Windows Phone 7 Bootcamp, UK Tech Days

Published on 04 February 2012

Today, I attended the Windows Phone 7 Bootcamp, which was organised by Microsoft and UK Tech Days. The event was also being supported by the Windows Phone MVP’s from Appamundi.  You can find details of this event here.  This was hot on the heels of the Windows Azure Bootcamp which I attended yesterday.  The event broke down as follows:

  • A series of sessions covering:
    • Design Session: User Journey
    • Intro to Windows Phone Dev
    • Controls & Control Toolkit
    • Execution Model
    • Storing Data
    • Launchers and hookers
    • Background Tasks
    • Marketplace & Submissions
  • A series of Hands On Labs

In a change to the “normal” format of these events, each of the sessions were voluntary.  The idea was that you could dip in and out of the sessions, and carry on with “Hands on Labs”, or ask questions of the volunteer helpers, or socialize with the other attendees.  I have to say that I wasn’t prepared for this format, I was instead expecting a similar format to the Bootcamp yesterday (i.e. a more rigid structure), but I have to say, that it worked.

I think that this was helped by the fact that the venue was set up to encourage interaction.  There were loads of open spaces to talk to delegates, a table tennis table, multiple table football tables, a pool table, and comfortable seats.  The only thing that I would say is, when you were in the auditorium trying to listen to the speaker, the sound of people playing table tennis was slightly off-putting, but that is a minor complaint.

I have to say a big shout out to hit+run, you can find them on Twitter here.  They were creating custom Windows Phone 7 t-shirts, which each attendee got for free.  There was a “huge” queue to get one, but the end result was very impressive, and worth the wait!  Thanks!

As per yesterday, I would thoroughly recommend that if you get a chance to attend a UK Tech Days event, you should definitely grab it.  For a list of upcoming events, you can check out this list here.

the organisers, presenters, helpers, and venue

The people who were involved in the event were Pete Vickers, Andrej Radinger, Mike Ormond, Paul Lo, Raiz Ahmed and of course, the venue, which was provided by LBi London.  Big thanks for everyone involved!

Where to find Windows Phone 7 resources

Book recommendations

Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the organisers and presenters for the Windows Phone 7 books that they recommend, however, here are some of the ones that I own and highly recommend:

Windows Phone 7 in Action

Timothy Binkley-Jones, Massimo Perga, Michael Sync

Book Details

101 Windows Phone 7 Apps

Adam Nathan

Book Details

Programming Windows Phone 7

Charles Petzold

****Book Details

Also, check out my list of free eBooks which includes some Windows Phone 7 ones.

Looking ahead...

I asked this question yesterday, with regard to Windows Azure, but what am I going to do, going forward, with Windows Phone?  The answer to this question is, a lot!  This is for a couple of reasons, not least because of the brand new, shiny, Nokia Lumia 800, which I got while I attended this event!  Oh sorry, did I not mention that until just now.  Yes, you heard me correct, I received a free Nokia Lumia 800.  In attendance at the event were representatives of Nokia who are running a program where if you can prove that you intend to create and publish an app onto the Windows Phone Marketplace, they will give you a phone.  I have been toying with the idea of doing a couple of applications, and this is really the reason that I wanted to attend this Bootcamp, to give me the “kick” to get them done.  I knocked up a quick storyboard to indicate the intention of my first application, and with that in place, I put this to them, and they gave me a phone.  Huge thank you to Nokia!!!

So, if nothing else, I will be creating a Windows Phone 7 application in the next month.  However, I really feel that this platform has a lot going for it, and I definitely want to get more involved with it, and I am actually thinking about doing some talks on it in the near future.

Other Blog Posts...

If I find out about anyone else blogging about they day, I will update this section with references to them.

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