Some thoughts on UTCC Spring 2012

It’s been about 2 and a half weeks since the latest Utah Code Camp and I’m finally getting around to writing down my thoughts (though I did tweet about it live during the event!). As always the organizers did a wonderful job – and there were also some great sponsors! Attendance at code camp was the highest ever – Utah Geek Events is reporting it was over 400 people! It appears that very soon the venue will need to change as the attendance is pushing the limits available to us at Neumont University. There was, in my opinion, a nice mix of platforms and technologies covered in the sessions and I very much enjoyed each session that I attended!

The organizers, sponsors and speakers are critical to the success of a major event like this, and as I mentioned above they all came through wonderfully! But to be truly successful I believe requires more than that – it requires a lot from the attendees too. It is obvious to me that the attendees have helped to publicize the code camp and encourage others to attend – the camp has gotten bigger each time. The attendees also participate in the event – interaction with speakers during sessions, networking in the halls and sharing with each other during lunch and other breaks all help to make the event better. I’ve presented sessions where, even with several people attending, there was almost no interaction with them – this is definitely not how I like to present. I thrive on the interaction with the attendees and feel that this makes a better presentation, and a better overall event.

So in the end I want to thank not just the organizers, sponsors and presenters of the code camp, but I also want to thank all who attended and participated – each and everyone helped to make the event bigger and better than ever before! And it leaves me wanting more… we’ll see you in the fall!

If you haven't taken the time to at least try out a user group or a code camp please consider it. It is a great benefit to you and to the overall community of developers! I think you'll find it worth your time!