Tomorrow morning at 5.30 AM, I begin the now annual trek from Birmingham, UK to Las Vegas, Nevada for Microsoft’s MIX conference, now in its 5th year. They describe it as.

MIX is for designers and developers who build innovative consumer web sites. Attendees are coders, strategists, information architects, visual designers, UX professionals and digital marketers. They represent top web sites, web start-ups, interactive agencies and other organizations that do business on the Web.

It is the most relevant conference to what we do here at i2Q / Synetrix in terms of our choice of technology (as Microsoft Gold Partners) and that almost all of our applications are web focussed.

Announcements & Keynotes

As ever, the biggest buzz leading up to MIX is around the big keynote announcements. Microsoft seem to have got into the habit of saving some of their coolest news about their various web and communication technologies for the MIX event in Las Vegas

There have been a few leaks (mostly around the Windows 7 Series phone development platform), but there are plenty more that have been kept under close wraps for a proper curtain call in Vegas.

The degree of enthusiasm and excitement shown by some delegates over the week must seem a strange thing for those not at the conference, not in the industry, or not interested in Microsoft products and technology. Indeed, to me now (remembering the keynote announcements for new functionality, products and services released last year), the extended rounds of applause verging on standing ovations might seem a little over the top.

But when you have a room full of 1000 designers, developers and technologists who work day-in day-out with this stuff – the enthusiasm becomes infectious, and when all those people see a new feature that will ultimately make their job easier, or allow them to be more creative or productive. you can kind of understand how it gets to feel like some sort of hyper-enthusiastic teenage pep-rally.

Sessions

Aside from the Keynotes which take place from 9 to 11 am on the first two mornings of MIX (streamed live via http://live.visitmix.com/) there are around 140 sessions over the 3 days, with a day full of workshops on the Sunday. It’s impossible to make it to all of the session you would like to, my calendar of session i would like to attend has 2-4 entries for every time slot of the three days! Fortunately they are all recorded and generally available 24hrs later, for anyone and everyone who might be interested.

Here are a just a few of the sessions this year which I’m particularly keen to attend:

Designing Rich Experiences for Data-Centric Applications

Increasingly, we are looking at ways of accessing and displaying large quantities of data, and applying some insight to the meaning behind it. This should offer a bit more food for thought and alternative approaches.

Building Pivot Collections

Really looking forward to getting some more information behind this new technology for visualising collection of information – there are so many potential applications in education.

Stepping Outside the Browser with Microsoft Silverlight 4

Finally the line between desktop and internet application is dissolving. Now we can build truly powerful applications that can be accessed from anywhere and can escape the restrictions of the browser.

In-Depth Look at Internet Explorer 9

The latest and greatest version of the (whether you like it or not) still dominant web browser. As ever, we will be hoping for increased standards compliance and support for emerging standards like HTML5 and CSS3.

Building Windows Phone Applications with Silverlight

The new Windows Phone 7 Series is causing quite a stir. It has a lot to live up to in the Smartphone market but offers a really great platform for us to extend our Silverlight development expertise and take our applications into the mobile world.

Building an Accessible Microsoft Silverlight Experience

Increasingly important for us and looming large on our roadmap is improving the accessibility of our Silverlight applications. We know it has the capability, we just need to better understand how to utilise it.

Developing Natural User Interfaces with Microsoft Silverlight and WPF 4 Touch

The Natural User Interface (NUI) has become ever more mainstream over the last few years, as touch-based computing has moved from mobile, to table-top and now to the desktop with Windows 7. We need to ensure our applications support this evolving method of interaction.

Themes

At every conference or event you attend, there always seems to be a theme around a new technology or approach. At BETT this year the key themes were 3D (everywhere), Augmented reality (emerging tech) and Playful Learning.

The recurring theme of MIX is designer – developer collaboration (hence the name of the conference), but this year the big news is Mobile. Coming just a month or so after the first sight of the new Windows Mobile platform, MIX is the event where everyone is expecting to hear more detail, especially those Microsoft partners who are keen to start developing for it.

People

This for me, is the real reason to come to MIX. As I’ve said – the keynotes are streamed live, and sessions available soon after the event. so why attend? Aside from having a vastly different experience in person (much like attending a football match rather than watching on TV), you can actually connect with your peers from around the world, ask the experts in person, and even harass the people who make the tools and technologies we use in our day to day work. That is the real value of MIX.

Vegas

Aaah Vegas. take all of the above and wrap it up in a crazy environment like Las Vegas, during Spring Break and throw in St Patrick’s day for good measure. Microsoft really know how to put on a great event and consider every aspect of the event from breakfast through to the attendee party – its sure to be another year to remember.

Keep track of all the goings on via the MIX website and on Twitter by following the #MIX10 hash-tag.

.