I've received a good chunk of questions and feedback about ALT.NET Open Spaces, Seattle; it sold out pretty quickly.
Here's the good news: if you were on the waiting list there's a very good chance you got a spot at the event. You should have received an email, but there's a chance it got spammed. As the altdotnet.org site is pretty new, I'd err on the side of leaving nothing to chance, so CHECK YOUR REGISTRATIONS!
We're really not making a secret out of the fact that we "prime the pump" with some invitations. One of the neat aspects of this event is that it's a big mix-in for our community with heavies -- Martin Fowler, Scott Guthrie, Ward Cunningham, James Shore, John Lam and Jim Hugginin, The Israelis (Ayende/Roy/Udi), CodeBetter people and many more -- and up-and-comers with just flat-out interesting ideas and a drive to learn, experiment, and question. That's the secret sauce and we're going to have to keep it that way for this form factor of conference.
One thing I've been kicking around is the idea of doing a more traditional style of conference with a twist for learning. This idea came up in a conversation with Scott Bellware, Josh Holmes, Ray Lewallen, John "QB" Kordyback and myself in a hotel bar after the ALT.NET Summit, NYC. I'll toss out the main outline of the idea and (hopefully) get some feedback from people:
- It would be longer: four or five days.
- It would start 2-3 days of workshops or classes upfront on advanced topics: DDD, T/BDD, Agile, Patterns, SOA/Messaging, etc.
- The final days would lead into a kind of "dream conference" with talks given by well-known speakers.
- It would cost money, not a lot, but some...
That last point is a tough one. I've always wanted to keep this free or low-cost; we're trying to create a venue for spreading new ideas and improving our craft. The fact of the matter is that a lot of well-known speakers require that a) conferences take place in the business week and b) at least expenses are paid or there's some recovery of opportunity cost. This is understandable; you get to a point in your career where events have to be considered against a very, very loaded schedule.
I like the model that the RubyConf people have. My goal would be to make the conference as affordable as possible. If we do come up with a surplus, I'd want to reinvest 100% of that back into funding local ALT.NET groups and events (Open Spaces, Dojos, what-have-you).
So I thought I'd throw this idea out there and solicit feedback, concerns, questions, comments, ideas, etc. I know there's no shortage of that out there in this community and that's something I value.