Built upon the Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight (aka PRISM), the application is modular and extensible, allowing you to easily use it with custom content systems and workflows. Hope to see you there at Jason’s session!

This session will provide an overview and technical details of the Silverlight Rough Cut Editor.  This open source tool provides real time editing for Silverlight Smooth Streaming content, and has been used to create content for high profile events such as the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and Sunday Night Football.  Content publishers can use this tool to create real-time highlights, control dynamic meta-data (ad insertions and content meta-data), and create a modular approval & publishing workflow for live and on demand media content (CMS integration).  This session will review the core architecture (modularity, UI composition, services, and data providers) and detail how this tool is being used to meet the needs of content providers worldwide.

NBC is also tapping the capabilities of Silverlight to allow for the creation of more highlights packages more quickly. Whereas traditional highlights require an editor to cut the video clip, Silverlight allows for highlights to be created just by creating an XML file of the various time that one wants to start and stop.

That’s important, because the demand for highlights is actually higher than for full streams of events, said Perkins Miller, Senior Vice President of Digital Media for NBC Universal.

"It’s about that water cooler moment," Miller said in a telephone interview.

To generate the highlights, editors at NBC and CTV will be using a Silverlight application, the Rough Cut Editor, to consume smooth streamed content, assemble clips, insert ads, and publish highlights for immediate viewing online. Southworks developed the Rough Cut Editor (previously used for creating highlights of Sunday Night Football) and has been working closely with Microsoft, DeltaTre, NBC, CTV and other partners over the last several months to prepare the application for the Olympics. When the opening flame has been lit and the games have begun, be sure to visit the NBC Olympics and Universal Sports sites to enjoy the live events and some amazing highlights.

Rationally people visit a theatre to see a movie; emotionally they want a familiar and gratifying experience. To sit with a large group of strangers, to laugh and cry together, and yes, to eat popcorn. And to watch the movie. Popcorn isn’t the core product; it’s the movie that draws customers. But without the popcorn the experience for many, and their perception of the product, would be far less satisfying.

At Southworks, our movie is the high quality code that we write; it is what draws our customers. But our dedication to being "easy to work with" is our popcorn; it keeps customers loyal and emotionally satisfied. Exclusive focus on one or the other would severely limit our potential. We know that we must do both.

Do your employees know your company’s movie–that thing that lures your customers? Perhaps more importantly, do they know your company’s popcorn? And do they know the difference?

• Teamwork divides the effort and multiplies the effect
• Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships
• Great teams create community
• Adding value to others adds value to you

We are passionate about technology, and our Devs do use the latest and greatest software, tools and devices. But we are even more passionate about teams of talented people using that technology to work together and do amazing things.

According to John Fleming (Chief Scientist for Gallup’s Customer Engagement and Human Sigma practices)

Gallup research shows — and studies by psychology and sociology researchers confirm — that a genuine apology can actually strengthen a customer’s bond to your company, leaving him or her more loyal than customers who never had a problem. For example, when Gallup surveyed retail banking customers, only 26% of those who had not recently had a problem considered themselves extremely satisfied with the bank, vs. 51% who had experienced a problem, but were extremely satisfied with the way it was handled.

Here are some simple (in terms of complexity, yet ironically so seemingly difficult to execute) tips to turn a negative issue into a loyalty-building opportunity.

Be Proactive - Quickly

You can’t swallow all of your own exceptions in a generic try/catch block. Don’t wait for customers to discover an issue you already know exists - quickly analyze the situation, gather improvements and bring the issue to them. Resist the temptation to "let it slide" if no one discovers it. Someone eventually will, and trust will be eroded.

Own your Stuff, Unconditionally

Resist the cultural norm to excuse - "Things have been crazy here and I haven’t been able to get to that." Excuses communicate that you aren’t in control. Don’t try to place the blame back on the customer, as if it were their fault for taking offense:

If (I’ve done anything to offend anyone)

{

   // Customer problem - they were somehow offended

   Message.Out("I’m sorry that you were offended.");

}

else

{

  ActAs("Nothing Happened");

}

Be Specific

Be clear and acknowledge the failure or behavior that led to the issue. "I’m sure there’s something I could have done better," doesn’t cut it. If you can’t demonstrate clear understanding of the root cause (a skill developed by frequent team retrospectives) how can the customer trust you when you say, "We’ll fix/improve this"?

Demonstrate Understanding of Impact

Compare, "We’re sorry for the inconvenience," with "We are sorry that we didn’t deliver your top feature as we committed. I know that we won’t be able to deploy and the delay will cost you time and possibly reputation with your customers." You are not a robot and your customers aren’t either; they’ve been impacted and likely have an emotional reaction tied to that impact. Show them you get it.

Be Brief

Don’t go on and on with how badly you feel, attempting to abate their anger by switching it to empathy for you. Having customers witness some penitent rite of self-absolution is not a valid strategy to build emotional satisfaction. They were the ones wronged, don’t turn this into an encouragement therapy session for yourself. Similarly don’t go on and on trying to cover all potential issues or concerns on your customer’s behalf, as if you will leave them with no objections if there is nothing new left to cover when they speak. Just the opposite - they’ll have plenty of pent up emotion, and if it doesn’t come out now, it will only grow stronger. 

Actively Listen and Empathize

Let them talk. Don’t interrupt, but with body language and occasional phrases ("Yes, I can see that,") show them you genuinely care. Disinterest and defensiveness have no place. The customer may have very well have contributed to the failure. Focusing on that at this time will appear as if you are minimizing your own responsibility. Rebuild trust first.

Be Generous

Make things right. Not just the way they should have been, but even better. This will reassure them your company can meet their needs now…and in the future.

What draws us to add an extra 60 minutes to our already long work days? None of us work together,  and we span multiple industries – it’s all voluntary. In our group there are company presidents, a regional director, managers and even a back-to-college student (after being laid off). We meet because we believe we can gain from each other’s experiences, insights, and even questions. We’re united by a desire to be better. Better leaders, bosses, employees, husbands and fathers.

Leaders are often prone to isolation, frequently bearing responsibilities and stress and unsure who can be trusted. They can feel pressured to always have the right answer in hand, as if their credibility might suddenly evaporate with a display of uncertainty, or (gasp) admitted shortcomings. Eventually the inner circle shrinks and shrinks, until there are just two that remain: a leader and his shadow.

Are you trying to be the best leader/employee/etc. you can be on your own? That’s a lot of burden. Find a peer group that you trust. Reach out, start small, and find one or two others. Don’t wait for an invitation, send one. Be committed – to showing up, to being honest, to holding confidence, and to giving your best to others. The ROI is in your favor…even when the "I" means waking to beep, beep, beep at an hour typically seen only by baristas.

It is hard to believe it was only three years ago that we had 21 invasive-root-spreading, water-stealing, bug-invested Poplar trees removed, much to the shock of our neighbors (who neither paid our summer water bill nor bounced their mowers over our lawn weekly). In their place we planted just five maple trees. Though of decent size for new plantings (we ordered them from Big Trees Supply after all), they were far from mature and looked awkward in comparison to the semi-opaque screen provided by the closely-planted and towering Poplar trees. But we didn’t plant them for what they were; we planted them with a vision of what they could become.

That first summer and fall the trees required a fair amount of protection and care. When planted, the trees were "staked", tethered with a rubber chain to two large poles, one on each side. The stakes were a safeguard, preventing the trees from falling or growing awkwardly until they could grow stronger and take root, as they slowly adjusted to their new home. (Because the girth of the stakes was larger than the tree trunks, we joked that we had actually purchased ten stakes that happened to come with trees.) We also had to frequently water deeply, setting a hose on a timer and regularly checking soil moisture. Autumn arrived, and within 15 minutes the first "leaf blowing" season was over. But the trees were healthy and growing, and longer blowing days were certainly ahead in future years.

After two full growing seasons we began to water less and no longer needed to regularly check moisture levels. One day I looked across the lawn and noticed that the trees were pulling the stakes upward, with the rubber chains stretched to their limit. At that point I had to release the ties before they became harmful. It was time for the trees to stand on their own, and for me to remove obstacles and controls standing in the way of future growth

Now that the leaves have all disappeared and I have put away the leaf blower for the last time this year, I reflect on how this relates to leadership, and the opportunities leaders have to help those that follow them:

• Have a vision for what people can become, not just what they are now. They will sometimes be scrawny in comparison to more mature versions…be patient, as long as they are growing.
• Protect them from elements that could significantly harm them. Give them time to get stronger, and be aware that a "young tree" cannot withstand the same amount of turbulence as a rooted one. Your own pain threshold (developed over much time) is not the benchmark.
• Water them, giving them what they need to succeed. It might be responsibility, or information, or encouragement, or something else. Effective leaders know how to speak the "learn language" of their followers.
• Release control over time, giving them space. Focus more on outcomes and avoid reviewing and criticizing methodologies and details. The control that was necessary initially might be something that is harming them now.
• Celebrate as the vision is realized. Be glad when they begin to do something jaw-dropping, and people notice; don’t be threatened by it. Remember, in a celebration parade the confetti falls on everyone, not just the Grand Marshal. 

Keynote Demos

See Jonathan’s blog for details about the Tailspin Travel demo, including links to the source code. Tailspin shows some great new features coming in VS 2010, .NET Framework 4 and the new AppFabric.

Windows Azure Platform Labs

Attendees can come by the Big Room in the South Hall and work through any of several hands-on labs for the Azure Platform. For those not here, good news: as of today, you can download the labs as part of the November drop of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit. The November release includes new and updated labs in addition to information about Microsoft Codename “Dallas”. The content is also available today as the Windows Azure Training Course on Channel 9.

Identity Labs

You will similarly find in the Big Room several hands-on labs that will help you to learn how to take advantage of Microsoft’s latest identity and access control technology. Download the PDC 2009 release of the Identity Developer Training Kit or take the Identity Developer Training Course, available on Channel 9 (for all things Identity, and a good description of the thought behind the training course, see Vittorio’s excellent blog.)

Claims-based Identity and Access Control Guide

At the patterns & practices and Identity booths you can find a limited amount of printed preview copies of this new guide. It’s also available on CodePlex and you can watch Eugenio’s blog for continued developments.

IIS Smooth Streaming

Today Vishal Sood presented a session on IIS Smooth Streaming and Live Media Viewing Experiences. You can watch Sunday Night Football each week online, streamed in HD, courtesy of IIS SS. During each game, NBC editors use the Silverlight Rough Cut Editor we developed to create and publish highlight videos as the game progress. Make sure to check it out this coming Sunday!

Unfortunately behavior like this is not unique to restaurants, all companies are susceptible to a belief that they know what’s best for the customer. And when that happens, your eggs are all in one basket: the final delivered good. But as Agile methods have taught us, the odds of building what the customer wants without their involvement is slim to none. And even if the good/service is 100% on target, the cost is typically still too high. By excluding the customer is the process, you’ve sacrificed opportunities to build emotional satisfaction. In this experience economy (hat tip to Matias), you’ve regressed to competing on goods, instead of services or experience. Finally you risk customers viewing you as arrogant and self-serving, rather then being there for them.

Be on the lookout for behaviors that signal you know what’s best for your customers. The distance between the Exit door and, "What’s the point, I won’t spend time on this because it doesn’t matter," may be shorter than you realize.