Organizing Technical Conferences

About this Episode

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: 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

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