360iDev – The Community is strong!
Posted on | July 27, 2010 | No Comments
I’m biased, obviously. I like competition, but hate johnny come lately type stuff that dilutes the market without providing benefit to the community/customer.
I hate seeing an event fail, I hate seeing a business fail, it sucks, 360|Conferences is slowly climbing out of bootstrap and into slight profitability, I know the pain of having no money, as do many if not most app devs at one point or another.
As such, seeing Appcon, fail before it even started, doesn’t bother me. I hope they refunded everyone’s money.
What does bother me, is saying that the community isn’t ready for their “groundbreaking event”.
Groundbreaking? Let’s be honest.
Birds of a feather? Been there, done that.
Fast pitch? not interested, but have done ignite style fast pitch things. It works at Ignite events, not conferences IMO.
Expo? Do it each time.
40 sessions by experts? Yeah we know all about having that many awesome community experts in one place, we do it 2x a year!
The App Developer community, primarily the iOS community is crazy strong, and growing daily!! To say the community is the reason an event fails is disingenuous at best. When Tom and I started 360|iDev, we barely knew the community, we opened our doors, approached those who we either knew, knew about, or found, and from there have continued to build something that we’re proud of, and hopefully the iOS developer community is proud of.
Look at the image below, I’m thinking there’s another reason appcon failed, and it has nothing to do with size or strength of the mobile developer community. Heck the modern, (again IMO) technologies that matter… are thriving and growing.
So I personally and on behalf of 360|iDev, call BS on appcon. Let’s show the organizers, just how ready the community is!! See you in Austin!!
Tags: 360|iDev pricing > awesome > Community > Game Development > Hurry Up > speakers > Sponsors
360idev – Make some noise, make some money!
Posted on | June 25, 2010 | No Comments
So I’ve made some site badges, grab ‘em and put up on your site. Blog, twitter homepage, whatever.
You can get the 200pix and the 250pix size.
But wait, what about the money?
Yeah so we’re trying something new. When you add the badge to your site, you can use an eventbrite affiliate link, to earn $25 every time someone uses your site and registers for 360|iDev.
Of course you don’t have to sign up as an affiliate, that’s entirely up to you, but if nothing else, show the love for 360|iDev and put the badge on your site and link here to the main site.
It’s easy. Just:
- Go hear, and sign up as an affiliate. Yeah, you gotta create an eventbrite account, but hey how else they gonna pay you!
- Add the badge and the URL to your site.
- make noise, get folks to click the badge and register
- make money. Every person that registers from your site is worth $25.
See you in Austin!!
Tags: 360|iDev pricing > awesome > Community > Hurry Up
360iDev – WWDC super discounts, USB Drives, and more
Posted on | June 18, 2010 | No Comments
This year I didn’t attend WWDC. I was in San Francisco, but not attending. That was both a blessing and a curse.
My main goal in attending WWDC each year is to hang out with the awesome developers who are there, saying ‘hi’ and making sure they know about 360|iDev. By not actually attending the conference my only options for meeting the community are the parties, and my office away from home, Starbucks. That worked to a degree. Several people were able to find me and purchase tickets, even a few potential sponsors. But I think it’s easier when I’m hanging out inside the conference. The time between sessions, etc, made it hard for some to get out, get to Starbucks, and back in to the next session.
My other goal in being around WWDC is to offer our special WWDC pricing. We figure you’ve paid $1600 to attend WWDC, why not cut you a break. A break in the form of $200 off the ‘first 100′ price of 360|iDev. I mean really, who can pass up $299 for a 4 day event with the best and brightest of the iPhone community? This was the second year we sold super discounted tickets to WWDC attendees, and we sold 2x as many. That’s a plus on a lot of levels!
The parties at WWDC are always a blast, and I met a ton of awesome peeps! Finally got to meet @grouchoduke! which was nice! They give me a chance to hang out, meet folks, give out cards… you see the moo cards around? Those had 15% off discount codes on them, hope you picked one up! It was a testament to the iPhone developer community that WWDC Sold out in 8 days, and was entirely iPhone focused. It’s great to see the community so huge, and getting so much love!
The upside of not being an attendee of WWDC, sleeping in :) Sorry guys, but after closing bars, it’s nice to not be up by 8-9am :)
The other thing we do at WWDC is the scavenger hunt. This was the second year we’ve done it, and judging by the interest, a HUGE success. Last year the drives sat in their hiding places for a good while, while this year, they were all gone within 30 minutes of being hidden. Congrats to those 5 folks! They all got a free pass to 360|iDev, and a bunch of awesome promo codes from some incredible developers!
Next year I’ll have more drives, and more promo codes! I really enjoy the hunt, and it’s a ton of fun for everyone!
So, see you next year at WWDC, but in the meantime, you should seriously be registering for 360|iDev Austin. November 7-10. I mean WWDC is great, and the best/only place to see what’s new and hot, and coming soon, but 360|iDev is the place to learn things that will not only energize you for months afterward, but will have you doing things the rest of the community isn’t even thinking about! Go get your ‘first 100′ ticket now! before they’re gone!
Tags: 360|iDev pricing > awesome > Buy Now > Community > Game Development > Hurry Up > USB Dead Drop > USBHunt > WWDC
360iDev – Worth every penny and more
Posted on | June 16, 2010 | No Comments
Conference pricing is funny.
You see events that cost over $1000, and think (at least I do) “what will I be getting out of this conference? Will it be worth $1000? Will I be wasting my money?” I especially have those thoughts as someone who doesn’t have a company expense account to draw upon. But even in my days as a cube monkey I felt weird when I’d return from a conference and 1. have to make up what I learned to report back to my boss, and 2. submit expense reports, etc for thousands of dollars of company money.
What about when a conference has an early bird price that takes $550 off the price? I mean the savings in the early bird price is more than the actual cost to attend 360|iDev. I wonder if they think they provide over $1000 in knowledge and networking?
Why do events, with similar formats as 360|iDev cost so much more? They’re “enterprise” I guess is the only explanation. Meaning nothing but they want to milk attendees (who are typically on the company’s dime) for as much as possible. I certainly hope “enterprise” attendees don’t get suckered into this thinking, but looking at conference history, those events with “enterprise” anywhere in their name or description, tack on at least an extra $500 just because.
These events are obviously not aimed at indie developers. Ever wonder if you get 2-3x the value? They’re not 2-3 times the length, or the number of sessions, or anything else that would be a good metric, so what’s the difference?
I know that every attendee or potential attendee has a choice in the events they attend, and I show my gratitude in organizing an awesome event that blows their minds. At least a few times every event, someone walks up to me (I’m the guy at the reg desk, or walking around saying hi) and tells me that they’ve already gotten their money’s worth.. ‘Already’, and it’s usually lunch time on day one!
360|iDev Austin is still a ways away, but why wait? Waiting will cost you $100 if nothing else, and it’s not like you’re not gonna have a good time, and get more information from 3 days than you’ll get anywhere else. Go register, worse case you can get a refund if you can’t make it (Make sure it’s before the cut off though!)
Tags: 360|iDev pricing > awesome > Community > Game Development > Game Jam > Hands-On training > speakers > Sponsors
360iDev – Call For Papers Open
Posted on | June 14, 2010 | No Comments
November is a long way away. I know that.
BUT once accepted, speakers can tweak their topic to their heart’s content, so long as it’s not a complete “Oh well it was this, and now it’s this completely different thing”, so submitting now, or waiting a while, no matter. What matters is not forgetting to submit, or missing the deadline. You can always update your submission as we go before the call for papers close.
I figure the call for speakers will close around July-August sometime.
The way it works (for those of you that haven’t spoken before) is this. You email us with your idea, answering all the items outlined below. That’s it :)
After we close the call for papers, we’ll make selections.
Haven’t spoken at 360|iDev before? it’s easy. We’re probably the most low pressure event around, and we love having new people from the community present. Many of our highest rated presenters, started out as attendees, then decided to share what they knew with the community.
What we’ll need in your session submission:
- Your name
- Your Email
- Your twitter ID or blog address (Whatever you want your name to link to on the speakers page)
- Session Name
- Session description
- Session level (100 – 300+) The more advanced the better, just saying.
- Session Track (tracks are: Business, Sights, Sounds, and Interactions, Development Tips and Tricks)
- Is this session strictly iPhone or iPad? Let us know so we can start marking any such sessions
- Lastly, have you presented this topic anywhere else. No offense to other events, but we hate stuff that’s made the circuit. It’s cool to show it at a cocoa heads, or NScodernight, but we hate sloppy seconds. The fresher the content the better.
Have a few ideas, submit them all! Sometimes we ask speakers to do more than one session if they pitch more than one awesome idea.
What’s in it for you as a speaker? Well we of course don’t make you pay to attend, but we also cover your hotel stay for 3 nights.
Less quantifiable benefits of speaking at 360|iDev?
- Book deals
- New Job or new consulting work
- who knows, Apple might hire you… just saying, we’ve seen a fair number of people who come to iDev, get snatched up by the mothership…
- Everlasting fame and (kharmic) fortune
So send in your topic ideas, remember, I’m under NDA too, so if you have an idea that’s not released yet, feel free, and we’ll keep it hush hush until it is announced. No NDA breaking here :)
See you in Austin!
Tags: Apress > Austin > awesome > Community > Foreign Speakers > Game Development > Gaming > speakers
360idev – USB Hunt at WWDC is a go!
Posted on | June 8, 2010 | 1 Comment
At the time of this writing Drive 3 is out and about. More will be following today and tomorrow.
They’ll be placed all around (maybe inside?) Moscone. I’ll tweet clues and pictures of their locations.
Special Thanks to Owen Goss, Nathan Eror, Shane Crawford, Chris Adamson, Yadong Liu, Cory Smith, and Saul Mora for the promo codes to some of their awesome apps, and games.
Each drive has a unique code for a free pass to 360|iDev Austin, this November, in addition to 8 promo codes from the awesome developers I mentioned!
This is a great chance for you to get some great apps, and a free pass to the best iPhone Developer conference around.
Can’t find the drives? Not at WWDC? Register now, before the early 100 tickets sell out. They’re already selling fast!
Tags: 360|iDev pricing > awesome > Community > Game Development > Game Jam > Hands-On training > Hurry Up > location > USB Dead Drop > USBHunt > WWDC
360idev – Get your iPhone training on in New York City!
Posted on | June 8, 2010 | No Comments
My pals, Julio Barros and Jeff LaMarche, are doing a 3 day hands-on iPhone training class in New York.
It’s 3 days, in New York, with two incredible developers! Check out the course plan here.
Julio and Jeff are both long time speakers at 360|iDev, and great guys. Both far smarter than me :)
If you’re in or around New York, check out this course. You won’t find a better pair to teach you everything you need to know. After all Jeff’s book is one of the best intro to iPhone dev books around.
This will be an excellent way to jump start your iPhone development, and then of course, you can top off your mental tank at 360|iDev Austin! Register now for $499!
Tags: 360|iDev pricing > Community > Hands-On training > WWDC
360|iDev – Announcing 360|iDev Austin!
Posted on | June 4, 2010 | No Comments
Talk about cutting it close! If you were at WWDC last year you might recall us making a lot of noise about 360|iDev Denver. Well I’m glad to announce the we’ve committed to a hotel and a set of dates, and we’re ready to go!!
Austin TX. The week of November 8th! (I’ll be posting many many more details over the next few days. Including the Call for Papers, but for now…)
Sunday Nov. 7th is the Hands on training, followed by our normal three days of mind blowing, expectation exceeding content, community, and rock brand.
Tickets are on sale now. If you’re going to be at WWDC, find me (probably at the starbucks outside Moscone) for the super early, WWDC Discount. $299! That’s $200 off the normal early bird price of $499.
I’ll be in San Francisco Sunday through Friday afternoon, so don’t miss your chance for this awesome deal. 4 days of the best conference you’ll find for iPhone Developers (Sorry Apple) for $299.
Oh and stay tuned, the USB Scavenger hunt is gonna be on next week! Free passes to 360|iDev, tons of promo codes!
In the meantime, if you haven’t checked out the session recordings, you should. 30 videos from 360|iDev San Jose! Buy 5 get 1 free still going on too!
See you at WWDC (And then in Austin)
Tags: 360|iDev pricing > awesome > Game Development > Hurry Up > USB Dead Drop > WWDC
360iDev – So… 360|Mac?
Posted on | May 17, 2010 | No Comments
Interesting times, no?
It’s sad to see Wolf close up C4. Sad to see Apple basically snub it’s nose at the mac desktop crowd.
Makes me wonder if (I’ve entertained this thought a few times) there should be a 360|Mac? Aimed specifically at the desktop app builders, bringing the same great content (Maybe more/better parties) the iPhone community has come to expect.
Nothing is firm, this is more just my thinking out loud post. I do love Mac desktop apps, I do think it’s a bummer that Apple is focusing all of WWDC on the iPhone.
What do you think? Point your mac dev friends to this post. if there’s interest, let’s do it.
Remember, this fall. 360|iDev Austin.
Tags: Community > Denver > Desktop > Game Development > Musings > WWDC
360iDev – The Session Videos
Posted on | May 12, 2010 | No Comments
I’m slowly getting the 360|iDev videos processed (They’re behind another event that is almost, ok like 50% done) and uploaded. There’s a few up there now, so take a look.
As of right now, all videos that have been processed are available for sale here. Each video is $4.99
They’re direct downloads, so when you purchase them you get the file. No DRM bullshit or anything like that.
As always, feel free to share with the guy in the next cube, but don’t be a dick and put these up on bitTorrent!
I’m still working as fast as possible to get the videos processed into something that’s purchasable. Some sessions, may never get released I’m afraid, as the video just wasn’t up to snuff. Not the session, just the recording. I want to make sure that if the video is up for sale, i’d buy it myself.
Of course if you absolutely hate the video and want your money back, let us know.
At any rate, book mark the page. It’s going to be the main repo for all events moving forward.
I’m really glad we finally got this system figured out, and moving forward, it’ll be much easier!
Remember attendees get access to the videos for free! Not only do you see this awesome stuff live, but you get the videos to watch later completely free.
See you at WWDC!
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