Community Speaking: a look back
A Blog from Mike Irving, Software Developer
By Mike Irving - Published: 29/12/2024
The year gone by
I come to pen this post, that has become something of a traditional "look back at the year just gone" post, after what really has been another busy year.
On a personal note, I have just completed my first full calendar year back in Permanent / Full Time Employment, after a long time as a Freelance Developer.
Dot Net North has been as busy as ever, with 12 events in 2024, culminating with our recent Festive Gathering, co-hosted with the Manchester and North West Umbraco Meetup.
Macc Tech has been flying high too, with 4 events in 2024, and a new second venue in the mix.
MVP Award
In March, I was thrilled to receive the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award in Developer Technologies (sub-categories .NET and Web Development), in recognition of my work with the tech community, past, present and hopefully future too.
Speaking
I have been busy speaking / presenting, alongside Meetup hosting / organising.. here is a brief timeline of events...
.NET Conf Local - 23rd January 2024
As part of our annual recap of .NET Conf related content, my presenting year began with a walkthrough of Uno Platform 5.0, at Auto Trader in Manchester.
Season of AI
From May to August 2024, the Microsoft Community, with support from Microsoft, hosted Season 1 of a new pilot program "Season of AI": a series of events hosted globally delivering AI related content at local meetups, and beyond. I chose to present a talk "Intro to AI with .NET, OpenAI and Semantic Kernel".
Macc Tech - 3rd July 2024
For July's Macc Tech, we had talks and discussions around Macclesfield Pride, and I delivered a special derivative of my forthcoming AI talk, "Talking Pride with AI", at Nexer Digital in Macclesfield.
Microsoft Build After Party - 16th July
The July Dot Net North was a special event combining Microsoft Build content, and the new "Season of AI" content. I presented "Intro to AI with .NET, OpenAI and Semantic Kernel", alongside other talks. Event hosted at BrightHR in Manchester.
Xamarin Moving On
Having retired (unofficially) my ".NET, IoT and Hedgehogs" talk with a final outing at Manchester Tech Festival in late 2023, I decided to tour a new talk, documenting the Rise and Fall, and evolution, of Xamarin. A big interest of mine, with Xamarin (and more wider "mobile" in general) having featured widely in my work for the past decade. Indeed, I presented back at "Xamarin Dev Days" events in Manchester back in 2016 and 2017.
I initially offered the talk to the Birmingham .NET & MAUI (Xamarin) User Group, ".NET Brum" for short, as it was the only group in the UK that still listed "Xamarin" in it's name.
However, the talk soon gained attention, and Birmingham wasn't the first outing.
As it happened...
NSManchester - 5th August 2024
I returned to the local iOS Developer Group for the debut outing of "Xamarin: Moving On". An interesting crowd, as many devs there are Native iOS Developers, Cross Platform being a minority interest. It was my second time presenting at NSManchester, having presented there in 2017. Hopefully I'll be back sooner than another 7 years! The event was held at Jaguar Land Rover, in Manchester.
.NET South West - 29th August 2024
This was a short notice booking, having been at the group in person in 2023 with the aforementioned "hedgehogs" talk. On this occasion, I was asked to present my talk online.
.NET Brum - 11th September 2024
The event I was expecting to be the debut date for "Xamarin: Moving On" ended up being it's third outing. But that's a good thing, I had already improved the talk and added additional content, and it was great to be in Birmingham for the first time as a speaker. Event hosted at BJSS in Birmingham.
Dot NET Liverpool - 12th November 2024
My last presentation of the year was a welcome invite back to Dot NET Liverpool, after some 18 months or so, again with "Xamarin: Moving On". Hosted at Barclays Eagle Labs in Liverpool.
The Year Ahead.
We will begin 2025 for Dot Net North, like 2024, with a .NET Conf Local event, where I will be amongst the presenters.
After that? I'd love to take Xamarin: Moving On further afield, whilst the talk is still relevant / of interest, but I'll also be thinking about a new talk for the future.
I'll be continuing to work with the local tech communities, as organiser and more.
Events will, as always, be listed on my Public Speaking & Events page.
View Blog Entries...
Page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
