Getting the most out of WWDC
The four of us here at TinyPlanet Software will be traveling to Apple's annual Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) in just two short weeks. This is the first year that the show has ever sold out, so there will be a lot of new faces milling about Moscone West in San Francisco. After a recent Cocoaheads meeting, we received questions from other developers asking how they can best prepare for the conference and what to expect. Now, we're not experts - WWDC07 was our first year - but we know some experts and had them review our advice (thanks, Scott and Roelof)!
WWDC07 was pivotal for TinyPlanet Software and our flagship product, Knapsack. We came back from San Francisco with a redesigned and largely re-implemented application. We were on a Cocoa-high for weeks afterwards. We hope this advice helps others get the same benefit out of Apple's annual developer-fest.
Here's our advice for making the most out of WWDC:
1) Set your planned schedule:
First and foremost, you really need to work out your schedule ahead of time. Spend some quality time with Apple's Schedule. Pick out the most interesting sessions you see, and pick backups in case you want to duck out of a session if it's not going where you thought it would. Read about the sessions and the APIs which will be covered. Make a special note of the TBD sessions, as they often cover material revealed during the Keynote. Also, be sure to watch for schedule changes when you get there and update accordingly.
2) Set your planned after-hours schedule:
There are lots of events that happen after-hours, both Apple and non-Apple sponsored. So far, we know of the following. There will probably be others. For example, last year there was a great Cocoaheads meeting at the Apple Store just down the street from Moscone with Brent Simmons, Daniel Jalkut, Gus Mueller, and Wil Shipley talking about "Going Indie".
3) Prepare questions:
If you're working on an app or a specific problem, compile a list of 10-20 very specific questions to have handy. Take advantage of the lab sessions, Q&As, and chance meetings to ask these questions; you can often talk to the very people who wrote the framework you're trying to use.
4) Sign up for a UI consultation:
If you would like your UI reviewed by an Apple human interface expert (and who wouldn't?), sign up for a 30-minute one-on-one UI consultation. Sign-ups usually begin on Tuesday morning on a first-come, first-served basis and are only available one day at a time. We radically redesigned Knapsack after going through two UI sessions last year.
5) Take notes:
Bring a spiral notebook to take notes during the sessions. Write down the names of the presenters, demonstrators, lab helpers, UI consultants, and anybody who you might want to talk to - or refer to - later.
6) Meet people:
Hand out your business card, shake peoples' hands, get other peoples' cards. We're all engineers, so we tend to be introverted and taking that first step can be hard. Be an extrovert for the week. Write down context information on the backs of others' cards so you remember the person and can stay in touch after WWDC is over. Stay in touch after WWDC is over.
7) Show up early:
If you have a chance, pick up your badge before Monday morning to avoid the crowds. Similarly, admission to WWDC does not guarantee admission to the Keynote with Steve Jobs; you may end up in an overflow room. If you want to be in the actual room, plan to get up bright and early on Monday morning.
8) Bring gear:
This may go without saying, but bring your laptop, iPhone, and whatever else you need to be a productive developer. Bring a small external hard drive or a hard drive partition to install any beta software on.
Anything else? What do other folks think? Anybody else want to throw their own tips in for the good of the community? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing you developer-types in Moscone!
WWDC07 was pivotal for TinyPlanet Software and our flagship product, Knapsack. We came back from San Francisco with a redesigned and largely re-implemented application. We were on a Cocoa-high for weeks afterwards. We hope this advice helps others get the same benefit out of Apple's annual developer-fest.
Here's our advice for making the most out of WWDC:
1) Set your planned schedule:
First and foremost, you really need to work out your schedule ahead of time. Spend some quality time with Apple's Schedule. Pick out the most interesting sessions you see, and pick backups in case you want to duck out of a session if it's not going where you thought it would. Read about the sessions and the APIs which will be covered. Make a special note of the TBD sessions, as they often cover material revealed during the Keynote. Also, be sure to watch for schedule changes when you get there and update accordingly.
2) Set your planned after-hours schedule:
There are lots of events that happen after-hours, both Apple and non-Apple sponsored. So far, we know of the following. There will probably be others. For example, last year there was a great Cocoaheads meeting at the Apple Store just down the street from Moscone with Brent Simmons, Daniel Jalkut, Gus Mueller, and Wil Shipley talking about "Going Indie".
- Sunday: MacCommunities Pre-WWDC Social Gathering
- Sunday: The sfIndieMac Soiree
- Monday: Apple's WWDC Welcome Reception
- Monday: Buzz Anderson's 5th Annual WWDC Party
- Tuesday: VMWare Fusion User Meetup WWDC Edition
- Tuesday: Ars Technica and Gizmodo WWDC Party
- Wednesday: Apple Design Awards and Stump the Experts in Moscone
- Thursday: Apple's WWDC Bash
3) Prepare questions:
If you're working on an app or a specific problem, compile a list of 10-20 very specific questions to have handy. Take advantage of the lab sessions, Q&As, and chance meetings to ask these questions; you can often talk to the very people who wrote the framework you're trying to use.
4) Sign up for a UI consultation:
If you would like your UI reviewed by an Apple human interface expert (and who wouldn't?), sign up for a 30-minute one-on-one UI consultation. Sign-ups usually begin on Tuesday morning on a first-come, first-served basis and are only available one day at a time. We radically redesigned Knapsack after going through two UI sessions last year.
5) Take notes:
Bring a spiral notebook to take notes during the sessions. Write down the names of the presenters, demonstrators, lab helpers, UI consultants, and anybody who you might want to talk to - or refer to - later.
6) Meet people:
Hand out your business card, shake peoples' hands, get other peoples' cards. We're all engineers, so we tend to be introverted and taking that first step can be hard. Be an extrovert for the week. Write down context information on the backs of others' cards so you remember the person and can stay in touch after WWDC is over. Stay in touch after WWDC is over.
7) Show up early:
If you have a chance, pick up your badge before Monday morning to avoid the crowds. Similarly, admission to WWDC does not guarantee admission to the Keynote with Steve Jobs; you may end up in an overflow room. If you want to be in the actual room, plan to get up bright and early on Monday morning.
8) Bring gear:
This may go without saying, but bring your laptop, iPhone, and whatever else you need to be a productive developer. Bring a small external hard drive or a hard drive partition to install any beta software on.
Anything else? What do other folks think? Anybody else want to throw their own tips in for the good of the community? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing you developer-types in Moscone!
posted by Brad at
4:37 PM
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