The //publish/ event was a series of global events that took place at more than 60 different locations around the World on May 16 and 17, 2014.  Some of these event are 1 day and some are 2 days around the clock (30+ hours straight).  Initially when I volunteer to host the //publish/ Orange, CA event, I thought it’s just another local user-group type of event and did not realize it’s a large scale global event, until shortly before the event.

The //publish/ event was intended to help developers working on Windows Phone and Store app, or thinking about developing mobile app, to complete and submit their Apps to the store.

    http://publishWindows.com

The //publish/ Orange, CA event was held on May 17th, 2014 (Saturday), at Santiago Canyon College (SCC).  With help from Professor Ron Kessler, we got enthusiastic support from the Dean of Business and Career Technical Education at SCC.  We were able to reserve 4 classroom and secured 100 Wi-Fi access codes from the SCC IT department to provide Internet access to all attendees. With co-operation of the SCC security services, parking citations were suspended for the day we hosted the event to provide free parking.

I like to send a big Thank You to Corine Doughty and Professor Ron Kessler.

Although it’s not a big event, a full day hackathon with 50+ attendees require more than 1 or 2 individual to support, especially with high number of entry level developers who needed help to get to the finish line.  I like to thank the following individuals for jumping in to help with short notice:

  • Professor Andy Salcido – Professor Salcido teaches Business and Computer Information Systems courses at SCC.  He managed the food, beverages, snacks, desert and pizzas for lunch for all of the attendees.
  • George Salcedo – George works for Nokia as an ambassador who engages & interacts with mobile application developers.  George promoted the //publish/ event in Orange, CA to his followers and former attendees of his DVLUP day event which he hosted on April 26, 2014.  When asked whether the attendees knew about Nokia’s DVLUP developer program, over half of the attendees said they had.  George definitely helped increase the number of attendees at our event.
  • Sam Stokes – Sam works for Microsoft, as part of the DPE team which is designed to engage and interact with developers in the Southern California region.  On the day of the event, Sam delivered a presentation about App Studio and taught a “break out” session where he taught new developers how to create and publish phone and store applications.   Without Sam’s help, we would have only submitted 50% of the apps that we did.

The event was from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM with registration begin at 8:30 AM.  Out of the 91 registered to come, there were 43 came to the event.  In addition, we have 5 attendees not registered prior to the event, from the cross promotion we had through multiple Meetup groups and 3 volunteers to help with the event.

By end of day, we were able to help 21 attendees successfully submitted their apps, including the youngest 14 years old coder, Benjamin Rausch.  In addition to the 21 attendees submitted apps at the event, there were 4 attendees were very close to submitting their apps and expected to do so prior to the June 1st deadline to enter the global big prizes contest:

    http://publishWindows.com/Contest/

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Sam Stokes (DPE) was sharing insight about application development while waiting for the event to start.

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Volunteers were taking turn at the registration desk in the morning, who also participated in the event.

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George Salcedo and Sam Stokes helping attendees at the breakout session.

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Sam Stokes talked about App Studio and other resources at the breakout session.

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Our youngest coder, 14 years old Benjamin Rausch.

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Attendees working on their Apps at the main event room.

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Attendees working on their apps.

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Attendees in another room, coding, sharing ideas and helping each other.

Here are some pictures for the app showcase contest

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App showcase contest Winners

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First place:  Arash Eghbali submitted the Inventory Checker app

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Second place:  Darryl Dion Hawkins submitted the Militray Drone app

All attendees successfully submitted their apps each received a Nokia Coloud headset, except the attendees who left early (must be present to win):

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At the end of the event, all of the attendees who stayed each received a prizes and t-shirt.

Summary

As part of my MVP academic and business activities requirement, I have been a presenter and have hosted countless events.  Although we had some minor issues with regard to video streaming and we were not able to fully take advantage of the Board, the //publish/ Orange, CA event was an exceptional and exciting event.  By the end of the day, all of the attendees participated in the app showcase and contest. They networked with each other; some made new friends, shared ideas, and provided positive feedback and encouragement to each other.

I see a great opportunity here to create an ongoing collaborative community from this small group of highly motivated and diverse group of developers. 

This event enabled us to make a strong case to the SCC Computer Science department that they should expand their course offerings to include Azure, Windows Phone and Store application development as part of their curriculum.

With the help of only a few energetic people, we were able to have a successful and meaningful event. I found this to be personally very gratifying. 

Finally, our ability to help a young 14 year-old coder realize his potential and to see him submit an app was especially rewarding to us all.