My List of Must-See Build 2011 Videos

Windows 8 and Metro are new to most developers. Luckily, the //build/ event has a TON of great sessions explaining how to get productive with the new development stack. Here's my personal list of Build 2011 videos that XAML developers (Silverlight, WPF, Phone) should see, roughly in order starting with key Windows 8 sessions.

The video player supports trick play (on IE9, right-click and set the play speed), so after the first two sessions, play the rest at 1.4x to get the most out of them in the least amount of time.

In time for your weekend downtime and your flights home, here's my list of must-see sessions.

Day 1 Keynote with Steven Sinofsky

If you want the big overview of Windows 8 and Metro, this is the session to watch. This is probably one of the best keynotes I've seen.

8 Traits of Great Metro Style Apps with Jensen Harris

If you want to learn "Why Metro" or how the Windows 8 Metro UI works, watch this. Jensen does a great job making the design accessible to everyone while laying all the cards on the table. After watching this, if you want more designer-oriented information, check out Designing Metro style: principles and personalities.

Platform for Metro-Style Apps with Ales Holecek and John Sheehan

A great overview of the platform, Windows RT and Windows 8 itself. If you want to know more about the API, this is the session. Lots of C++/XAML love in here too.

Tools for Building Metro-Style apps with Chris Sells and Kieran Mockford

This is the second part of the Platform talk

Lap around the Windows Runtime with Martyn Lovell

This gives you a deeper look at WinRT

Metro-style apps using XAML: what you need to know with Joe Stegman

Joe's the XAML guy. Get the XAML info right from the lead of Windows 8 XAML team

Metro-style apps using XAML: Make your app shine with Marco Matos

This is the talk that explains how to deeply integrate your XAML application with Windows 8.

Make great touch apps using XAML with Alnur Ismail

Learn all about touch and gestures -- obviously very important to Windows 8 Metro applications. Don't skip this one, as the Mouse/Touch API has changed for the better.

Stand out with styling and animation in your XAML app with John Papa

Here's where you'll learn about styles, animations and more

Reach all your customers' devices with one beautiful XAML user interface with Tim Heuer

Learn how to adapt to different screen sizes, resolutions and more

A deep dive into Visual Studio 11 Express for designing Metro apps using XAML with Joanna Mason and Unni Ravindranathan

Want to learn about the tooling? Check this out.

Future directions for C# and Visual Basic with Anders Hejlsberg

Not required for your own Hello World app, but there's great info in here about async and more

More Videos to Watch

All the //build/ videos are great; there's no chaff here. Check out the full set. Here are a few others that you'll find enjoyable:

More Windows 8 XAML

.NET and C#/Visual Basic

Windows 8 and WinRT General

Games and DirectX

C++

There are lots, LOTS more that you may want to watch. Be sure to check out the full list.