This year's TheServerSide Java Symposium (May 6-8, Las Vegas) has been announced. Like last year's widely-praised event, this year's Symposium is THE event for the enterprise Java community, with key community figures speaking, including J2EE spec leads & expert group members, key book authors, open source project founders, engineers and influencers from the major vendors, and other respected figures.

Last year's event was an amazing experience, with featured topics such as J2EE 1.4, large scale systems design, Open Source, AOP, design patterns, Web Services, SOA, JDO, and more. This year we are adding even more great speakers and topics, such as a whole track reviewing real world project architectures and lessons learned, among other cutting edge topics.

TheServerSide Java Symposium is not just a technical conference, it's a community event featuring a unique and unprecedented gathering of key figures from all backgrounds in the enterprise Java community. These speakers were invited (there was no call for papers) in recognition for their contributions to enterprise Java. Take a look at who is presenting:

People defining the J2EE platform and related technology. J2EE specification lead Mark Hapner, J2EE Web Services (JSR 109) lead Jim Knutson, EJB spec lead Linda DeMichiel, JCP Executive Committee members Richard Monson-Haefel, Jason Hunter, and Sean Neville, and many other expert group members.
Major open source project committers/founders. Hibernate founder Gavin King, Lucene creator Doug Cutting, Tapestry's Howard Lewis Ship, Apache Cactus founder Vincent Massol, OpenSympony Group founder/core-developer Mike Cannon-Brookes, and others.
Authors of important enterprise development books. More than 12 book authors including Core J2EE Patterns author John Crupi, J2EE Design and Development Author Rod Johnson, Enterprise Integration Patterns author Gregor Hohpe, Agile/OO writer Scott Ambler, Ted Neward, Mark Grand, and others.
Influencers and other community contributors.TheServerSide.com creator Floyd Marinescu, Web services strategist Anne Thomas Manes, Enterprise Middleware venture capital partner Peter Fenton, and others.

If you're thinking about benefiting from this incredible show, you should register by Feb 29th. There are limited seats but there is great demand. If you register in February you will get the entire symposium for $999 ($300 discount).

Checkout http://www.theserverside.com/symposium. Also check out last year's show coverage.

I hope to meet you there,

Floyd Marinescu
GM of TheServerSide Communities
Author, EJB Design Patterns

I'll definitly be attending, and forwarding this on. Last year's event was the most hardcore java conference I've ever been to. I can't believe how many great speakers you guys had. That beer/tent party till 1am was a lot of fun too!

George

This was one of the better groups I had seen assembled in a long time. It was a whole lot better than JavaOne last year. I am looking forward to attending this conference again, and it's in Vegas, much better than boston.

Ben: .. and it's in Vegas, much better than boston.

Hmm .. Ben is now officially persona non grata .. :-p

Peace,

Cameron Purdy
Tangosol, Inc.
Coherence: Clustered JCache for Grid Computing!

I just figure people know who I am and where I work. Being that I did not mention my company or anything about it.

If I'm in the US then I'll be tempted to show up, if only to lower the tone and scoff at all the pretentious gits trying to sound clever.

I'd like it very much if you came Hani. Have you seen "How the Grinch stole Christmas"?, perhaps you'd have a similar revelation at the Symposium. :)

Floyd

I just asked my Wife - she's my Boss !

Last year in Boston was great - was I really the only Dane ??!?

Hope to be there in 'Vegas

Jesper Udby
Freelance I/T-consultant

I won't attend because -

- Last similar event is not even 10 months old.
- Now, you charge US$1300.
- Names of the speakers is the same from before. That's boring.
- J2EE is a serious business. But, you guys are only FUN, FUN and FUN!
  Drink BEER! Yuk!

Now, don't hide this message with NOISY flag for speaking for a lot of people.
I will not attend. Nobody should. They need to take more efforts, formats must change to fresh.

>
> - Last similar event is not even 10 months old.
> - Now, you charge US$1300.
> - Names of the speakers is the same from before. That's boring.
> - J2EE is a serious business. But, you guys are only FUN, FUN and FUN!
> Drink BEER! Yuk!
>
> Now, don't hide this message with NOISY flag for speaking for a lot of people.
> I will not attend. Nobody should. They need to take more efforts, formats must change to fresh.

Your loss. It's not "fun" in the sense that normal people would find fun. It's "fun" in the true Java Geek sense. It's fun because there were a ton of intelligent and knowledgeable people there getting together to discuss the pressing issues of the J2EE space.

I went to both TSSS and JavaOne last year, and I can honestly say that TSSS was 100% better than JavaOne. JaveOne was a lot of marketing and sales people with some tech thrown in. TSSS was 100% tech.

Hi Gotya,

Just addressing some of your perceptions:

> - Now, you charge US$1300.

Indeed, and this price is less than last year's full price ($1499). Although, like last year, if one registers early, they can get it for $999. Our prices are less than the Java One, WebServices Edge, SDExpo, and the other conferences, none of which are as focused on enterprise Java as we are.

> - Names of the speakers is the same from before. That's boring.

Actually, only 11 of this years 25 speakers presented technical sessions last year. All of these 11 speakers (who were invited based on their continueing leadership in the java space) are presenting new topics this year.

> - J2EE is a serious business. But, you guys are only FUN, FUN and FUN!
>   Drink BEER! Yuk!

Gotya, We had 45 sessions at last years Symposium, and only one party. The party just happened to be so good that people STILL talk about it. :)

> I will not attend. Nobody should. They need to take more efforts, formats must change to fresh.

If I can use a really geeky metaphor here... Consider the difference between a object class and an object instance. Each instance of a class contains different data, but the class definition itself (it's business logic, method definitions, etc) is constant across instances.

Like a class definition, the vision behind TheServerSide Java Symposium, the criteria we apply to invite speakers and select content, even the UI of the Symposium website hasn't changed much.

What has changed is the content in this instance of the Symposium, which is exactly what any conference attendee would expect of us. :)

Now I'll admit that I told a white lie. We did infact change the structure of the symposium slightly. This year we'll be innovating with another first in the conferences industry - we'll be having a whole track on real world project case studies, which will add more practical and lessons learned type content to our symposium which last year was distinguished by timely and foreward looking topics.

We've also moved the event from a quiet Boston suburb to Las Vegas, reflecting our desire to make the event more accessible to more developers in North America and the world.

Thanks!

Floyd

Purposes of my post earlier:
- For US$1300, we -will- keep you (whole team) on your toes to deliver.
- Also, to make you aware that you are being watched by the whole community -very- closely. Keep your word(s) starting 2003, this year, and onwards.
- I have now helped you advertise your symposium more. Even with your geeky example in your post, I give it to you. I shook you up. Therefore, I will attend this conference now.

Carry forward our feelings to your speakers. You don't need to thank me; but do it if you really feel so.

We will certainly deliver. And once again, you can get in for $999 if you register by Feb 29th. :)

> - Also, to make you aware that you are being watched by the whole community -very- closely. Keep your word(s) starting 2003, this year, and onwards.

I think I've kept my word(s) on TSS all these years. :)

> - I have now helped you advertise your symposium more. Even with your geeky example in your post, I give it to you. I shook you up. Therefore, I will attend this conference now.

Excellent. :)

Floyd

Slight wait is a sweet feeling; if you happen to be smart enough to pick that thin line between over-offering and over-waiting to your customers.
Just 10 months after the previous conference is still too early this year.
Try "the slight delay in the offering" next year, and you will be more popular.

Your quick replies help, by the way.

>
> - Last similar event is not even 10 months old.

So? Did you see every session last time?

> - Names of the speakers is the same from before. That's boring.

So? You don't think they have new stuff to talk about?

> - J2EE is a serious business. But, you guys are only FUN, FUN and FUN!
>   Drink BEER! Yuk!

The last "big" software conference I went to was SD Expo West in 2001. Perhaps the most fun *and* most educational event I took part in was not a formal session. It was a BoF at a local bar. Lots of attendees *and* speakers attended. It was a blast sipping pints and a being a fly on the wall as Martin Fowler, Ron Jefferies, Scott Ambler, Alistair Cockburn and others discussed various software development ideas. *That* was more educational and thought provoking than any of the power point presentations that week.

Plus, if you don't go have a beer (or coffee/whiskey/whatever) with some fellow developers you have never met before to bounce around ideas, you are really missing the hidden value of these conference. Informal, candid discussions (coder-to-coder with no manager buzz-word crap) can lead to some really cool ideas.

Ryan

> Now, don't hide this message with NOISY flag for speaking for a lot of people.
> I will not attend. Nobody should. They need to take more efforts, formats must change to fresh.

...plus, it's in freakin' LAS VEGAS! The degenerate gambler side of me needs no other reason to attend ;-)

Ryan

Consider carefully if you want to attend conferences frequently held.

This Ryan guy is only "SOOO??". He's annoying and does not help.

Ryan, what your "SOOO?"s really mean is this:

-> We are still firm on the opinion that it's too frequent to have another big conference in less than 10 months.

-> Even though we did not attend every session in the last conference, we have knowledge of what went on. (Ryan's "SOO?" does not help here)

-> A speaker does not produce a completely new topic or make additions of significant quantity to their last year's topic(s) in less-than-10-months time period. (Ryan's "SOO?" does not help here either). If they do, then their quality is not good and they are only interested in making money.

-> And "Las Vegas" does not help either. Attend a J2EE conference or get married or get drunk or attend dance clubs in the night?? What about Vegas??

We shall still consider attending this conference this year. From next year onwards, we shall consider carefully if we want to attend conferences that are held very frequently.

Since this has not been mentioned, what can we hope to gain from the TSSS being in Las Vegas since "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" ;). Just kidding of course. Can't wait for this year's installment.

Later,
Rob Misek
Tangosol Coherence: Cluster your Work. Work your Cluster.
Coherence Forums.

Just out of curiosity, do you think the TSS will be held in Boston the next time? Or the near future?