Episode 39: Organizing Technical Conferences

Organizing Technical Conferences
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Summary
I've been attending technical conferences for years, and I've always wondered about the hidden challenges involved in putting a conference together. In this show, four of the best conference organizers I know join me to share their secrets and stories. Marty Haught, organizer of many conferences including RubyConf and RailsConf, Jen Remsik and Jim Remsik, who organize the Madison+ family of conferences, and Leah Silber, who organizes EmberConf and RustConf. Learn about budgets, picking talks, and managing facilities and vendors.
Guests
Marty Haught (https://twitter.com/mghaught): President at Haught Codeworks (https://haughtcodeworks.com/), Director at Ruby Central (http://rubycentral.org/) organizing RailsConf and RubyConf
Jen Remsik (https://twitter.com/jenremsik): Director of People Operations at Adorable.io (https://adorable.io/), Organizer of Madison Ruby (https://twitter.com/madisonruby)
Jim Remsik (https://twitter.com/jremsikjr): President of Adorable.io (https://adorable.io/), Organizer of Madison Ruby (https://twitter.com/madisonruby).
Leah Silber (https://twitter.com/wifelette): CEO at Tilde Inc. (http://www.tilde.io/). EmberConf (https://emberconf.com/), RustConf (http://rustconf.com/), and RailsConf (https://railsconf.com/) Organizer. Author of Event Driven: How to Run Memorable Tech Conferences (https://leanpub.com/eventdriven).
Notes
03:12 - Getting Things Right and Having Empathy for Attendees
11:16 - Budgetary Aspects
14:53 - Planning Conferences in Other Cities
18:22 - Putting the Program Together and Selection Processes
29:25 - Crafting a Conference Proposal
31:12 - Encouraging and Enabling Attendee Interaction
40:03 - Conference Mentorship
41:26 - Words of Advice Special Guests: Jen Remsik, Jim Resmsik, Leah Silber, and Marty Haught.

Organizing Technical Conferences

TableXI is now offering training for developers and products teams! For more info, go to http://tablexi.com/workshops.

Get your FREE career growth strategy information and techniques!

Summary

I've been attending technical conferences for years, and I've always wondered about the hidden challenges involved in putting a conference together. In this show, four of the best conference organizers I know join me to share their secrets and stories. Marty Haught, organizer of many conferences including RubyConf and RailsConf, Jen Remsik and Jim Remsik, who organize the Madison+ family of conferences, and Leah Silber, who organizes EmberConf and RustConf. Learn about budgets, picking talks, and managing facilities and vendors.

Guests

Marty Haught: President at Haught Codeworks, Director at Ruby Central organizing RailsConf and RubyConf
Jen Remsik: Director of People Operations at Adorable.io, Organizer of Madison Ruby
Jim Remsik: President of Adorable.io, Organizer of Madison Ruby.
Leah Silber: CEO at Tilde Inc.. EmberConf, RustConf, and RailsConf Organizer. Author of Event Driven: How to Run Memorable Tech Conferences.

Notes

03:12 - Getting Things Right and Having Empathy for Attendees

11:16 - Budgetary Aspects

14:53 - Planning Conferences in Other Cities

18:22 - Putting the Program Together and Selection Processes

29:25 - Crafting a Conference Proposal

31:12 - Encouraging and Enabling Attendee Interaction

40:03 - Conference Mentorship

41:26 - Words of Advice

Special Guests: Jen Remsik, Jim Resmsik, Leah Silber, and Marty Haught.