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September 27, 2013
Windows Phone Developer Blog

Join local community-driven events: Windows Phone Developer Week

I am always so impressed and humbled by the camaraderie and great work that gets done in the local development community. If you haven’t yet connected to your local colleagues, you have an opportunity – Windows Phone Week – coming up soon. Windows Phone Week is the first community-driven global series of events conceived of and delivered by the Windows Phone Most Valued Professional (MVP) community with the goal of exploring options for app and game development. Each event has a unique agenda, format, and registration process, so please check the details for the location nearest you.

We’re excited to support this type of enthusiasm and community involvement with the Windows Phone platform.  This blog post was authored by Desiree Lockwood, Windows Phone Developer MVP Lead.

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What happens when an Italian, a Dutch, and a Brazilian developer all get on a Skype call to talk about Windows Phone?  This happened recently, and in addition to a jovial conversation about pizza, stroopwafels, and feijoada, an idea emerged about how to ignite global interest in the mobile platform that brought them all together. 

Matteo Pagani and Joost van Schaik met as Microsoft Windows Phone Developer MVP award recipients, an honor they share with 39 other independent community leaders from around the globe who excel at sharing their passion, expertise, and real-world knowledge with others. The two became friends, and in true MVP style, they began talking about joining forces in a global effort after hearing about the Windows Megathon held this past April. The multi-city, simultaneous event was made possible only with coordination from over 60 developer communities.  But, because all of the 13 Windows Megathon locations were in Spain, Joost and Matteo had to watch from afar.  They started thinking about how they could create something that spanned multiple nations so that more developers could participate.

Enter Rodolpho Marques Do Carmo, an MVP from Brazil who had similar aspirations for rallying communities worldwide.  Together, the three MVPs decided to host events in their respective countries in the same week, and Windows Phone Week became a reality.  They thought it might be fun for their communities to know that developers all over the world are working on similar projects, so they invited other MVPs to join in. What happened next was a surprise, even to the three original organizers.  As Joost put it, “suddenly the world noticed.”

Events were quickly planned in 17 cities, across 14 markets throughout October – from Austria to Ukraine.  Each activity took on its own personality, with a unique format and content that will bring local relevancy to an audience expected to be over 1,500 developers. Enthusiasm ensued with this announcement from Matteo, “I want to share with everybody the first hint of the Windows Phone Week success:  the Italian event (which was open for registration to 150 participants) is nearly sold out!” 

What’s more, other global community leaders heard about the events being planned and wanted to join in. “Tom [Verhoeff] and I had a conversation on Twitter with people that would like to organize something in markets that are not covered by current events,” Matteo said.  After a brief team huddle, all were in agreement – the more the merrier!  As a result, even more events are being organized, with locations to be announced soon.  “Now the Windows Phone Developer Week seems to have expanded beyond all hopes we ever dared to have,” said Joost, excited to see that what started as a shared passion among friends has become a shared experience around the globe.

Whether you are new to writing apps and games for Windows Phone or if you are a seasoned developer, Windows Phone Week is a great opportunity to meet with passionate local experts and connect with the community. Check out the site to find an event near you.