I’m sitting here in a hotel down the strip looking out the window and getting ready for my fifth FileMaker DevCon. I came here a few days early with family to have a little vacation. We went to Zumanity, to Ka, and to Penn and Teller. We ate good food here and had a relaxing time in the hotel’s spa.
As I gaze out the window at the Las Vegas Strip, with a big “Mandalay Bay” sign in my immediate view, I am turning my thoughts to this year’s DevCon.
From all I know, it will be an exciting conference. This year’s theme is “Aptitude for Apps”. Every session is designed to help FileMaker developers become better custom-app developers. There are great networking events and a lot of sights to see. As one friend said, it is exciting to know that at 1 am in the morning, I can get any food I want within walking distance.
I’m most excited for three things:
- First, Soliant Consulting is sponsoring the FileMaker Developer Challenge. Here, teams of developers build custom apps for three local nonprofits. One of them, The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada is near and dear to my heart. It is awesome that so many developers are donating their time to creating a full app for these organizations so that they may have a more efficient internal workflow. It is nice to see the community give back.
- Second, I’m excited to be able to network. As I posted elsewhere, I can be introverted, and indeed, my first few years at DevCon, the scale tipped toward that side much more. This year however, I have the intention to continue relationships with FileMaker developers I’ve met over the years and to find new ones. I’ll gather my strength up and go out there and meet new folks who are just as excited about FileMaker as I am.
- Third, I’m excited for the sessions, nearly all of them are exciting and are geared for me. I cannot wait to attend Clay Maeckel and John Thatcher’s session on the FileMaker Draco Engine. I’ve heard bits and pieces of the session and it promises to lead us in a fascinating exploration of how FileMaker works. Mike Bergie is presenting on WebDirect, a technology I continue to explore. He has some great techniques prepared, including two that originated from blogs here at Soliant: Mike Duncan and Ross Johnson. My colleague Makah Encarnacao will lead a session on building apps that are kind to the developers who build and support them
There are many sessions on the science of design. There are many sessions on the iOS SDK. And there is a great session on Reporting techniques and dashboards. There are too many sessions I want to attend. I’ll be busy each day in these sessions taking notes and asking questions if needed.
It will be an exciting week here at FileMaker DevCon 2016. I am well-fed, rested and ready to enjoy the time and learn with my FileMaker Colleagues.
Tomorrow I’ll report back on the first day. Stay tuned to Soliant’s blog to read more about the conference.
