Category: Conferences

Happy Birthday, ASF!

ApacheCon has featured a number of events commemorating the 10th anniversary of the founding of The Apache Software Foundation. We’ll be featuring “asf10years” events throughout the year, culminating with some very special stuff at ApacheCon US 2009 in Oakland, 2-6 November.

Some of the 10th anniversary items we’ve posted this week include:

Note: there’s a delay of several days, but our video streaming partner Linux Magazine will be putting all the video content (free and paid) into their archive. Stay tuned for a note when it’s available in the archive, but several of these talks are definitely worth watching again.

Tip: there will also be a video or two of us – all the ApacheCon attendees – signing Happy Birthday to Apache.

Welcome to ApacheCon Europe 2009!

Quick note: if you can’t attend ApacheCon, you can still watch the free live video streaming of our Keynotes and lunch talks! Other technical tracks are available for a fee. Remember: all times are from Amsterdam (CET), so Wednesday’s keynote “Data Management in the Cloud” with Raghu Ramakrishnan of Yahoo! starts at 09:30.

If you don’t have your badge yet, registration will open at 08:00 in the main conference area of the hotel, upstairs from the lobby, and sessions start at 09:00 on Wednesday.

If you’re already at ApacheCon, I’m jealous – I hope you’ve been enjoying the trainings, Hackathon, and BarCampApache this year, along with the stellarly attended Meetups this year!

Along with the many data feeds about the ASF and ApacheCon, please be sure to check out the new official blog of the ASF at http://blogs.apache.org/foundation/, hosted on our own Apache Roller blogging platform, of course! Many thanks to our infrastructure volunteers for setting up our blogging system.

0x03 days until ApacheCon: your packing list

I’ll spare you all the obvious packing tips, and just point out a few things you many not have thought about to pack when visiting Amsterdam.

Voltage adapter
Note that if you have modern electronics like me – a newish Mac or Thinkpad, iPhone, etc. and many recent cameras – you don’t actually need a voltage converter. Double-check your power adapters to see if they can take 220volts. You will need the two-round-pin adapter for the continent, however.
Your laptop
Highly recommended. The majority of attendees will have a laptop of some sort, and most of them will be typing on them throughout the conference.
Shampoo and soap
The Moevenpick doesn’t provide them. That was a minor surprise for me, used to travelling in the US where every hotel has little complimentary toiletries.
Comfortable walking shoes
You’ll do a lot of walking if you go out into the city (which you should!) Plus layers and a windbreaker to stay warm; Amsterdam weather will be cool, windy, and rainy to start the week. Or, join folks to go running or biking.
Euros
Bringing enough to buy your train ticket from the airport to Centraal will save you in fees. Plan on using an ATM (note: there are some fees, but often it’s less than moneychangers) at Centraal or around the city.

If you’ve never been to Amsterdam, you absolutely need to read our Amsterdam Tips on the wiki, which include instructions for taking the train and tram from the airport.

[Ann] ApacheCon Europe 2009 – Watch live video, download the Program Guide, and Save the Dates

If you were on the announce-at apachecon.com you’d already be reading this.

ApacheCon Europe 2009 publishes our downloadable Program Guide; provides live Video Streams; has free signups available for MeetUps and the BarCamp; and announces Save-the-Date for upcoming conferences and events. Everything you need to know: http://www.eu.apachecon.com

Download the ApacheCon Program Guide

The listing of everything at the conference downloadable as PDF:
http://eu.apachecon.com/c/aceu2009/about/conference-resources

Can’t Attend? Live Video Streams Of Keynotes Free

Watch our keynotes and lunchtime sessions for free with live streaming video from Linux New Media. Full session tracks are available for a fee. Free and paid tracks are available in an archive later.
http://xrl.us/aceu09vid

Special Events: MeetUps, BarCampApache – Free

  • It’s free to attend BarCampApache on Monday, 23 March during the day.
    http://barcamp.org/BarCampApache – Add your name to participate
  • MeetUps on Monday and Tuesday evening are also free.
    Monday at 19:00: join the Maven and Portals communities.
    Tuesday at 19:00: join Wicket, Lucene, and JCR/Jackrabbit/Sling.
    http://xrl.us/aceu09mc MeetUp schedule and sign up to participate

Save The Dates! ApacheCon and More

BarCampApacheOxford
4-5 April 2009 – Oxford, England
http://barcamp.org/BarCampApacheOxford
ApacheCon US 2009 – Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of The ASF!
2-6 November 2009 – Oakland, CA
http://www.us.apachecon.com
ApacheCon Europe 2010
Spring 2010
ApacheCon US 2010
1-5 November 2010 – Atlanta, GA
ApacheCon North America 2011
7–11 November 2011 – Vancouver BC, Canada

Interested in sponsoring ApacheCon?

Contact Delia Frees at delia@apachecon.com for further information.
http://xrl.us/aceu09ss Our current sponsor list

—
ApacheCon Europe 2009 Team
planners-2009-eu -at -apachecon.com
http://www.eu.apachecon.com

0x07 days until ApacheCon: Download the program guide!

Yes, ApacheCon has improved itself this year, and is now offering the compete program guide to ApacheCon EU 2009 as a downloadable PDF file. Get your copy now – they’re free! – and see what you’ll be missing if you can’t visit us in Amsterdam.

Remember that if you can’t make it, you’ll still be able to watch some of our content, which is being offered as a live (or recorded) video stream of ApacheCon by Linux Pro Magazine.

Astute readers will realize that I’ve finally admitted I missed a few days of updates earlier on. This was because your host – Shane – has both been working overtime at $dayjob, as well as arranging a small family birthday this past week.

That is a prime example of why some people believe in Community Over Code. One-person projects will falter when the person either moves on, gets too busy, or simply has finished the features that they needed from the projects. Projects with a handful of developers from a single company will always fall by the wayside if their company moves in a different direction, or has a major crunch period of internal work. The best way to ensure the longevity and greater success of a project is to build a community of equals around it.

0x0F days until ApacheCon: [ANN] Keynotes & MeetUps; Room Discounts expire 13-March

If you were on one of our announce@ lists, you would have gotten this email tonight!

ApacheCon Europe 2009 announces our Keynote Speakers; welcomes you to our Special Events; reminds you our Special Package Discount expires at the end of today; and issues last call for ApacheCon US 2009 CFPs!

ApacheCon Europe 2009 Keynote Speakers

  • Wednesday: Raghu Ramakrishnan, “Data Management in the Cloud”
  • Thursday: James Governor of Red Monk
  • Friday: Apache Pioneer’s Panel – 10 years of The Apache Software Foundation – featuring luminaries from early days of the ASF

Special Events: MeetUps, BarCampApache, and more

  • Join the Wicket, Jackrabbit, Portals, Lucene, and Maven communities in
    their free MeetUps on Monday and Tuesday night. MeetUps are for hacking
    with the committers, and bringing your user question to the community. See the MeetUp schedule and sign up to participate
  • Sign up to attend BarCampApache (also free) on Monday, where everyone
    can be a speaker. Be sure to sign up your name on the wiki soon! Add your name to the BarCamp wiki to participate.

Special Discount Package of EUR 150 off *ends* after 13 March!

The Special Discount Package provides a saving of EUR 150 off of the Full Conference price, only for guests staying at the Mövenpick Hotel for 2 or more nights. To qualify for this discount you will need to register at the Mövenpick using our link for your reservation, and then register for the conference as an attendee, and select the “Special Discount Package” registration checkbox.

Book your hotel room, and Register for the conference.

CFP for ApacheCon US 2009 closes!

You may still submit a CFP for ApacheCon US 2009, held 2-6 November in
Oakland CA until the submissions closing deadline of 14 March 2009 at
12:00 GMT.

Interested in sponsoring ApacheCon or related events?

Contact Delia
Frees at delia@apachecon.com for further information. Or, see the current sponsors of ApacheCon Europe 2009.

—
ApacheCon Europe 2009 Team
planners-2009-eu@apachecon.com
http://www.eu.apachecon.com

0x10 days until ApacheCon: Check the time!

Just a quick reminder: double-check what time it is! Remember that the US has already “sprung forward” and changed to daylight savings time; however Europe and much of the rest of the world will not be changing daylight savings for another few weeks, on Sunday, 29-March following ApacheCon.

This is a key thing to remember for anyone scheduling international conference calls, or when planning to catch your flight.

An excellent resource about times, timezones, and dates around the world is Time And Date.

0x11 days until ApacheCon: Dear Speakers

James Duncan Davidson – a longtime ASF member and past speaker, now photographer – has some excellent tips in his post “Dear Speakers“. There’s also a lot of great commentary there about improving public speaking, especially in a geeky or tech-y crowd.

Be sure to read the comments, there’s some great discussion going on there. And note these are great tips both for regular session speakers, as well as for any public speaking. And there are plenty of opportunities for you to speak at ApacheCon in our other special events.

(This is one of a series of catch-up posts; it’s really less than 2 weeks until ApacheCon!)

0x12 days until ApacheCon: Meet the MeetUps

Along with the usual array of Special Events at ApacheCon, we’ve had tremendous interest so far in the MeetUps scheduled on Monday and Tuesday evenings between 18:00 and 23:00

MeetUps are free for attendees, and are focused on individual project communities. In fact, the community is the primary driver to having a MeetUp – they’re doing the organizing, and the conference is happy to be able to provide space in our hotel this year. The only registration for the MeetUps is to sign up on the wiki page. If you have something to present, great; put it on the wiki, if not, just come with your questions about the project. Laptops are expected.

The ApacheMeetupsEu09 wiki page really has all the key details. If you go, tell them that Shane sent you.

  • Wicket Meetup (day TBD depending on signups), has their own flickr tags.
  • Jackrabbit Meetup (day TBD depending on signups), or anything about JCR; had a great meetup in 2008 too.
  • Portals Meetup (day TBD depending on signups), including Portals Pluto, Jetspeed, Bridges and WSRP4J and other related projects.
  • Lucene Meetup, will be Tuesday evening; ask about Lucene, Mahout, Solr, Droids, more.
  • Maven Meetup (will be held if there are enough signups).

Many, many thanks to Arjé Cahn for his patience with everyone! His tireless drive to ensure the MeetUps got organized and could share our space this year, a win for everyone, both MeetUp’ers and ApacheCon attendees as well – plus thanks to all the MeetUp organizers and project committers who are planning on presenting or being there to answer questions. We hope to get a number of Amsterdam area locals coming just for the MeetUps who will get to see a little bit of what ApacheCon is about.

0x13 Days until ApacheCon: On your favorite social network

ApacheCon’s social network is CrowdVine, where you can create your personal schedule of sessions, export as iCal, comment on sessions, and friend/fan other attendees. But as the ASF is vendor-neutral, we’re also social network-neutral. Sign up to show you’re attending or add your content on any of these: