This week is the Monktoberfest, the most interesting conference I’ve ever attended, and one of my must-attend events each year in October. Not only are the talks thought-provoking and the attendees are awesome, but the location in Portland, ME and the food and events are top-notch. The ideas I get each year are a big inspiration, and it’s a long wait until next year each time.
Continue reading The Monktoberfest conference today and in historyTag: conferences
Dear Conference Organizers: Improving The Speaker Experience
Juggling several speaking engagements coming up, I’m reminded of how hard the job of conference organizers is.  Having helped to run ApacheCon as part of a volunteer team for years, I know how difficult it is to select talks, wrangle speaker acceptances (and rejections), and ensure your final conference schedule is appealing.  Updating the clunky CFP system and keeping the finicky schedule website updated are two problems that software hasn’t solved yet.
Equally important is how the conference acceptance & organization process works from the speaker’s side. Â Remember? Â Those people who make all the content your conference relies on? Â All those people who you love and appreciate – not that you pay them anything – and who you’ll do anything to fix last-minute problems for? Â While we can’t prevent all the last minute problems, there are a few simple steps to improve the speaker communication process to help prevent problems.
Continue reading Dear Conference Organizers: Improving The Speaker Experience
So, I gave this talk at OSCON
So, it was short, but an important message that I don’t think many open source project participants are really thinking through yet. So, it was all about how BRAND > CODE, and I’m looking for feedback on how to expand this, so, into a much bigger and better talk.
OSCON Ignite 2014: BRAND > CODE, by Shane Curcuru
So, you have to understand: yes, watching the video is so painful. I’m not usually that so-so. It was a combination of nerves (bigger stage than expected), jetlag, E_NOTENOUGH_PREPTIME, and the fact that my cell phone had just taken a dip in the water a few hours earlier.
OSCON was awesome, by the way. Next year looking forward to making sure my travel plans include the Community Leadership Summit!
I use Slideshare, and I speak at ApacheCon on managing community brands and making profits while respecting brands.