Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe...

Currently there are only about fifty tickets left for CodeStock 2012.  If you haven't registered yet don't wait much longer!

The Schedule Has Been Posted

The session dates and time are now available on the Agenda page.  Thank you to everyone who filled out their session plan - this helped us greatly.  Registered attendees can now log in with your registration code and plan your schedule with the Schedule Builder.  If you completed the session plan, your choices have been auto populated in the schedule builder.  I encourage everyone to take a look over the full session list again however, as some new session have been added to replace some speaker cancellations.

WP7 and iOS Mobile Apps Available

The Windows Phone 7 and iOS apps from CodeStock 2011 have been updated for CodeStock 2012 and can be found in the respective app stores.  Links to the apps are also on the CodeStock homepage.  These apps are created by the community in the developer's spare time and we are very grateful for them!

I expect there will be an Android version posted soon, and if you develop an app using the CodeStock API (mobile or otherwise) please let us know.  There are no "official" CodeStock apps, and multiple apps on the same platform are welcome.  Creating a conference app using an API can be a fun project to learn a new technology as well as make for great conversation at the event!

Windows 8 and Azure Thursday Tracks

Details are being worked out, but I want to send out a heads up to anyone who might be interested.  Thursday, June 14th (the day before CodeStock) Microsoft will be running two day long tracks.  One will be an introduction to Windows Azure, and the second will be a hand on lab for creating Window 8 "Metro" applications.  Both of these will be free and not require a CodeStock registration - CodeStock and Microsoft are simple synergizing our efforts. 

Registration information for both of these Precon tracks will follow, but I wanted to send out notice now so there would be time to adjust travel arrangements and work schedules.

Before we get into the CodeStock updates, I want to give a shout out to DiscountASP.NET who For a limited time, are giving away 6 months free hosting when using the promotion code CODESTOCK!  Details at http://www.discountasp.net/codestock/

Session Preference Selections End Soon!

Right now registered attendees can log in to http://codestock.org/Pages/RegForm.aspx and select the sessions they plan to attend at CodeStock 2012 (click "Plan Schedule" on the right).  We use this information to plan the times of sessions and reduce the number of conflicts attendees have.  While we cannot guarantee two sessions you wish to attendee are not at the same time, we can lower the odds.

In the next week we will begin locking in the final schedule.  Please fill out your preferences by May 8, 2012 to make sure they are considered.

CS2012 Twitter List Active

A twitter list of the attendees and speakers (who provided a twitter account in registration) is setup at http://twitter.com/#!/codestock/cs2012.  This list will continue to update as more attendees register.  While using hashtags on twitter can create a meta-group of those present, using a concrete list is much easier.

The @CodeStock twitter account will also be following any account that follows it.  This allows attendees to Direct Message any feedback right to the conferences organizers during the event.  We can't promise an immediate response, but we can promise it will be seen (and acted up if needed).

CodeStock API Is Back

The CodeStock API can be used for building apps - web, desktop, or mobile - with the conference schedule data.  Details on accessing the API at http://codestock.org/Api.aspx

If you make an app let us know and we'll post it on the site!  We will also keep a list of mobile apps for attendees to have the schedule in their pocket during the conference.

2012 Logo Revealed!

The CodeStock 2012 logo (which is also a t-shirt preview) has been posted to the site.  If you need a logo, badge, slide, handout or other CodeStock asset, check out the Marketing page at http://codestock.org/Marketing.aspx

We are pleased to announce that the Knoxville Hilton will be offering a discount rate for CodeStock 2012!

The Knoxville Hilton is located across the street (a small one-way street) from the UT Conference Center where CodeStock 2012 will be held.  We have also reserved a ballroom Thursday night located next to the Hilton's indoor/outdoor patio area for socializing.

To reserve your room at the Hilton, please see the information on the Location & Hotels page.

The CodeStock 2012 Session selections have been made!  Head over to the session list page to see the many great sessions in store for this year's CodeStock.   A big thank you to all the speakers who submitted talks this year!

We wanted to have the sessions posted last week, but birthdays and thunderstorms kept that from happening.  To make up for this we pushed the Early Bird deadline back from today to Friday - register by Friday April 13, 2012 to get the Early Bird rate.

Finally, just for fun, here are the CodeStock 2012 top 20 sessions by vote:

I was reminded on twitter that I haven’t done the annual vote check-in this year yet, so here it is!

These are the top 20 sessions currently based on weighted votes (voting is done by choosing 8 sessions, and ranking them in order of preference).  There is still time to vote, register and complete the ballot by March 26th, 2012 11:59 PM Eastern Time to tell us the sessions you want to see at CodeStock 2012.