REAL World 2006: Day Two

The second day is at its close, and it was good.

The first session I attended this morning was Technical Q&A, featuring Jon Johnson, David Grogono, Aaron Ballman, and Mike Bailey. After a slow start, during which it seemed no one had any questions of their own, but were rather expecting just to listen to everyone else’s questions, which was my own plan, David said that no question was too easy, and that even Aaron learned something new about REALbasic this week and was still very excited about it.

So I raised my hand and asked Aaron what he had learned about REALbasic this week. He replied, “Sort with.” And then he talked for a few moments about some of the cool things you can do with it, like sorting dictionaries. Very cool indeed. Something to try when I get a chance.

My second session was Using RB in a K12 Support Setting, which was the session I was presenting. I was really nervous going into the session, because it was completely non-technical, and I wasn’t sure what kind of audience it would attract or what kind of reception I would get. As it turned out, the session went pretty well. I got some great questions and we had some very interesting discussions, some of which continued even through lunch and dinner. I ended with a live demo of Kodiak, which seemed to go pretty well.

After that, I attended Design Patterns in REALbasic with Aaron Ballman. I had attended Joe Strout’s session on the same topic two years ago (or maybe it was last year?), but I was curious to see what spin Aaron would put on it. He did a great job and gave some excellent examples, not just of how to use various patterns, but why.

Lunch was wraps. I don’t like wraps. I simply can’t abide the things. So I had chips and a cookie. Lunch of champions.

After lunch I sat in on Mars Saxman’s Debugging Principles and Techniques. No one is more qualified to teach about using the REALbasic debugger, since he wrote it. It was a great reminder of some down to earth, common sense techniques.

I then attended two non-technical sessions: A Practical Approach to the Perfect Product Launch by Gwen Palmer and Sales 101 for Developers by Matt Quagliana. Gwen does marketing for REAL Software, and Matt does sales, so these guys know what they’re talking about. They were both very good, and very enlightening. I came away from each of them with some new ideas on ways to promote Tangelo.

And now I have to be honest. I was disappointed in dinner. It was good enough, but there was no big Texas BBQ. I nearly wept.

For more insights on REAL World 2006, check out some weblog posts from Aaron and Ian (whom I was able to meet in person). I’m trying to convince Dave to write something up, too.

Oh, I did find out that when the hotel says the rooftop hot tub closes at 11:00 PM, they mean it.

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