David,

>The price of the conferences (with the exception of perhaps DevTeach) is not that different than the .Net training sessions offered by some of the training companies. Any thoughts as to whether one might be better off just taking an intensive training session? >

I would start out with a training class first, and then go to conferences to expand my understanding...you'd get much more out of the conference that way.

>The downside, of course, is that you only get on perspective, and the focus is on a single topic.

You really need to look closely at the design principles taught by a training company. The vast majority of training I've seen doesn't focus on solid design principles, and I know since you're an MM VFP developer, you'll definitely want to use business objects in .NET.

If you're interested, I'm teaching a class in Chicago, September 8-10. In this class I focus on teaching developers to create well-designed .NET applications with business objects. It's a mixture of lecture and hands-on where you create business objects that are used from a Windows Forms, Web Service, and Web Forms applications you build in class. I've found this really helps developers climb the learning curve quickly!

Being sensitive to the current state of the economy, we've lowered the price of our three day training to $799 (early bird price). You can check out a syllabus of the class on our Web site (www.oakleafsd.com).

Regards,