We’re less than two weeks away from MIX 09, a fun, intimate, trendy Microsoft conference that is all about the conversations and the intersection of design and technology.

I’ve enjoyed the conversations that I have had with many of you in prior years, and this year won’t be any different – although the breadth of Silverlight geek knowledge I’m interested in sharing and discussing sure is growing:

• The Silverlight Toolkit
• Silverlight unit testing
• The client continuum – Silverlight and WPF source and knowledge sharing

Did I mention that I’ll be speaking at MIX this year?

The session schedule is a little fluid at times, but as of right now, MIX attendees can can come hear the talk on Friday the 20th, talk MIX09-T87F, in the San Polo 3501 room in The Venetian. I’ll be discussing the compatibility work that we’re doing to work towards a world where you can write your code once, and share it between your WPF and Silverlight projects.

Microsoft Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF): Sharing Skills and Code

Friday March 20 | 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM | San Polo 3501
Jeff Wilcox, Silverlight Toolkit

Come get an in-depth understanding of the compatibility between WPF and Silverlight. Learn the relationship between WPF and the various subsystems of Silverlight including: XAML parsing and serialization, control instantiation, styling and templating, layout, rendering, and more. Also, learn how to build applications that fully exploit both Silverlight and WPF.

Best of all, like other MIX conferences, these sessions should make their way online for the world to view.

Other awesome talks

There are a ton of talks scheduled, and I’ve had the honor of getting a preview of some of the content. In no particular order, I wanted to share the synopsis from a few other talks…

High-Speed RIA Development with the Microsoft Silverlight Toolkit MIX09-T15F
Shawn Oster, Silverlight Toolkit

Come learn how the Silverlight Toolkit can help jumpstart development of stunning Web experiences, and learn how to use the latest controls to create more immersive, more manageable user experiences.. Using Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend, explore advanced debugging and unit testing techniques for building components that work across Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Brad and Nikhil have been hard at work on some exciting new projects, and I bet these will be exciting:

Building Amazing Business Centric Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 3 MIX09-T40F
Brad Abrams

This will be a great Silverlight session, but we won't be able to release any details until after MIX09 Keynotes. Check this abstract after MIX09 Keynotes for a complete session description.

Plus,

Building Data-Driven Applications with Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft ASP.NET MIX09-T41F
Nikhil Kothari

This will be a great Silverlight session, but we won't be able to release any details until after MIX09 Keynotes. Check this abstract after MIX09 Keynotes for a complete session description.

And, if you’re looking to build out controls for Silverlight, check out Karen’s talk:

Building Microsoft Silverlight Controls MIX09-T16F
Karen Corby, Silverlight

Learn how to encapsulate structure, animation, and logic inside custom controls that handle theming, layout, validation, and data binding. Using Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend, explore advanced design, coding, debugging, and testing techniques for building components that work interchangeably in Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

[ Full list of Silverlight-tagged sessions at MIX’09 ]

Let’s chat!

In preparation for MIX, I’m going to have to cut back my sleep a little bit to acclimate my system to the 24-7 experience that is the conference and Las Vegas.

If you want to chat Silverlight controls, Silverlight Toolkit, unit testing, or fine beers, you name it, I want to talk about it. Shawn Burke and Shawn Oster from the Silverlight Toolkit should also be in attendance, so you might even be able to corner a few of us to get a great idea of what’s going on with the Silverlight Toolkit.

Get ready for some Twitter action

I have a love-hate relationship with Twitter… but the good news is that I’m actively on Twitter again. It was fun participating in #mvp09 this year, and Twitter makes it easy to stay in touch, meet up, and enjoy the conference experience.

http://twitter.com/jeffwilcox

Hope to see you there!