Last Saturday, over 800 participants attended 107 sessions lead by over 88 presenters at Portland, Oregon's Code Camp. 17 of those presenters were Microsoft MVPs!
MVPs Arnie Rowland and Stuart Celarier co-directed the event. Rowland wrote the MVP Award Program in an e-mail:
In December 2009, the Mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, met with the CEOs of over 50 regional software development firms, seeking input into the City’s Economic Development Plan –the city is pushing to support software development as an essential ‘industry’ for the area. Stuart and I approached the Mayor to bring the conversation to the developer community, convincing the Mayor that working developers had just as much to contribute to the conversation as the CEOs. It took some time to work out the details, and the Mayor participated in a lunchtime keynote ‘conversation with developers’ –packing the auditorium. Participants could use Twitter and submit questions prior and during the session. The results have been viewed as quite positive, the Mayor has expressed a desire to be included in next year’s event, and a large number of participants left with knowledge that the City is listening to and giving credence to the down in the trenches developer.
In December 2009, the Mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, met with the CEOs of over 50 regional software development firms, seeking input into the City’s Economic Development Plan –the city is pushing to support software development as an essential ‘industry’ for the area. Stuart and I approached the Mayor to bring the conversation to the developer community, convincing the Mayor that working developers had just as much to contribute to the conversation as the CEOs. It took some time to work out the details, and the Mayor participated in a lunchtime keynote ‘conversation with developers’ –packing the auditorium. Participants could use Twitter and submit questions prior and during the session. The results have been viewed as quite positive, the Mayor has expressed a desire to be included in next year’s event, and a large number of participants left with knowledge that the City is listening to and giving credence to the down in the trenches developer.
The MVP Award Program wants to congratulate Rowland and Celarier for a job well done. Clearly by reaching out to the Mayor they were able to create even more excitement about Code Camp while increasing the profile of the developer community. Who knows what next year will bring? With the relationship building they started this year, I can only imagine that next year will be even more memorable.