This coming Wednesday (22nd June 2011) and next Friday (1st July 2011) I will presenting a new session at VBUG Bristol and Fest '11 respectively:-

• Mind Control Your Computer In C#
  No, really. This isn't some clever session title. I'm really talking about controlling your computer with your mind. I'm not making this stuff up. This is real. Today. You put on a headset, you use a C# SDK and you control your computer with your thoughts. Yes, you are reading this right - you mind control your computer. It is a reality and it is possible today. Once you've gotten over your disbelief consider the applications. Applications for the physically impaired alone are a whole revolution. Not to mention the possibilities for gaming. Want to be shocked and amazed ? Come and see this session.

This session uses the Emotiv EPOC neuroheadset to control a PC by thought. I am delighted that I live in a world where it is possible to do this and where it is within an individual's affordable price range.

Please note: for the record, this presentation is all about the Emotiv EPOC neuroheadset. I do not work for Emotiv, nor do I have any financial interest in this company or any of its associates. I present this subject solely because I am delighted that it is possible to do this.

Chris Myhill and I started The .NET Developer Network (aka #DotNetDevNet) four years ago on St. George's Day 2007. On Monday 13th June 2011 we held our fiftieth meeting. I was delighted to have a very special speaker for this meeting, none other than .NET Rocks co-host Richard Campbell. I was also particularly pleased because he was giving a session I had seen twice before and felt was one of the best presentations I have seen.

In these 50 meetings we have witnessed some very fine presentations and I have always felt that great speakers deserve recognition for their great performances. So here are the top 10 speakers over these first 50 meetings by Knowledge Of Subject and then by Presentation Skills.

Congratulations to Richard Campbell for a truly fabulous presentation on Monday and congratulations to everyone on these lists - you are stars and heroes.

Going to DDD South West 3 on Saturday ? In your attendee bag you will find an "I Was There" sticker. We are running a competition to find the best photo of a DDD South West 3 sticker stuck on to something. Travelling somewhere ? Take the sticker with you and photograph the sticker stuck on a famous place. Going to DDD Sydney on 3rd July ? Take the sticker with you and photograph it stuck on a DDD Sydney banner. Here's what you need to know:-

• You must be a DDD South West 3 attendee.
• Either Tweet your photo using the hashtag #dddswpic or email it to admin at dddsouthwest.com.
• The competition closes at midnight (GMT) on Sunday 31st July 2011.
• The judges decision is final.
• The winner will be notified by Friday 5th August 2011.
• The winner will receive an XBox Kinect (postage paid inside the UK only).

Thanks to Microsoft for donating the Kinect to a very worthy cause.

Even if you are not a speaker you may be aware that most conferences have a Speaker Room. The purpose of a Speaker Room is a matter for some debate. Most speakers will explain to anyone naive enough to listen that it is absolutely essential that speakers have somewhere to go, away from the attendees so that they may prepare their session. Of course, this is simply a facade. It is nothing of the sort. Instead most people think that the Speaker Room is a place where speakers can hang out with other speakers safe in the knowledge that the attendees cannot just come up to them and ask them a question or engage them in conversation. At the first two DDD South Wests we did not provide a Speaker Room because DDD events are community events and having a place where speakers can hide from the very people who have come there to meet them is anti-community. Instead we provided counselling services and darkened rooms where speakers could retire if an attendee had approached them, talked directly at them and even touched them in the guise of "shaking hands" (I'll stop now as speakers of a more nervous persuasion might stop reading). But for DDD South West 3 we are going to do something different. For DDD South West 3 we are going to use a Speaker Room for the one true purpose which all Speaker Rooms should be used for: to meet the speakers. Room 3Q83 is the Speakers Room at DDD South West 3. Speakers will go there specifically to talk to attendees. We encourage all attendees to go there to and avail themselves of the speakers therein. Also we might put some chocolate bars in that room.

One final point of note: we have reached an agreement with all conference organisers the whole world over that from here on all Speaker Rooms will be places where you can go and meet speakers and we would encourage you to forcefully resist security staff everywhere and stand up for your rights as attendees to engage speakers in conversations wherever they may be.

DDD South West 3 (Saturday 11th June 2011) is blessed in having not one but two apps for mobile phones.

• For Windows Phone 7 you can download the free app (including the agenda) from the MarketPlace on your phone. Search on "DDD". Thanks to Chris Myhill for his excellent creation and to Mike Hole for publishing it. (If you have downloaded the first version you need to do a refresh to get the agenda).
• For Android, iOS, FireFox 4, IE 9 (not IE 8), Chrome 11 and Safari you can download the free app (including the agenda) from http://www.pocketddd.com/dddsw3. Thanks to Ross Scott for his excellent creation.

See you there.