Tuesday, January 15, 2008 is the last day to register for the Early-Bird discount at MIX08. I’m excited that I’m going to MIX for the second year in a row. If you register by Jan 15, 2008 it’s $200 less than the regular price.
“MIX is an intimate opportunity for cutting-edge technical, creative and business strategists to engage Microsoft in a conversation about the future of the web. Come explore the latest wave of opportunities and help redefine the boundaries between: content and commerce, PC and TV, Windows and the Web.”
In previous years, I’ve attended ETech but I’m going to pass this year because I’ll be doing MIX08 immediately followed by SxSWi in Austin, TX. I don’t think I could handle leaving Toronto on March 2 and not returning until March 15 or later. It’s not the time away, but the fact that it would be 15+ days of conferencing. And I’m not sure my liver could handle it.
MIX is an interesting conference because it is a Microsoft conference. But it’s a Microsoft conference that reaches out to non-Microsoft geeks. It was at MIX07 that Microsoft announced John Lam’s awesome work on IronRuby and the DLR. For me, it was great to see and play with awesome tools like Microsoft Robotics Studio and the Visual Programming Language (VPL).
There’s the Restyle Contest where designers are challenged to “change the entire look and feel of the MIX home page site using CSS and images of their own. If your entry is judged as one of the top three, you win a trip to MIX08”. The top three designs receive a paid conference registration, three nights at the Venetian hotel and $1000 towards travel expenses.
It’s going to be a fun week. I probably need to purchase a flight from Las Vegas to Austin before those sell out too.