Speakers
It is with great sadness that we must announce our friend and this year's planned keynote speaker, Jerry Heep, has unexpectedly passed away. Our deepest condolences go out to Jerry's wife, family and friends.
Steve Leininger
Keynote Speaker
Steve Leininger was the engineer that created the TRS-80 in 1977, one of the first personal computers available. Steve is retired, but he has not run out of things to do. Growing up with undiagnosed ADD. and dyslexia, Steve would often be easily distracted (SQUIRREL!!) but did well in school because he had so many interests and a mom that fed those interests. His current list of "things to do" include developing STEM presentations for elementary school students, being a mentor, maker, and board member for a makerspace in Colorado Springs, hiking the many trails in the Pikes Peak region, splitting wood for a firewood ministry in the mountain community up the pass from Colorado Springs, and orchestrating monthly training and resource meetings for leaders in the local Boys Scouts of America council. A partial list of other interests include embedded computers, crafts, mechanisms, toys, woodworking, carving, cooking, musical instruments, science, and magic.
Michael Nadeau
"80 Micro, HOT CoCo, and the Early Days of Computer Magazines"
Michael Nadeau has spend more then 40 years in tech publishing, from the early days of microcomputers to the era of enterprise software and cloud computing. He joined Wayne Green Inc. at 80 Microcomputing as a junior editor in April 1981. He became editor-in-chief of HOT CoCo when that magazine launched, eventually returning to 80 Micro as editor-in-chief. At BYTE, he first managed the magazine’s testing lab and then became executive editor. Nadeau will share stories of the early days of computer publishing as well as anecdotes about the early computer industry.
Bio: Michael Nadeau is the former editor-in-chief of 80 Micro and HOT CoCo magazines, and the former executive editor of BYTE. Recently retired, he has also worked for or contributed to many other computer and technology publications such as CSO, Data Informed, SAP Experts, and Family PC. Nadeau is also the author of Collectible Microcomputers and the BYTE Guide to CD-ROM. He currently volunteers at local energy-related organizations and writes articles for cybersecurity publications.
Jim Brain
"The CoCo As Peripheral: Controlling the Color Computer from the Cartridge Port"
Bio: In high school, when Jim's family went to the mall, they dropped him off at the local Radio Shack, where he spent hours selecting and re-selecting bubble packs of resistors, capacitors, transistors, and integrated circuits in order to build ever increasingly complex digital and analog circuits based off his Forrest Mims engineer mini-notebooks (which he purchased at Radio Shack as well). Growing up in the home computer era, Jim picked a career path early, pursuing a B.S in Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois and enjoying a 30+ year career in Information Technology and Security. He's spent the last 21 years ensuring classic systems not only continue to function but can take advantage of new technologies, while ensuring these solutions remain available through open source licensing.
Guidelines for Tandy Assembly Speakers and Presentations
- If we need to reach out to you about schedule changes, the topic of your presentation, etc, its important that you respond to us in a timely manner.
- Tandy Assembly is a family friendly conference. Some people bring their children to the event. Keep this in mind when putting together your presentation and refrain from inappropriate language and content.
- We use YouTube to live stream and record Tandy Assembly presentations. Please do not include music that exceeds “fair use” standards or may otherwise be flagged for copyright violations.
- Always be supportive of the other speakers. We're all friends, be supportive and don't speak negatively about other speakers at the event.
- We each have our own religious and political beliefs, but a Tandy Assembly presentation is not an appropriate place to express these. Please refrain from political and religious content in your presentation.
- Presentations should be relevant to Tandy / Radio Shack computers. This does not mean that your presentation must be technical, but you should always keep Tandy/Radio Shack computers in the context of your presentation.
- Please stick to the time allotted to you for your presentation and allow time for Q&A. If there are more questions when your time is up, you can handle these one on one outside the speaking area. Please respect other's by staying within your allotted time.