Tuesday, July 19, 2011

CocoaConf, And My Anniversary

For the past few months, my sons and I have been working on a different kind of project: We are putting on a conference for developers on Apple platforms, such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It’s called CocoaConf.

The first CocoaConf is being held in Columbus OH, on August 12 - 13, 2011. We have an exciting line-up of speakers, including Daniel Steinberg, Bill Dudney, Chris Adamson, Christopher Judd, and Dave Koziol.

We will be having three tracks for the two days; this will include an all day hands-on iPhone workshop on the first day. It's shaping up to be a very exciting event.

The idea for this conference came when my #3 son, Solomon, began learning Mac programming using the book Beginning Mac Programming by Tim Isted. Taking inspiration from my favorite conference series of all time — No Fluff, Just Stuff — we began tossing around ideas. The NFJS events are known for a capped size so that they don't feel crowded, and for a focus on technical content, without the vendor hype and special events that other conferences tend to have. So that's what we are doing for CocoaConf.

I hadn't blogged about CocoaConf here since it has nothing to do with my usual topics, Groovy and Grails (although the CocoaConf site is being developed in Grails). But today I am going ahead with this post, so that I have a place to explain a crazy (but fun) idea.

You see, 26 years ago today, my beautiful wife, Debbie, said “I do.” And today, we are celebrating this 26th anniversary with a one-day-only CocoaConf discount of 26% off the current early-bird rate of $350. That's a $91 savings for today (July 19th) only! So: If you are interested in developing for the iPhone/iPad or Mac and can make it out to Columbus in August, you can now sign up for CocoaConf for only $259 — but only for today, July 19, 2011. Just go to http://cocoaconf.com/register and use the coupon code “ANNIVERSARY”.

I don't know if anyone will take advantage of this deal, but I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate 26 wonderful years of marriage to my amazing wife. She is the second best thing God has ever done for me!

(And finally, I'll leave you with a bit of child exploitation. Here's our #13, Joshua, telling us where he's headed in August.)