In the past week, the tech world witnessed the 4th edition of the .NET Conf UY v2017, the most significant community conference dedicated to Microsoft technologies in South America.
This nonprofit venture was founded by Kaizen Softworks in 2014 with an audacious idea to foster the Microsoft community in Uruguay, and since then, it has expanded its reach to Argentina and Colombia, with aspirations to include Chile and Peru by 2018.
The Numbers
More than 450 enthusiastic participants registered for the  .NET Conf UY v2017  These attendees had diverse backgrounds, with 47% being software developers, followed by 18.5% IT students. The rest were spread across roles such as software architects, team leaders, managers & executives, directors & owners, and other industry functions.
This edition of the conference played host to 39 speakers from four different countries. It offered nine hands-on labs (workshops) over three days, including two Keynotes highlighting Microsoft’s innovations on Day 1 and focusing on Women in Technology on Day 2.
In total, the conference featured 34 talks over two days, culminating in a memorable After Party. Since 2017, Â .NET Conf Global, the umbrella organization for all editions, has attracted over 130 speakers from 12 different countries, with the collective effort of more than 30 organizers and collaborators. This ambitious undertaking has led to six editions in three countries, backed by the support of over 120 sponsors from various parts of the world.
Attendee Statistics
Some additional numbers about attendees:
- Only 5% don’t read neither speak English — considering Uruguay is a Spanish speaking country this is great!
- 41%Â have English Proficiency level.
- 45% have 6+ years of experience in the IT industry followed by a 22.5% of 3 to 5 years of experience.
Conference Kick-Off: Hands-On Labs (Workshops)
The conference traditionally kicks off with Hands-On Labs (HOL). In this edition, nine workshops were conducted over three days, with three workshops held each day. The location for these enriching sessions was the education institute of one of the sponsors, Cultural Alliance Uruguay-United States.
The HOL sessions covered a wide range of topics, including .NET Standard, Azure, Xamarin, Progressive Web Apps, Microservices, Power BI, and SQL Server.
About the Conference
The heart of the conference was the 34 talks that unfolded over two information-packed days.
Eduardo Mangarelli delivered a keynote speech on Day 1, providing insights into four innovation projects that Microsoft had been actively working on. These projects served as excellent examples of how Microsoft technology is being applied and were highly inspiring for the audience.
Other topics covered on Day 1 included Data Science, Docker, Cognitive Services, Facial-Speech-Image recognition, Machine Learning, Microservices, Progressive Web Apps, Mobile Development, and .NET Core, among others.
Day 2 continued the momentum, beginning with Carolina Bañales’s talk on Women in Technology, a topic of great significance to the conference.
This was followed by many engaging speakers who covered subjects like Azure Cosmos DB, Angular, ASP.NET Core, Chatbots, Big Data, DevOps, TypeScript, Infrastructure as Code, and Open Source, among others.
Sponsor Booths
Sponsors played a significant role in the event, with several opting to set up booths to engage with attendees.
Gold sponsors like Kaizen Softworks made the most of this opportunity, with attendees visiting their booths to learn more about the company and participate in exciting raffles. Kaizen Softworks, for instance, raffled off prizes such as a Fire 7 tablet, an Amazon Echo Dot, and a Chromecast.
Moreover, the main raffle of the conference offered attendees a chance to win two flight tickets to Rio de Janeiro. To enter, attendees simply needed to install the official conference sponsor app and have their QR codes scanned by the sponsors. This creative approach encouraged attendees to explore every sponsor booth.
Speakers Dinner
We love to take good care of our speakers and sponsors, that’s why at night on Day 1 of Conference we invite every speaker and gold sponsors to enjoy some food, music, fun and networking on a more private space. This time, Kaizen Softworks new office was the place where we enjoyed typical food from Uruguay!
The After Party
After 5 days packed of information and learning, we ended with a beautiful After Party where every attendee, sponsors, speakers, organizers and collaborators enjoyed and celebrated another fun conference! Food, drinks and music were part of this in the 26th floor of ANTEL Tower enjoying a 360 degree view of the city like no other.
Speaker Trip
We know our foreign speakers had traveled pretty far from home to come to our conference and we value that a lot. In order to make their long trip worth it we say thanks by spending one day with them showing the city and having lunch together.
What's Next?
The .NET Conf UY v2017 marked the 4th edition of the conference, solidifying its reputation as the largest and most important community-organized event focusing on Microsoft technologies in South America. Inspired by this success, other communities in the region have launched their versions, such as .NET Conf AR and .NET Conf in Argentina and Colombia.
Looking ahead, the roadmap includes bringing the conference to Chile and Peru, promising more challenges and achievements in the future.
Who knows what else is waiting for us? I can’t wait for more challenges like this. See you at the next conf in who knows which country 😉
