We would like to have a panel of people who can share their experiences using agile methods in different situations, such as large companies vs. smaller ones, in-house vs. clients, etc. A panelist would probably only need to prepare for a 5-10 minute presentation to the group, then be willing to participate in a lively discussion. If you would like to be on our panel – or know someone who would be good for it – contact us.

We are still planning on having the meeting at BGSU (because we have not hosted an event there yet) with participation from folks from the Agile Software Factory (2009 Anual Report/PDF).

We are still planning an early May meeting (May 8th) so you will not have to wait too long until our next get-together.

In the meanwhile, there are several other things you can do in the region in April instead, including:

• April 5: CocoaHeads Toledo
• April 7: TALUG
• April 24: TWP Geek Dinner
• April 27: Sebo conference

See Calagator for these and other events in April.

First, the THANKS go to:

• Claddagh Toledo for the good food, great drinks and spectacular service.
• Geeks and Gurus for the projector, and DJ Bodnar for attending.
• ReHashers Bill Horvath, Toni Feltman and Mike Feltman for sharing their thoughts on CodeMash and leading the discussions.
• Attendees Bob Ruple, Keith Thompson, Greg Miller, Martin Perrine, Bobbi Vaughn, Chris Wammes, Derek Finch and Yaohan Chen.

Some of the things we talked about:

• How fast the tickets sold out
• Lots about individual pre-compiler and conference sessions…too many to keep track of
• Barry Hawkins Keynote
• Mobile Monday meet-ups in Ann Arbor
• U of T EECS events like the Cloud talk earlier in the day
• The Improv Effect
• Hairy hats from Leandog
• Wat
• CodeStock, a similar conference in Nashville in June
• Robotic surgery
• Stan Lee in Toledo
• TEDxBGSU videos
• ThatConference, a CodeMash-like event in Wisconsin in August

You can see that we we strayed a bit from just talking about CodeMash, which is great.

Also, Lindsey Danforth stopped by to tell us about a Startup Weekend that is being planned later this year. She needs volunteers to form the working committee. Join the Facebook group to stay in touch.

The general idea – using a recap of a conference as the basis of content for a meeting – seemed to work, let’s do it more often.

CodeMash is a unique event that educates developers on current practices, methodologies and technology trends in variety of platforms and development languages such as Java, .NET, Ruby and PHP. It was just held on January 11-13, 2012, at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio.

If you attended CodeMash 2012 and are willing to lead short discussions about what your experience was like, what you learned, what you presented, or just talk about how good the bacon was, then we would like you to be a ReHasher with us. You can bring your laptop and project something, but that is not required. You can just talk about what you want to rehash.

If you did not attend CodeMash 2012 but you wish you did (a NonMasher), then we would like you to join us as well, to ask questions and benefit from this conference.

Check out links to more information about CodeMash 2012, including many recaps by attendees.

The evening will start with a short greeting/networking session. Then we will sit down, order food and start rehashing. Each person is responsible for paying for their own food and drinks.

We will be in the Library room at the Franklin Park Claddagh Irish Pub (see their menu).

There is no charge to participate as a ReHasher or a NonMasher, but since we have limited seating, you need to register at Eventbrite.

If you attended CodeMash 2012 and are willing to lead short discussions about what your experience was, what you learned, what you presented, or just how good the bacon was, then we would like you to be a “ReHasher” with us. We hope to get at least 5 attendees to share their experiences of the conference.

If you did not attend CodeMash 2012 but you wish you did, then we would like you to join us to ask questions and get other benefits from this regional conference.

We will probably do this as a dinner meeting on a Thursday evening in March, somewhere in the Toledo region. If you are interested in participating, leave a comment here, or contact us, or send us a tweet (with #CodeMashReHash). That will help us plan.

We will share more details next week. In the meanwhile, here is more information about CodeMash and links to several recaps from the event earlier this year.

• Conference site, Community site.
• Collection of presentations: Lanyrd.
• Brendan Enrick: “This was my third time at this event that always offers great sessions, workshops, discussions, fun, and bacon.”
• Rich Dudley: “One of the great benefits…is to attend half or full day sessions where someone very knowledgeable will hold your hand into a topic you’re interested in.”
• Chris Farrell: “…I cannot begin to imagine the challenges and headaches of organizing an event like CodeMash…”
• Josh Reed Schramm: “…it is the best value you will get…”
• Kevin Berridge: “It was nearly 2x larger this year, but the ‘feel’ of it didn’t seem to change at all.”
• Jon Skeet: “The number of families who came – this is something I’ve never seen at other conferences…”
• Lucas Krammes: “…the content is just downright amazing.”
• Chris Hartjes: “…it is multi-disciplinary. There were talks on .NET, Java, Ruby, Python, and two lonely talks about PHP.”
• Carin Meier: “I was delighted to see first hand, why 1200 CodeMash tickets sold out in 20 minutes.”
• Samidip Basu: “Where else would you be in shorts in the middle of a blizzard in frigid northern Ohio!”

If you know about other postings by CodeMade 2012 attendees, where they are ReHashing, let us know and we will update the list.

What is ACE? From the ACE event web site:

The Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship is the place where Great Lakes region entrepreneurs gather to network, learn and connect. Each year at ACE, you’ll join an exciting, forward-thinking community of innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders – people like you — who have the vision and drive to build new ventures for a new future.

Each year’s ACE event, along with the year-long activities of its supporting organizations, is helping to make the Great Lakes region a better place to start and grow a business. Join hundreds of attendees as they take advantage of learning and networking opportunities with fellow entrepreneurs, funding sources and entrepreneurial resources at this year’s ACE.

The program includes sessions on:

• Building a minimal viable product, getting customer feedback, and iterating
• Loans, grants and other funding
• Growth challenges for green, mobile & food safety
• Transitioning from “startup” to “second stage”
• Urban innovation

Only $12 if you register in advance.

The tentative Tech Toledo plans are:

• Meet for lunch at noon (probably at a restaurant near US 23 on the way to Ann Arbor).
• Carpool to Ann Arbor, leaving at 1pm. The # of cars depends on who is coming and when they want to return.
• Attend the event (which starts at 2pm and runs until 9pm). Each person is responsible for their own registration.
• Return to the restaurant (to get your car and return home) at various times. Probably one leaving at 5pm and one leaving later.

Details to be determined by those who are participating. If you are interested in being part of the Road Trip, please Contact us (via our form) or send Stuart Bertsch an email (stuart at techtoledo.net).

If you are still interested in a local dinner meeting this month, we recommend attending the Toledo Geek Dinner in Bowling Green one week earlier, on January 24th.

It was a grand tour with explanations of all the details that make such a large building energy efficient.

We are working on Tech Toledo plans for 2012.  If you have any suggestions about companies to highlight or possible speakers please pass them along to us via email or let us know at the Dec 15th Technology Mixer.

The following IT groups have coordinated their December meeting schedules to let you both connect with people you already know and to make it easier to meet new people:

• NWNUG (.Net Users Group)
• NWOACM (Association for Computing Machinery)
• TALUG (Linux User Group)
• Toledo Geeks (on Twitter and Facebook)
• Toledo Web Professionals
• ISACA (Audit, control and security)

If you are a member of one of these organizations, you should have already gotten your invitation. When you show up at the Mixer, you can join your fellow members at one of the tables assigned to your group. You will also be encouraged to wander to other tables to meet others.

At some point in the evening, each group will get a few minutes to introduce what they do and what they have planned for 2012.

If you are NOT a member of one of these groups, you are still invited to join us! Just show up (no reservations required) and mingle.

Please spread the word to other IT professionals who you think would be interested. We hope to see you at the Mixer to celebrate a good year of regional IT community building, and to start planning more in 2012.

The start time has also changed from 5:30pm to 6:30pm.

See you in less than 2 hours!