Ha, guess I should be a bit more specific. Twin cities area in Minnesota, USA.
On Oct 14, 2:00 pm, Kerry Sainsbury <[email protected]> wrote: > Nothing much around Napier and Hastings that I'm aware of. There *might* be > something in Palmerston North, but realistically you need to head to > Wellington. > > Hope this helps! > > Cheers > Kerry > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 5:36 AM, Hashbrown <[email protected]> wrote: > > > 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 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
