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  <title><![CDATA[Vancouver Polyglot Unconference]]></title>
  <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/atom.xml" rel="self"/>
  <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/"/>
  <updated>2012-05-25T12:08:23-07:00</updated>
  <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/</id>
  <author>
    <name><![CDATA[Polyglot Organizers]]></name>
    <email><![CDATA[info@polyglotconf.com]]></email>
  </author>
  <generator uri="http://octopress.org/">Octopress</generator>

  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Polyglot Skills &amp; Interests]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/05/25/polyglot-skills-and-interests/"/>
    <updated>2012-05-25T11:29:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/05/25/polyglot-skills-and-interests</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>On the eve of the Polyglot main conference day, here are a couple of charts from the registration questions we asked. This is an interesting contrast to the <a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/03/14/technology-interest-levels/">pre-launch interest levels</a>.</p>

<p>Not everyone filled out the questions, and for those that registered multiple attendees the questions weren&#8217;t filled out, so consider this very rough data. At the same time, it&#8217;s an interesting snapshot of the programming languages and technologies that are of interest today.</p>

<h2>Skills of Participants</h2>

<p>We asked participants to list their strongest skills:</p>

<p><a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/images/strongest_tech.png"><img src="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/images/strongest_tech.png" width="600"></a></p>

<p>A lot of our organizing committee is from an ALT.NET background<sup><a href="#altnet">1</a></sup>, so the strong showing from C# / .NET is not surprising.</p>

<h2>Technology Interest</h2>

<p>We asked participants which programming language, framework, or technology are you most interested in learning more about. This was a free form text field that we asked people to comma separate.</p>

<p><a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/images/tech_learn_barchart.png"><img src="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/images/tech_learn_barchart.png" width="600"></a></p>

<p>The &#8220;long tail&#8221; is particularly interesting (everything from F# down had just one person list it as an interest), as well as the complete absence of C# from <em>this</em> list.</p>

<h2>See you tomorrow!</h2>

<p>We&#8217;ll see everyone tomorrow at 8:30am at SFU Harbour Centre for registration and topic planning.</p>

<p>Remember - <a href="http://polyglotconf.uservoice.com/">vote for the session suggestions</a> or add your own based on what you&#8217;ve seen here. Just putting down a language or tech you&#8217;re interested in is a great way to start gathering interest.</p>

<p>Check the <a href="http://polyglotconf.uservoice.com/forums/156120-session-suggestions/filters/new">new session suggestions</a> for some additional placeholder topics we&#8217;ve put in place based on the interest results.</p>

<h3>Footnotes</h3>

<p><sup><a name="altnet">1</a></sup>Jeremy D. Miller&#8217;s post on <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc337902.aspx">What is ALT.NET?</a> makes for good reading, especially this quote:</p>

<blockquote><p>You reach outside the mainstream to adopt the best of any community: Open Source, Agile, Java, Ruby. In no way does Microsoft or the .NET community have a monopoly on good software development. For instance, Agile processes and Design Patterns started with Smalltalk. Likewise, Inversion of Control tools and techniques originated in Java. And two fundamental Ruby on Rails principles—Don&#8217;t Repeat Yourself and Convention over Configuration—are ones that we can adopt in .NET.</p><footer><strong>Jeremy D. Miller</strong> <cite><a href='http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc337902.aspx'>What Is ALT.NET?</a></cite></footer></blockquote>

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  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[After party details]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/05/22/after-party-details/"/>
    <updated>2012-05-22T14:27:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/05/22/after-party-details</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Thanks to our <a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/sponsors/">drinks sponsors</a> GitHub and Mozilla, we&#8217;ll be providing attendees that want to continue on having a good time after the conference sessions end with a $10 gift certificate to a fine provider of libations.</p>

<p>Continuing with the unconference theme, we decided to select a number of venues in and around Gastown. This gives attendees a chance to go off in smaller groups and continue the discussions from the day. We&#8217;ll be handing out a random gift certificate with each registration, which is another chance to get to meet different people, or to mix and match to build your own Gastown food &amp; drink adventure. Think of it as an un-party!</p>

<p>As well as the drinks sponsors, <a href="http://www.goclio.com/">Clio</a> is going to be caffeinating you. We&#8217;ve got Artigiano coffee cards that you&#8217;ll also get first thing in the morning, for you to use as you like either first thing or at lunch time to get your caffeine fix. The closest <a href="https://www.caffeartigiano.com:3691/Location_Vancouver_Hastings.aspx">Artigiano location is on Hastings at Howe</a>.</p>

<p><img src="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/images/polyglot_giftcerts_coffee_cards_500px.jpg"></p>

<p>Locations currently include:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.fatdragonbbq.com/">Fat Dragon</a> (566 Powell St)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.campagnolorestaurant.ca/">Campagolo</a> (1020 Main St)</li>
<li><a href="http://boneta.ca/">Boneta</a> (12 Water St)</li>
<li><a href="http://di6mond.com/">Diamond</a> (6 Powell St)</li>
<li><a href="http://seamonstrsushi.com/">Sea Monster Sushi</a> (55 Powell St)</li>
<li><a href="http://saveonmeats.ca/">Save On Meats</a> (43 W. Hastings)</li>
<li><a href="http://irishheather.com/">Irish Heather</a> (210 Carrall St)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.shebeen.ca/">The Shebeen</a> (210 Carrall St)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.salttastingroom.com/">Salt</a> (Blood Alley)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.judasgoat.ca/">Judas Goat</a> (Blood Alley)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bittertastingroom.com/">Bitter</a> (16 W. Hastings)</li>
</ul>


<p>The gift certificate you&#8217;ll receive is good for food or drink, so it&#8217;s up to you whether you want to have a leisurely dinner debating software dev practices, or whether you want to go on a mini pub crawl.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Callout for volunteers: Vancouver Polyglot Conference 2012]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/05/10/callout-for-volunteers/"/>
    <updated>2012-05-10T11:10:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/05/10/callout-for-volunteers</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<h2>CALLOUT FOR VOLUNTEERS: VANCOUVER POLYGLOT CONFERENCE 2012!</h2>

<p>Want to learn how to create great software, from industry experts…. FOR FREE?</p>

<p>Want to network with industry professionals (eg: network with our sponsors,
Mozilla, Github, Clio…) so you have a summer job, a job lined up out of
graduation or even a job, period?</p>

<p>Heck, let’s say you have all that and an awesome personality to boot. Wouldn’t
you want to be part of the cool crowd that organizes these intellectually
stimulating conferences (while making the world a better place through your
volunteerism, of course)?</p>

<h3>TIME COMMITMENT:</h3>

<p>Saturday, May 26, 2012: Two shifts: morning/registration (7:30am-12:30pm) and afternoon/clean up (1:30pm-6:30pm)</p>

<h3>WHAT YOU GET:</h3>

<ul>
<li>Waiver of conference fees.</li>
<li>$5 Coffee Card, for a cafe like Caffé Artigiano (for all your late night programming needs)</li>
<li>$10 Gift certificate to great bar/restaurants like the Donnelly Club group</li>
<li>Be part of history in the making (you will have bragging rights for being part of the first annual Vancouver Polyglot conference in Vancouver)</li>
<li>An opportunity to learn, meet awesome people and have fun!</li>
</ul>


<p>Spaces limited! Interested? Contact: Evelyn- <a href="mailto:info@polyglot">info@polyglotconf.com</a></p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Clio and Mozilla are premium sponsors]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/04/10/clio-and-mozilla-are-premium-sponsors/"/>
    <updated>2012-04-10T11:24:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/04/10/clio-and-mozilla-are-premium-sponsors</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>We&#8217;re pleased to announce that <a href="http://www.goclio.com">Clio</a> and <a href="http://www.mozilla.org">Mozilla</a> are premium <a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/sponsors">sponsors</a>.</p>

<p>Clio will be helping to caffeinate you by providing some Artigiano coffee cards. Clio is a local Vancouver company that provides a web-based practice management for the entrepreneurs of the legal industry: solos and small firms.</p>

<p>Mozilla is our drinks sponsor alongside GitHub, and is also stepping up to host a <a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/hackathon">Hackathon on Sunday</a>. Mozilla is a global, nonprofit organization dedicated to making the Web better. The Mozilla Vancouver office is one of their global locations, and will be moving into new space in May.</p>

<p>We have a handful of community sponsorships left if you&#8217;re interested in getting involved with Polyglot.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Kaler: The problem with most tech conferences is that they devolve into cliques]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/04/10/kaler-the-problem-with-most-tech-conferences-is-that-they-devolve-into-cliques/"/>
    <updated>2012-04-10T11:18:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/04/10/kaler-the-problem-with-most-tech-conferences-is-that-they-devolve-into-cliques</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://twitter.com/kaler">Parveen Kaler</a> is one of the organizers of Polyglot. Here&#8217;s his <a href="http://parveenkaler.com/2012/04/08/polyglotconf-vancouver-2012/">blog post</a> on why you should attend Polyglot:</p>

<blockquote>
The problem with most technology conferences is that they devolve into cliques.

Game developers don’t interact with mobile developers. Mobile developers don’t interact with web developers. Web developers don’t interact with systems developers. And on and on it goes.

PolyglotConf is a one day unconference designed to get 200 of the smartest developers around in the same room. An uncoference is a participant-driven, self-organizing meeting. The people that show the day of the conference are the ones that get drive the agenda. The job of the organizers is to facilitate.
</blockquote>


<p>Parveen is an ex-game developer turned iOS expert, and is wanting to have a discussion about <a href="http://polyglotconf.uservoice.com/forums/156120-session-suggestions/suggestions/2752312-modern-concurrency">Modern Concurrency</a>. Follow that link to track his session suggestion.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Session Suggestions]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/04/10/session-suggestions/"/>
    <updated>2012-04-10T11:10:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/04/10/session-suggestions</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Most unconferences wait until the first day of the conference before you get a glimpse of what the sessions will be.  We just couldn&#8217;t wait that long and wanted to give you a head start to get your Polyglot juices flowing, and to give people a glimpse at what kind of sessions they can expect.</p>

<p>We&#8217;re using <a href="http://polyglotconf.uservoice.com">UserVoice</a> to let people browse, suggest, and vote for a session.  We&#8217;d love to hear what sessions you like to attend and you can do that by voting for the ones that appeal to you the most.  You only get three votes, but don&#8217;t worry, you can always change your vote if a new hot session pops up after you&#8217;ve already distributed your votes.</p>

<p>What&#8217;s even better than getting to vote for your favourite session?  Suggesting your own session, of course!  We encourage all of you to add your own session suggestion on a topic that you think is missing so far.  Just tell us what language, technology or topic you want to talk about or participate in.  Give us a quick description of the session, maybe say something about the format, and then start promoting your session. We&#8217;ll be tweeting all suggestions on the <a href="http://twitter.com/PolyGlotConf">@PolyglotConf Twitter account</a> with the #sessionsuggestion tag.</p>

<p>We&#8217;ll have an announcement later on letting you know exactly how we&#8217;re going to combine these sessions with our regular unconference opening, so stay tuned.  But in the meantime, let us know what you want to talk about at <a href="http://polyglotconf.uservoice.com">polyglotconf.uservoice.com</a>, or click on the &#8220;sessions &amp; talks&#8221; tab.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Technology interest levels]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/03/14/technology-interest-levels/"/>
    <updated>2012-03-14T09:08:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/03/14/technology-interest-levels</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Before the site went up, we had linked to an image of the chart of interest that people had in different technologies.</p>

<p><img src="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/images/polyglot_language_interest.png"></p>

<p>As you can see, the top 4 technologies of interest are:</p>

<ol>
<li>node.js</li>
<li>Ruby</li>
<li>Python</li>
<li>Haskell</li>
</ol>


<p>As <a href="http://twitter.com/apike">Allen Pike</a> pointed out, node.js isn&#8217;t a <em>language</em> (and neither is .NET), so we actually did label this wrong initially. We&#8217;ve setup questions on the <a href="http://polyglotconf2012.eventbrite.com">registration form</a> to ask people more broadly both what their strongest technology is, as well as the technologies that they&#8217;re interested in learning more about.</p>

<p>Not shown on this chart is the &#8220;other&#8221; category we had - probably the biggest area of interest was in a variety of NoSQL database technologies.</p>

<p>The biggest question we&#8217;ve had after sending out invitations and formally opening registration yesterday is &#8220;What is this going to be about? There isn&#8217;t enough information to help me figure out what will be discussed.&#8221; This is pretty common with unconferences for people who haven&#8217;t experienced this style before. The answer comes from open space - &#8220;Whoever comes is the right people&#8221;. We&#8217;ve reserved a space, set the date, and we&#8217;re inviting different programming communities to come together to have whatever discussions they&#8217;re interested in having.</p>

<p>We will also be providing a place online ahead of time for people to discover what other attendees are passionate about discussing, to get a better sense of the type of talks you can expect to be involved in. For now, feel free to start prepping discussion topics by posting to your blog, Github account, or elsewhere. Tag it with #polyglotconf, and we&#8217;ll highlight the ones we find.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Design sponsors]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/03/13/design-sponsors/"/>
    <updated>2012-03-13T10:24:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/03/13/design-sponsors</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>We put out a call for help with design and branding for the conference. All of the organizers are technical people, so we knew we had to get help. Luckily, <a href="http://claytoncorreia.com/">Clayton Correia</a>  and <a href="http://terraspitzner.com/">Terra Spitzner</a> volunteered to make a logo and matching site design as an in kind sponsorship.</p>

<p>We knew we were in good hands when they sent us a preview of the logo along with a branding guide that had the following tips for us:</p>

<ol>  <li>Do not place on top of crazy images or with gross colours. Yuk.</li>  <li>Do not muddle with the logo. It is awesome the way it is, trust me.</li>  <li>Do not rotate the logo. Just ‘cause.</li>  <li>Do not add anything to the logo to make it “pop”. Drop shadows, rainbows, lense flares and anything else ridiculous.</li>
</ol>


<p>Final words at the bottom of the guide? &#8220;Thanks for looking! Now you know how to be awesome.&#8221;</p>

<p>We&#8217;re excited to get the logo and design up and running - thanks Clayton &amp; Terra!</p>

<p><em>Note: Depending on when you&#8217;re looking at this post, the design may or may not already be implemented. We&#8217;re using <a href="http://octopress.org">Octopress</a>, a static file blogging engine to run the site, and just got started with the default theme. Got suggestions on the info on this site? Well, conveniently, you can actually <a href="https://github.com/PolyglotConf/polyglotconf.github.com/tree/source">fork it on Github</a> and make a pull request to suggest changes!</em></p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Welcome to Polyglot 2012]]></title>
    <link href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/03/12/welcome-polyglotconf-2012/"/>
    <updated>2012-03-12T00:00:00-07:00</updated>
    <id>http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog/2012/03/12/welcome-polyglotconf-2012</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>We, the Polyglot 2012 organizers, are very excited to be bringing you the first
(annual?) Polyglot <strong>un</strong>-conference. An entirely non-denominational software
development conference that is about software development and nothing but.</p>

<p>So what’s Polyglot development really about? It’s simple, it&#8217;s about software
development, not dogma. It&#8217;s about being open-minded and pragmatic when it
counts, unfettered by one-size-fits-all prescriptions. Languages, frameworks,
techniques, whatever expands your skills and ability to create software fits the
bill here. So even if you you only regularly use one or two languages (lets face
it X and javascript right?) that’s not what matters here.</p>

<p>Even more importantly the Polyglot Conference is centered around the goal of
bringing together real <em>problem solvers</em>. People who don&#8217;t just carry around an
idea or a problem in their head and talk a lot, but the men and women who get
down and dirty and <em>do something about it!</em> These beautiful people who <em>make
the magic happen</em>.</p>

<p>So if you think this describes you, or even if we&#8217;ve simply convinced you that
this describes <em>the person you wish to become</em>. Then believe us when we say this
conference was created specifically for you.</p>

<p>Or heck, don&#8217;t believe us and come find out. I mean the tickets are $35, what
have you got to lose!?</p>

<!-- more -->


<p>Here are some important things you should know (conveniently in point form for
you skimmers):</p>

<ul>
<li>This is an open space event or un-conference. Sessions are planned by the
attendees, the content and value comes from all of you.</li>
<li>We are a completely non-denominational event with respect to languages,
environment, heck even religion. This is all about software development and
the people who make it happen.</li>
<li>It is open to current and aspiring polyglots, multiple language use/knowledge
is not required.</li>
<li>Its open to people of all experience levels who are interested in learning,
sharing or teaching.</li>
<li>It is open to anyone who is (or aspires to be) a problem solver, who works to
get real things done and make things happen.</li>
<li>There will be organized workshops in advance of the event.</li>
<li>There will be a P.A.R.T.Y. (it will be E.P.I.C.)</li>
<li>You <em>will</em> have to pay a nominal ($35) fee which shows you&#8217;re commitment to
being there and being involved (apologies to the “open spaces are free”
zealots).</li>
<li>It will <em>not</em> suck. If you haven&#8217;t been to an open-space before it is
understandable to be skeptical that such a thing could actually work. If you
have you know exactly why it&#8217;s pretty much always awesome. If you need to be
convinced ask someone who&#8217;s been. Oh wait, I&#8217;ve been, well consider yourself
convinced.</li>
</ul>


<h3>The FAQs</h3>

<p>I&#8217;ve also compiled a little <a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/faq">FAQ</a> which includes this and more in
convenient Q/A form for those who both skimmed the intro and are averse to point
form information. The FAQ will be kept up to date as people ask questions and
give us feedback and as we have more details on the event.</p>

<h3>Staying Informed</h3>

<p>Also we have a <a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/blog">blog</a> section which will updated with announcements on
the pre-conference <a href="http://PolyglotConf.github.com/tutorials">tutorials</a>, the (tentatively planned)
post-conference hackathon, the session planning and selection and much more. If
you are planning on attending <strong>I highly recommend subscribing to the blog,
following <a href="http://twitter.com/polyglotconf">@polyglotconf</a> on Twitter or at
least checking back often</strong>.</p>

<h3>See you in May</h3>

<p>What are you waiting for? <a href="http://polyglotconf2012.eventbrite.com">Go register</a>!</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
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