For the past few months I've been thinking about what I could do to help spur mobile development in my home town. We've got a mobile user group that is small, but active (and doing some very cool stuff). I thought it might be interesting to have a... not a conference... but a one day "introduction", or Jump Start, to mobile development. The idea is to have a set of presentations that discuss mobile development in terms of

• native iOS
• native Android
• Adobe Flex 4.5
• HTML (via wrappers like Phonegap and Appcelerator)

Each session would be technical, but also discuss at a high level what is required for each approach. So for example: native iOS implies buying a Mac and a dev program, Android implies so and so. This way both business people and techies can get an idea of what's required and what type of investment they need to make before starting.

After these four sessions there will be a panel for open discussion. Speakers, and others, will be on the panel to answer questions from the audience.

I'm happy to say that I've been able to secure both partners (FiberCorps for now, a local non-profit) and a location. The event will be held Saturday, November 19th, from 9AM to 5PM. I've set up an EventBrite site now and the gates are open for folks who want to attend. It's free, but I need to issue tickets to ensure we don't go over our location's max number of people. Anyone is welcome, but obviously it is meant more for local folks. If you can't drive to Lafayette, then please do not take a ticket.

http://lftmobilejumpstart.eventbrite.com

I know most of my readers are not local, but I'll definitely post updates and my thoughts about how well (I hope) this comes off. This is my first attempt at any type of "event" so I'm more than a bit nervous/excited about the possibilities. Wish me luck!