jaredfaris

A Presentation About Presentations, or: The Meta-Presentation

It's hard to be a good public speaker. Some people seem to be born for it. Those people stink. Most of us require practice and overcoming at least a little bit of anxiety. No matter which category you fit into, being able to give a good technical presentation is a useful skill to have and a great way to give back to the dev community.

In this talk, we'll look at the entire technical presentation lifecycle from idea formation through delivery. We'll discuss different venues that can be used as training grounds for technical speaking. We'll talk about different styles of presenting and why you might choose one over another. We'll also look at some strategies I've used to get accepted to speak at venues I really wanted to be at.

Hopefully you'll walk away more interested in speaking publicly and better equipped to do so.

jaredfaris

Building A Mini Killer Robot

Building giant killer robots is hard: permits, nuclear fuel sources, the UN, etc. However, building mini killer robots is much easier thanks to the new LEGO Mindstorms EV3.

This talk will look at what LEGO Mindstorms are and what the new EV3 platform is capable of including its servo motors and array of sensors. It'll compare the EV3 platform to the previous NXT 2.0, and talk about why you should immediately go spend all of your money at the LEGO store. Then, to bring the singularity closer, the talk will take Mono, write C#, and run .NET code on the LEGO Mindstorms.

You'll leave this talk wanting to build a robot that can help you take over the world or terrify your pets.

jaredfaris

Fixing the JavaScript Mess - Using Patterns and Frameworks to Clean Your Client-side

JavaScript has started to get some real respect over the last few years. Developers are treating it like a real language and modern frameworks (like Knockout, Backbone, Angular, etc) are making it easier to write good code. However, many of us are working on legacy applications with lots of nasty JavaScript bits: server generated JS controls connected to downloaded plugins with a bit of jQuery glue.

In this workshop, we'll analyze an example application that uses a lot of these anti-patterns. We'll pick apart the pieces and rebuild the application using JavaScript best practices, modern frameworks, and other useful libraries. We'll talk about how to decide on what tools to use for new projects as well as legacy revamps. We'll also look into how you can improve parts of your application without having to rewrite other ones that are working just fine.

You'll leave this workshop with a better appreciation of good JavaScript

jaredfaris

SignalR For Fun And Sockets

Real-time communication between web servers and clients has been a long time coming. We're finally living in a world where all modern mainstream web browsers support WebSockets for this purpose. Sadly, many of our friends, family members and colleagues are still trapped in an old-browser world.

Tons of applications have real-time communication needs. Chat apps are the most obvious example, but any dashboard that shows live information about any system or process can benefit from it. If you're wanting to plot a chart in real-time, or update a stock ticker, or otherwise prevent someone from having to refresh all of the time, you need real-time communication.

In this talk, we'll look at how ASP.NET SignalR makes it easy to add this real-time channel to your application. We'll look at both the server and client sides of things. We'll also compare this method to another popular option, SockJS, to see why you might want one of the other. You'll leave this talk wanting to build stock

jaredfaris

Netduino - Because Why Should Java Folks Have All The Physical Computing Fun

You may have heard of Arduino. You may have avoided it because "Ick, Java!". Fear not .NETers, you too can build tiny little machines that light up when you push buttons. You can even leverage what you learn to make really big machines that light up when you push buttons.

In this talk we'll look at what the Netduino is, and how you can use the .NET Micro Framework to develop for it. We'll also talk about the general Arduino landscape and how you can extend your Netduino. We'll finish the talk by forming a support group to help you stop spending all of your money at the electronics store.

jaredfaris

Real-Time For Fun And Sockets

Web applications have always needed real-time communication but developers haven't had an elegant way to make it happen. At last, all major browsers support WebSockets, a modern real-time protocol. If you're wanting to plot a chart in real-time, update a user as things happen or otherwise prevent them from having to constantly hit refresh, you need real-time communication. This talk will break down how tools like SockJS and ASP.NET SignalR make it easy to add this real-time channel to any application. It will compare both the server and client sides of things and get into some new complexities that WebSockets add to the mix. You'll leave this talk wanting to rebuild how Eventbrite ticket sales go live and burn any computer running an old browser.

jaredfaris

Test Your JavaScript with Jasmine and Chutzpah!

As a web developer, the odds are that you're writing more and more JavaScript every day. As powerful frameworks and tools grow in usage (and even ship with Visual Studio), the complexity of JS keeps growing. JavaScript testing is an important tool that you should have in your tool belt.

Jasmine makes JavaScript testing easy to do, but Jasmine requires you to open a browser window. Chutzpah makes it easy to run your JS tests right inside of Visual Studio, or as an automated part of your TFS build.

In this talk, we'll look at adding Jasmine tests to a .NET MVC web app. We'll talk about some JS testing best practices along the way. Then we'll finish by using Chutzpah to automate these tests as part of our build process. When you leave this session, you'll be equipped to test all the things!

jaredfaris

Choose Your Own Deventure: A Ridiculous & Interactive Exploration of Tradeoffs in the SDLC

Your team is good at writing code, but what about the other 70% of software development? Figuring out what needs to be coded, giving your boss annoying estimates, testing all the whacky edgecases, managing risks and dealing with personality conflicts on your team are just as important as the code you're writing. This highly interactive talk will explore the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and what the implications of all of your decisions might be, even on a team of one. You'll see the SDLC from the viewpoint of the developers, the BAs, the PMs, and yes, even the QAs. And it will do it in a shamelessly silly manner. You won't leave this talk with "15 Secrets Great Developers Don't Want You To Know" but you will leave it with a fresh perspective on how your team gets work done.

jaredfaris

F12 - Tools and Tips for Tuning and Debugging The Web

You already know how to debug your C#/VB.NET but what about everything in the browser? The developer tools in IE (and every other modern browser) are packed full of features to help. Having trouble working with minified code? There’s a simple trick to deminify it all. Pages slow or rendering oddly? Profiling and timeline features can help solve this. Bonus topics will include tools like Glimpse and Fiddler that show what the heck the server is doing to your UI. Sites will still do strange things, but now there are ways to fix them.

jaredfaris

Bio

Jared is the VP of Solutions at HMB (http://www.hmbnet.com), a cloud solutions provider in Columbus, OH and Louisville, KY. His focus is on building building great leaders, who then build great teams and solve the most difficult problems for their customers. Jared helps organize Stir Trek as well as a variety of other events in and around Columbus, OH. He is an international keynoter and frequent conference speaker. In fact, if he doesn't have some conference deadline he doesn't know what to do with himself. You can follow him @jaredthenerd on Twitter.