Southwest Fox 2024 is a go!

Thanks to our generous speakers stepping up and shouldering some of the financial risks, additional sponsorship, and our hope that the community will respond with more registrations, we are announcing that Southwest Fox 2024 will go on as planned in-person and virtually September 26-29, 2024. That said, it is with heavy hearts that we announce this is the final in-person Southwest Fox conference that we are going to put on as it’s clear the economics no longer work. Our plan is to move forward with Virtual Fox Fests in the future.

This is your last chance to hang out with the Fox gang in Phoenix, so if you were thinking about attending sometime, this is the time.

Southwest Fox 2024: In-person, STILL in jeopardy

We really want to have an in-person conference. If you plan to be at the in-person conference, please register today if you have not already done so. We are still short of our minimum to make the in-person side of the conference happen by six people. Even if we get six more in-person registrations, we are taking a financial risk. If you plan to attend virtually, please register for the virtual conference as this impacts the choice we have to make in the coming days.

Plus, if you register now, you get the early-bird discount, which expires on August 1.

For those signed up for the in-person conference, do not make plane reservations until we announce the decision for the in-person conference, which we expect to make this Friday, July 26th.

The conference takes place September 26-29, 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona and we really hope you can be there. Head over to the registration Web site now: https://geekgatherings.com/Registration

Southwest Fox 2024: In-person, in jeopardy

We really want to have an in-person conference. We love the chance to see members of our community face-to-face and interact both during conference hours and outside them. If that matters to you, we need you to show up this year. Without at least 15 more in-person registrations by July 26, we will have to switch to an all-virtual conference, and we won’t be planning any future in-person events. For those signed up for the in-person conference, do not make plane reservations until we announce the decision for the in-person conference, which we expect to make soon after July 26th.

The conference takes place September 26-29, 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona and we really hope you can be there. Head over to the registration Web site today: https://geekgatherings.com/Registration

Southwest Fox 2024: Super-saver Deadline Approaches

Hear that sound? Tick, tick, tick, tick...

That's the countdown clock at Geek Gatherings getting closer to the Super-saver deadline for Southwest Fox! June 30th is this Sunday and we thought we would pass along one more reminder just in case you forgot to add it your reminder list or put a yellow sticky note on your monitor. We still need people to register to make the in-person side of the conference happen.

Urgent: do not make plane reservations until we announce the decision for the in-person conference, which we expect to make in the coming weeks.

The conference takes place September 26-29, 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona and we really hope you can be there. If you really want to attend in-person, we would hate to see you miss out on a seat in the room (the in-person limit is 40 registrations). Whether you plan to attend in-person or virtually, surely you don’t to lose out on the Super-saver discount ($200 for in-person or $100 for virtual).

Head over to the registration Web site today: https://geekgatherings.com/Registration

If you’ve already registered, we thank you. Please help us remind fellow developers who have been procrastinating about the looming deadline by sharing this email, spreading it on social media, or posting on a forum how great a previous Southwest Fox or Virtual Fox Fest conference was for you? You can also spread the word by telling others you're going on our Facebook event.

Nitty-Gritty Details

Check out our list of amazing speakers and dig into our sessions. Follow the news about the conference and our blog.

Southwest Fox 2023 Videos

We plan to release the videos for the following sessions in early July on our YouTube channel:

• Advanced Reporting with Microsoft Excel
• ParallelFox 2.0
• Logging: Clear Cut Solutions for Your Apps

As an added incentive, if the Early-Bird registrations are good (meaning we are not chewing our fingernails), we will also release these sessions at the same time: 

• Optimize Your IDE: Take Full Advantage of Thor Tools Part 1
• Team Git: Collaboration Made Easy
• Modern Authentication with VFP

Contact Us

• Interested in being a sponsor? Contact our sponsor representative: sponsors@geekgatherings.com 
• If you have ideas or suggestions for this year's Southwest Fox, please email them to: info@geekgatherings.com
• If you have a friend who wants to be on our mailing list, please tell them to go to the conference home page and sign up https://swfox.net.
• Call: 586.254.2530

Please beat the rush so we still have some fingernails left when July begins!

We appreciate all the support people have shown for the in-person conference with early registrations. We look forward to getting many more this week as we get closer to make the "in-person go" decision; otherwise, we will be all virtual. If you’re planning to attend the virtual conference, please register now as it helps in our decision-making process.

Southwest Fox 2024 Registration Opens

We have officially opened registration for Southwest Fox 2024! The highly acclaimed developer conference is September 26-29, 2024. 

Southwest Fox is a hybrid conference: in-person and virtual. The in-person event will be held at the Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix-Scottsdale, the same location as last year, in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale. The virtual event will use the RingCentral platform (the same platform we use for Virtual Fox Fest). All sessions will be presented in a single room and will be streamed to the virtual event and recorded. This year we plan to add a second screen so people can see the presentations easier from the back of the room.

The in-person conference room is small, so we have to limit registrations for the in-person event to the first 40 people who register. Those who are not in the first 40 will be added to a wait list or can decide to register for the virtual event. The virtual side of Southwest Fox can handle an unlimited number of attendees. If you really want to attend in-person, we suggest you register as soon as practical. 

Super-Saver Registration for in-person, which saves you $200 (or $100 for virtual), is available only through June 30th, so don’t wait. Head over to the registration Web site today: https://geekgatherings.com/Registration. You’ll have to select either the in-person event or the virtual event.

Registration fees start at $599 for in-person and $349 for virtual. More details are available on the conference’s registration page.

Important hotel details

We have a limited number of rooms at the hotel for those attending in-person. We will send you the link once we process your registration. 

Flights

Please do NOT book your flights yet. Our hotel contract gives us some flexibility to see how registration is going before we’re absolutely committed. We’ll let you know when it’s time to book.

Here is what you can expect from Southwest Fox:

1. Terrific selection of sessions from great presenters.
2. A total of 15 regular conference topics to pack your days with learning opportunities and inspiration.
3. Half-days on Thursday and Sunday for a more relaxed schedule and to make it easier for the virtual attendees.
4. Lunch Friday and Saturday for all in-person attendees.

The conference website has been updated with this year’s information and includes:

• News about the sessions and speakers.
• The general schedule.
• Specifics about the conference hotel.
• The conference blog where you can find our thoughts and perspectives.
• The link to our X (Twitter) feed.
• Opportunities for conference sponsorship.
• Ways you can help us promote the conference.

Contact Us

• Interested in being a sponsor? Contact our sponsor representative: sponsors@geekgatherings.com
• If you have ideas or suggestions for this year’s Southwest Fox, please email them to: info@geekgatherings.com.
• If you have a friend who wants to be on our mailing list, please tell them to go to the conference home page and sign up: https://swfox.net 

Make sure to share the news about the conference to all your developer friends. We appreciate any help with marketing and word of mouth is one of the best ways to spread the news about our conference.

Time to register for VFF 2024

Virtual Fox Fest 2024 is on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, which is less than three weeks from now! We are getting close, and the preparations are in full swing.

Ready to sign up? Just click https://geekgatherings.com/Registration.

Speaking of getting close, the Geek Gatherings YouTube Channel is closing in on 1000 subscribers and we would love to leap over this milestone. Please subscribe and check the notification bell so you can be one of the first to learn when we release the videos from last year’s Southwest Fox. The channel has over 60 videos with session content from all the Virtual Fox Fest conferences over the last four years. That is over 75 hours of viewing. Here is a link to a session from 2022:

DevOps with Visual FoxPro (Joel Leach)

Who’s Coming to Virtual Fox Fest 2024?

Virtual Fox Fest 2024 is on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

You can see which of your peers have registered and opted into the conference Who’s Coming List. We would love to see your name added this coming week if you still need to get registered. Ready to sign up? Just click https://geekgatherings.com/Registration.

The Geek Gatherings YouTube Channel has over 60 videos with session content from all the Virtual Fox Fest conferences over the last four years. That is over 75 hours of viewing. Here is a link to a session from 2023:

Using the Visual FoxPro Debugger Effectively (Tamar E. Granor)

Virtual Fox Fest 2024: Speakers, Sessions, and Registration

Virtual Fox Fest 2024 is a one-day event on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. We have some great speakers delivering great sessions, live chatting during presentations, and getting to hang out virtually with new and old friends. This event will feature classic sessions (from previous conferences), updated for 2024, along with at least one brand new session. More details here: https://virtualfoxfest.com/

Registration is open! Details, deadlines and cost are available on our Web site. You register for the conference here: https://geekgatherings.com/Registration. Don't procrastinate, get this done today!

In case you missed it, we’ve already announced Southwest Fox 2024 in Arizona, September 26-29, 2024. More details for this hybrid conference coming in May. The in-person event will be held at the Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix-Scottsdale and the virtual side on the Hopin platform via the Internet.

Southwest Fox 2024: Call for Speakers

We're excited to offer you Southwest Fox 2024, a hybrid conference; you decide whether to come in-person or watch online! The in-person event will be held at the Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix-Scottsdale. The virtual event will use the Hopin platform (the same platform we use for Virtual Fox Fest). You can get more information on the Southwest Fox Conference Web page.

The conference will take place September 26-29, 2024. 

Call for Speakers

We've issued the Call for Speakers for Southwest Fox. If you are interested in presenting, please read the document referenced on that page to learn about submitting sessions.

Introducing FoxGet Package Manager

If you've worked with Visual Studio, you've likely used NuGet, which is a package manager for .NET. The idea is that you can search for libraries you'd like to add to your application, download and install them, and then have them managed (automatically download again if files are missing, update to a new version, etc.).

FoxGet is a new tool that's the VFP equivalent of NuGet. You run FoxGet when you want to add a library to an application. You search for a library you're interested in and if one is found, you can download, install, and add it to your project with a single mouse click. Of course, you'll have to do the coding part such as calling the library yourself.

FoxGet is available now at https://github.com/DougHennig/FoxGet. In a little while, it'll be available via Thor Check for Updates. All you need is FoxGet.app. There are currently installers for 24 popular VFP open source libraries.

To use FoxGet, open the project for the application you want to add a library to and DO path\FoxGet.app, where path is the folder where you placed FoxGet.app. If you installed it using Thor Check for Updates, you can choose FoxGet Package Manager from the Thor Tools, Applications menu. Select a library (also known as a package) and click Install. FoxGet downloads just the necessary files (no samples or documentation), puts them into a subdirectory of a new Packages subdirectory of your application folder, and adds the necessary files to your project. Uninstalling is just as easy: select the package and click Uninstall.

I look forward to any feedback you have: create issues or discussions in the GitHiub repository.