CodeGarden 08 is over and it went incredibly well with 100 enthusiastic participants from 21 countries. I'm back at the office working on a whitepaper on v4, but I just wanted to share some great photos taken by Douglas Robar which really make me realize how CodeGarden was from my point of view - before, during and after.
Before:
I was nervous like I've never been before. A combo of lack of sleep, dying to show the new v4 and anxious on how the community would welcome the commercial products almost made me panic, which these photos (at least for people who know me) shows quite well:
30 Minutes before start. Notice the blue projector screen. Everything was sorted and tested and in the morning my MacBook Pro just didn't wanted to recognize the projector in any possible way. I ended up disabling the graphic card (by uninstalling and deleting all drivers) and after three restarts where the computer first just crashed, then froze I finally had signal on the projector. Phew :-)
Last touches and coordination with Per - I think this is around 15 minutes before we started. Those blushing cheeks are not too much sun - that's just blood on its way to a brain working overtime!
Know your limitations. When I'm nervous I speed talk even more than usually as well as constantly saying "ahm". I knew that I couldn't do anything about the latter, but the little "Talk Slow" on the hand helped me getting through the first ten minutes.
Finally. As soon as it started I enjoyed it fully. Next year I want to set more time aside for preparation and I want to feature freeze demos and talks a week before it starts (Per, have you heard that one before?). I also want a computer that just works with projectors and then rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. More focus on learning better English is also something I've wanted for a long time. But I think I managed to say almost what I wanted. The only thing I didn't dared to say was how umbraco always have been influenzed by beliveing in doing what feels right rather than what people tells you is right. Next year, that is!
I love this picture - it just says relief all over. It had been an incredible day that really showed how umbraco has matured while still remaining the super friendly community. 30 minutes before this picture both Len, Per and Jesper had told me to head home and get some sleep (I almost fel asleep right in front of them standing), but I just needed to go crazy. The combo of guitar hero, concert-size speakers and disco lights was perfect. And oh - kudos to Per for letting me borrow and break a cigarete to finalize the rock'n'roll look.
CodeGarden was a blast and the insane emotions during the first day just tells me that I'm doing what I love.