Really looking forward to Bizcamp tomorrow in the Guinness Storehouse Dublin. 5 Streams of 8 Sessions each = 40 Top speakers, not to mention the buzz of meeting 500 people in the business and technology areas. And it’s free (thanks to a word from the sponsors … )
Key people that I’m looking forward to hearing are the two EI guys (David is talking at 11.30 about Business plan mistakes and Gerard’s on at 15.30 about how your startup should approach EI for the first time). I’m also looking forward to seeing Ciara talk about personal productivity (10am), Ronan about Microsoft Bizspark (10.45), Justin talking about Service (14.45) and Steve talking about Software as a Service (16.15).
This event may be of interest if you’re about in Cork , Galway or Dublin on the 8th to 10th of Sept. (Disclosure – event is linked to my day job, but I would recommend it even if it were not).
Enterprise Ireland in association with IT@Cork, ITAG and ISA would like to invite you to a seminar entitled ‘Opportunities in The New Software Economy’. These seminars will be held in Cork (Sept 8), Galway (Sept 9) and Dublin (Sept 10).
The New Software Economy is driven by the growth of the Internet and changes in the software value chain. It is underpinned by new technologies such as Open Source, Services Oriented Architecture (SOA), Cloud Computing, Semantic Web and Web 2.0. It is characterised by demand for greater flexibility, global delivery and cost effective solutions. Partnerships and collaborations predominate.Learn more about the New Software Economy
This seminar will give you the opportunity to network with key stake holders in the software industry in your region from different sections of the ecosystem: – SME, multinational companies, financial sector, public sector and academia.
Additionally, the seminar will provide insights from key thought leaders on the important topics at the forefront of the New Software Economy.
The speaker line-up will include:-
Chris Hofmann, Director of Engineering, Mozilla Foundation
Fergus Gloster, former VP of Business Development, Salesforce.com
Seminar cost: Admission is €50 and will include tea/coffee on arrival and tea/coffee/sandwiches on conclusion
The full amount of €50 per person is due on registration. Spaces are limited and allocated on a first come first served basis.
Cancellation Policy
No refunds will be issued on cancellation, however if a registered participant cannot attend the seminar, he/she may nominate a substitute. Cancellations or substitutions must be notified by email to tina.cahill@enterprise-ireland.com.
Invoicing Policy
A sales order acknowledgement will be issued to you on receipt of your registration form. Invoices will be issued after the event has taken place.
Bizcamp is a conference (un-conference) for start-up companies and entrepreneurs. The conference will be held in Dublin, on 7 March with another event in Limerick on the 21st March.
BizCamp is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators to come together, share experiences, and possibly create new value out of the day. It’ll be a chance to meet up with people who’ve been there, done that and bought the t-shirt – members of the business community, VCs and investors, and representatives from the relevant state agencies. Lost your job or finding current market conditions tough? Come along to BizCamp, who knows what new opportunities might turn up?
People tend to associate *Camps with the Web and the tech start-ups, but our aim is to try and embrace as much of the Irish business community as possible. We want to see people from all streams – finance, operations, HR, legal, delivery specialists, R&D, marketing – and yes, even tech! Ireland Inc. has a wealth of knowledge and acumen, more than enough to help us out of these troubled times. By attending (and, more importantly, contributing!) you can help make BizCamp the first “good news story” of the recession.
A full list of people already signed up to attend is available at
Eircom, Bank of Ireland and other key digital companies will be sponsoring the event. The Bizcamp is being organised by a number of entrepreneurs who have businesses in the Leinster region, along with people active in the web from business and public sectors.
While most of the speaking slots are informal we are looking key business speakers for two panels on the day; Speakers should be recognizable figures, all with a good story to share. Suggested panel topics are raising funding and supports available for your business. A list of people already speaking at the event is online at http://www.bizcamp.ie/2009/01/speakers-sessions/
Aside from the business networking available at the event, Speakers will have an opportunity to promote themselves and their business in a friendly Q&A type session. If you think you’d have something to contribute to the panel, please contact me (Paul) via the comment form on this blog.
IT@Cork have got good speakers from Eclipse, Springsource and Sun, and a Bargain at 130 Euro .. More details are available here.
Java@cork 2008
Tuesday, September 9, Radisson SAS Hotel, Little Island, Cork
Featuring speakers from SpringSource, Sun Microsystems, Eclipse Foundation and much more…
Agenda
OSGI and the Enterprise Ben Hale, SpringSource
Lucene – Open Source Search Engine – Case Study, Phil Corcoran, RR Donnelley
Eclipse Verticals – From Open Source Consumption to Creation , Ralph Mueller, Director, Eclipse Foundation
Leveraging Eclipse For Desktop Applications – Case Study, James Sugrue, Pilz Ireland
Demo of Spring plugin tools for Eclipse, Jonas Partner, SpringSource
Spring Integration, Jonas Partner, SpringSource
SOA In Practice, Oisin Hurley, Iona Technologies
The Future of Java for Rich Internet Applications, Simon Ritter, Sun Microsystems
Fee: €80pp for members. €130pp for non members. Students fee is €40.
Registration: email admin@itcork.ie or visit www.itcork.ie
In a reminder that it’s now been more than 1 year since Barcamp Dublin, Barcamp Belfast is on this Saturday, 21st June. Looks like it’s going to be bigger and better than last year’s event.
Belfast hasn’t moved any further away from Dublin in the last 12 months, so I can safely recycle last year’s plug for the event.
For most people in Dublin , the Belfast Barcamp is nearer than the forthcoming Galway and Tipp events. It’s 2 hours by train from Dublin (with the venue pretty close to both the Central and Botanic rail stations) and about the same by Car , with Motorway for all but 15 miles of the journey.
Workflow (e.g. JBoss jBPM) is great – it allows you to take spaghetti code and draw it as a workflow diagram (flowchart) so that it can be reviewed by the business (the nice people who pay our wages). You then attach standard (Java) actions to these steps.
Only problem is when you come to a decision node (the one circled in red below): How do you decide to go left or right (in the workflow)? Normally this is coded in Java – good for us, but hidden from those nice business people (which means that this is more room for errors-in-translation).
Business Rules allow you to keep those decision making rules in Plain English: When something is true , then do this. That’s it. The rule engine does most of the hard work.
Integrating Workflow and Rules is easy. Use JBoss Seam (link) or do it by hand (link). And it works on non-JBoss web / app servers such as Websphere, Oracle Application Server, Tomcat and Weblogic.
Repeat x6 : Use workflow and rules. Use workflow and rules …
If you’re in business you need computer systems to support your team. Systems to find previous dealings with a customer, systems to allow your team to work together, systems to stop people finding out things that they shouldn’t.
Once your business passes the 100 employee mark and is heading for ‘Enterprise’ scale, chances are you need custom software written just for you, in addition to he ‘shrink wrap’ stuff you’ve been able to get away with until now.
Most custom Enterprise software is written in (or uses a large element of) Enterprise Java.
Enterprise Java is hard to get started with – it’s a big and complex framework because it solves big and complex problems. The Spring framework makes it easy.
OK, so we’re Spring nuts. But nuts only because it’s solved problems for FirstPartners over the last 4 years. What we like:
Spring allows you to use just enough Enterprise Java to solve your problem
Spring complements Enterprise Java, not replaces it.
Spring gives you a gentle slope to using Enterprise technologies.
Spring works well with Java, Oracle, .Net , (J)Ruby and pretty much any mainstream technology – including most of the widespread Java Frameworks like Struts and Hibernate.
So you wait ages for one Spring Event in Ireland, then two come along at once. We’ve written about Rod Johnson speaking in Dublin on Tue March 11th. Now there is a full day Spring Event in Belfast the day before (March 10th). And it’s sponsored by Momentum NI, so it’s free. And the Hilton Hotel is right beside Belfast Central train station, so it’s easy to get to from Dublin.
The full agenda is here (more details below), but given the importance of Spring to the Enterprise world, and the fact that the top four Spring guys are speaking, we reckon that it the Enterprise event of the year. The booking form is here.
Spring Ireland 2008
10th March 08:3010th March 17:30
Hilton Belfast, 4 Lanyon Place, Belfast (Beside Central Train station)SpringSource is proud to announce Spring Ireland 2008. Join us for a free one-day conference with presentations from the SpringSource team including a keynote from Rod Johnson.
Keynote: Spring into the Future – Rod Johnson
The Spring Framework began in 2002 with Rod’s best-selling Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development; one of the most influential books ever published on J2EE, Rod is recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities on Java and J2EE development.With the rapid expansion of SpringSource and move to new corporate HQ in Silicon Valley, this is a rare UK opportunity to hear Rod provide his views and explore the future of J2EE application development.
What’s New in Spring 2.5 – Sam Brannen
Sam is a lead architect at SpringSource and one of the most experienced developers within the organisation.This session provides delegates with an overview of the new features available in Spring 2.5. Specifically, highlighting the simplified and extensible configuration support provided via configuration annotations and new XML configuration namespaces, new Java 6 support, updates to Spring AOP, improved JDBC and JPA support, annotation-driven web MVC controllers, the new annotation-based TestContext framework for unit and integration tests and more!
SpringSource Professional Services – Greg Southey
Greg has built SpringSource’s UK Professional Services organisation into the leading Spring consultancy business in the world.
This is a brief resume of some of the 97 major projects completed by the UK Professional Services team in 2007. Delegates will hear about the business drivers behind some major development projects, the business issues faced and how they were resolved in partnership with the client.
Spring as a Full Stack Web Framework – David Syer
As Principal Consultant at SpringSource, Dave leads the way in the understanding of satisfying business requirements using the Spring Portfolio. His easy manner cloaks a prodigious knowledge of application development.
This session explores the “full stack” web framework trend and answers the question: how does Spring stack up? This session defines what a full-stack web framework is, then provides a fair technical comparison between a Spring-centric web development stack and the alternatives. Delegates will head about the feature-set of modern “full stack” web frameworks, and what Spring has that differentiates itself from the pack.
Spring in Ireland – Ian Graham
Ian Graham, Momentum, will explore the use of Spring in Ireland and introduce case studies from companies who are using the Spring family of products.
Round Table Discussion – Rod Johnson, Rob Harrop, Dave Syer, Sam Brannen & Greg Southey
Your chance to ask Rod and his team anything that’s on your mind regarding Spring!
At what other awards could you mingle with the Oscar nominees before the event? See them preparing the acceptance speeches, display their pre-show nerves and ask them for tips on the secret of their success? At the Irish Blog Awards – Business Blogger Meetup next Saturday March 1st , of course.
Details : The blog awards kick off at 7.30pm. So lets do it one hour earlier at 6.30pm. Same venue , Alexander Hotel, has a nice big foyer area. There’s no food at the awards themselves , but the hotel does a waiter service in the lobby if you’re just up ‘from the country’. Just look out for me (I’ve been told I look like my photo on the top right. Which is not a good thing) , or any of the nominees (although I suspect Rowan and Michele aren’t as cartoonish in real life).
You don’t have to be a nominee to come along. Just come along and talk about what has worked for you as a Business Blogger.
Update: I would put good money on Kieran from Ice Cream Ireland turning up in full ice-cream-man gear. Click here to encourage him. It does solve the problem of ‘you-dont-really-look-like-your-photo’.
Did we mention that FirstPartners is sponsoring the Best Business Blog award? As a taster, here are the profiles of the 13 people short listed for the award. Who will we be giving the prize to? Come along on the 1st of March , Alexander Hotel, Dublin to find out.
Brightspark Consulting
Brightspark is a Dublin web design and internet marketing agency, run by Maryrose Lyons who has been blogging since 2003. So she probably knows what she is talking about. Maryrose doesn’t pull her punches (read her blog to find out who she called ‘a shambles’) and is recommended to people dipping their toes in the world of business blogging.
Bubble Brothers
The tagline to this blog pretty much sums it up : ‘Wine, Champagne , more’. These Cork Wine Merchants ooze sophistication, even when they branch out from wine to talk about pancakes, pizza and the Bridgestone pick of 2008. All on the one page. They’ll even sell you some of their stuff if you ask nicely.
Pat Phelan
Cork Based Giant Killer Pat Phelan is out to slay the telecoms monsters. Watch a blow by blow account on the roam4free blog. You’ll never look at your mobile phone bill in the same way again.
Keith Bohanna
Keith’s main job is as part of the Irish Internet Association and creative camp Kilkenny. Or maybe it’s as part of a startup , DB Twang, a site for Guitar enthusiasts Kilkenny Creative Camp. Or maybe it’s teaching other business people to blog. Whichever subject is, Keith covers them well on his site.
Ice Cream Ireland
Ice Cream. In a blog. From Kerry cows. What more do you need to know?
BH Consulting Blog
Brian Honan , one of Ireland’s top Security Consultants , will have you paranoid after reading his blog. And while everybody else except you gets hit by virus, phishing attempts and emails that knock over your PC, you’ll be glad that you listened to him.
The Blacknight Blog
Michele Neylon has been a supporter of the blogging community, since well , before they were called blogs. Michele runs Blacknight hosting based in Carlow. The Blacknight example shows how a company in a ‘commodity’ industry (web hosting) can stand out by showing a human face on their blog(s). At the very least , it shows faith in their quality of service.
O’Conall Street
Conall manages to make business and politics mix. A man who has journeyed from Dublin to Belfast via Spain, the SDLP and the Good Friday Agreement , he is currently head of PR Company Weber Shandwick in Northern Ireland. He’s also a Man United fan, but everybody has to have at least one flaw.
McGarr Solicitors
McGarr solicitors are the first point of call for bloggers in legal distress. The site is very much legal people who blog, rather than just bloggers with a passing interest in the law. The blog provides a lot of useful advice in areas such as Personal Injury, (accidents at work particularly) , Environmental , Planning and Employment Law. And they do the bread and butter buying and selling your house as well. .
Interactions
Annette Clancy is an organisational consultant, coach and psychotherapist. An unusal combination perhaps, but she helps people overcome their ‘stuckness’ and solve business problems. The blog isn’t afraid to venture into uncharted areas such as the role of emotion in the work place.
Worldwide Cycles
One of europes few specialist bike stores run by people who are still competing regularly. Barry, based in Tipperary, explains what those infestations of cyclists are actually doing on our roads. And what cyclists get up to with cans of Lynx. It will make 4×4 drivers think twice before overtaking with only inches to spare.
Fortify Your Oasis
Thinking of changing your job? Read this blog first. Rowan explains how to give your life direction, how to pick , then land the job that fits in with this. And shows you how to preform a graceful exit from the role your are currently in and hate. And he’s written a book about it, showing that bloggers can do ‘real’ writing as well.
Frank Fullard
Mayo based Frank talks about entrepreneurs and the businesses they start. And he’s not afraid to think small, taking a different view from many of the ‘we’re a startup, we’re going to take over the world’ blogs that are out there.
Update:
The fact that this information was given to me (in ready to paste HTML) has nothing, absolutely nothing , to do with the fact that FirstPartners.net are sponsoring the Best Business blog award.
