CodeMash (http://codemash.org)  is like a family reunion for me. So many old friends come back every year. And I always meet someone new and interesting.

CodeMash is a developer conference that cuts across technologies and communities. It brings together Ruby, Java, .NET, Python, JavaScript, and those who use other technologies; and it draws speakers and attendees from all over the U.S. and a few from Europe. And it's held at an indoor water park in Sandusky, OH in the middle of winter.

I missed the very first CodeMash in 2007 (the one at Josh Holmes and Brian Prince famously had their heads shaved), but I've been to all 8 events since then.

This year, I was a sponsor, a speaker, and an attendee. I delivered 2 presentations: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Azure Mobile Services and Effective Data Visualization; and I helped out with Jennifer Marsman's Cross-Platform game development workshop. In all, over 200 people saw me present at this conference.

I spent a good part of the conference at the Microsoft booth, answering questions and talking with people.  Bill Fink brought a "Photo Booth" that he built using a Kinect sensor, a laptop, and an external monitor and this drew a lot of people to the booth. We also had a device bar and a number of attendees stopped by to check out the Surface Pro 3 and other Windows devices on display. Nathalie Goh-Liverness showed off a game she build using Unity and Occulus Rift virtual reality hardware. Traffic was heavy and I had a chance to answer some questions and talk with a number of attendees.

My team was well represented at CodeMash. Brian Prince is now the primary organizer, taking the reins from Jim Holmes who grew this confeerence to its current state over the years. And six members of my team (Jennifer Marsman, Brian Sherwin, Nathalie Goh-Liverness, Bill Fink, Matt Thompson, and me) delivered presentations.

Other Microsoft presenters included Dustin Campbell, Chris Risner, Jeff Fritz, Alexei Govorine, Kevin Pilch-Bisson, Matthew Podwysocki, Tony Surma, and Josh Holmes.

By the time I left Friday evening, I was exhausted. I had a chance to learn about Azure, Kinect, the next versions of C#, Visual Studio, and ASP.NET and a host of other things.

This was my eighth CodeMash and I fully expect to return next year.