The Bootcamp event is different from a training class in that it doesn't have to adhere to a strict list of Lotus-created objectives of what to teach you. Instead, the Bootcamp was created by experts who included lessons on things that they think will most benefit you, based on their hard-won experience. I know that some of the most insightful moments I've had in training classes have come when the instructor talked about some of their real-world experiences. You get a lot more of that in the Bootcamp, and the instructors strive to make the material covered as relevant to you as possible.

The instructors
One thing the quality of a conference or a training class always depends on is the caliber of the presenters/instructors. In the case of the Web Coding Bootcamp, the presenters were not only among the elite Domino Web development experts, but were also absolutely excellent at presenting, which is a rare combination. Here's a description of the three instructors that presented the Bootcamp in San Francisco:

Paul Calhoun
Paul Calhoun is a rock-solid presenter with a genuine style and warmth. His depth of knowledge is incredible, and he is great at answering questions on the fly. He has also developed courseware for TLCC, including their Beginner and Intermediate Java Programming for R5 Notes and Domino courses (which I highly recommend, and which helped me pass the certification exam), as well as their XML course. This is a guy with answers.

Kevin Marshall
In addition to being a passionate presenter, Kevin Marshall has a unique way of keeping his audience alert, namely throwing bags of M&Ms into the crowd to get people's attention. He managed to hit me square in the chest, and I was sitting seven rows back. Good arm! Thank goodness they were only fun-size bags of M&Ms.

Kevin also really impressed me with how expertly he answered questions from people who came up to him after his presentations.

Page Nix
Page Nix is as smart as he is tall, and he is pretty darn tall. Guess they grow their developers bigger in Texas! He is very funny (as are all the presenters) and has a winning style. His background in psychology, sociology, and anthropology serves him well in being able to keep an audience of developers not only informed but entertained.

The Bootcamp experience
Even though the conference was being held fairly close to my home, I decided to stay at the conference hotel, which was the Crowne Plaza Union Square shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B


The Crowne Plaza is quite an interesting (and tall) building in San Francisco's Union Square. Roll over picture for a larger image.

This helped me to both get the experience of the seminar and to help me concentrate and get the most out of the event without having to worry about commuting to and from the city every day. If you can do this, you should, although I know it's not always possible.

One other benefit of staying at the same hotel as the event is having a room you can go to whenever you need to take a break. You can see a picture of my room in Figure C.