Anyone know of any developer organized conferences in the twin cities? On Oct 1, 7:56 pm, Dianne Marsh <[email protected]> wrote: > There's a trend toward some really cool conferences that are developer > organized. I haven't been to the Silicon Valley Code Camp (THIS > WEEKEND!), but would love to attend. I'm an organizer of CodeMash and > so I'm biased. And I would argue that the Java Posse Roundup is a > developer organized conference as well (and it ROCKS!). PyCon is one > of the oldest and largest developer-organized conferences. And, of > course, there are others. So why? And what does it take? > > The "what does it take" is simple. It takes someone who is dedicated > enough to volunteer time (and often front cash) to organize the > event. It takes someone who can take the heat, because people WILL > complain, no matter how hard you work to make things fair, accessible, > and interesting. And it takes a lot of promotion. In my experience, > it also takes a group of individuals that are dedicated toward > promoting the event and soliciting sponsorships in some cases, > choosing talks in others. Open spaces conferences are the coolest to > organize because much of the organization is left to the attendees, > but there's still work to do: a venue to secure, promotion, at least > some simple logistics. > > In the past, companies were hired to "run" the event. They did > everything from the event registration to venue management to choosing > the meals. But with the ease of putting up a registration site > online, that piece becomes easier. And once you establish a > relationship with a venue, the venue management eases a bit (but MAN > that first year is rough). Food ... well, that's always rough. > > But why? Well, we're a picky lot. By doing much of this work > ourselves, we can keep the registration price low (mainly because we > don't consider the volunteer time as a COST). And we can control the > other aspects as well. > > So, why am I writing this? I just want to encourage all of you to > check out some user-organized conferences and compare them to the "big > ones" that you have traditionally attended. What was it that you > liked about each? What didn't you like? Where can improvements be > made? > > At conferences like CodeMash and the Roundup and PyCon (and I suspect > the SVCC), the organizers are always looking for suggestions about > what could make the conference better. So instead of complaining, > PLEASE pitch in with ideas and suggestions. Make these conferences > YOUR conferences. The developer community will thank you. > > (And keep those CodeMash submissions coming! The deadline is at > midnight eastern time TONIGHT and we have a record number of > submissions. I'm gonna start going through them tomorrow, and I'm > looking forward to seeing what people from this group have submitted!) > > -- Dianne
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