Southwest Fox 2011 Session Proposals Due Soon

This is just a quick reminder that session proposals for Southwest Fox 2011 are due by next Monday, March 28. For details, read the Call for Speakers document linked at http://www.swfox.net/callforspeakers.aspx.

FoxPro MVP Podcast

Earlier this month at the MVP Summit, Andrew Duthie and Dane Morgridge of the Community Microphone Podcast interviewed Tamar Granor, Rick Schummer, Alan Griver and me about a wide range of subjects, mostly around the influence FoxPro and the FoxPro community has had on Microsoft and other communities. Have a listen!

Nominations for 2011 Ceil Silver Ambassador

The Ceil Silver Ambassador Fund brings a developer to the Southwest Fox conference in the United States as an ambassador for the developers in his or her country. This gives the recipient the opportunity to meet and share experiences with developers attending Southwest Fox and gives other attendees the opportunity to learn about VFP development in the recipient's country. For more information on the Ambassador Fund or to learn how to contribute to it, please see http://www.swfox.net/ambassador.aspx.

The Ambassador selection committee consists of Southwest Fox organizers Rick Schummer, Tamar Granor, and Doug Hennig, former Ambassadors Emerson Santon Reed, Cesar Chalom, and Bernard Bout, and VFP community members Christof Wollenhaupt, Rick Bean, and Alex Feldstein.

We are looking for nominations from the VFP community for the 2011 recipient. To nominate someone you think is deserving to be selected, please email their name and a brief list of their contributions to the VFP community to ambassadorfund@swfox.net. Names must be submitted no later than April 15, 2011.

The Spirit of the Community

César once again shows why the VFP community is alive and well. First, he released a new version of his very cool FoxCharts charting tool. This is a tool that is easily as powerful as many commercial charting tools and yet César has generously donated it and his time to our community. Second, he is actively requesting donations from FoxCharts users, but not for himself: he asks that donations go to the Ceil Silver Ambassador Fund. This fund raises money from the VFP community to bring a developer to the Southwest Fox conference as an ambassador for the developers in his or her country. This gives the recipient the opportunity to meet and share experiences with developers attending Southwest Fox and gives other attendees the opportunity to learn about VFP development in the recipient's country.

Thanks, César, for all you do and for your very strong commitment to the VFP community. César’s generosity and spirit of community should be an inspiration to us all.

Southwest Fox 2011 Call For Speakers

Today we released the Call for Speakers for Southwest Fox 2011. Anyone interested in presenting should visit the Call for Speakers page on the Southwest Fox website, read the complete Call for Speakers document (linked from that page), and download the proposal submission application. Session proposals are due by March 28.

As in the past few years, we to offer a good selection of topics in core VFP development, extending VFP, using VFP with other technologies, and VFPX, as well as technology sessions to help VFP developers become better developers, not just more expert at VFP.

If you think you have something to say to the VFP community, please submit session proposals, even if you’ve never spoken at a conference before. Our community is strengthened when more people take an active role. Do be aware that speaking at a conference is a serious commitment. Even for experienced speakers, preparing a new session takes 40-80 hours. Doing it well at the conference calls for several rehearsals beforehand, too. So make sure you can commit the necessary time; the Call for Speakers lays out all the deadlines.

We’re looking forward to seeing what you all come up with. Reading through the proposals we receive each year is really exciting, and choosing among them is always a challenge.