Our very first Code In A Castle program, a Blazor Master Class with Carl Franklin, was a resounding success. Our group of eleven people spent a fantastic week in the Castello di Magona in the Maremma region of Tuscany. The weather cooperated the entire week except for a brief shower on the last day which, in turn, rewarded us with a rainbow and a spectacular sunset viewed from the castle's gardens.

September is a fantastic time to be in Tuscany, especially near the coast, as the weather has begun to cool off but is still warm enough most days for the beach. Over the week we were there, we noticed local businesses beginning to reduce hours or close up for the season. First it was Chiara's ice cream shop in Campiglia Marittima, then our favorite beach bar Lago Verde went to weekends only, then the owners of Pizza Mania (a local place found by our attendees) went on vacation for a week.
Several of the participants stated that the course was the best training that they'd been through -- no fluff or "on your own" exercises, just content-rich examples of real world Blazor programming. The course materials themselves are a valuable resource which we'll be referring to as we put the techniques we learned into practice. Carl was under the weather the first couple of days (not COVID, though -- he tested) but pushed on through like the trouper that he is. He's already scheduled to do an updated version of the course next year!

It turns out that there's a real advantage to having four hours, more or less, of instruction a day. The content can be information rich without completely overloading the students. And because the rest of the day is spent together, there's time to talk informally about anything from the morning session that's still not completely clear.
Possibly the best decision we made was inviting Marco Chelo along as one of the hosts. He outdid himself to ensure that Team Plus One (the companions who weren't taking the course) had some amazing local activities before we all met up in the afternoon for the main activity of the day.
Best of all, we had a fabulous group of participants. A week in a castle in Tuscany is going to be pretty good no matter who you spend it with. But if those people turn out to be highly intelligent and very interested in in-depth cultural experiences it's even better. Not only did we love spending a week with this crew but friendships and professional associations were made as well.

Now, it's on to planning our 2024 schedule. Stay tuned for more information or subscribe on the home page to get our occasional newsletter.
Comments