Do you enjoy our Black Marble events, but can’t always make it in person?  Busy day at the office, mean you can’t attend a full or even a half day event?  From 30 January 2012, we are introducing a series of online seminars – running most Mondays though to the end of June, we are covering a range of topics in bite-size sessions.  Follow the links for more information and to register – or call on 01274 300175 for more details.

30 Jan – Search Architecture

06 Feb – What is new in Azure?

20 Feb – Why Migrate from Visual SourceSafe to Visual Studio Team Foundation Server

12 Mar – Content Management with Avviso and SharePoint 2010

19 Mar – Visual Studio Team Foundation Server for Everyone

26 Mar – An Introduction to SQL 2012

16 Apr – Introduction to Azure

23 Apr – An Introduction to Lab Management

30 Apr – Microsoft Surface – It is not just Touch

14 May – Designing for SharePoint

21 May – How to Kickstart your ALM Process

28 May – Designing Applications for the Windows Phone

11 Jun – Creating Data Aware Visio Diagrams in SharePoint 2010

18 Jun – What is New in Azure?

Episode Two of this year’s Xmas Card Adventure is now live on our website – want to know what the BMBrigade find on reaching their destination?  What has happened to Santa?!  Can our heroes’ Windows Phone 7’s help save the world this Xmas??

Enjoying the adventure?  Watch out for Episode Three on 8th December, when General Junk-Mail’s fiendish plot is revealed!

And this year, find out how our customers can benefit from our skills in Visual Studio with an ALM Health Check … and gain the opportunity to win an XBox with Kinect!

… from Black Marble this December

Black Marble has always been proud of its strong credentials for the work we do, and this year we are encouraging our customers to take advantage of them too!

This year we have 5 Great Reasons for you to take out a Visual Studio Health Check from Black Marble:

1. Gold ALM Partner – Black Marble is the first UK partner to achieve the new Gold standard in the ALM competency.  Microsoft re-launched the Partner Network this autumn, and to ensure customers know they are getting experts in their field, they raised the bar for companies to reach the Gold standard in individual competencies.  At Black Marble we ensured our staff were suitably qualified and experienced, in order to be ready to achieve Gold when the new competencies were launched and we were delighted to be the first UK partner to do so!

2. Engineering Director Richard Fennell – Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Visual Studio (ALM).  Richard is in his third year as a Microsoft MVP – recognised as one of the best and brightest from technology communities around the world for his contributions on Visual Studio (ALM).

3. And Richard is also an ALM Ranger (see right)!  ALM Rangers are selected from Microsoft Staff, MVPs and Industry Leaders and deliver out-of-band solutions for missing features or guidance.

4. Black Marble is an Inner Circle Partner – Black Marble has been a member of the Microsoft Visual Studio Inner Circle programme for over a year.  The programme is an initiative from Microsoft to engage with key application life-cycle management (ALM) partners worldwide, and Black Marble is one of only a few in the UK. As an Inner Circle partner we work closely in a reciprocal relationship with the Microsoft experts, both nationally and internationally, receiving specialised training and early access to the next generation of Microsoft Developer Tools.

5. Our Xmas Elf Check offer. 

And this December, we are giving away FOUR sets of XBox with Kinect to customers who engage Black Marble in December to carry out a VS TFS Health Check.  With one draw a week, this is a great opportunity to get hold of the fast-selling, must-have gift for Xmas … and for your business to benefit from our skills, knowledge and experience!

To find out more, call 01274 300175 or visit:

http://www.blackmarble.com/XBoxElfCheck

We are delighted at Black Marble to announce a great series of events to brighten your days through the darkness of Autumn and Winter.

Kicking off in September with the first of four Visual Studio events exploring the different products available – from Express to Ultimate – to help you determine which is best for you and your business.

21 September – Black Marble / 12 October – Microsoft London 
16 November – Black Marble / 14 December – Microsoft London.

Middle of October we are running our Mix in the North event – focusing on the highlights of MIX, the conference for web developers and UX designers working the Microsoft platform.  Joining us are Microsoft’s Michael McClary (@michaelmcclary), Will Coleman (@will_coleman) and Mike Taulty (@mtaulty).  As well as some great demos of Windows Phone 7, we will have a Microsoft Surface available for you to try.

During the evening, we will be welcoming companies who have signed up to (or want to sign up to) WebsiteSpark and BizSpark.

November starts with a day full of SharePoint greatness – the morning explores the key features we use having worked with SharePoint 2010 for over a year, and during the afternoon we are focusing on using SharePoint for Content Management.

December see a return of the Architecture Forum in the North – this year’s title is “Tools and Methods for Architects” and we are once again joined by Matt Deacon, Simon Thurman, Simon Davies, Giles Davies and Mark Richardson from Microsoft.

And top it all off, following the success of our Open Day we are opening our doors once more in December – join us for drinks, mince pies and plenty of Christmas cheer!

During our current season of events we’ve just started to give away some great Black Marble – Microsoft freebies … you might be able to guess from the pictures what they are!

Thanks to all who contributed to producing a great product, our team at Black Marble and the great people at Mountain Goat Software who produce the original Planning Poker cards for providing us with license to create our own.

If you want a closer look, why not join us at one of our remaining sessions?

• 29 July – London
• 5 August – Black Marble
• 10 August – Edinburgh
• 12 August – London

Planning Poker ® is a reg. trademark of Mountain Goat Software, LLC.  Sequence of values is © Mountain Goat Software, LLC.

Black Marble returns to Dublin for Epicenter 2010: the second annual Irish Software Show.  This is a great conference on your doorstep, and this year we have …

• Robert Hogg speaking on SQL Modelling Services (8 June)
• Steve Spencer on Visual Studio 2010 (8 June)
• Iain Angus on Application Lifecycle Management (8 June)
• Robert and Steve are joining forces to expound upon Project Management War Stories (8 June)
• Robert on Windows Phone 7 (11 June)

A week later, Richard Fennell speaks at the Norwegian Developer’s Conference (NDC2010) in Oslo.  He will be covering:

• Putting Some Testing Into Your TFS Build (17 June)
• Making Manual Testing a Part of Your Development Process (17 June)
• Developing Testable Web Parts for SharePoint (17 June)

We look forward to seeing you at either of these great events!

DATE: 17 December.  Location - Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place, London NW1 4LE

Welcome to the Microsoft/Black Marble exploration of developer tools and application lifecycle management, now taking place in London for your convenience.

Visual Studio 2010 is being designed inside and out to give developers and development teams every advantage in getting the next ground-breaking application to market – quickly. The upshot is that your business gets to reap the rewards of tomorrow's efficiency today.

Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010 will deliver new capabilities that embrace the needs of the users in the application lifecycle – from architects to developers, from project managers to testers.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is the coordination of all aspects of software engineering - including the formulation and communication of business and technical requirements, code design and architecture, project tracking, change management, coding, testing, debugging, and release management - by using tools that facilitate and track collaboration among and within work teams.

Application development is one of the most strategic activities in IT. Whether the business goal is improving customer satisfaction, streamlining operations, or extending into a new market, the applications that underpin business initiatives and provide differentiation are critical to success. Application development teams that predictably deliver business-critical applications can help a company maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace and drive top-line growth.

Come along and find out how Microsoft's Developer Tools are changing as well as how Team Foundation Server, Best Practice and Testing can be implemented to help your business manage its application lifecycle successfully.

Black Marble MVP for Team Foundation Server Richard Fennell is joined by key members of the Microsoft Developer Tools team in the UK.

Time - Registration from 9:30am, Event Starts at 10:00am. Lunch at 12:30pm. Event ends at 4:30pm.

We were delighted at how our first event of the season went – high turnout, lively crowd and good food all combined to bring Visual Studio 2010 and the Application Lifecycle to Yorkshire Devs.  Feedback was positive, and Black Marble’s Richard Fennell and Iain Angus were a great double act for the day.

More Visual Studio events will be coming … watch this space.

In addition, Boss from Black Marble outlined Microsoft’s new program for Software Startups – BizSpark.  Black Marble is a Network Partner and is keen to ensure Software Technology Startups receive good advice, as well as access to Professional Software products.  We will be running more events just for BizSpark startups, so again, watch this space!

The Autumn/Winter 2009 Series of Black Marble events kicks off with a day to delight software developers! 

The morning session is an early-access view of Visual Studio 2010 which is being designed inside and out to give developers and development teams every advantage in getting the next ground-breaking application to market – quickly. The upshot is that your business gets to reap the rewards of tomorrow's efficiency today.  Black Marble's Richard Fennell, MVP in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, demonstrate what's new and exciting for this developer family of products.

The afternoon session takes us through Application Lifecycle Management where we will address how Team Foundation Server, Best Practice and Testing can be implemented to help your business.

The evening session is on BizSpark.  Is your company less than 3 years old, and developing a software product? If so, Microsoft’s BizSpark program could be for you! Black Marble are participating in the program as a Network Partner, and draws upon its years of experience as a technology company to provide guidance and advice.  Come along and find out how BizSpark can benefit you.

Don’t forget there’s a great lunch served from 12:30!