Next week is Microsoft Australia’s biggest conference of the year, Tech.Ed and before it even officially begins, developers are invited to hack. What better place to showcase your talents than the sunny Gold Coast. Designers and developers will have access to some of the smartest minds in the business.
Developers are free to develop using any technologies, but clearly being hosted at Tech.Ed, it’s expected that teams may leverage Microsoft platforms. Project can stem from existing works or be something you create entirely at the event, the important part is to embrace the startup culture.
The 24 hours event kicks off at 11:00am, with the brainstorming and team member search starting half an hour later. At 12pm it’s time to work your fingers to the bone with those l33t programming skills. Let the hacking begin. After a night fuelled by a well stocked fridge full of energy drinks, your team will Demo what you’ve built at 10am Tuesday.
It is anticipated that many teams will focus on consumer facing Windows 8 apps, some will leverage an Azure back end, but some will build HTML5 apps. Whatever the choice, the creativity and the passion is what counts. An created at App Fest has the potential to translate into the BizSpark program (free Azure and MSDN licences) and evolve to become a serious longer-term business.
While a ticket to the Windows 8 App Fest costs A$165, the ticket get you a seat for 24 hours that will allow you to build an idea in hours that would normally take weeks. Leveraging expert skills and advice from expects, the possibilities are huge. See below for the full list of mentors, their websites are listed where possible for more information on each.
External mentors
Lewis Benge – http://www.lewisbenge.net/
David Burela – http://davidburela.wordpress.com/
Brendan Forster – http://brendanforster.com/
David Golden – http://www.goldentao.net/
Alex Knight – http://xamling.net/
Jordan Knight – http://jakkaj.wordpress.com/
Brendan Kowitz – http://kowitz.net/
Shane Morris – http://automaticstudio.com.au/
Nick Randolph – http://nicksnettravels.builttoroam.com/
Microsoft mentors
Frank Arrigo – http://twitter.com/frankarr
Andrew Coates – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/acoat/
Catherine Eibner – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ceibner/
Lachlan Hardy – http://lachstock.com.au
Tristan Kington – http://blogs.technet.com/b/tristank/
Nick Hodge – https://twitter.com/nickhodgemsft
Michael Quandt – http://mquandt.com/blog/
Chris Bright
Lawrence Crumpton
Esther Mosad
Grant Holliday
Agenda
10/9/12 11:30am – Brainstorm types of apps and skills that interest you. Propose app ideas and find team members.
10/9/12 12:00pm – Lunch: meet like-minded partners for world domination. Flow into hack time.
10/9/12 3:00pm – Afternoon tea Progress checkpoint.
10/9/12 7:00pm – Dinner Next checkpoint.
11/9/12 8:00am – Breakfast Get ready for the big reveal.
12/9/12 10:00am – Demo time!
13/9/12 12:00pm – App Fest wraps up.
Prizes (Updated)
Microsoft has announced the first 50 developers to atttend #AppFest and submit 3 apps can win a WinRT Device!
How to Register for App Fest
So far 125 developers have entered as of 4th Sept. These are made up of 99 developers, 20 sponsored students by Microsoft and 6 developers from other platforms.
A ticket to the Windows 8 App Fest can be purchased at $165 inc GST, via the TechEd 2012 registration site. This ticket is available for individual purchase, as an additional extra to a delegate’s TechEd 2012 registration.
More information @ https://australia.msteched.com/app-fest/
