September marks the end of summer for many of us with kids back in school and generally a feeling of revitalization as we head into Autumn. During 25 years of VBITS and VSLive!, Chicago has always been one of those special cities for your co-chairs and many of our speakers. The windy city brings great memories of the good food, good company, and lots of deep learning.

We’re Andrew Brust, Rockford Lhotka, and Brian Randell, and as Conference Co-Chairs for Visual Studio Live! Chicago, we’d like to personally invite you to join us this September in the heart of Chicago at the Renaissance Chicago, right on the river. In May, Microsoft announced many great updates and new compelling technologies and our technical cadre of speakers will be ready to help you know what’s ready, as well as provide their expert advice and knowledge on how to build the best solutions for your customers. As veterans of the show and longtime speakers, we may be biased, but we firmly believe that an in-person experience, where you get to have two-way conversations about the latest tools and technology, with some of the finest expert speakers in the business—and with the chance to network with your peers—continues to deliver the highest level of value.

Visual Studio Live! in Chicago gives you a rich multi-track event with great 75-minute breakout sessions and a full day of deep workshops, covering a wide array of development technologies for everyone. From security to databases to the latest Web and mobile technologies, we’ve got you covered. Our speakers will present on AI, mixed reality, bots, and enterprise software solutions in-depth, with experience on Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile platforms.

We have picked every workshop and session with the goal of transferring knowledge to you, so you can be a better developer and help your organization succeed in this ever-changing world.

You’ll find coverage on Microsoft Visual Studio 2017, the full .NET Framework, .NET Core, .NET Standard, container technologies and Big Data analytics. If the Web is more your style, you’ll find coverage of JavaScript, TypeScript, Angular and WebAssembly on the client as well as ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core on the server. Feeling confused about .NET? We’ve got sessions to clear it up. Want to improve the quality of your software? We’ve got sessions on feature flags, writing testable code, and versioning APIs. Mystified as to how you can bring DevOps to your organization? Our speakers will answer your questions with practical guidance on mobile development, Web, database and more. Our workshop content provides coverage of Cross-Platform Distributed Application Architecture, SQL Server, and DevOps with ASP.NET. Our sessions and workshops drill deep into the subjects you need to master and the fundamentals that are always important.

Our industry continues the march toward the future. To keep up, you need to absorb rapidly and adapt. Go beyond Internet-based content to a live experience, where you get to ask questions in real-time and engage directly with the experts and your peers. Find a way to get to Visual Studio Live! Chicago and get the tools to help yourself grow.

Come celebrate 25 years of great learning and open your mind to what’s possible! We hope to see you there!

Andrew Brust
Founder & CEO, Blue Badge Insights

Rockford Lhotka
CTO, Magenic

Brian A. Randell
Partner, MCW Technologies

Visual Studio Live! Conference Co-Chairs