MBS Xojo Developer Conference

Come to historic Andernach on 24th to 26th April 2024 to join us for our Xojo conference. Meet Xojo developers from all over Europe.

Videos are coming to YouTube playlist: MBS Xojo Conference 2024

Overview of Andernach from Mountain.

Monkeybread Software is pleased to organize the biggest European Xojo conference for 2024 right here in Germany. We would like to offer you a local, affordable, and accessible conference. This is your chance to meet the Xojo Community and finally know the faces of all the forum members.

 

Overview

Day Date Day Evening
Monday 22nd April Dinner in the town
Tuesday 23rd AprilSight Seeing Tour Dinner at Villa am Rhein
Wednesday24th AprilTraining Day Reception in Hotel
Thursday 25th April1st day conference Dinner in Baggerado
Friday 26th April2nd day conference Farewell Dinner at Taverne Olympus
Saturday 27th AprilGeyser tour

The evenings allow you to talk to your fellow developers in a casual get-together. We encourage you to arrive a day or two before the conference starts to take your time to explore the area. And of course stay over the weekend and give yourself a day of rest after the conference.

This event is organized by Christian Schmitz of Monkeybread Software. Staff from Xojo, Inc. will be available onsite for questions.

You can sign up here: Sign up

Picture of the sky bar.

 

Schedule Day 1, Thursday, 25th April 2024:

First day we learn what is new in the Xojo world:

Time WhatBigger Room Smaller Room
8:00RegistrationWelcome coffee with biscuits in the lobby.
9:00Welcome
Keynote XojoXojo Update
What's new and upcoming with Xojo.
by Geoff Perlman, CEO of Xojo Inc.

Watch video on YouTube

10:30Coffee break
11:00Keynote MBSNew features in MBS Plugins
What is new in the 23 & 24 versions and what is in the pipeline?
by Christian Schmitz, CEO of Monkeybread Software

Watch video on YouTube

12:30LunchEither downstairs or in Sky Restaurant.
14:00SessionMobile Development
Getting the most out of Mobile Development with Xojo
by Javier Menendez, Xojo Inc.

Watch video on YouTube

 
14:45Session Managing exceptions like a pro
Detecting bugs and fixing them is very important as a developer.
Managing exceptions can take a lot of time to implement. This session will present Sentry.io using an open-source set of classes written in Xojo.
by Jérémie Leroy

Watch video on YouTube

15:30Coffee break
 
Phidgets Lab
Stop by and check out the phidgets we have:
  • wired and wireless hubs
  • distance sensor
  • two different types of motion sensors
  • a barometer to measure air pressure
  • an IR receiver
  • Joysticks for a little game play
  • a slider
  • a light sensor
  • a temperature sensor
With Stefanie Juchmes-Simonis
16:00SessionCross-platform development using Convert to Method Pair
If you have a massively multi-platform project you quickly discover that placing code in 12 locations (in Objects, Methods and Classes for Desktop, Web, iOS and Android) becomes nearly impossible to manage. Using Convert to Method Pair allows you to place all your source code into one external Class per Window/Container/Page/Screen making your applications work consistently and making debugging much easier.
by David Cox

Watch video on YouTube

17:00End 
   
17:30BusBus. Please join our bus tour outside.
18:00Evening EventDinner at Baggerado.
21:00BusReturn trip.

Schedule Day 2, Friday, 26th April 2024:

Second day we take a deeper dive into various Xojo topics.

Time WhatBigger Room Smaller Room
8:00RegistrationWelcome coffee with biscuits in the lobby.
9:00Welcome back
9:00SessionWeb Development
Design tips for building applications with Xojo Web
by Ricardo Cruz, Xojo Inc.

Watch video on YouTube

 
10:00SessionXojo Performance
Let's check out what got faster in Xojo 2023r4. Let's measure the changes, look for slow functions and improve projects.
by Christian Schmitz

Watch video on YouTube

10:30Coffee breakWeb Lab
Ask Ricardo and bring your project
11:00Session Using URLConnection to Export to PDF across all platforms
Providing PDF reports from HTML within your applications is easy for Desktop and Web apps, but nearly impossible with Mobile apps. Including additional software to do the conversion makes your app larger and more likely to be rejected by App Stores. Instead, create a RESTful Web server to take your HTML via a URLConnection and place the result into a database as a solution that works consistently for Desktop, Web and Mobile apps.
by David Cox

Watch video on YouTube

 
12:30LunchEither downstairs or in Sky Restaurant.Performance Lab
Ask Christian about performance.
14:00SessionMore Design Patterns
You may have heard about Design Patterns, but you aren't sure what they are, how they'd help, or how to implement them in Xojo. Here Marc builds on his London 2023 presentation and covers more patterns in Xojo with practical examples.

This session will cover topics such as:
  • Types of design patterns (Creational, Structural, Behavioral)
  • The benefits of using patterns:
    • Reliability
    • Reusability
    • Simpler program structure and clarity
    • Flexibility
    • Better code encapsulation
    • Forces you to use a more object-oriented design
  • Demos and Examples
  • Exploring several patterns such as Observer, Command, Facade
  • Show how a pattern can benefit a project and solve a code-structure problem in a better way
by Marc Zeedar, publisher of xDev Magazine.

Watch video on YouTube

15:30Coffee breakMobile Lab
Ask Javier and bring your project
 
16:00SessionDepot diversification visualization
Even if you invest in ETFs to build up your own portfolio, achieving the desired diversification is not easy. Several ETFs can create shares clusters and regional clusters through the shares held indirectly through them.
The app was developed in Xojo to be able to control this and to visualize the regional and holdings distribution.
by Hans-Peter Görg

Watch video on YouTube

16:15FeedbackFeedback / Q&A / Raffle
Ask questions and give feedback.
   
17:00End 
17:40MeetPlease gather in fron of the hotel for the walk to the restaurant. Just 950m.
18:00DinnerDinner at Taverne Olympus.
Please let us know if you join us or if you can't make it.

 

Location

The conference takes place in the Einstein Hotel Am Römerpark in Andernach, Germany

This hotel was built in 2020 and is brand new, very modern and features a nice layout with plenty of views towards the river Rhine. We booked both conference rooms for our event and since we fill all the rooms with attendees, we should be alone in the hotel.

The conference includes drinks and snacks in the lobby all day, a lunch around noon and of course we plan nice dinners for the evenings. And that is included in the ticket for you.

The language for the conference is English. But you may find a lot of people talking to each other in different languages.

Register here

Outside image of hotel at night.

 

Special guests:

  • Geoff Perlman, CEO at Xojo Inc.
  • Javier Menéndez, Xojo Inc.
  • Ricardo Cruz, Xojo Inc.

 

Unconference

We setup a second presentation room. Attendees at the conference can put their unconference sessions on a schedule there and meet with attendees to discuss their topic.

This enables spontaneous discussions and allows you to continue an existing discussion.

We may have presentations to products, debugging together, office hours with a developer, talking about plugin development and more here.

 

Young developers

We like to offer young developers the possibility to meet the Xojo community, get in touch with other developers and maybe find first clients or an employer.

Until 24th January 2024 you can apply for one of three free conference tickets.

Requirements:

  • You speak English and you can follow the conference.
  • You are 29 years old or younger.
  • You have done your first Xojo projects and know Xojo a little bit.
  • You are sure you can cover your cost of travel, food and hotel room.
  • You have the required passport or Visa to travel to Andernach.
Park at the banks of the Rhine river with rainbow.

 

Streaming

We plan to record the event, maybe even stream the sessions.
Partipants, who can't come can watch the recordings.

While we plan to release videos later for free on YouTube, we offer online-only tickets to cover the cost of recording.

If possible and there is interest, we may do live streaming.

 

Presenters

Do you want to present?
Please contact us.

We have free slots available and welcome speakers from the community.

If we can have you as a speaker for a full session, 45 minutes talk and 15 minutes for questions, we honor your work with a free ticket.

We look for topics like these:

  • Desktop app development
  • Web development
  • iOS development
  • Android development
  • Database access
  • Threads, workers, shell class to run things in background
  • The various ways to work with PDF.
  • Encryption best practices
  • App Stores
  • Performance optimization
  • Tips & tricks for Xojo

Feel free to submit your topic to us. You may also regularly sign up.
If your topic is chosen to go on the schedule, we will offer you a refund if you paid already for a ticket.

 

Tickets

While we have budgeted very tightly at previous conferences, we are turning that around this time: We go back to the city of Andernach to the lovely Einsteinhotel, a newly built hotel and restaurant on the banks of the Rhine. This helps to make an affordable conference and avoid the high costs we found in bigger cities. We budget about 20000 € for the conference and plan with that. The conference can therefore take place regardless of the number of participants. But we hope to make an attractive offer to get 50 to 100 participants and let the conference pay for itself.

We got several tiers for tickets:

Ticket Price For who?
🎟️ Small developer 299 € Personal Ticket
Our economy ticket for citizen and hobby developers.
Invoice on person only, not a company.
This is our reduced rate to make it more affordable to join the conference.
🎟️ Professional developer 499 € Regular Ticket
Our regular rate for developers joining the conference.
Invoice on you or your company. This is our normal rate.
🎟️ Corporate developer 899 € Pro Ticket
Invoice to your company.
Our corporate partipants have the chance to show their support:
  • We offer you to highlight your contribution on our website and at the conference.
  • You can bring a poster or roll-up to present your company.
  • You can bring flyers and give-aways to promote your company.
  • Your contribution helps to fund the free tickets below and bring young developers, who may be the people you later like to hire.
🎟️ Young developer 0 € Young Ticket
Our offer to get young developers to join.
Senior developers may use this to encourage their junior developers or trainees to join.
🎟️ Speakers 0 € Speaker Ticket
You contribute a session?
Preparation and performing is work, so we like to offer you a free ticket.
We may kindly ask you to sign up for this early.
🎟️ Dinner 50 € Dinner Ticket
The ticket for your spouse or companion to join the dinner party on Thursday evening.
🎟️ Sight Seeing 50 € Sightseeing Ticket
You come from abroad and like to see something from Germany?
Let's get on tour on Tuesday to see great nature, a Middle Age castle, some Roman history and more. Lunch and dinner included.
If you don't do the training, please use Wednesday to check out the city of Andernach on yourself and e.g. visit the Geyser, walk around the old town or make a trip to nearby attractions.
🎟️ Training Day 499 € Training Ticket
Join the training day before or after the conference and learn more about Xojo!

Register here

All prices plus 19% VAT rate if needed. Companies ordering tickets can pass a valid EU VAT ID to take off the VAT (Except for Germany).

Group rates available on request. Early bird offer valid until 3 months before the conference.

 

Sponsor

Do you want to be a sponsor? Please contact us. You can include your flyer in our welcome bag, put a poster on a wall or have a table to present your products.

Your company could pay for coffee, a snack, a meal, the dinner or a conference room.

 

Xojo Staff

While we can't guarantee the participation of staff of Xojo Inc., we invite them to join us.

This is a community event, which can happen without official support from Xojo Inc.

 

Sight Seeing Tour

For our international guests we may organize a sight seeing tour for Tuesday.

Exact plan needs to be done, but we could visit a Middle Age castle, some Roman ruins and more. We stop somewhere to have lunch and dinner with a nice view, too.

This tour has an extra cost and is not included in the conference ticket. See above for tickets. If you are interested, please contact us.

Exact planning will happen in early 2024 and depends on how many people sign up.

Castle Eltz

 

Geyser Tour

For everyone staying longer, we look forward to do a tour to the Andernach Geyser. Let's explore the museum, then take the boat trip to the Namedy Peninsula (Namedyer Werth) in the Rhine near Andernach and see the Geyser in action.

We may start at 9:00 o'clock at the hotel. Cost is about 16 Euro per person, but we may get a better group rate. Return is at 13:00 o'clock.

We have a group reservation, so we can do this together.

see Official website and Andernach Geyser at Wikipedia.

 

Refunds

If you can't make it to the conference...

  • You can use your ticket only for the online part and watch the streaming.
  • You can transfer your ticket to someone else.
  • You can request a refund.
    All cancellations until 25th January 2024 are honored with a 100% refund, cancellations until 25th February 2024 receive a 50% refund and after that there is a no refund since the hotel will charge us anyway.

If you have to cancel, we will use any non refundable payments and spend them on the conference, e.g. to pay food & drinks. Or maybe use it to fund the Geyser tour.

Please note that there is always a little chance for something to go wrong. Speakers may need to cancel due to illness, transportation issues or legal trouble. The hotel could cancel if the Rhine floods or they have an incident like a fire. In that case our conference may need to move or we cancel it and refund everyone automatically.

 

VISA

I am sorry, but we can't help you with your visa application if you need one. Feel free to specify our conference as the reason of your travel.

And we can not write a formal invitation or a letter of guarantee to help you.

Hotel

Outside picture of the hotel showing the front door and lift.

The Einstein Hotel Am Römerpark in Andernach at the Rhine is a modern business and conference hotel that welcomes you with unique ambiance and modern facilities.

For our event, we ordered free non alcoholic drinks and lunch as 2-course-menu or buffet.

For our conference we blocked rooms: double bed room for 120 Euro/night (130 Euro/night for two people). You can reserve your room with the conference registration and later adjust the booking if needed. All rooms can be cancelled a week before the conference without a penalty.

Booking can happen:

  • With your registration, so we pass information to the hotel.
  • You reserve yourself with an email to einstein@einsteinhotels.de and include the group code Xojo.
  • Not using the website! The days are blocked there.

Those prices include breakfast, services charges and tax. Parking in the garage is an extra 10 Euro/night. There is a public parking garage around the block. As rooms are limited, please include your room wish with your registration.

 

Other Hotels

Hotel "Villa am Rhein", other side of the street

Parkhotel "Am Schänzchen", 100m

Rhein-Hotel, Hotel zum Anker and Hotel Rheinkrone, 500m, all three on the picture below:

Picture of nearby hotels.

 

Directions

The hotel is located at Konrad-Adenauer-Allee 8, 56626 Andernach. That is the street directly next to the Rhine.

by airplane ✈️

If you fly, target the airport Frankfurt/Main (FRA), Frankfurt/Hahn (HHN) or Colonge (CGN).

From Frankfurt/Main go to the train station and take a train to Andernach. While there are direct trains, it is quite likely, that you need to switch trains in Mainz or Koblenz.

From Frankfurt/Hahn, you find a bus shuttle to Koblenz main station from where you can take a train to Andernach. Or you get a taxi, but it may cost significant for the 100 km distance over the highway.

From Colonge Airport you take S19 to main station and from there you can find plenty of direct trains to Andernach.

If you stop by in Cologne, you may want to put your luggage in a locker at the train station and then explore the city. The cathedral is next to the train station, as well as the old city with the Rhine promenade and the German Roman museum complex. Or just stay a day there to explore this big city.

by train 🚆

From main station you can walk to the hotel in about 15 minutes (1.2 km).

OpenStreetMap drew us this nice map:

Map of the area with walkway from train station to the hotel.

Leave the train station through the main hall and walk though the bus station. Continue along the railroad embankment towards the roundabout and there turn right below the train bridge following the Bahnhofstraße. Turn left on the Friedrichstraße. Follow the street and pass by the city wall with train still on the left side. Then turn right into Kirchstraße and follow it. You pass by some old houses and the church called Mariendom. A block later you see a historic garden on the right and after that the next block on the right is the hotel. The one with the big lift on the front.

by car 🚗

Ask your GPS for directions to Konrad-Adenauer-Allee 8, 56626 Andernach.

For parking you can use the hotel parking garage for 10 Euro/night. The parking near the hotel otherwise is mostly paid parking of some kind including the parking garage "Runder Turm" around the corner in the Agrippastraße.

Free parking can be found, e.g. a few hundred meters away in the residential neighbourhoods around the old city. There is a big public and free parking area on the north of the train station. Be aware, that the front section from the entrance on Bahnhofstraße is paid parking, so you have to drive to the back area for the free section.

You can of course park in front of the hotel for a few minutes to unload your luggage.

 

Special Train Offers

For our non European visitors (e.g. USA or Canada), we highly recommend to check the special offers from Bahn.de for you. A Rail Pass may help you get around within Germany and see other places.

Register here

 

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