Speaking

I am a Microsoft MVP in ASP.NET with a focus on ASP.NET Core and Entity Framework. In my day-to-day work, I build commercial and internal line-of-business applications using .NET. I also spend a lot of time working on numerous .NET based open-source projects.

Below are abstracts from presentations that I have delivered recently. I enjoy speaking at conferences and user groups. I am also available for internal presentations and training.

High Performance .NET Data Access with Dapper

Does your .NET application really need full power of Entity Framework or (shudder) nHibernate? Let’s take a look at the popular micro ORM Dapper.

Dapper is a popular micro Object Relational Mapper (ORM) for .NET. In this session we will take a deep dive into Dapper and understand why it’s so much faster other heavier ORMs like Entity Framework. We will go beyond the basics of loading and saving data and look at some advanced scenarios. We will also make some comparisons to Entity Framework to understand what features and conveniences we give up when using a micro ORM.

ASP.NET Core MVC UI Building Blocks

ASP.NET Core represent a fundamental shift for the ASP.NET framework. More than simply the next version, this is a complete rewrite and a break from the old System.Web that was central to all previous versions of ASP.NET. The result is a lighter-weight framework that supports cross platform development and deployment. In this session we will explore some of the new UI building blocks including Tag Helpers and View Components. We will the basics before diving in to more advanced scenarios of creating custom Tag Helpers and View Components.

Improve your web dev workflow in Visual Studio

The variety and sheer number of libraries used to create the average web application today can be difficult to manage. Add to that cross browser support and constantly changing HTML, CSS and JavaScript specifications: Life as a web developer can be stressful. Luckily, Visual Studio has you covered with support for modern web developer tools. There are options for everyone, whether you prefer a purely IDE based solution or an extensible node.js based solution like Gulp and Bower.

In this session we will explore a number of tooling options for managing tasks such as bundling, minification and more in Visual Studio. You will leave this session with a good understanding of the tools that are available to you and when you might choose one tool over another.

Introduction to Entity Framework Code First

We start from scratch in this intro to Entity Framework Code First. We will build a simple application using ASP.NET MVC and Entity Framework and evolve the application to show how we can build scalable applications using Entity Framework Code First. Topics covered will include database initialization, code based migrations, performance profiling and performance tuning.

Jumping in to Open Source

Over the last few years, we have seen a big shift in the .NET community towards open source. Contributing to open source projects is a fantastic opportunity, allowing you to learn from great developers and connect with a community in a way that can have a huge positive impact on your career. The process however can be a little daunting for first timers, especially if you are not using git in your day-to-day work.

In this session we will cover everything you need to know to submit your first pull request. You will leave this session with a good understanding of forking, branching, submitting pull request and even rebasing.

Previous Speaking Engagements

Prairie Dev Con, Regina – October 2018 Advanced Data Access with Dapper
Prairie Dev Con, Regina – October 2018 Blazor: C# In the Browser Without a Plugin
Prairie Dev Con, Winnipeg – June 2018 Advanced Data Access with Dapper
Prairie Dev Con, Winnipeg – June 2018 Blazor: .NET in the Browser
Global Azure Bootcamp (Calgary) - April 2018 PowerBI and CosmosDB
Calgary .NET User Group - June 2017 Localization in ASP.NET Core
Global Azure Bootcamp (Calgary) - April 2017 Data Access in the Cloud
Calgary .NET User Group - April 2017 Visual Studio 2017 Launch
Calgary .NET User Group - December 2016 ORMs vs. Micro-ORMs
Dev Teach, Montreal - June 2016 ASP.NET Core MVC UI Building Blocks
Dev Teach, Montreal - June 2016 Web Dev Workflow in Visual Studio
Prairie Dev Con, Winnipeg – May 2016 ASP.NET Core MVC UI Building Blocks
Prairie Dev Con, Winnipeg – May 2016 Jumping in to Open Source
Code Camp NYC, New York City - October 2015 ASP.NET Core MVC UI Building Blocks
Code Camp NYC, New York City - October 2015 Web Dev Workflow in Visual Studio
Calgary .NET User Group, Calgary – August 2015 What’s New in ASP.NET Core MVC
DevEast User Group, Halifax – April 2015 The State of Entity Framework
Prairie Dev Con, Winnipeg – March 2015 Improving your web dev workflow using Bower and Gulp in Visual Studio 2013
Prairie Dev Con, Winnipeg – March 2015 The State of Entity Framework
Calgary .NET User Group, Calgary – Sept 2014 Evolving Legacy ASP.NET Applications
Regina Tech Community, Regina- Sept 2014 Modern Web Development with VS 2013 and Web Essentials
Microsoft Tech Community, Panama City, Panama- July 2014 Modern Web Development with VS 2013 and Web Essentials
Tech Connect, Grand Cayman – April 2014 Building Scalable Web Applications with ASP.NET MVC
Prairie Dev Con, Winnipeg – May 2013 Introduction to Entity Framework Code First. Entity Framework Code First Migrations. Building Windows 8 apps with HTML and Javascript
Global Windows Azure Boot Camp (Calgary) – April 2013 Overview of Windows Azure. Intro to Windows Azure Websites
Calgary .NET User Group – Feb 2013 Building Windows 8 Apps with HTML and Javascript
Edmonton .NET User Group – Jan 2013 Introduction to Entity Framework Code First and Code First Migrations
Calgary .NET User Group – Dec 2012 Introduction to Entity Framework Code First. Entity Framework Code First Migrations
Prairie Dev Con, Regina – Oct 2012 Introduction to Entity Framework Code First. Entity Framework Code First Migrations
Prairie Dev Con West, Calgary – Mar 2012 Introduction to Entity Framework Code First
Windows 8 Code Camp, Calgary – May 2012 Windows 8 Design Principles. Windows 8 Apps in HTML & Javascript
Edmonton .NET User Group – Nov 2011 Workflow in Enterprise Software
Calgary .NET User Group – Oct 2011 Workflow in Enterprise Software
Calgary Techfest – Mar 2009 Windows Workflow Foundation