{"pageProps":{"page":1,"posts":[{"date":"2022-05-05T14:30:00Z","layout":"post","title":"Devs, design & users","author":["Celina Bledowska"],"hero":"/static/images/pages/posts/2022-05-05-devs-design-and-users/hero.jpg","tags":["NorDev","NorDevCon","2022","Interview"],"excerpt":"Ahead of her conference speech, Katie Fisher, senior experience strategist at Norwich based, The User Story, talked to us about the importance of UX. Evidence and psychology UX is psychology driven. Katie clarifies how user experience or rather, user experience research, is about...","body":"\nAhead of her conference speech, [Katie Fisher](https://twitter.com/pandatwinkles), senior experience strategist at Norwich based, [The User Story](https://www.theuserstory.com/), talked to us about the importance of UX.\n\n## Evidence and psychology\n\nUX is psychology driven. Katie clarifies how user experience or rather, user experience research, is about using human behaviour and attitudes to inform design and the building of products.\n\n> There is a reason behind anything that we design because we understand that there is a motivation behind what people want to achieve by using this website etc.\n\nBy speaking to users, Katie and her team try to understand the reasons behind why and how the public use websites. UX designers are approached by businesses that want to understand how people use their products. Without the data, the interviews and the science, it’s impossible to answer these pertinent questions.\n\n## What the user wants\n\nStarting from scratch Katie explained that she wants to comprehend people's problems when landing on a specific website. ”You’re not going to get very far if you’re always asking people something new” is just one of her discoveries.\n\nTechnology doesn’t always have to be new as far as the end user is concerned. It just has to work. “People thrive on familiarity, they have mental models for this, the design heuristic is recognition over recall.” You should always recognise something rather than remember. Our memory works like this. If consumers have to work too hard on your website - they’ll leave.\n\nFor example, “there are only five icons that are universally recognised by the user.” Introduce a new aspect and the public is puzzled. People don’t always recognise novelty and they’ll have to re-learn things and use a greater cognitive load. The user will have to use more thought to figure something out - they’ll leave the platform.\n\n> To understand if people will understand something, use it and complete a task on the website, we’re looking at behaviour compared to the interview based analysis.\n\n## Developers and UX\n\nKatie feels that there is some misunderstanding about what people who work in UX are trying to do.\n\n> The way that the User Story works is that whatever we’re designing from a really early stage we want to speak to the developers, who are going to have to build it, at this time.\n\nThis is the time for compromises. Discussions of time & cost are held during this period. ”This is the time to bring developers on board so they understand ‘we’re not throwing things over a fence at them.’”\n“We always want to work with developers, even when they’re constructing the website, as we know that things will come up in the actual build ,that may be either design or the data driven that doesn’t quite work.” Traditionally, this type of collaboration hasn’t always been the focus of either dev’s or UX designer’s minds. Times have changed and all of The User Story projects are collaborative.\n\n“Though some developers aren’t used to having to collaborate, front end developers are better at this way of working than some back end engineers.” Explanations from UX designers can clarify the process. Sharing snippets and video clips is an important step in the collaborative procedure.\n\n## Learn more about UX\n\nIf you want to discover more about UX, users and the importance of understanding how and why websites work - catch up with Katie’s session at [nor(DEV):con on 17 June at 13.30 - Your users don’t care.](https://nor.dev/con).\n","path":"/posts/2022-05-05-devs-design-and-users"},{"date":"2022-05-03T14:30:00Z","layout":"post","title":"Where it all started","author":["Celina Bledowska"],"hero":"/static/images/pages/posts/2022-05-03-where-it-all-started/hero.jpg","tags":["NorDev","NorDevCon","2022","Interview"],"excerpt":"nor(DEV): was founded 9 years ago by local software engineer, Paul Grenyer, and we thought it was important to kick off our interviews with speakers and sponsors by talking to him and discovering more about the roots of the conference. Background notes Back in the dark ages, when...","body":"\nnor(DEV): was founded 9 years ago by local software engineer, Paul Grenyer, and we thought it was important to kick off our interviews with speakers and sponsors by talking to him and discovering more about the roots of the conference.\n\n## Background notes\n\nBack in the dark ages, when working in London as a programmer, Paul joined the [ACCU](https://accu.org/) and appreciated that he benefited from their conference and networking opportunities, he helped them set up local groups with speakers. He also used to attend [Extreme Tuesday](https://www.extremetuesday.com/), an Agile based group which acts as a forum for developers to chat and learn.\n\n## A lively Norwich tech scene\n\nOn returning to Norwich Paul felt that this fine city could benefit from similar community based.enterprises and established some [Agile related activities](https://paulgrenyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/agile-east-anglia-short-history.html).\n\nIn 2012, Paul got together with John Fagan, Stephen Pengelly, Juliana Mayer & Seb Butcher, who, at that time, were involved in separate groups, and they formed [SyncNorwich](https://www.facebook.com/SyncNorwich/) which, from its inception, was an immediate success. After six months, though, Paul had itchy feet but worked with the team at establishing a conference in February 2013. Estimating that 40 would attend, to Paul’s delight 180 rolled up to the sadly defunct [Open](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEN_Norwich), the event was called Sync Conf.\n\n## Norfolk Developers is born\n\nRecognising the need for a forum for developers -\n\n> “at that time we didn’t know how many tech people and companies there were in Norwich, [but knew that] there was a real appetite for tech in the city,”\n\nPaul aligned with Dom Davis and Ben Taylor and set up nor(DEV): in 2013 of which the annual conference was an integral part, kicking off in 2014, with a healthy 250 attendance. Paul remained as the primary conference organiser until 2019 when he handed over the reins to Alex Scotton & Shaun Church.\n\n## Reflecting on the conference\n\n“Amusingly Paul made the comment, “your ego’s writing cheques your body can’t cash” (Top Gun) which is maybe, one of the reasons that the group has expanded so widely. As well as just addressing solely developer issues, the conference now has workshops, business talks and a whole host of related subjects. At its zenith the conference could boast an attendance of 640 people over 2.5 days. Activities for school children were also included where building and programming a robot was one of the stellar attractions.\n\n## Where it’s going\n\nTalking about the conference, Paul said,”The whole point of Norfolk Developers was to bring good quality technical content to Norfolk.” With world class speakers, engrossing talks and the networking opportunities for the tech community, it looks as if Paul’s ambition continues to be realised.\n\n**We hope you’ll enjoy this year’s conference and look out for Paul’s speech which is the opening keynote on Thursday 16 June at 12.30pm.**\n","path":"/posts/2022-05-03-where-it-all-started"},{"date":"2022-05-01T10:30:00Z","layout":"post","title":"Norfolk Developers’ Conference 2022 June 16-17","author":["Celina Bledowska"],"hero":"/static/images/pages/posts/2022-05-01-nordevcon-returns-in-june/hero.jpg","tags":["NorDevCon","2022","Announcements"],"excerpt":"It’s just two months until the largest tech conference in the east - the Norfolk Developers’ conference - opens its doors. And what a collection of delights are in store for you. As a result of the pandemic, we couldn’t hold this event in 2021. This year we are back with some ver...","body":"\nIt’s just two months until the largest tech conference in the east - the Norfolk Developers’ conference - opens its doors. And what a collection of delights are in store for you.\n\nAs a result of the pandemic, we couldn’t hold this event in 2021. This year we are back with some very special speakers and workshops.\n\n## Evergreen favourites\n\nWe have returning popular speakers, including Jim Marshall, who in 2020 wowed us with his drumming proficiency as well as his invigorating speech. This year Jim will be talking about leadership self awareness. The incomparable Dom Davis will entertain and enlighten us with a talk on the Andromeda strain. And another popular returnee, Paul Grenyer, will divulge the conference origins and why it’s so important for the east of England and the UK’s tech sector.\n\n## New stars\n\nWe’re also delighted to introduce a few newbies to our platform. Former software engineer, and current Mindset coach, Richard Donovan, will explain the importance of de-stressing and confidence building and how developers can and should look after their mental health. The User Story’s Katie Fisher will be highlighting the importance of listening to clients through UX.\n\nWatch out for some fascinating talks on crypto, ethereum and Web 3, including a tasty explanation on Blockchain from Cambridge University Bitcoin society.\n\n## Tech in the east\n\nTo put the importance of the Norfolk Developers’ conference into context, the 2021 [Tech Nation Report](https://technation.io/report2021/) stated that 2020 figures revealed that Norwich ranks 13th in the UK and can boast £27m investment in its tech sector. Taking the east of England as a whole, the east recorded a £220b investment.in 2020.\n\n## Even more\n\nUp until the conference itself we’ll be running a series of interviews with speakers and, of course, our wonderful sponsors.\n\nTickets are going fast but you have until 16 May to grab our Early Bird ticket.\n\nCheck out our Twitter feed, [@NorfolkDev](https://twitter.com/NorfolkDev), for further information. To chat with some of our members, take a look at our Discord channel, or catch up with some of the talks we hosted right through the pandemic on You Tube.\n\nWe’re really looking forward to welcoming you all, in person, on 16-17 June at Norwich’s King Centre.\n\n### [Get your tickets now!](https://ti.to/norfolkdevelopers/nordevcon-22)\n","path":"/posts/2022-05-01-nordevcon-returns-in-june"},{"date":"2019-02-03T11:43:32Z","layout":"post","title":"Join us for the nor(DEV):con 2019 Business Sessions: Running a business is hard!","author":["paulgrenyer"],"hero":"/static/images/pages/posts/2019-02-03-join-us-for-the-nordevcon-2019-business-sessions-running-a-business-is-hard/hero.jpg","tags":["NorDevCon","Announcement"],"excerpt":"Join us for the nor(DEV):con 2019 Business Sessions on Friday 22nd February! Get your Early Bird tickets here before the price goes up after Friday! Running a business is hard John Gostling Running a business is hard….harder when you don’t have much experience of running a busine...","body":"\nJoin us for the [nor(DEV):con 2019](http://nordevcon.com) Business Sessions on Friday 22nd February! Get your Early Bird tickets [here](http://nordevcon-2019.eventbrite.com) before the price goes up after Friday!\n\n## Running a business is hard\n\nJohn Gostling\n\nRunning a business is hard….harder when you don’t have much experience of running a business! 6 years ago I joined Breakwater IT as a Systems Engineer, I quickly realised there was so much potential that had yet to be tapped into, and every day since then my focus has been on releasing this, creating a better company to work with, and to work for. It’s been a constantly evolving journey, 2 steps forward, one step back (sometimes two!), but things are finally starting to fall into place.\n\nThis is a very open self-appraisal of the how we have transformed a loss making company into one that turns a profit and is currently growing at 20% year on year.\n\n### Crack the motivation code!\n\nCassandra Andrews\n\nImagine if you knew precisely what motivated each member of your team, how motivated they were and what you could do to improve their motivation!\n\nCassandra Andrews interactive workshop focuses on motivation in the workplace and introduces ‘motivational maps’, an incredibly accurate and user-friendly tool which enables us to unlock and measure employee motivation.\n\nUnderstanding exactly what motivates individuals in an organisation can be used with significant impact to support business growth and profitability by maximising employee and team motivation, retain employees and recruit the right people to complement existing teams.\n\nAt the workshop you will discover how to create high performing teams by learning:\n\n- What motivation is, how it can be measured and how it impacts the workforce.\n- About the nine motivators identified in motivational maps.\n- How to increase team performance by identifying conflicts in motivation.\n\nTo enable all delegates to get their own ‘wow’ moment from the workshop, there will be an opportunity for four attendees to win a complimentary individual motivational map with feedback/insight session and discounted motivational maps available for other attendees.\n\n### Developing an app to promote emotional resilience\n\nUEA\n\nSince summer 2017, Dr Laura Biggart and Dr Kamena Henshaw, from the School of Psychology, have been working with UEA computer science students and Steve Jones and Adam Ziolkowski from JoziTech to develop a student support app. Currently the app is focused on supporting students’ transition into Higher Education. In this session we will talk about the development of the app, the research background to the features, and the feedback since our launch in September 2018. We will conclude with a discussion of our future plans, including evaluation of the app and our plans to work with other organisations to develop bespoke OpenUp apps\n\n### Don’t fall over like Elon Musk did – How to stay energised and disrupt an industry\n\nIan Hacon\n\nElon Musk is one of the most famous workaholic cases in recent years. So much so, many others quoted him as a badge of honour when they too worked too hard. In 2018, his wheel fell off, forced to take a total break due to exhaustion. This session will help you understand how looking after your own energy is good for business and you will leave with some easily implementable steps to do so.\n\n### Orchestrated Mobility – Changing The Way We Move\n\nJohn Fagan\n\nBy late 2030, its predicted that 95% U.S. passenger miles travelled will be served by on-demand vehicles owned by fleets, not individuals, in a new business model Transport-as-a-Service (TaaS).\n\nCitizens will pay a monthly fee to go anywhere they wish, much like we do today using on demand services for music and video, like Spotify and Netflix.\n\nTaaS will unify public, private & autonomous transportation into an efficient service and is predicted to deliver a largely carbon-free road transportation system.\n\nIn this talk i will…\n\n- Vision of Transport as a Service\n- Key Drivers (Technologies, Autonomous electric vehicles, ride sharing, costs and barriers)\n- Impacts on society, economics and the environment\n- Who should be the Netflix for Transport?\n- Examples of use cases and disruption happening today\n\n### Harnessing the power of subscription technology\n\nJuliana Meyer\n\nThousands of professionals are discovering ways to transform the way they work and the way they earn a living. Leveraging the skills we each have, the talk uncovers how anyone can can build their own subscription business using the knowledge and talents they already have.\n\nI’ll go deep into the steps needed, opportunities available, the how and why, and what has worked and not worked for others. This has already been a game changer for others who learnt this from my previous talks which then transformed their lives, their living, and their opportunities.\n\nGiven the key trends of subscription, technology and self-education, I’ll explore and explain how anyone can successfully launch their own apps from home to generate a passive income and lift the lid on exchanging time for money.\n\n***\n\nGet your tickets here: <http://nordevcon-2019.eventbrite.com>","path":"/posts/2019-02-03-join-us-for-the-nordevcon-2019-business-sessions-running-a-business-is-hard"},{"date":"2018-07-15T20:54:15+01:00","layout":"post","title":"nor(DEV):con 2019 Call For Speakers","author":["paulgrenyer"],"hero":"/static/images/pages/posts/2018-07-15-nordevcon-2019-call-for-speakers/hero.jpg","tags":["NorDevCon"],"excerpt":"nor(DEV):con 2019 Call For Speakers Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd February 2019 Kings Centre 63-75 King Street Norwich NR1 1PH nor(DEV):con, the Norfolk Developers Conference is back for 2019 and stronger than ever with new tracks and an updated format. nor(DEV):con is Norfolk a...","body":"\nnor(DEV):con 2019 Call For Speakers **Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd February 2019** Kings Centre 63-75 King Street Norwich NR1 1PH\n\nnor(DEV):con, the Norfolk Developers Conference is back for 2019 and stronger than ever with new tracks and an updated format. nor(DEV):con is Norfolk and Norwich’s premier and most well attended conference for everyone involved in software development and business.\n\n## Call for Speakers\n\nThe call for speakers is open from now until Friday 28th of September 2018. To submit a proposal, please send an email to [paul@norfolkdevelopers.com](mailto:paul@norfolkdevelopers.com) with the following:\n\n- Session Title\n- Session abstract\n- Session topic: Pre-conference workshop, Tech, Process, Workshop, Stephen Fry, Business, Lightning talk\n- Session length: 45 min presentation, 90 minute presentation, 90 minute hands on workshop, Full day hands on workshop, 5 minute Lightning talk\n- Technical level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Business\n- Speaker(s) Bio\n- Availability for Thursday 21st (full day workshops only), Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd February.\n\nFurther information will be required if you proposal is accepted.\n\n## Conference Topics\n\n**Pre-Conference Full Day Workshops**\n\nWe’re looking for three full day pre-conference hands on workshops. These should be on a software development or process theme and we’re looking for one beginner, one intermediate and one advanced workshop. Pre-conference workshops attract between 5 and 30 people.\n\n**Tech Track**\n\nWe’re looking for 45 minute and 90 minute beginners, intermediate and advanced presentations primarily on coding, techniques and libraries. This year we’re particularly keen to include a few Blockchain sessions.\n\n**Process Track** Rather than just concentrating on Agile, this year we have a process track for any type of software development process. Yes, you can even propose a session on Waterfall if you’re feeling brave!\n\n**Stephen Fry Track**\n\nSoftware Development is more than just code and practices. It’s about people. And people are not logical entities that follow easily understood rules. We’re illogical, irrational, and tend to shy away from difficult subjects like mental illness, inequality, and bias. This track looks at the softer side of Software Development, at the people, how they interact, and how we can work with the whole gamut of humanity, because it’s not just Stephen Fry who has manic depression.\n\n**Workshop Track**\n\nWe’re looking for 90 minute hands on workshops for up to 20 people. These can be on any of the topics above and delegates bring their own laptops.\n\n**Business Track**\n\nThe business track is the track for everyone! We’re looking for business based sessions with a technical slant.\n\n**Lightning Talks** On the Friday evening during the wine reception, which will be in the main hall, we’ll also be opening the floor to lightning talks. A lightning talk is a 5 minute presentation and we encourage new speakers as well as experienced speakers to present.\n\n**Speakers Package**\n\n- Free entry to the Friday and Saturday sessions at the conference\n- Free entry to the Friday night speakers dinner\n- Travel and accommodation at the discretion of the conference organiser","path":"/posts/2018-07-15-nordevcon-2019-call-for-speakers"},{"date":"2016-08-06T00:54:44+01:00","layout":"post","title":"Bigger, Better & Bursting with even more content: nor(DEV):con 2017!","author":["norfolkdevelopers_fhk6mt"],"tags":["NorDevCon"],"excerpt":"Bigger, Better & Bursting with even more content, nor(DEV):con 2017 is set to be our biggest yet so bare with me as we go through what’s on offer in 2017! Naked Element Ltd. is proud to present nor(DEV):con, the Norfolk Developers Tech, Agile & Business conference in the heart of...","body":"\nBigger, Better & Bursting with even more content, [nor(DEV):con 2017](https://nordevcon.com/) is set to be our biggest yet so bare with me as we go through what’s on offer in 2017!\n\n[Naked Element Ltd.](https://www.nakedelement.co.uk/) is proud to present nor(DEV):con, the Norfolk Developers Tech, Agile & Business conference in the heart of Norwich. 2017’s nor(DEV):con will take place on between Thursday 23rd February and Saturday 25th of February at the [King's Centre](https://www.kings-centre.com/) in Norwich with keynote speakers Dom Davis on Thursday, Seb Rose and Russel Winder on Friday and Juliana Meyer on Saturday 25th February 2017.\n\nLast year we successfully extended the conference to include extra workshops on the Thursday and extra sessions & workshops on Saturday to compliment our core Friday programme. We welcomed a record breaking 650+ delegates over the three days. This year we have a whole day dedicated to young people & schools aspiring to be involved in the technology industry. Dom Davis will be speaking for the keynote and this will take place on Thursday 23rd February 2017 alongside our extra workshops which this year include “Seb Rose - BDD Fundamentals” & “Kevlin Henney - Paradigms Lost, Paradigms Regained: Programming with Objects and Functions and More”. Tickets for these workshops are on sale now via this website or [eventbrite.](https://nordevcon2017.eventbrite.co.uk) These are priced at **£21.79 incl. fees.**\n\nLimited numbers of Super Early Bird Tickets are now on sale for **£57.84 incl. fees** and they’ll sell out fast, to find out more about conference, Thursday workshop sessions and tickets take a look around our website and follow our [twitter](https://twitter.com/NorfolkDev) or join our mailing list to keep up-to-date as we announce our agenda and our speakers in the coming weeks!\n\nLike what you see already? Get your ticket at <https://nordevcon2017.eventbrite.co.uk>\n\n### Sponsorship\n\nWith sponsorship packages starting from just**£275**, as a sponsor you’ll have unique access to a broad range of business leaders and influencers whilst casting your company onto the biggest technical stage in the county. The conference provides the perfect platform for business and technology experts to come together and explore the fundamental role technology plays in the East of England’s economy whilst making valuable connections in the wider tech community, increasing the support directly to your business.\n\nTo find out more visit [http://www.nordevcon.com/sponsorship-2017/](http://www.nordevcon.com/sponsorship-2017/)\n\n### Pre-Conference Events\n\nEvery year we kick off nor(DEV):con with our pre-conference session at the King's Centre which is **free** to attend, we start early at 5pm with two 30 minute sessions, with all the usual refreshments, this will be followed by our pre-conference dinner which is attended by some of the speakers and the organisers of the conference.\n\nLast years pre-conference dinner at [the Library](http://www.thelibraryrestaurant.co.uk/#welcome) was such a success we’re going back for seconds.\n\n#### Wine Reception, Conference Dinner & T-Shirts\n\nWe are pleased to announce we’ve extended the capacity of our wine reception which is sponsored for a second year by “Wines & Business Club”. This, for the first time, will take place in the main Auditorium at the King's Centre. This event is still free to attend so don’t forget to add the ticket to your order so we can keep the wine flowing until our wonderful conference dinner which is still limited to 80 places.\n\nEvery year our conference dinner offers an intimate opportunity to network with our speakers and other delegates. This is an event for those interested in engaging with other business decision makers and those wishing to gain valuable insight into where the digital economy trends are heading in a relaxed setting with a stunning three course meal. Guests are shuffled around the various speaker tables ensuring each course is accompanied by different opportunities to network and socialise. Dinner includes 2 glasses of wine and a choice of courses from the menu, all for **£42.39 inc. fees.**\n\nConference Dinner tickets can be purchased from our website [www.nordevcon.com](http://www.nordevcon.com/).\n\nConference T-shirts are **free**, so to get yours just add the ticket to your order and collect them with your delegate pack at registration on the day.\n\n#### Good Cause\n\nThis year, the local good cause we shall be supporting is based in the partly cobbled streets of Colgate, The Women’s Centre offers women a wide range of opportunities and support services to offer women support for homelessness, domestic violence, mental health issues and range of other important social issues facing the women in the city of Norwich and wider Norfolk, the centre has become a haven for those who have felt or faced social exclusion, whatever the circumstances. Women can receive free advice on accommodation, access to education and counselling as well as access free skills development and employment supportive services and we hope to increase support for this valuable yet little known deserving cause.\n\nWe’ve crammed nor(DEV):con full of great content. Your only challenges now are to choose which sessions to attend and convincing your boss to pay!\n\nWe look forward to seeing you in February!\n\nEmily & Paul [nordevcon@nakedelement.co.uk](mailto:nordevcon@nakedelement.co.uk)\n\nWords By [Emily](https://twitter.com/EJSiameseDream)","path":"/posts/2016-08-06-bigger-better-and-bursting-with-even-more-content-nordevcon-2017"},{"date":"2016-03-14T18:45:20Z","layout":"post","title":"NorDevCon breaking down age barriers","author":["paulgrenyer"],"tags":["NorDevCon","Testimonial"],"excerpt":"NorDevCon 2016 was yet another resounding success for Norfolk Developers. With an impressive array of speakers and workshops we had more attendees than any previous year. This year, for the first time, we had students and teachers attending from some of the local schools and acad...","body":"\n[NorDevCon](http://nordevcon.com) 2016 was yet another resounding success for [Norfolk Developers](http://norfolkdevelopers.com). With an impressive array of speakers and workshops we had more attendees than any previous year. This year, for the first time, we had students and teachers attending from some of the local schools and academies as well as the usual range of techies and business people. It was great to see them mingling and discussing the various sessions they’d attended.\n\nThis year my 12 year old grandson, Nathan, also came along for the first time. I asked him to write about his experience and this is what he came up with:\n\n“The conference was very good. We met Michael Feathers when having breakfast at the hotel and he was very nice and then we walked to the conference with him.\n\nThe first activity I did was the android course by Paul Lammertsma. It was very well done and easy to follow. The tutorial he made explained everything really well and when there was something that was not working or was hard to set up he helped with it and knew how to sort any issues. By the end of the 6 hour course I had learnt how to make simple android applications. After this was the pre-conference dinner where I met a nice guy called Giorgio who was talking to me through dinner.\n\nThen the next day there was a keynote by Michael Feathers which was interesting but confusing. Then there was an OpenShift 3.1 workshop by Ed Seymour and Keith Lynch who work at Redhat. This was complicated but fun and did what it was meant to do; explained how to use OpenShift 3.1.\n\nAfter this was the session ‘Fake it Until You Make it’ by Dom Davis. It was funny, interesting and easy to follow. After that was another talk by Michael Feathers called Collection Pipeline Design Techniques. I understood a lot more of this than his first talk and found it very interesting and it taught me a lot of things.\n\nFollowing a tea break was a talk by Darren Cook called WebGL is Serious Fun! It was funny and made sense and was interesting to listen to. It helped people to get started with WebGL and was not hard to follow.\n\nAfter this was a talk by James Taylor about making passwords safer. I learnt about a usb device you can plug into your computer for 2 factor authentication which made it impossible to get into any account you own without it, so it makes hackers jobs harder. He also talked about 2 step authentication and it was all very interesting. Then there was a sponsor’s presentation by Elizabeth Scholefield who talked about mobile phones and how they were socially acceptable and it ended with an interesting video of a man rapping about how we replace phones with human interaction.\n\nAfter this presentation was a closing keynote by Jon Jagger who talked about pair programming. It explained a lot of things I did not already know and was very easy to follow. The next day there was a talk about smart wear by Paul Lammertsma and it taught you how to make a watch face for smart wear and explained the basics of making a smart wear application. It was a good tutorial and easy to understand.”\n\nI think this demonstrates well that when there is genuine interest there are no age barriers!\n\n***\n\nWords: [Caroline Hargreaves](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/caroline-hargreaves-73b12b4b)","path":"/posts/2016-03-14-nordevcon-breaking-down-age-barriers"},{"date":"2016-03-05T14:34:26Z","layout":"post","title":"nor(DEV):con 2016 a HUGE success!","author":["lauren"],"tags":["NorDevCon","Retrospective"],"excerpt":"nor(DEV):con attracted over 400 people this year, the biggest turnout yet! There were international speakers, fully booked workshops and a great atmosphere over the whole weekend. This year's new business track proved popular, especially Ermine Amies' 'Time Bandits' session, with...","body":"\nnor(DEV):con attracted over 400 people this year, the biggest turnout yet! There were international speakers, fully booked workshops and a great atmosphere over the whole weekend.\n\nThis year's new business track proved popular, especially Ermine Amies' 'Time Bandits' session, with delegates taking away practical tips and advice on how to better use their time, and Jon Bradford's 'Silicon Broad: Bridges not Valleys' about the future of tech startups.\n\nThe [EDP covered the conference](http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/hundreds_of_tech_leaders_gather_for_norfolk_developers_annual_summit_1_4434428), which will be held from Thursday 23rd to Saturday 25th February next year, and already has a number of big names lined up!\n\nKeep an eye on the nor(DEV):con website, or follow them on Facebook and twitter to be kept up to date.\n\nLastly, a massive thank you to everyone who supported and attended the conference, it was a HUGE success because of you!","path":"/posts/2016-03-05-nordevcon-2016-a-huge-success"},{"date":"2016-03-05T14:31:58Z","layout":"post","title":"A Question of Space","author":["paulgrenyer"],"tags":["NorDevCon","Retrospective"],"excerpt":"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times - Captain Kirk, Wrath of Khan 1982. From a Norfolk Developers, Naked Element and a personal point of view NorDevCon 2016 was a huge success. We had the largest number of attendees we’ve ever had by a significant margin. The Thur...","body":"\n> It was the best of times, it was the worst of times\n\n**- Captain Kirk, Wrath of Khan 1982.**\n\nFrom a [Norfolk Developers](http://norfolkdevelopers.com), [Naked Element](http://nakedelement.co.uk) and a personal point of view NorDevCon 2016 was a huge success. We had the largest number of attendees we’ve ever had by a significant margin. The Thursday workshops attracted a total of about thirty people, Friday saw over 400 and there were about 250 on Saturday. Surely the best of times.\n\nIn his presentation, “Silicon Broad: Bridges not Valleys” Jon Bradford, former MD of TechStars, said that NorDevCon needed to move to a new, larger venue and be 800 people next year. It’s true that in terms of numbers NorDevCon has come a long way from the 160 people who attended its first incarnation, SyncConf.\n\nOur current venue is almost certainly the only option for the five track conference format we use. However, with 400 people in the main auditorium the sponsors and lunch area gets a little tight. The other four rooms we use have capacities of 120, 100, 40 and 18. When you take an average that’s 80 people in each room. Immediately it’s obvious that an even distribution of people wouldn’t work. Of course, people don’t usually distribute themselves evenly. It’s difficult to know which sessions are going to be the most popular, so knowing where to put which speakers is difficult and ultimately, we get it wrong sometimes.\n\nWhile it’s fantastic that the conference is so popular, there are times when delegates can’t get to see the speakers they want because a room is full and almost every time there’s another room with only a handful of people in it. The worst of times.\n\nSo what to do about it? There are a number of options.\n\nI’ve already identified that another venue isn’t really an option.\n\nWe could ask people to specify which sessions they would like to attend in advance and place the speakers accordingly. This would take quite a bit more organisation and is difficult as the programme is often changing right up until the day.\n\nWe could restrict the number of people on any one day to about 350, that would go some way towards relieving the overcrowding.\n\nWe’ve spent a long time scaling vertically (increasing the number of people on one day). We could consider scaling horizontally (more days, with less people each day) and perhaps dropping the smallest conference room. The issue with this is people having to spend more time away from work, which, given the eco system of small companies in Norfolk, isn’t likely to be popular.\n\nThis is usually where I would present the ideal solution, drawn from a consideration of all the options. However, this is one of those problems which requires a lot more thought and discussion with experienced individuals. The discussions and head scratching continue.","path":"/posts/2016-03-05-a-question-of-space"},{"date":"2016-01-16T18:10:33Z","layout":"post","title":"Microsoft & The Guardian Join The 2016 NorDevCon Line Up","author":["paulgrenyer"],"tags":["NorDevCon"],"excerpt":"We thought you'd like to know that Microsoft and the Guardian have joined the NorDevCon 2016 line up! Building applications using the Universal Windows Platform (Friday) Paul Foster (Microsoft) Windows 10 introduces the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), which further evolves the ...","body":"\nWe thought you'd like to know that Microsoft and the Guardian have joined the [NorDevCon](http://nordevcon.com/) 2016 line up!\n\n**Building applications using the Universal Windows Platform (Friday)** Paul Foster (Microsoft)\n\nWindows 10 introduces the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), which further evolves the Windows Runtime model and brings it into the Windows 10 unified core. As part of the core, the UWP now provides a common app platform available on every device that runs Windows 10. With this evolution, apps that target the UWP can call not only the WinRT APIs that are common to all devices, but also APIs (including Win32 and .NET APIs) that are specific to the device family the app is running on. The UWP provides a guaranteed core API layer across devices. In this demo rich session, we will have some fun exploring how to build an application to run across several device families.\n\n[Read more](http://www.nordevcon.com/sessions/#paulfoster)\n\n**Deep Impact – Agile and Analytics at the Guardian (Saturday)** Dominic Kendrick (The Guardian)\n\nThe talk will showcase the improvements and benefits that come from putting data analysis and measurement at the heart of your agile processes.\n\nI will talk about the techniques we have used on various projects across The Guardian to help us save money and improve the impact of the work we deliver, and explain how you can use these to get all aspects of your business thinking hard about what features and projects they want to deliver.\n\n[Read more](http://www.nordevcon.com/sessions/#dominickendrick)\n\nGet your NorDevCon 2016 tickets [here](http://nordevcon2016.eventbrite.co.uk/).","path":"/posts/2016-01-16-microsoft-and-the-guardian-join-the-2016-nordevcon-line-up"}],"total":22,"tagSlug":"NorDevCon"},"__N_SSG":true}