NxtGenUG - News RSS Feed

Coventry in Venue Change

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:28:00 GMT

The Coventry Branch of NxtGenUG has changed venues. We can now be found at the Royal British Legion in Baginton

NxtGenUG Coventry has changed venues. The good news is we are just down the road from the old venue. Here Richard Costall gives us some directions from the old venue to the new one

From the A45/A46 roundabout drive down Rowley road, past the Flying Club venue, drive another few hundred yards and you'll come to a crossroads - turn left and then after 50 yards turn right into Kimberley Road (by the Post Office)

Drive down Kimberley Road and when the road ahead turns sharply to the left you'll see an entrance on the right hand side - this is the entrance to the venue.

Drive down the side of the venue into the rear car-park (P), as you go down the side, you'll see some white doors, which is the entrance (E) to the venue.

We Look forward to seeing you there

The Royal British Legion,Kimberley Road,Baginton,Coventry,West Midlands,CV8 3AQ

Job Vacancies at Progressive Educational Tools

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:16:00 GMT

Long standing NxtGenUG member, and PET Director Chris Sexton is looking to fill a couple of vacancies; a Developer and a Web-MultiMedia Designer/Developer

Long standing NxtGenUg member, and Progressive Educational Tools Director Chris Sexton is looking to expand his team with a C#/ASP.NET Developer and a MultiMedia Developer/Designer.

Progressive Educational Tools (PET) is a market-leading educational company delivering learning to users via engaging web and multimedia user experiences.

C#/ASP.NET Developer This is a great opportunity for a creative thinker and problem-solver to work closely with our in-house user interface developer and training team to create rich, engaging learning applications. This will require skills in developing server-side web applications (C#, ASP.NET) and designing and programming databases (SQL Server 2005, T-SQL).

In addition, you will also:

Have a good grasp of client-side web technologies (HTML, JavaScript, CSS).
Are experienced in using Xml technologies such as Xml Schema and XSLT.
Are interested in Silverlight development (and potentially mobile).
Have an enthusiastic “best practices” approach to unit testing and repeatable build processes.

C-Sharp ASP.NET Developer

Web-Multimedia Designer-Developer You will have proven skills designing and building web and multimedia user interfaces – HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, ActionScript, Flex – probably gained from several years’ experience working in the web environment – and with a portfolio to match. Experience of ASP.NET MVC, C#, jQuery, SEO, SQL, Xml is useful but not essential. As part of the role you will learn and master Silverlight and there is potential for future mobile development.

This role calls for someone to combine these skills with an eye for design and produce appealing and engaging user interfaces which sit up and want to be used, and make a real difference to users’ learning experience.
Web-Multimedia Designer-Developer.pdf

Contact : Chris Sexton, via the email address in the PDF's - and tell him Rich sent you!

Register for UK TechDays!

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:01:00 GMT

Register for UK TechDays! - A week of free technology events for devs, IT managers and IT pros

This April, Microsoft are celebrating a number of product launches and innovations during an exciting week of technology and social events. Join them to find out how you can get the most from their latest technology releases and explore how Microsoft's platform and tools bring together the clients, servers and services needed to build rich engaging applications.
Register at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/techdays/ as soon as possible, places are limited!

Ridgian are looking for Developers

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:12:00 GMT

.NET/SQL DEVELOPERS REQUIRED! - Ridgian, the company Dave McMahon works for are currently recruiting. Find out details by clicking 'more' ...

Ridgian are looking for .NET/SQL Developers. IDeally you should have 3+ years experience of developing in .NET with most of that in ASP.NET. Experience in Silverlight, WPF a bonus also having good strong SQL skills is also an advantage as would be any experience in developing with SharePoint.

Ridgian is Microsoft Gold Partner and is a growing company with a 12 year track record of delivering solutions in the Banking, Finance, NHS, Local Government and Charity spaces..

If you're interested in working for a top company in the Midlands area which is dynamic and growing, contact Shelley Vaisey by sending your latest CV.

"Uncle Bob" will be speaking in Oxford in April!!

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:51:00 GMT

Top Author and Speaker "Uncle Bob" will be speaking in Oxford in April!!

Rich Hopton NxtGenUG Oxford Coordinator has had quite a coup! Oxford will welcome top author and speaker Robert C Martin otherwise know as 'Uncle Bob' to speak on Wednesday 14th April 2010 - register for the event here! - with the swag giveaways and pizza too it's a evening not to miss!

Mix10 and Mix10K

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:27:00 GMT

Registration for Mix10 - the Designer/Developer LoveFest is now open. It's happening at Las Vegas on the 15th-17th March 2010

Registration for Mix10 is now open - This is the top event if you want to know about the next generation of web technologies, including Silverlight, ASP.NET and even Mobile!

The event is taking place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on the 15th-17th March 2010 - With a Pre-con workshop day on the 14th.

There is also a fabulous opportunity for you to practice your web skills and enter the Mix-10K competition - Where you build an applicaiton in just 10K and have a chance to win some fabulous prizes, including a ticket to the conference itself

Details for the competition are

DDD8 Announced!

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:27:00 GMT

DDD8, the 8th DDD event is to be held at Microsoft UK HQ in Reading on 30th January 2010

DDD8, the 8th DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper event to be held at Microsoft UK HQ in Reading is on 30th January 2010. Visit the website here.
Why not submit a session?

Black Marble VS2010 Event

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:52:00 GMT

Catch up on the latest with Visual Studio 2010, with Black Marble in London on the 17th December 2009

Black Marble are running a Visual Studio 2010 event in london on the 17th December 2009 - cost is free

details here

Blog entry on installing SharePoint 2010

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:04:00 GMT

Dave's published a detailed blog entry on installing SharePoint 2010

Dave's published a detailed blog entry on installing SharePoint 2010 here. Enjoy!

Dave McMahon starts a new article series on SharePoint

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:40:00 GMT

Dave McMahon starts a new article series on SharePoint

Dave McMahon starts a new series on SharePoint for those who keep saying "I must find out more about SharePoint" . Read it here on the NxtGenUG site or here on Dave's Blog.

SQL Bits Conference

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:47:00 GMT

SQL Bits conference is happening on the 19th-21st November 2009 - The Saturday being FREE!

SQL Bits are doing a 3 day conference on SQL Server, 19th - 21st November 2009 in Newport. The first two days (Thursday and Friday) have an entry fee,, but the Saturday which is the largest day, the real community bit is FREE!
Full details are available on the SQL Bits site.

To find out more about SQL Bits click Here

Rare to Present at NxtGenUG XNA Day

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:18:00 GMT

NxtGenUG are delighted to announce - Top games developer Rare will be Speaking at the NxtGenUG XNA Day on the 5th December 2009

Internationally Acclaimed Games Studio Rare will be presenting at the NxtGenUG XNA Day on the 5th December.

Salvatore Fileccia will be speaking about Physics, free gameplay, gray hairs and headaches - Roughly this will be about the world of possibilities using real world physics opens up and then a rundown of the problems it causes and the tricks and tips we employed on Banjo to get it all working for the final product.

For more information - http://www.nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=246

PDC ticket Caption Competition

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:27:00 GMT

Rich receives some PDC SWAG, and finds a PDC ticket - Time for another caption competition - enter for a chance to WIN!!!!!

NxtGenUG is pleased to announce an amazing PDC 09 picture caption competition.

When Richard received some swag from the SWAG fairy, (who happens to be involved with the PDC) he discovered a ticket to PDC hidden away amongst it - Time for a Caption competition - Yep!

So we need your help in providing a caption to the above picture. Channel 9 Guy, met up with MCP* Man (yes, they did use to exist), at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC), back in 2005, but what did they say to each other? Simply come up with your caption or conversation.

**** THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED - Congratulations to Ian Walker who's caption "And all because the lady loves.. A Big Fat Bloke" - taken from a very memorable UK Advert

See the original 80's advert on you tube

See most of the entries here - email us your favourites?

1. Aaron King
Channel 9 Guy, "The first rule of the Channel 9 PDC After Party is, you do not talk about the Channel 9 PDC After Party. The second rule of the Channel 9 PDC After Party is".
MCP* Man, "you DO NOT talk about the Channel 9 PDC After Party."
Channel 9 Guy, "If someone says stop, goes limp, taps out,". MCP* Man "the fight is over."

2. John Anderson
Yo, Channel 9 Guy, I'm really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but Clippy was the best Microsoft mascot, of ALL TIME!

3. Jon Honeyball
"So which of us is one of the three pillars of Vista then?"

4. Chris Love
Yo Dawg, I think you are informative, on target, hip and I really love the whole Madanna wireless headset. WELCOME TO PDC BABY!!!"

5. Mr James (Runner Up)
The initials after my name are this long. And I have arms too.

6. Denis Liger
- Hi MCP!
- Hello Channel9!
- How much useful information you find on my site?
- Soooooo(this) much!

7. David Seiden
What are we having for breakfast?

8. Jim Halverson
MCP Man: Do you think there are any competitors here? Channel 9 Guy: I can AZure you there will be no booth for Sun at this cloudy conference.

9. Denis Liger
Want to become a MVP? Then watch Channel 9!

10. Denis Liger
Channel 9 is the best friend of MVP!

11. Denis Liger
MVP acquire knowledge on our ?hannel 9!

12. Gary Ewell
Some day I'll find my lucky number... maybe channel 10 will hug me back

13. Arve Svendsen
"I don't see why it is not possible to be certified? I don’t know what to do. Isn’t there a step by step guide or something?” “In some areas we are all amateurs. Now, go and pick up your date”

14. Aaron Guevara
Channel 9 Guy: Did you come to see me at the PDC?
MCP MAN: What! No, I came to see the MS Surface app that I wrote!
Channel 9 Guy: Did you win?
MCP MAM: No, but I am Certified on it....

15. Jorge Vasquez
Channel 9 Guy Said to MCP*Man, "See my shows and become an MVP". (MCP -> MVP)

16. Jorge Vasquez
C my shows and V come an MVP

17. Ian Walker (Winner)
And all because the lady loves ... a big fat guy

18. Conan Ablewhite
Exposed, the real reason Polyphony Digital haven't released GT5 yet - marketing are still "polishing" the logo

19. Aleksandr Kotlyar
MCP Man: ...but that's when he realized that the source control database... WAS CORRUPTED!!! Ch9 Guy: Aaaaaaah!

20. Aleksandr Kotlyar
MCP Man: You know, I once fixed a bug THIIIIIIS big!

21. Aleksandr Kotlyar
Ch9 Guy: Are you a Microsoft Certified Professional Hugger?
MCP Man: Only one way to find out!

22. Tom Robinson
PDC Man: "Aah believe I can fly... aah believe I can touch the sky...
Channel 9 Guy: "Shut up, can't you see I'm... *buffering*...."

23. Rick Kiessig
MCP Man - I love your shows! Mind if I give you a big hug?"
Channel 9 Guy: "Sure, as long as we can get on video. Oh, and be sure to fill out a customer satisfaction survey afterwards!"

24. James NG
What did M say to 007 in the urinal?
MCP

25. Wesley Fehler
Channel 9 Guy: Got any sure fire interview tips? MCP* Man: Yep. Don't forget to take some Certs.

26. Richard Gibbons
"Whoa-your exam transcript is HOW big?!"

27. Roland Weigelt
Hey buddy, you shouldn't hope for women to see your inner value - it better get unboxed if you want to score with the ladies...

28. Bill Ayres (Runner Up)
I can fix you up with the Channel 6 logo - I think you'll find she's just your type...

29. Cornelius Kruger
Back in my days, The code was THIS big.

30. Richard Evans
'You think you've got it bad, they modelled me on Andy Brown!'......says Channel 9 guy.

31. Steven Ward
Good news on the PDC09 Mascot gig, and to think you thought not being able to use a mouse or a keyboard would be an issue!

32. Steven Ward (Runner Up)
Channel Nine Guy decided that he'd be more vigilant before accepting Facebook friend requests in the future.

33. Mr Brice
Buy me a cup of Joe and I will tell you everything you need to know about the PDC.

34. Michael Colonna
Channel 9 Guy: Give me some of your tots! MCP Man: No, you already have like a boatload! Besides, I'm training with my Medieval Fight Club later on and I need all the energy I can get.
(From the Bill & Napoleon video at PDC 2005)

35. Scott Davis
"Yo, 9 Guy. I'm real happy for you, 'n I'm a let you finish. But Windows 7 touch is one of the best new features of all time! Of all time!"

36. Douglas White
You're the replacement developer action figure? A box with a mohawk?

37. Jungchan Hsieh
Channel 9 Guy meets Model-View-Controller Guy.

38. Steven Ward
CNG: "Listen mate, if it was that big Bing would have indexed it by now"

39. Cyril Madigan
You're coming down the station with me son!"

40. Steven Ward
CNG felt that MCPMan was way over the top with his comedy hook around the neck, exit stage left routine.

41. Steven Ward
A 'tasty little number' for Microsoft wasn't what CNG had in mind when his agent offered him the part.

42. Geff Lombardi
Having dressed up as the "Hoff" at Tech Ed 2009 (Berlin), Dave was now making a move on the Channel 9 guy to land himself a ticket for PDC 09.....

43. Steven Ward
MCP Man was the only person surprised that he had been marked as [obsolete] in SP1.

44. Geff Lombardi
Dave put his arm round John, as yet again the restart manager failed to restart and swaggleships had sunk on it's maiden voyage...

45. Conan AbleWhite
Channel 9 Guy: "So, what happened with the Milk Tray gig?"
MCP Man: "Don't ask. What's this I hear about you being in Lego Transformers?"

46. Andy Brown (Runner Up)
MCP Man: "Sorry to hear about having no legs and weird hair, but that's what you get when developers do design!"

47. Geff Lombardi
Dave and Rich could not believe how their lives had gone full circle. Having presented technical sessions at Tech Ed 2006 (Barcelona), they were now resigned to having to dress up as the Channel 9 guy and MCP man to get any sort of publicity !!

48. Conan Ablewhite (Runner Up)
MCP Man: "Somebody needs a hug!"
Channel 9 Guy: "NEIN"

49. Haichih Hwa
MCP guy say to Ch9 guy: I'll be Hancock and you'll be the "g" man...

50. Augusto Camargo
Augusto Camargo, congrats! our 8 ball says yes about you in PDC 2009&NxtGenUG!!!

51. Pablo Peralta
MCP Man: Who's on PDC 09?
CH9 Guy: Only the leaders of the next technology era.

52. Paulo Morgado
"I'm telling you. It was this big!"

53. Steven Ward
MCP Man: How many times do I have to tell them that I need an XL and not a Medium!

54. Chris Arnold
Channel 9 Guy saying "Lego of me. I'm saving myself for MVP man".

55. Neil Gibbons
MCP man attempts to show to Channel 9 Guy just how many sessions there are at PDC. Arms out-wide, "there are this many!".

56. Steve Dunn
Channel 9 guy wondered how anything that long could possibly fit inside such tight leather trousers!"

57. Daniel Dyson
MCP Man: What? You mean you haven't seen me on Celebrity Strictly Come Dancing?
Channel 9 Guy: Celebrity?

58. Mark Heath
MCP Man: see how agile I am - bet you can't stretch yourself out like this
C9 Guy: yes, but you're not modular like me. my arms can be mocked and I have two public extensibility points.

59. Timmy Kokke
Richard : "Is that your new mic? or are you just glad to see me"

60. Richard Costall
MCP Man - "What's that perfume you got on? Chanel Number 9?

61. Richard Costall
MCP Man - "7,4.. Ok i give up! What is your favourite number?

* MCP = Microsoft Certified Professional

Read about PDC 09 here

Terms and Conditions

Terms & Conditions for the NxtGenUG PDC09 ticket competition for visitors to the site.

1. ELIGIBILITY: This draw is open to any person who is 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Employees of Microsoft Corporation or its affiliates in any capacity – i.e. full time employees, vendors, interns, contractors are ineligible to enter.

2. TO ENTER: Provide a caption to our photograph and submit it, before the closing date and time. NxtGenUG is not responsible for lost, delayed, corrupt entries or issues with the site availability. multiple entries per person will be accepted. Entry constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. NxtGenUG reserves the right to disqualify anyone in breach of these Terms and Conditions.

3. TIMING: This promotion runs from 7:00pm on Saturday 10th October 2009 until midnight on Friday 23rd October GMT 2009. All entries must be received by the stated closing date and time.

4. USE OF DATA: Registered Users: Unless you tick the box on your original registration form stating you do not want to be contacted by NxtGenUG, personal data which you provide when you enter the draw will be used for future NxtGenUG activity. Non Registered Users: For entrants who are not registered on the NxtGenUG WebSite, you will not receive any communication around future NxtGenUG activity.

5. SELECTION OF WINNER: One winner will be decided by the NxtGenUG Committee (plus one Microsoft employee) on Saturday 24th October 2009. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received. Winner is determined by the best caption as decided by the judging panel.

6. PRIZE: The winner will receive one ticket to Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference 2009 (PDC09) Los Angeles 17th-19th November 2009. Prize Does NOT include accommodation, flight or any other costs incurred by the winner. Prize is as stated and is not transferable. No cash alternatives available. NxtGenUG reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value.

7. AWARDING OF PRIZE: The winner will be notified by email by Sunday 25th October 2009.

The winner will have their prize presented via email. If a potential winner cannot be contacted, through no fault of NxtGenUG, within FIVE (5) days after the first attempt, an alternative winner will be selected at random. The winners may be required to participate in further publicity or advertising.

8. WINNER’S LIST: The winner consents to their name made publicly available. Winner’s name will be available on the NxtGenUG site.. To obtain winner’s details send an email request to winnersName@NxtGenUG.Net

9. OTHER: No correspondence will be entered into regarding either this promotion or these Terms and Conditions. In the unlikely event of a dispute, NxtGenUG’s decision shall be final. NxtGenUG reserves the right to amend, modify, cancel or withdraw this promotion at any time without notice. Contest is governed exclusively by the laws of UK

Promoter: NxtGenUG (The Next Generation User Group).

TechEd Ticket Competition Winner!!!

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:07:00 GMT

We're pleased to announce that the winner of this year's NxtGenUG TechEd Ticket Competition is Paul Marsh.

We're pleased to announce that the winner of this year's NxtGenUG TechEd Ticket Competition is Paul Marsh. The decision from our judges was unanimous with Paul's not so PC but nevertheless entertaining entry:

"Richard was unconvinced that the inflatable hand grenade joke would go down well in Berlin!"

Check out many of the entries here.

Blackpool BarCamp 17th October

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:07:00 GMT

There's a Barcamp in Blackpool on October 17th. What's a BarCamp I hear you cry - Read On!

There's a BarCamp going on in Blackpool on October 17th. The event is great for start-ups and freelancers as it will help them network and explore ideas in an open friendly environment.

If you’ve never been to Blackpool, take the day out – come up (or down) and enjoy the event! Blackpool is seriously good fun and we guarantee you’ll meet some of the friendliest people in England right here in Lancashire.

Fish and chips, the illuminations, kiss me quick hats, Blackpool Rock, and of course the pleasure beach!

WHAT IS BARCAMP?

As an “unconference” there are no scheduled speakers or activities. The attendees are the speakers. At the beginning of the day, attendees are invited to take ownership of a session (3 ~30min sessions run at the same time continually through the day) by putting their name and session title in a time and room slot on a whiteboard. Sessions can be anything the attendee wants: a talk, a demo, presentation, a game… absolutely anything and about anything, it doesn’t have to be technical. The Barcamp provides the space and the facilities, the attendees provide the format. Attendees use the whiteboard to decide which talks to attend.

REGISTER FOR FREE

http://bcblackpool.eventbrite.com/ LEARN MORE

http://barcampblackpool.com/

TechED 2009 Ticket Caption Competition

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:55:00 GMT

The NxtGenUG Boys are giving away a Ticket to TechED Berlin 2009, simply complete the caption competition for a chance to win...NOW CLOSED

NxtGenUG is pleased to announce the great TechED picture caption competition.

So we need your help in providing a caption to the above picture. Richard Costall (left) and John Price (holding inflatable Microphone) are having a 'discussion'. Simply come up with your caption and send it to us via our enquiry page

This Competition is now CLOSED, Thanks for all your entries

"Richard was unconvinced that the inflatable hand grenade joke would go down well in Berlin" - Paul Marsh ***** WINNER ****

SOME OF OUR OTHER ENTRIES - THANKS TO EVERYBODY WHO TOOK PART!

"Sweet! So how did Microsoft say we integrate this into SharePoint?" - Rafal Opalinski

"6 monitors connected to one machine for Swaggleships... nothing can go wrong Rich!" - Richrad Hopton

"Is that your new mic? or are you just glad to see me" - Timmy Kokke

"Costall: Seeing that microphone brings back bad memories of getting kicked off X-Factor *weeps*" - Chris Hardy

"At least when Swagglehips goes down this time, we can cling onto this as a bouyancy aid..." - Rich Costall

"cheez!!! thanks for the lollypop really needed it after working on windows security." - Waqas Akram

"Nah, the swagometer just refused to award it to anyone" - Philip Leicester

"Dick, I'm sorry they kept asking you to speak up, this is an *inflatable* microphone, you see ..." - Matt Lee

"John: Hey Richard, this Silverlight 7 for mobile devices is brilliant, it now allows you to skin real world objects. Just look at what I've done to my phone..." - Shaun Wilde

"Yes, I know I took it out of the browser but you can still use it on as a toolbar button!" - Anthony Case

"When you said you'd built a lightweight prototype version, this wasn't what I expected" - Neal Champion

"I'm sorry Richard, it's not just your ego that's inflated!" - Ian Johnson

"Richard: "What do you mean it has to go in sideways?"
John: "Well, it's this or I fire up Swaggleships."
Richard: "Bugger"
John: "Precisely" - Steven Ward

"John: ...and with this I've added smellovision to Swaggleships and then we can now really wow them at the next NxtGenUG meeting.
Richard: I am not sure the authentic smell of sailors and submariners is going to help.
John: Sorry I've not turned it on yet, that was me." - Shaun Wilde

"How the hell do you turn the power on this thing on?" - Tamer Ildan

"The advantage of these new microphones is that they double as hand grenades if the audience turns nasty" - David Woods

"Judging on Speaker Idol degenerates to violence after John's latest "Louis Walsh" jibe at Richard" - Joel Hammond-Turner

"I'm going to stick with normal mic's from now on." - Simon Hughes

"Ahh it's a mic. I thought we had to show off to the ladies with it. So I put mine down my pants. Looks awsome." - Simon Hughes

" ...but he said we could only have the 5% discount if I gave him the order for the 50,000 inflatable mic's then and there" - Bill Ayers

"At last, a demo that John can ligitametley blow up ..." - John Price

"After rumours that Richard's previous Karkaoke sessions were having an impact on TechEd 2009 ticket sales steps were prudently taken" - Brian Scott

"Was it you who filled this with hot air?!" - Geoff Lovis

"John Price: Silverlight?! I thought you said "Silver light sabre!" - Daniel Dyson

"Richard was looking impatiently over at the next inflatable that John was going to demonstrate!" - Steve Dunn

"Richard Costall: John, erm what that mike for?"
"John Price: Its for your inflated view on Silverlight"
"Richard Costall: Hmmmpf" - Jonathan Stanton

"B.. Bu... But..."
John: "Sorry Richard, this is the only way we can divert attention from your, er.. beautiful face" - Tom Robinson

"Nope, there's no way I've got a USB cable that'll it that" - Rob White

"You know, the reviews might be good, but I think I'll stick with my snowball mic" - Rob White

"Er, no, I'm just not into that..." - Rob White

"Can you smell Onions?" - Tom Quinn

Terms and Conditions

Terms & Conditions for the NxtGenUG TechED ticket competition for visitors to the site.

1. ELIGIBILITY: This draw is open to any person who is 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Employees of Microsoft Corporation or its affiliates in any capacity – i.e. full time employees, vendors, interns, contractors are ineligible to enter.

2. TO ENTER: Provide a caption to our photograph and submit it, before the closing date and time. NxtGenUG is not responsible for lost, delayed, corrupt entries or issues with the site availability. Only one entry per person will be accepted. Entry constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. NxtGenUG reserves the right to disqualify anyone in breach of these Terms and Conditions.

3. TIMING: This promotion runs from 8:00pm on Thursday 17th September 2009 until midnight on Friday 2nd October GMT 2009. All entries must be received by the stated closing date and time.

4. USE OF DATA: Unless you tick the box on your original registration form stating you do not want to be contacted by NxtGenUG, personal data which you provide when you enter the draw will be used for future NxtGenUG activity.

5. SELECTION OF WINNER: One winner will be decided by the NxtGenUG Committee on Saturday 3rd October 2009. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received. Winner is determined by the best caption as decided by the judging panel.

6. PRIZE: The winner will receive one ticket to TechED (Does not include accommodation, flight or any other costs incurred by the winner) Berlin 9th-13th November 2009.. Prize is as stated and is not transferable. No cash alternatives available. NxtGenUG reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value.

7. AWARDING OF PRIZE: The winner will be notified by email by Sunday 4th October 2009.

The winner will have their prize presented via email. If a potential winner cannot be contacted, through no fault of NxtGenUG, within FIVE (5) days after the first attempt, an alternative winner will be selected at random. The winners may be required to participate in further publicity or advertising.

8. WINNER’S LIST: The winner consents to their name made publicly available. Winner’s name will be available on the NxtGenUG site.. To obtain winner’s details send an email request to winnersName@NxtGenUG.Net

9. OTHER: No correspondence will be entered into regarding either this promotion or these Terms and Conditions. In the unlikely event of a dispute, NxtGenUG’s decision shall be final. NxtGenUG reserves the right to amend, modify, cancel or withdraw this promotion at any time without notice. Contest is governed exclusively by the laws of UK

Promoter: NxtGenUG (The Next Generation User Group).

VBUG Annual Conference 2009

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:33:00 GMT

VBUG have just announced their Annual conference for 2009 will be held at TVP on the 26th November 2009

Click here for details of Agenda, Speakers, and pricing, in what looks to be a great day.

Dave's Microsoft UK Challenger Story ...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:47:00 GMT

Dave's written up his story of the Microsoft UK Challenger Event

Dave's written up his story of the Microsoft UK Challenger Event.

Dave said "Thanks to everybody who supported me by sponsoring me or Team Tutti Frutti, we really appreciate it, and it was all for a worthy cause - the NSPC"

You can read Dave's Blog entries as follows:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Part 4. Enjoy!

Vista Squad Name Change ...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:40:00 GMT

Vista Squad User Group has changed it name to Edge UG, thereby future proofing the group ...

Gavin Osborn and Ray Booyson regular speakers at NxtgenUG Meetings, have changed the name of the Vista Squad User Group to the Edge UG http://edgeug.net/.- not sure if that's a reference to U2 or not...

What you can be sure of is a continuation of great sessions down in London - well done guys! Nice 'future proof' name ...

Latest NxtGenUG Podcast now live.

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:12:00 GMT

Recorded at the UK Silverlight 3 launch party - Rich finds a special co-host to help record the show, featuring 3 additional inteviews.

Rich decides to podcast from the Silverlight UK Launch party, so he grabs the person nearest to him to help. It turns out his guest co-host is none other than Microsoft's General Manager Ian Ellison-Taylor. They talk about the Launch, Silverlight and Expression before Ian introduces interviews from Mix09 with Laurence Moroney Talking with Rich about Madonna in PlayBoy, Adam Kinney talking about Silverlight and WPF's Positioning, before rounding off with (Mr PDC) Mike Swanson talking about the mammoth task of organising conferences like PDC and Mix09 Phew - star studded or what! (log in and rate this podcast to have a chance to win some retro swag)

Click here

Ron Watson XBOX Owner

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:53:00 GMT

Congratulations to Ron Watson who's name was drawn from the list of 100% Feedbackers - He wins an XBOX 360.

Congratulations go to Ron Watson who's won himself an XBOX 360, just for completing his feedback from events he's been attending. Watch out for a Interview/Article coming soon.

If you are coming to Fest09 you'll still have a chance to win an XBOX 360, as RedGate have kindly sponsored us again - The RedGate XBOX 360 will be awarded to somebody who complete's their Fest09 Feedback after the event!

Dave McMahon takes on The Microsoft Challenge!

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:01:00 GMT

NxtGenUG Co-Founder Dave McMahon is taking part in the Microsoft UK Challenge!

NxtGenUG Co-Founder Dave McMahon is taking part in the Microsoft UK Challenge event along with other UK Community Leaders Tim Leung (VBUG), Steve Smith (SharePoint UG) and Gavin Osbourne (Vista Squad). which is taking place in June 2009.

Microsoft UK Challenge is a multi-discipline team event where each team must complete various stages designed to test our running, cycling, kayaking, problem solving and (very importantly) strategy skills. This is no meagre Saturday afternoon of fun in the sun but is instead a full on 24 hours a day 3 1/2 day event in June deep in the hills of Aberystwyth, Wales.

Dave is busy training and has been for the last 6 months, no matter what he does we're afraid he'll never be the Adonis he aspires to be, but at least he may survive the gruelling 3-4 days in some kind of dignity!

The Team of course are all volunteers, and it's all in a great cause in support of the NSPCC who do so much good work in supporting children, their families and who work to stop child abuse. In today's financial climate it is tough to ask anyone for money but it would mean a great deal if you were able to support the UK Community Team (called the Tutti Fruttis for some strange reason!) with any amount of money small or large.

If you would like to sponsor The UK Community Team, it's very easy to do so. Just go to This Web Page and follow the easy instructions on how to donate.

Dave will being giving us some updates over the next few weeks on the build up to the event. Watch this space!

Cmomplete your Feedback and you could win!

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:23:00 GMT

NxtGenUG will pick one lucky winner to recieve an XBOX 360 just for completing your feedback by the end of May - Find out how?

Fest09 is happening on 12th of June and we have our annual awards ceremony, for this we need as much feedback as possible to be complete to get the most accurate results.

Simply log into the NxtGenUG Site and complete the feedback for any NxtGenUG event that you have attended - they'll all appear on the right hand side of this page

http://www.nxtgenug.net/authenticated/myevents.aspx

Terms and Conditions apply

Terms & Conditions for the NxtGenUG 100% Feedback Competition on for people registered on the site.

1. ELIGIBILITY: This draw is open to any person who is 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. only people registered on the NxtGenUG site, who have attended a meeting are eligible. Employees of Microsoft Corporation or its affiliates in any capacity – i.e. full time employees, vendors, interns, contractors are ineligible to enter.

2. TO ENTER: Log into the NxtGenUG Site and visit http://www.nxtgenug.net/Authenticated/MyEvents.aspx , complete all the outstanding feedback items,, before the closing date and time. NxtGenUG is not responsible for lost, delayed, corrupt entries or issues with the site availability. Entry constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. NxtGenUG reserves the right to disqualify anyone in breach of these Terms and Conditions.

3. TIMING: This promotion runs from 8:00am on Thursday 23rd April 2009 until midnight on Saturday 30th May 2009. All feedback items must be complete by the stated closing date and time..

4. USE OF DATA: Unless you tick the box on your original registration form stating you do not want to be contacted by NxtGenUG, personal data which you provide when you enter the draw will be used for future NxtGenUG activity..

5. SELECTION OF WINNER: One winner will be randomly drawn by the NxtGenUG Committee on Sunday 31st May 2009. Odds of winning depend on the number of attendees with 100% feedback. .

6. PRIZE: The winner will receive one standard XBOX 360 Prize is as stated and is not transferable. No cash alternatives available. NxtGenUG reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value..

7. NOTIFICATION OF PRIZE: The winner will be notified by email by Sunday 31st May 2009..

The winner will have their prize presented at a local NxtGenUG meeting. If a potential winner cannot be contacted, through no fault of NxtGenUG, within FIVE (5) days after the first attempt, an alternative winner will be selected at random. The winners may be required to participate in further publicity or advertising. .

8. WINNER’S LIST: The winner consents to their name made publicly available. Winner’s name will be available on the NxtGenUG site.. To obtain winner’s details send an email request to winnersName@NxtGenUG.Net.

9. OTHER: No correspondence will be entered into regarding either this promotion or these Terms and Conditions. In the unlikely event of a dispute, NxtGenUG’s decision shall be final. NxtGenUG reserves the right to amend, modify, cancel or withdraw this promotion at any time without notice. Contest is governed exclusively by the laws of UK.

Promoter: NxtGenUG (The Next Generation User Group)..

DDD Events Getting Closer!

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:56:00 GMT

There are a host of Community Events coming up all around the country .. fill yer boots, read on for details!

Spring is in the air and the UK Community is buzzing like a hive of busy bees.

Firstly, for those who want a taste of MIX, i.e Webby stuff plus designery stuff, there is WebDD '09 taking place on 18th April down at Microsoft Reading.

After that up North, way up North, DDD Scotland takes place on 2nd May 2009

Later in May down in the left hand corner of the country, DDD South West takes place on 23rd May 2009.

Don't forget obviously FEST09 which takes place on 12th June at Microsoft Research Cambridge. We've only about 12 places left!!

I'm sure we'll see you at one or two of these!

Norweigian Developers Conference!

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:41:00 GMT

Our Norweigian Developer Friends have a great sounding conference in June, and they're offering special discounts to UK User Group Members!

Norwegian Developers Conference is back on 17-19 June 2009

Our Norweigian Developer Friends have a great sounding conference in June, and they're offering special discounts!

From their website ...
"NDC2008 was a huge success and practically a sell out. For NDC’s first year, this was absolutely fantastic. With so many visitors in 2008, they made an early decision to move the conference to a bigger venue and started looking for one the day after NDC2008 was over. Several good alternatives were considered, until they finally decided that NDC2009 would be held at Telenor Arena, at Fornebu just outside Oslo!"

For full details go here.

Here's the list of speakers, it's pretty impressive!

Ted Neward
Scott Hanselman
Mary Poppendieck
Michael Feathers
Mike Cohn
Phil Haack
Kevlin Henney
Robert C. Martin
Ian Griffiths
Peter Provost
Craig Larman
Glenn Block
Luca Bolognese
Rafal Lukawiecki
Tim Huckaby
Jonas Follesoe
Michele Bustamante
Juval Löwy
Jeremy D. Miller
Ayende Rahien
Udi Dahan
Scott Bellware
Roy Osherove
Jimmy Nilsson
Sahil Malik

If you're interested in attending and want ot take advantage of discounts offered to the UK User Groups, contact Dave by email.