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.NET Conf 2026

Community Edition South Africa

Durban, Cape Town & Bloemfontein

Three cities. One vision. Join the South African .NET community for an unforgettable conference experience.

Durban

Nov 21, 2026

Cape Town

Nov 28, 2026

Bloemfontein

Dec 5, 2026

Expected

400+ Attendees

Get your free tickets now!

Cape Town Bloemfontein

Durban tickets and agenda coming soon!

About .NET Conf 2026 Community Edition South Africa

.NET Conf is a free, community-driven event that celebrates .NET and showcases the latest innovations in the .NET ecosystem.

This year's South African Community Edition returns across three major cities, bringing you the latest in .NET 11 development, cloud-native applications, and the ever-evolving AI landscape.

The event has a dual nature: it combines .NET Conf and Season of AI in one community conference. Expect .NET sessions alongside AI sessions, with General topics in the mix, across multiple tracks in each city.

Whether you're a seasoned .NET developer or just starting your journey, .NET Conf 2026 Community Edition South Africa offers something for everyone—from deep technical sessions to hands-on workshops and networking opportunities with industry leaders.

Registration

Choose your city and join us for an amazing day of learning and networking.

Durban

Durban

November 21, 2026

  • Full-day conference
  • Multiple tracks: General, AI and .NET topics
  • Networking opportunities
  • Lunch & refreshments
Tickets Coming Soon!
Cape Town

Cape Town

November 28, 2026

  • Full-day conference
  • Multiple tracks: General, AI and .NET topics
  • Networking opportunities
  • Lunch & refreshments
Get Tickets
Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein

December 5, 2026

  • Full-day conference
  • Multiple tracks: General, AI and .NET topics
  • Networking opportunities
  • Lunch & refreshments
Get Tickets

Schedule

DraftAgenda for Cape Town and Bloemfontein, subject to change. Durban agenda coming soon!

Durban Agenda Coming Soon!

The Durban agenda will be announced closer to the event.

Two tracks with 10-minute breaks between sessions. Day runs 08:30 – 17:30.

08:30 - 09:30

Arrival & Registration

09:30 - 10:15

Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11

Allan Pead, Matthew Leibowitz, Neil Thompson

Track 1

Track 2

10:25 - 11:10
Track 1

Agents Building Agentic Apps: AI Goes Mobile with .NET MAUI

Matthew Leibowitz

Breakout · 45 min
10:25 - 11:10
Track 2

Human-approved AI agents in production: architecture lessons from a working CRM

Wesley Sing

Breakout · 45 min
11:20 - 12:05
Track 1

The Agent Is Just a Loop: Building AI Agents in C# With Microsoft Agent Framework

Niels Berglund

Breakout · 45 min
11:20 - 12:05
Track 2

When Your AI Agent Passes Every .NET Test but Builds the Wrong Feature

Shilpa Mitra

Breakout · 45 min
12:15 - 13:00
Track 1

RAG in the Real World: Guardrails, Semantic Caching and Security for Production AI

Abed Matini

Breakout · 45 min
12:15 - 13:00
Track 2

Lightning round

  • 12:15Your .NET Agent Found the Evidence. Should It Answer?
    Sromana Mukhopadhyay · 15 min
  • 12:30Second Brain, Sharper Agent: Feeding Your .NET Knowledge to GitHub Copilot CLI
    Malachi Mathins · 15 min
  • 12:45Great Prompts, Wrong Model: The Missing Half for Getting Value from AI
    Ethan Buckle · 15 min
13:00 - 14:00

Lunch

14:00 - 14:45
Track 1

We Removed the Agents from Our Agentic Workflow, and It Worked Better

Richard Basson

Breakout · 45 min
14:00 - 14:45
Track 2

Your AI Agent Has Database Access. Now What?

Racheline Mouyana

Breakout · 45 min
14:55 - 15:40
Track 1

Beyond the Prompt: Exploring AI-Assisted Game Development with .NET

Neil Thompson

Breakout · 45 min
14:55 - 15:40
Track 2

Building Observable, Governable AI Agents with .NET

Wayne Munro

Breakout · 45 min
15:50 - 16:35
Track 1

Bringing the Edge Into Focus

Allan Pead

Breakout · 45 min
15:50 - 16:35
Track 2

Lightning round

  • 15:50The privacy firewall: keeping pastoral notes away from the finance office with row-level security
    Wesley Sing · 15 min
  • 16:05Boxing Without Buttons: Building a Motion-Controlled Browser Game
    Malachi Mathins, Hayden Sassman · 15 min
  • 16:20If AI Knows Everything, What Do I Know?
    Chiedza Kapfunde · 15 min
16:45 - 17:30
Track 1

From Data to Decisions: Building Practical AI Agents for African Businesses

Gift Lubele

Breakout · 45 min
16:45 - 17:30
Track 2

A Case Study in Sovereignty: The Illusion of Control

Nicolas Blank

Breakout · 45 min

Two tracks with 10-minute breaks between sessions. Day runs 08:30 – 16:35.

08:30 - 09:30

Arrival & Registration

09:30 - 10:15

Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11

Allan Pead, Matthew Leibowitz, Neil Thompson

Track 1

Track 2

10:25 - 11:10
Track 1

Agents Building Agentic Apps: AI Goes Mobile with .NET MAUI

Matthew Leibowitz

Breakout · 45 min
10:25 - 11:10
Track 2

When Your AI Agent Passes Every .NET Test but Builds the Wrong Feature

Shilpa Mitra

Breakout · 45 min
11:20 - 12:05
Track 1

The Agent Is Just a Loop: Building AI Agents in C# With Microsoft Agent Framework

Niels Berglund

Breakout · 45 min
11:20 - 12:05
Track 2

Stop Shipping Agents on Vibes: Continuous Quality Monitoring for .NET AI Agents with Amazon Bedrock

Adeline Makokha

Breakout · 45 min
12:15 - 13:00
Track 1

Bringing the Edge Into Focus

Allan Pead

Breakout · 45 min
12:15 - 13:00
Track 2

MCP is not a magic word: What it means for Software Architecture

Felicia Sephodi

Breakout · 45 min
13:00 - 14:00

Lunch

14:00 - 14:45
Track 1

Contributing to open source as a .NET developer

Veliswa Boya

Breakout · 45 min
14:00 - 14:45
Track 2

Human-approved AI agents in production: architecture lessons from a working CRM

Wesley Sing

Breakout · 45 min
14:55 - 15:40
Track 1

Beyond the Prompt: Exploring AI-Assisted Game Development with .NET

Neil Thompson

Breakout · 45 min
14:55 - 15:40
Track 2

Security in .NET and the impact on user experience

Rendani Kruger

Breakout · 45 min
15:50 - 16:35
Track 1

From Data to Decisions: Building Practical AI Agents for African Businesses

Gift Lubele

Breakout · 45 min
15:50 - 16:35
Track 2

Lightning round

  • 15:50Your .NET Agent Found the Evidence. Should It Answer?
    Sromana Mukhopadhyay · 15 min
  • 16:05The privacy firewall: keeping pastoral notes away from the finance office with row-level security
    Wesley Sing · 15 min
  • 16:20Open Q&A with the lightning speakers

Speakers

DraftSpeaker lineup for Cape Town and Bloemfontein, subject to change. Durban speakers coming soon!

Speakers Coming Soon

Our Durban speaker lineup will be announced soon.

Allan Pead

Allan Pead

CTO, developer, lecturer, Microsoft Internet of Things MVP, Microsoft Dev Technologies MVP, Microsoft Azure MVP

  • Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11
  • Bringing the Edge Into Focus
Matthew Leibowitz

Matthew Leibowitz

Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft building .NET MAUI

  • Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11
  • Agents Building Agentic Apps: AI Goes Mobile with .NET MAUI
Neil Thompson

Neil Thompson

Principal at Accso

  • Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11
  • Beyond the Prompt: Exploring AI-Assisted Game Development with .NET
Wesley Sing

Wesley Sing

Founder, Appetite Technology. Builds Naya CRM.

  • Human-approved AI agents in production: architecture lessons from a working CRM
  • The privacy firewall: keeping pastoral notes away from the finance office with row-level security
Niels Berglund

Niels Berglund

Software/AI Architect Lead, Derivco | Microsoft AI MVP

  • The Agent Is Just a Loop: Building AI Agents in C# With Microsoft Agent Framework
Shilpa Mitra

Shilpa Mitra

Co-founder & CEO, FlowStacks | Building infrastructure and developer tools for AI agents

  • When Your AI Agent Passes Every .NET Test but Builds the Wrong Feature
Abed Matini

Abed Matini

Senior Backend Developer at Ogilvy

  • RAG in the Real World: Guardrails, Semantic Caching and Security for Production AI
Sromana Mukhopadhyay

Sromana Mukhopadhyay

Co-founder & Principal Researcher, BlockQuest Labs Inc. | AI Evaluation & Agent Reliability

  • Your .NET Agent Found the Evidence. Should It Answer?
Malachi Mathins

Malachi Mathins

Full Stack .NET Developer building civic tech for Cape Town

  • Second Brain, Sharper Agent: Feeding Your .NET Knowledge to GitHub Copilot CLI
  • Boxing Without Buttons: Building a Motion-Controlled Browser Game
Ethan Buckle

Ethan Buckle

AI developer, robotics world champion, UCT engineering student

  • Great Prompts, Wrong Model: The Missing Half for Getting Value from AI
Richard Basson

Richard Basson

Practice Lead: Software Engineering - DVT

  • We Removed the Agents from Our Agentic Workflow, and It Worked Better
Racheline Mouyana

Racheline Mouyana

Data & Analytiics Engineer

  • Your AI Agent Has Database Access. Now What?
Wayne Munro

Wayne Munro

Enterprise AI Architect · Microsoft Certified Trainer · Building Trustable AI Economies

  • Building Observable, Governable AI Agents with .NET
Hayden Sassman

Hayden Sassman

Web Developer and Instructional Designer, building ambitious interactive experiences.

  • Boxing Without Buttons: Building a Motion-Controlled Browser Game
Chiedza Kapfunde

Chiedza Kapfunde

Python Tutor & Junior Software Developer

  • If AI Knows Everything, What Do I Know?
Gift Lubele

Gift Lubele

AI and Data Analytics Specialist (MBA)

  • From Data to Decisions: Building Practical AI Agents for African Businesses
Nicolas Blank

Nicolas Blank

NBConsult, Group CEO, M365 Apps & Services, Microsoft Azure

  • A Case Study in Sovereignty: The Illusion of Control
Allan Pead

Allan Pead

CTO, developer, lecturer, Microsoft Internet of Things MVP, Microsoft Dev Technologies MVP, Microsoft Azure MVP

  • Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11
  • Bringing the Edge Into Focus
Matthew Leibowitz

Matthew Leibowitz

Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft building .NET MAUI

  • Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11
  • Agents Building Agentic Apps: AI Goes Mobile with .NET MAUI
Neil Thompson

Neil Thompson

Principal at Accso

  • Keynote: Welcome to .NET 11
  • Beyond the Prompt: Exploring AI-Assisted Game Development with .NET
Shilpa Mitra

Shilpa Mitra

Co-founder & CEO, FlowStacks | Building infrastructure and developer tools for AI agents

  • When Your AI Agent Passes Every .NET Test but Builds the Wrong Feature
Niels Berglund

Niels Berglund

Software/AI Architect Lead, Derivco | Microsoft AI MVP

  • The Agent Is Just a Loop: Building AI Agents in C# With Microsoft Agent Framework
Adeline Makokha

Adeline Makokha

AWS UserGroup Kenya Leader, AWS Community Builder, Software Quality Engineer at Safaricom PLC

  • Stop Shipping Agents on Vibes: Continuous Quality Monitoring for .NET AI Agents with Amazon Bedrock
Felicia Sephodi

Felicia Sephodi

Software Engineer

  • MCP is not a magic word: What it means for Software Architecture
Veliswa Boya

Veliswa Boya

Developer Advocate at AWS

  • Contributing to open source as a .NET developer
Wesley Sing

Wesley Sing

Founder, Appetite Technology. Builds Naya CRM.

  • Human-approved AI agents in production: architecture lessons from a working CRM
  • The privacy firewall: keeping pastoral notes away from the finance office with row-level security
Rendani Kruger

Rendani Kruger

Director

  • Security in .NET and the impact on user experience
Gift Lubele

Gift Lubele

AI and Data Analytics Specialist (MBA)

  • From Data to Decisions: Building Practical AI Agents for African Businesses
Sromana Mukhopadhyay

Sromana Mukhopadhyay

Co-founder & Principal Researcher, BlockQuest Labs Inc. | AI Evaluation & Agent Reliability

  • Your .NET Agent Found the Evidence. Should It Answer?

SPONSORS

This event would not be possible without the help of our sponsors.

More Sponsors Coming Soon

Interested in sponsoring .NET Conf 2026 Community Edition South Africa? Get in touch.

Venues

Richfield Campus Umhlanga

Durban - November 21, 2026

Richfield Campus Umhlanga

Centenary Boulevard, Park Square, 5-9 Park Avenue, Umhlanga

View Map
BBD Cape Town

Cape Town - November 28, 2026

BBD Cape Town

3rd Floor, Northbank Building, No. 1 N Bank Ln, Century City, Cape Town, 7441

View Map
Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein Campus

Bloemfontein - December 5, 2026

Central University of Technology (CUT)

20 President Brand Street, Westdene, Bloemfontein, 9300

View Map

Meet the Team

We are so excited to be your organizing team with the support of our amazing volunteers.

Neil Thompson

Neil Thompson

Principal at Accso Cape Town | Speaker | Developer Community Organizer | Blogs

Allan Pead

Allan Pead

CTO, developer, lecturer, Microsoft Internet of Things MVP, Microsoft Dev Technologies MVP, Microsoft Azure MVP

Matthew Leibowitz

Matthew Leibowitz

Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft building .NET MAUI

Lou van der Bijl

Lou van der Bijl

Community Organizer

Niels Berglund

Niels Berglund

Software/AI Architect Lead, Derivco | Microsoft AI MVP

Code of Conduct