I Will Be Speaking At The Visual Studio Live Conference in March 2025

I will be giving a talk titled “Introduction to Neural Networks Using C#” at the 2025 Visual Studio Live conference. The event runs March 10-14, 2025, in Las Vegas. See https://vslive.com/lasvegas.

Before I go any farther, the VS Live organizers sent me a message that says you can get a $500 discount if you register by this coming Friday, January 17, and use the promo code MCCAFFREY. (Sorry for the last-second notice — the conference organizers let me know about the discount a couple of weeks ago but I’ve been buried at work). Here’s the text the event organizers sent to me:

I’m speaking at #VSLive Vegas 2025! Stack Super Early Bird savings with my speaker code MCCAFFREY to save $500. Hurry – offer ends 1/17!

I normally don’t like to shill for conferences, but VS Live is one of my favorite events. VS Live is (to the best of my knowledge) the longest running conference for .NET developers. I think this will be the 31st year for the event. I’ve spoken at VS Live about 16 times. The fact that VS Live has been around for so long, and the fact that I keep going back, are some indications of the quality of the conference.

VS Live is a medium-sized conference. I like this because I get a chance to really talk with attendees and speakers, something that is weirdly more difficult at very large conferences.

If you are a developer who works with .NET technologies, you should check out the VS Live conference web site to see if the event is relevant for you. It probably is. And it’s in Vegas!

Of course the main problem is cost. All developer conferences are pretty pricey and so paying by yourself isn’t feasible (unless you make way more money than I do). The usual approach is to get your employer to pay for you to further your ongoing training. The VS Live web site has a nice page “How To Sell Your Boss” at https://vslive.com/Events/Las-Vegas-2025/Information/Sell-Your-Boss.aspx.

Realistically, a technical conference isn’t entirely about the technical content. Just as important is the chance to meet your peers, and to get away from the daily grind and return to work with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

I’ve been to Las Vegas well over 200 times. My college roommate, Ed Koolish, and I started driving out there in the early 1970s when we were students at UC Irvine. We had learned Blackjack card-counting from professor Ed Thorp. Las Vegas constantly changes. The 2025 Visual Studio Live conference will be held at the Paris Hotel, which I consider to be one of the best values on the Strip.

Left: The Paris Hotel (1999-current), site of VS Live 2025, used to be occupied by the Galaxy Motel (1966-1987), the “G” in the old photo). I never stayed at the Galaxy.

Center: I used to play Blackjack at the Frontier (1967-1998). It was on the west side of the strip, across from the current location of the Wynn/Encore hotels. The Resorts World property now stands on the site.

Right: I stayed several times at the old Tropicana (1957-2024). It was on the east side of the strip, just south of the current MGM Grand hotel. The Tropicana was demolished in 2024 to make way for a new baseball stadium for the Athletics, who are moving from Oakland.