Saturday I had the pleasure of speaking at the ann arbor Day of .Net. 

The event drew presenters and attendees from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, demonstrating what an impressive software development community we have here in the Midwest.

My friend Nino drove up Friday night to stay at my place and we met other out-of-towners for dinner Friday night.

I delivered a presentation on Microsoft's Managed Extensibility Framework ("MEF").  The presentation was well-received.  The audience had many questions about the technology afterwards and I noticed a few people from the audience posting on Twitter about MEF in the days following the event.

A new job and a tight project deadline kept me from working on my presentation until a couple days prior to the event.  The good news is that I had presented on MEF three times in the past.  The bad news was that the API had changed radically since I developed my original presentation.  So I not only had to expand the presentation to fit the time allotted, I had to completely rewrite my demo to match the current API.  I was up most of Friday night and missed all the morning sessions of the conference to finish on time for my 1PM presentation.   Luckily I finished successfully and the demos went off without a hitch.  

I discovered a blog entry by Brad Abrams that helped immensely.  Brad wrote a set of samples using MEF that I loved for their simplicity.  Don't tell Brad, but I borrowed liberally from his samples to populate one of my demos.

After my presentation, I was able to settle in and enjoy the conference.  I attended two sessions, both in the same room which suited my tired body.  Jennifer Marsman showed a bunch of new features in .Net 3.5.  Next Brian Prince discussed the role of an architect on a project.  I've heard Jennifer and Brian speak many times in the past, so I knew they would be good and I was not disappointed.

I did have time to poke my head into a few presentations long enough to snap a photo or two.  If you heard a clicking coming from the doorway, that was me.

After the event, many of us met at a local watering hole for some food, drink and fellowship.  My new employer Sogeti was kind enough to spring for the food and drinks.  I was well worn down but it was great to reconnect with people who share many of my passions.

I actually volunteered to be something called a "Venue Coordinator" for this event.  But, as this was the fourth time the event was held, the folks at Washtenaw Community College knew everything that needed to be done and delivered to perfection.  I ended up doing no work for this role, so I may volunteer as venue coordinator next year as well.

I took some photos at the event, which you can see here.

I also put together a slideshow with a Warren Zevon soundtrack that you can see and hear below: