Trade conferences are a steady companion for the tech industry. And it not just for tech people. Gathering together in crowd for annual events is a human need. We all do it. Look at the thousands of different conference held each year. Las Vegas’s economy is anchored to this obvious pattern. Well, Vegas also caters to other human needs like gambling but you get the point.
What happens at conferences changes over time though. For example, in the last few years the lightning session has appeared. The idea: gather a handful of speakers, give each one a short time slot ( say 10 minutes), auto run the PowerPoint’s and have some fun.
Mix adds new event
So what about MIX11? I participated in one of these new ideas Monday night at Mix11, at least its new for a major Microsoft conference. Microsoft hosted an pre-conference event call Open Source Fest.
Open Source Fest is an event for open source project leaders to come and show off their great open source projects. It will be open to all MIX11 attendees and those in attendance can vote on their favorite open source projects. The winners will get a prize and some recognition at MIX11, but the key is the chance to showcase the open source projects by the community, stir the collective brainpower, and network. There will be food, drinks, a fun atmosphere, and a chance to meet many of the MIX11 speakers and attendees. Voting results will be announced at MIX11
About three weeks before the show John Papa extended an invitation to .NET based open source project owner to participated in the event. Fifty people volunteered to show their open source project during the evening. I decided to show my Shazzam Shader Editor.
Microsoft sponsored the event, provided the space, loaded a buffet table with free food and stocked the bar with free drinks. No one knew what to expect, as this was the debut for an event of this type. It was a great success, 500 people showed up and spent the evening seeing .NET projects and talking to the project developers.
Positive Buzz
I heard a lot of buzz about the event over the next couple days. The number one comment I heard was "I couldn’t believe how many great projects there were in the room." The attendees seemed to think it was a great event. Here’s why I think that is true.
1. Developer to Developer. The people attending were overwhelmingly programmers or part of the software industry. The presenters, were developers too. I had wonderful conversations about how I implemented features or how to use Shazzam in attendees own projects.
2. Passion. Every presenter I talked to was crazy happy to talk about their project. You could feel the love for their work. And the feeling multiplied throughout the evening. Walk 5 feet to the next table and hear another impassioned developer describing his application.
3. No sales. These were not vendor tables. No pressure to look at a tool and hear a sales pitch.
4. Real users. I had many people tell me that they used our tool and were grateful that it was there. Putting real faces on the people that use your tool is heartwarming.
I’d love to see this event next year at Mix12.
