Code Camp SA vs Code Camp Oz

Today I attended the inaugural Code Camp SA, a two day event with presentations about .NET development inspired by the successful Code Camp Oz held in Wagga Wagga over recent years. Not everyone in Adelaide can afford the time and travel costs to spend a weekend in Wagga so it is great that ADNUG, UniSA, and the ACS have sponsored this event.

I was privileged to attend Code Camp Oz (CCOZ) this year and can't help but compare Code Camp SA (CCSA) to it. CCSA is held in a well-equipped lecture theatre at the local university and an excellent array of accomplished speakers have been gathered to present on relevant topics and upcoming technologies.

The sponsors have also arranged for morning and afternoon tea to be provided to attendees and a tasty BBQ lunch too. All this comes at no cost to the attendees. Unfortunately, CCSA missed a few issues that the CCOZ organisers have learned to expect.

Firstly, the University of South Australia's City West campus is not an area I'm familiar with, posted signage would have been very helpful for locating the venue.

Secondly, attendees like to bring notebook PCs to the presentations and most notebook batteries don't last the seven hours of the event. CCOZ supplied a box of power extension cables to allow attendees to switch their notebooks to AC.

Lastly, for an event dedicated to software developers, the wireless Internet connectivity was poorly organised. At a time when my work colleagues, my friends, myself, and even my parents all have high-speed wireless broadband connections at work and home, I expect the university to offer the same.