Hello hello,
A couple of us are looking into the options of having a Phalcon Conference in 2015. We'd like to get some input from you guys as well, see how you feel about it and what we can expect in rough numbers.
Take a look at this survey and let us know!
If there's something not mentioned in the survey, respond to this thread with whatever you want to share. As long as it's relevant to the survey and or conference.
Thanks!
updated per 2014-11-25, The survey is Amsterdam specific now.
Let's make this happen community!
I think there is one very important matter of the conference and this matter is not pointed in the survey.
This matter is location, I mean here the continent where the conference is going to take place. The question about a fee is in euro, so is the conference is going to take place in Europe?
Then, the issue is what country and city.
This is all still in the very early stages of planning. We're talking to potential sponsors so I deliberatelly kept it somewhat open as to where and what, the idea of the survey is to get a feel for the interest people may or may not have in it.
As it stands, since the primary organizer and myself are Dutch, I'm about 90% sure that IF it happens, it'll happen in The Netherlands, somewhere in the Amsterdam area most likely.
My only suggestion is take a look at the laravel conference 1 or 2 days but one track talks. Keep it simple but interesting that would be my focus.
Hope this happpends ^^
That's exactly why we're doing the survey :) To get an idea of what people would like to see. Make sure to enter the info into the survey, Max Castro. There'll be an immense number of variables for us to consider, but the more results we get the better it is!
I submited before the reply ;) , just wanted you to view that specific con
That's exactly why we're doing the survey :) To get an idea of what people would like to see. Make sure to enter the info into the survey, Max Castro. There'll be an immense number of variables for us to consider, but the more results we get the better it is!
I would pay anything really as long as it happens in the UK..
I second the UK
If price isn't an issue, EasyJet flies for almost nothing to Amsterdam ;-)
I understand the sentiment, though and it's so noted. We appreciate the input!
Premise: I think that phalcon project it's awesome.
The problem seem to be found money to keep updated project.
Are you ever think to make a fundraising campaign on kickstarter for this project?
You have good chance to get more fund.
However, about location, I agree. Depend where location will be. Since I am in Europe, if you do conference in USA, I can't come. But if you do in Europe then it's more likely that I can come.
You need to put 2 questions like:
1) If conference will be in USA can you participate? (My reply NO)
2) If conference will be in Europe can you participate? (My reply YES)
and so... almost for each continent if you can't do for each country.
Or put a checkbox with all possible country? user can select which country can be.
The conference will probably take place in Amsterdam next year. We hope to do more conferences in other parts of the world in the extend our resources allow to do it or we get sponsors to facilitate the task.
Count me! Amsterdam for me it's perfect. I am from Switzerland. Count me also for any help for conference.
Well, it's unlikely to ever occur in Japan, where I live, but I'll be visiting Germany in April 2015, so I'm hoping the timing lines up with after that (right after Easter would be perfect - on the survey I could only select "spring"). I visit the U.S. more frequently, so if future conferences happen there, I will try to line up my travel plans.
Would it maybe be better to just give talks at related conferences?
@winmutt can you elaborate? We're open to other views that our own as well, I would be very interested to hear why you think this is better, without judging your opinion either way :)
Its purely selfish, mostly because I am in the US and my company won't pay for travel out of North America for conferences. You also get better exposure at more generalized conferences, they don't have to be PHP specific conferences either.
ahhh, well, in that case.. They aren't exclusive ;)
This is just a conference that will be dedicated to Phalcon and Zephir and general optimization. But anyone is of course welcome to send in papers to the other conferences. I think Andres is doing that just that, too.
Amsterdam sound perfecto. Count me in. Great initative (!!)
What about combining with php[world] in Washington DC in November. We could meet for a day or two before and then participate in conference. A great way to get world-wide exposure to the PHP comunity, as well as solidify Phalcon's.
No matter what you guys decide please make sure to not rush the organization process. Something in Q3 should gave us enough time to not only prepare an awesome conference but also give enough time for the conference attendees to plan the travel (we don't make international travels very often, at least for me that's true).
If I'm going or not depends mostly in how much time I'll have to plan the travel. But aside that, you guys can count on me for other things that may I help remotely such as the conference hotsite or the registration system. It's the first one but lets do it like pros :)
I was busy with an apocalyptic project deadline in my full time job, but now I'm finally able dive into this community.
Congratulations to all involved in this project!
Amsterdam is perfect. Im from Switzerland, so its not fare :)
If you can choose Bangladesh, I'll bear full costs of the conference :)
Amsterdam: I'll be there!
As an ambassador from SitePoint, I'd probably be able to come anywhere to Europe if Phalconf ( see what I did there? :P ) happens around here.
The site is in development and will be live for registration once enough information has been gathered during planning :)
We're at 101 responses for the survey right now. The team is discussing the when, what and wheres now. There's quite a lot to consider if you want to set up a conference :) It may end up being weeks before you hear anything solid about it, we just want to make sure the conference ends up being just right.
@rianorie I would like to suggest you to rebuild the survey before promoting it outside this forum.
In my opinion the first issue to consider when setting up a conference is Do the people will be >there<? In the survey you are asking lot of questions that should be usefull for you. They should help you organise the conference. How do you know if half of answers are guys from Japan and Brasil that will not visit Netherlands? Then, the answers you are analyzing have no real value to you. How you want to make any decision based on such data?
I think that at the moment of responding to the survey the majority of us didn't knew that the proposed location are Netherlands. I am not saying that Netherlands is bad location. I am going to attend. What I am saying is, that if you have already decided for Netherlands then say it at the begining of the survey and ask a question "Are you going to attend the conference in Netherlands?".
Despite my post above, it is awesome that this conference is going to take place! ;)
I would also like to suggest two things:
1. Idea of the topic for the workshop / lecture: "What is Phalcon / Why Phalcon?". The target audience: devs that are afraid of Phalcon and don't know it. The goal will be to encourage developers that are not currently using Phalcon to start using it. This lecture should be as an advertisment. It should show all strengths. It should dispel all the myths about Phalcon. It should tell some good success stories (even if annonymous). Post of Andres: https://forum.phalcon.io/discussion/3950/phalcon-project-funding-and-future#C13551
2 Record all lectures with a good hardware (audio and video) and put it on youtube. Even better: provide live streaming from the conference to the people that cannot attend.
Then: 1 plus 2 = awesome Phalcon marketing materials.
Edit:
My idea is only about a topic ("What is Phalcon / Why Phalcon?"). The form is a second issue. I think the best form is that maximizing pople attending so I think the best would be a presentation/lecture with questions from public.
The thing is that I wanted a location-unbiased result for the survey.
I realize that it would have been more convenient to mention where we think the conference would be for the people filling out the survey, but this survey wasn't meant to ask "would you come to a conference in Amsterdam", it was meant to ask "would you come to a conference focussed specifically on Phalcon", hence, no location was mentioned, deliberately.
With a 100+ replies at this point I think it's safe to say there's merrit for this conference to take place and drafting of the actual plan has started. Conferences are a LONG time in the making though, it can take months and months of planning and scheduling. There'll be a website available soon that will let anyone suggests ideas for topics and sign up for a newsletter in which we'll update folks on what's going on, the same updates will be made available through this forum and twitter to maximise exposure.
I'm still working out how to handle the workshops. A lot of conferences have a separate day for them, I'm considering the same for this conference. There's a huge benefit since you'll still be able to see talks after the workshop(s).. The downside is that it's an extra day and each extra day brings the ticket price up further and further.
hence, no location was mentioned, deliberately
In my humble opinion this is a big mistake.
I think it's safe to say there's merrit for this conference to take place.
Do you think it's safe to say there's merrit for this conference to take place in Amsterdam?
What you are doing now is asking what to put inside a menu to people that will never visit your restaurant. Sorry, I am saing this so that you could save your time!
(+ I've edited my post with suggestions above)
First let me say: I very much appreciate your input, keep it up!
There are conferences all over the world, the point of the survey was to get a general opinion, not a specific opinion on a single conference. I think you're relating the survey too tightly with the conference, the survey was non-specific. We realise that maybe 30ish percent of the survey is actually in a position to come to Amsterdam. The only thing the survey has proven is that there is interest in a conference, not a specific conference in Amsterdam, but a conference.
If I'd have put "Amsterdam" in there somewhere the next problem would have been "but you didn't say when, how can we know if we can come if we don't know when?". Even with a super specific survey the only real data we can base anything on is the ticket sales, no matter how specific the survey would have been, filling out a survey and actually paying for tickets are two entirely separate things and you simply can't base the one of the other.
The survey has proven that the community is interested in Phalcon conferences and we got some parameters of general preferences people have in regards to them. The first one will be in Amsterdam, we're hoping there will be enough interest in that one to end up being able to do many more :)
Survey filled. Amsterdam is perfect. If you need some topics.. :)
@rianorie Could you please tell us which is the current answer for when? I know that whis would be just a guess but I believe everyone would like to know what you guys figured out so far...
This is one of the things were still working on really. The survey turned up a very large number of spring/early 2015 preferences so we will try and facilitate that. I need to stress however that this is not a guarantee, it may end up being November for all I know now.
It depends heavily on the logistics, availability of venues, and how fast we find (big) sponsors.
For everyone's that entered the survey, I invite you to do this again at https://goo.gl/forms/eqy0ck7qWF. It'll be largely the same but now aimed at Amsterdam specifically to help us in our quest to find sponsors.
@Conradaek, the idea wasn't so bad ;)
The google form link is broken! fixed: https://goo.gl/forms/eqy0ck7qWF
shame on me for not trying it. Thanks Jeroen!
Maybe east Europe is good idea? Warsaw has very good fly connection and is much cheaper that Amsterdam
There's a LOT involved with organizing a conference and I have a fair amount of local connections that I can call upon as well as that the other organizer and myself are from the Amsterdam area. For a first time it's a better idea to keep it close to home as it provides a safer testing bed. I wouldn't mind at all to make this a roaming thing though and hop around Europe, depending on how it goes in Amsterdam.
Rest assured though, we will attempt to get attendees discounts on virtually everything, from flights to hotels to food. I can't make any guarantees, but I will try, for sure.
@rianorie It would be much appreciated, thanks for your efforts!
Would it be possible to record the talks? I'm in the US and have used Phalcon to build multiple SOA/Microservice APIs... I would love to have access to more information about how others are using Phalcon. Having recorded talks would help spread the word here in the states and possibly give us a working model to set up a conference here.
Would it be possible to record the talks?...
I second that. It's good for promoting the framework as well as helping those of us who cannot travel to the conference. Ustream, perhaps?
recorded talks is one of the things I'm really hoping we can do, yes. Exposure being one of the reasons, but mainly the point of a conference like this is to share, interact and grow as a community.
@rian how did the survey do? Any updates?
The adjusted survey collected a total of 81 responses, 11 of which are negative. This is plenty for us as a basis, however. A large part of the responses also offered to help out, which was great to see as well!
We're making steps, between the team working on the conference things are moving forward and early 2015 we should be ready to start giving everyone concrete answers on what's going on and what we're expecting. Without having to lift a finger we've had several potential sponsors approach us, which we're really excited about. Things are looking good, for sure!
The "Do you have a preference for when the conference should be? " question doesn't really make sense (Due to different continents having different months for the seasons).
I will definitely come to an Amsterdam conference, and bring some colleagues with me.
Providing I've renewed my pasport in time, and my cash flow is willing, I'll be there! I'm in the South West UK so not far. A conference is a great idea and I hope it goes well. Just one thing that someone already touched on - videoing the talks and getting them on Youtube is a must for including those who can't be there, but also for raising awerness, interest and other reasons.
I've always wanted to visit Amsterdam ;) If the date is ok, I will be there!
@rianorie Any news regarding the planning/organisation of the conference?
@punneke not a lot of news, both of the organizers (myself and @thecodeassassin) had some life altering things going on the past two months. I had a fresh addition to the family and he decided to up and move house ;)
We still have every intention of making this happen, things just need to settle down a little for us and then we'll get things moving as fast as we can.
If Amsterdam, count me in...
Is there any way the comunity can help?
@punneke not a lot of news, both of the organizers (myself and @thecodeassassin) had some life altering things going on the past two months. I had a fresh addition to the family and he decided to up and move house ;)
We still have every intention of making this happen, things just need to settle down a little for us and then we'll get things moving as fast as we can.
Any new updates? I'm willing to try to something in the DR if the community want to make a event this year
Thanks
I'm in Amsterdam too, I would be very happy to attend :)
Any new developments? I filled the survey and I would be happy to collaborate.
how the source code to set autoincrement in the framework Phalcon .. ??
;)!
Hope this happpends ^^
How about we plan a new date? Maybe release a new poll to re-check availability? That way we can resume a constructive discussion instead of asking for updates!
My suggestion: October 2015. Summer would be too soon, end of year seems so far away :)
I'm not a frontrunner type of guy, but would love to help out from the sidelines.
Amsterdam?! No way :( Then next time you all come to Sydney!!
I wouldn't be able to go to Amsterdam this year (too far to travel from Japan unless I had another reason to go to Europe), but I hope the conference does happen - it's important both for learning from each other and for Phalcon to gain visibility. I would watch videos of it, and perhaps after it gets some traction, future conferences might be held in other parts of the world.
Let's set a meeting for those attending Dutch PHP conference perhaps?
Any update on the conference dates and speakers? I'm looking forward to attend!
As I said in the other/new thread by @punneke, I still want this to happen. I have a lot of contacts and can probably make a lot of things happen but I just can't head up the effort, life is too squarely in the way. So, lets try and get together so we can establish the whats and hows.
If you're interested in being involved, shoot me an email at rian.orie ut gmail dot com and or hit me up on freenode (IRC) in #phalconphp, nick riano. I think a small team of 3 to 4 people should be plenty to get this off this ground. I do think it may be easiest for the people involved to be locals, as over the actual period of planning I expect there'll be a lot of communicating with the involved parties.
Like Rian said, I have made a new topic to reboot the conference over here.
Please check in and let me know if you would still like to come (and maybe help out)!
Guys come to New Delhi - INDIA. Million of devels will support you. ;)
Here in Brazil, i've talk about phalcon in php dev conf and the php local comunity has made lot of workshops about phalcon. I know how difficult is to host an event like a Conf. If i can help to bring an future Phacon Conf to Brazil, contact me plis.
I live in Luxembourg, so if this conference happens in Amsterdam then I am in. Note, just keep it at a reasonable entry price as being Phalcon's first conference.
Travis, last october we had a little phalcon meetup in amsterdam, it was cool. An other is coming early 2016. See info here : https://www.meetup.com/fr/Amsterdam-Phalcon-PHP-Framework-Meetup/
Soufiane, nice! Thanks for the notice. I will keep my eye on attending the next meetup ! ^_^
nice
