Month: November 2025

Cape Town really arrived in full force this past Saturday.

We ran the second leg of the country-wide tour – .NET Conf 2025 Community Edition South Africa – and the city did not disappoint. The turnout was incredible, the energy was electric, and the day was nothing short of epic.

Thank You, Cape Town

To everyone who came out and spent their Saturday with us – thank you. You are the reason we do this. Seeing a packed room of developers genuinely excited about .NET, AI, GitHub, and everything in between is what makes all the planning and preparation worth it.

Cape Town, you showed up. Big time.

The Speakers Made It

Events are nothing without the speakers, and we had some truly amazing ones on the day. A huge, heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for taking the time to share your knowledge with the community:

• Abed Matini
• Warrick Sabatta
• Alistair Pugin
• Carike Botha
• Matthew Leibowitz
• Allan Pead
• Hennie Francis
• Jacqui Muller
• Okuhle Mhambi
• Shaqeel Less
• Niels Berglund
• Ian Houvet
• Luke Padiachy
• Craig Risi
• Veliswa Boya
• Neil Thompson

It is YOU that made this the biggest .NET Conf South Africa ever. The breadth of topics, the quality of the sessions, the passion each speaker brought to the stage – it was something special. Thank you for being just epic!

Part of Something Bigger

This Cape Town leg is just one stop on the tour. A huge shoutout to the Cape Town MS Developer User Group and the JHBMSDUG – Johannesburg Microsoft Developer User Group for making this country-wide event possible. The collaboration, the logistics, the community spirit behind pulling this off across multiple cities – it is no small thing.

What’s Next

If you missed Cape Town, the tour is not done yet. Stay tuned for more.

And if you were there on Saturday – thank you. You made it unforgettable.

#dotnetconf #dotnetconfsa #mvpbuzz #ai #github #githubcopilot #dotnet #seasonofai #community

Tiny Devices, Big Potential: .NET & C# IoT at .NET Conf 2025 SA Durban

Thank you. Genuinely, from the bottom of my heart – thank you to everyone who came out to my session at **.NET Conf 2025 Community Edition South Africa** in Durban.

“Tiny Devices, Big Potential: .NET & C# IoT” is one of those sessions I love giving, because it lets me show off what I think is one of the coolest parts of the .NET ecosystem – .NET for microcontrollers. And the audience in Durban made it absolutely special.

The Room Was Electric

The interaction and engagement throughout the session was next level. Questions, reactions, the energy in the room – it made the whole experience so much fun. That kind of audience is what every speaker hopes for, and you delivered. Thank you so much!

The DMs Keep Coming

The DMs have been rolling in since the session, and honestly, it is so awesome to see all the interest in **electronics, C#, robotics, IoT, education, and AI**. The community enthusiasm for this space is real, and it is growing fast.

If I haven’t gotten back to you yet – I will! Your messages mean a lot and I want to make sure I get to every one of them.

Get the Sample Code

All the sample code shown during the session, plus links to get started with **.NET nanoFramework**, **AWS IoT**, and **Azure IoT**, are all in one place:

Session Resources and Sample Code](https://github.com/apead/dotnetconf2025tinydevicedemos)

Bookmark it, fork it, tinker with it. That is what it is there for.

Thank You to the Sponsors and Venue

A big thank you to all the sponsors on the day – none of this happens without your support. And a special shoutout to **Richfield** for providing an amazing venue to speak at. Great space, great setup, great day.

Until Next Time

If you attended, thank you for being part of it. If you missed it and want to know more about .NET on microcontrollers, check out the resources link above and feel free to reach out.

The .NET ecosystem is massive, and the microcontroller corner of it is one of the most exciting places to be right now. Come join us!

`#dotnetconf` `#dotnetconfsa` `#iot` `#mvpbuzz` `#csharp` `#dotnet` `#nanoframework`

Thank you to everyone who came out to my session at .NET Conf 2025 Community Edition South Africa in Johannesburg!

“Tiny Devices, Big Potential: .NET & C# IoT” is one of those sessions that always gets me fired up, because I get to show off what I genuinely believe is one of the coolest parts of the .NET ecosystem – .NET for microcontrollers. And Johannesburg brought the energy in a big way.

The Audience Was Amazing

The participation throughout the session was fantastic. Thank you for that! The questions, the engagement, the reactions – it made the whole experience so much fun. I really had a great time showing off .NET on tiny hardware, and having an audience that was just as enthusiastic about it made it even better.

As Promised – The Sample Code

All the sample code from the session, plus links to get started with .NET nanoFramework, AWS IoT, and Azure IoT, can all be found here:

Session Resources and Sample Code

Here is a quick rundown of what is in there:

🌱🤖 Agricultural MCP Server Example using SSE

Build a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server on an ESP32 with a Semantic Kernel client for natural language control via LLMs. Yes – AI talking to tiny hardware. It is as cool as it sounds.

📹 Hardware-Accelerated Camera

Real-time camera streaming and image capture with nanoFramework on the ESP32-CAM. Hardware-accelerated, performant, and running C# on a microcontroller.

🎛️ Hardware Interfacing Examples

Interface with electronics and sensors using the MXChip AZ3166 development board as a practical, hands-on example. A great starting point if you are new to hardware with .NET.

Bookmark it, fork it, and start tinkering!

The DMs

I see quite a few DMs have arrived on the topic since the session. If I haven’t gotten back to you yet – I will! Looking forward to continuing the conversation around IoT, electronics, AI, and all things microcontrollers in C#.

Thank You to the Sponsors and Venue

A big thank you to all the sponsors on the day – your support makes events like this possible. And a special shoutout to BBD for providing an amazing venue to speak at. It was a fantastic space for a fantastic day.

Come Join the Tiny Revolution

If you are curious about .NET on microcontrollers – whether you are coming from a software background or an electronics background – there has never been a better time to explore it. The ecosystem is growing fast, and the intersection of .NET, IoT, and AI is one of the most exciting spaces in tech right now.

Grab the sample code, have a play, and reach out if you have questions.

#dotnetconf #dotnetconfsa #mvpbuzz #iot #ai #mcp #sse #nanoframework #csharp #dotnet