in engineering. She has been full-time in software development since 1999 and specializes in middle/back tier and database design and development. Kirstin holds a B.S in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an M.S.in Software Engineering from the University of St. Thomas. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband and two children, and when not speaking at software events enjoys mountain biking all over the Midwest.

August 12, 2008 - Guild Meeting, featuring Rocky Lhotka

When: 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Rockford Lhotka Slides & Code

Topic: CSLA .NET is one of the most widely used development frameworks for .NET. CSLA Light is a subset of CSLA .NET that runs in the Silverlight environment. CSLA Light is an ongoing project, scheduled for a first release in September 2008. Come to this session to get an insiders first look at CSLA running on Silverlight, providing many of the same powerful benefits to Silverlight that CSLA .NET does for .NET itself. These include support for data binding, standardized validation and authorization and flexible support for n-tier architectural models and data access. Speaker Bio: Rockford Lhotka is the author of numerous books, including the Expert VB 2005 Business Objects and Expert C# 2005 Business Objects books. He is a Microsoft Regional Director, MVP and INETA speaker. He contributes to several major magazines and regularly presents at major conferences around the world - including Microsoft PDC, Tech Ed, VS Live! and VS Connections. Rockford is the Principal Technology Evangelist for Magenic (www.magenic.com), a company focused on delivering business value through applied technology and one of the nation's premiere Microsoft Gold Certified Partners. For more information go to www.lhotka.net.

July 8, 2008 - Guild Kickoff and Cookout

When: Cookout at 5:00 PM, Meeting at 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435)   MAP

Cookout Details: Show up at 5pm for our kickoff cookout. We'll be serving burgers, brats and hot dogs for an hour prior to the meeting beginning at 6pm.

Jason Bock Slides & Code

Topic: Writing Better Code It's one thing to write code that will do the job in the short-term; it's another challenge to write code that can stand the test of time. In this session I'll show you how you can use tools and features in VS 2008 (e.g. unit testing, Code Analysis, Code Coverage, etc.) to assist you in making your code maintainable over time, easy to understand, and resilient to defects. Speaker Bio: Jason Bock is a Principal Consultant for Magenic, and is also a Microsoft MVP. He has worked on a number of business applications using a diverse set of substrates and languages such as C#, .NET, and Java. He is the author of "Applied .NET Attributes", "CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET", ".NET Security", and "Visual Basic 6 Win32 API Tutorial". He has written numerous articles on software development issues and has presented at a number of conferences and user groups. Jason holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University.