BASTA! was a good conference with a lot of great sessions. I did two myself — advanced functionality in the DataGridView (with some non-DataGridView specific things, like a cross table implementation based on ITypedList) and a session on ORM in real-world applications, going into some scenarios that come up when the typical SQL/ADO.NET based application architecture is converted towards ORM.
For Developer Express, we also had a great time in the exhibition, where we did lots of demos and had good discussions with users of the controls and libraries. I can report that the Wow! factor of Refactor!’s Reorder Parameters refactoring is not decreasing yet :-) Organization was nice as well — for the VIP reception on the first day they took us to Burg Frankenstein, where we had a great introduction about how the Frankenstein we all know relates to the history of the Burg, and then dinner along with an ongoing show of medieval folklore. Free beer on two other evenings was another goodie for everyone — they did everything to keep people happy :-) Thanks to everybody I met there and the people who attended my sessions!