Cocoaconf actually took me by surprise as I just happened to hear about it from a tweet within a month of it taking place. It’s pretty rare to find developer events of this size so close by Detroit so I had to jump on the opportunity. Who would’ve thought that I would get so much out of spending a few days in Dublin, Ohio?

Cocoaconf is a brand new conference that’s geared towards a technical audience (eg: no vendors were present). There were sessions for many skill levels and even an all day “soup to nuts” workshop that created an iPhone app from scratch using many of the Cocoa API’s. The sessions that I found most helpful were ones that I don’t normally see too much coverage of like UIAutomation with tuneup_js as well as unit testing with ghunit and ocmock. I would say that the session that surprised me the most was on NSURLConnection and the different networking protocols and technologies that are present in Cocoa. Immediately I could see the benefit of things like Bonjour discovery and the AFNetworking library.

One session that I thought was unique was the “We Made An App For That” talks where attendees had the opportunity to talk about their experiences in building their app and give a demonstration of how their apps function. The apps ranged from one that had just been released within the last month and even one that had sold thirty thousand copies!

To help give the speakers feedback there were cocoa bucks being rewarded for those folks who filled out the questioners. These cocoa bucks were then entered in a drawing to win prizes at the end. This was clearly an important part of the conference as they were being handed out at all of the doors, and from the looks of things they had a good amount of them turned in. I actually didn’t realize at the time but quite a few of the books that were being given out were written by the speakers at Cocoaconf. This goes to show you the quality that was put into their debut event and from the sound of things it’s only going to be getting better.

“Since 1991, the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) has been Microsoft’s premier gathering of leading-edge developers and architects. Attend the PDC to understand the future of the Microsoft platform and to exchange ideas with fellow professionals. You’ll learn about upcoming products, meet Microsoft’s leaders and top engineers, write some code, and be inspired! Unplug for a few days and think about the future.”

ASP.NET 4.0 Roadmap
http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/PC20/

ASP.NET and JQuery
http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/PC31/

Microsoft Visual Studio: Web Development Futures
http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/TL48/

ASP.NET MVC: A New Framework for Building Web Applications
http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/PC21/

Join Eric Meyer, Jeffrey Zeldman and special guests to gain a deeper understanding of web standards and emerging best practices. Be inspired by fresh ideas and new directions. Join the greatest minds and hottest talents in web design today.

The Ajax Experience
September 29 – October 1, 2008 in Boston, MA

The only Web 2.0 development event created by developers, the real experts working in the trenches who have encountered and conquered today’s most pressing pain points. The Ajax Experience is the original and most in-depth rich internet application conference addressing cutting edge topics, from cross-browser compatibility to how to choose the right framework and everything in between. We bring you sessions on performance, scalability, server-side and client-side development, and JavaScript from industry experts who face the same day-to-day challenges as you do. Whether you’re a designer, developer, tester or manager, The Ajax Experience provides you with sessions to take your skills to the next level and enhance your professional development. Guaranteed.

Future of Web Apps
October 8-10, 2008 in London (San Francisco and Miami have also hosted)

The Future of Web Apps showcases the successful web technologies and business trends of the future, delivered by the pioneers of today. Attended by all the major European and US start-ups and industry experts, it’s the best place to learn directly from the developers, designers and entrepreneurs behind the web’s brightest stars in a relaxed and fun environment.

The Future of Web Design
November 3-4, 2008 in New York, NY

Join world-leading web designers in NYC for one day of inspiration, advice and best practice.

(SXSW) South by Southwest Interactive
March 13-17, 2009 in Austin, TX

The SXSW Interactive Festival features five days of exciting panel content and amazing parties. Attracting digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the event celebrates the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technology. Whether you are a hard-core geek, a dedicated content creator, a new media entrepreneur, or just someone who likes being around an extremely creative community, SXSW Interactive is for you!

Mixx 2009
March 18-20, 2009 Las Vagas, NV

MIX is an ongoing conversation between web designers, developers, and business decision makers. We showcase topics and solutions that bridge Microsoft and non-Microsoft perspectives, and emphasize the inclusive and participatory nature of the next web.