So, it's your first conference. Yes, it can be a little intimidating. Yes, it will be exciting. Yes, it will be exhausting. Here are some tips to get you started:

Do: Look at the schedule to find your "must see" sessions. Once the conference is running, you're going to be overwhelmed. If there's a session you absolutely need to attend, you need to figure that out now and plan accordingly.

Don't plan to attend every session. I know, I know... you want to "get your money's worth". You want to get exposed to every great new idea out there and you can't wait to dive in. First of all, no one can handle that much in a few days. Even the sharp guys over at North Carolina State University were overwhelmed at their first conference. Second of all, you can't forget the "Hallway Track".

Over the last few months, I've heard a common thread in a number the various Open Source communities I participate in or watch:

How do I get involved with the Open Source Community?

When someone considers how to get involved, they always think first and foremost about code.  They believe that the only way to contribute or participate on a project is to write code.  Well, not quite, so the answer becomes quite simple:

It depends.  What are your skills and interests?  That's right, it's not all about code!

First of all, yes, a project needs code that eventually get released.  But code is just one part of the Open Source Community.  Yes, it tends to be what we talk about, what we spend most of our time on, what starts/encourages licensing arguments, and what eventually gets released, but the other aspects can be even more important.

Last week at php|tek 2009, there were numerous sessions on improving your development practices.  There were some focused on better SVN usage, some offering better Object Oriented design practices, some on better Linux-fu, but none of them generated as much discussion - and angst - as "PHP Code Review" (slides here).  Here's the description:

In this workshop, three PHP experts with different software engineering focuses (testing, architecture, and security) will perform an interactive code review together with the audience. Attendees of this lab will learn how experts look at code what good code and bad code looks like, and how to avoid the most common gotchas. They are invited to bring their own code for an anonymous code review for an increased benefit from the workshop.

Seemingly benign, right?  The reaction to the session was something else entirely.

Let's get this disclosure thing out of the way right off the bat.  I am attached to MTA and the php|architect crew in a number of ways.  First, I've recently become a tech editor for the magazine. I also give a couple classes. I was the lead on the php|tek unconference and MC'd a number of the nighttime events.  Finally, I'm working with Marco Tabini on Blue Parabola.  All in all, I'm not exactly an unbiased observer.

Instead of my normal order of writing on the Good, Bad, then the Ugly, I'm going to flip them around and cover the negatives first.

Update 20 May 209: The submissions for this unconference are closed. Please check out the php|tek 2009 Unconference schedule here.

Well, we're just about two weeks from php|tek 2009. While many of the presenters are touching up their slides, brushing up their talks, and thinking of the pizza that's yet to come... I have a different question for you:

What are you doing?

As of today, I'm officially collecting ideas for the php|tek unconference.  As I get ideas (I already have quite a few), I'll post them on Chris Cornutt 's site Joind.in under the php|tek Unconference event.  Then all you have to do is register on the site, vote for the session, and feel free to leave feedback.

What's an UnConference you ask?

This coming week - on Wednesday 14 January, to be specific - I'm presenting at the DCPHP Users' Group giving a one hour session on the ins and outs of web2project.  Here's the synposis:

Although web2project is a fork of dotProject, simply calling it the next version ignores how far its come in the last year. The system has undergone massive improvements in permissions, system performance, User Interface, and numerous things not visible until you get under the hood. We'll take some time to review the most obvious changes and then get down to the aspects that will make the system fun and useful for you.

What!?  You don't live in/around DC but you're still interested in the session?  No problem!

In fact, there's something even bigger and better coming...

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The Good News: php|tek 2009 will have an Unconference!

The Bad News: I'm in charge.

(cue mad scientist laughter)

Let's be clear right off the bat:  All [name]Camps (Bar or otherwise) are unconferences but not all unconferences are [name]Camps.  The distinction - and this seems to be widely accepted - is that [name]Camp sessions should be selected day of and everyone needs to participate in some manner. Uncons can have the above but don't really have to... which is how it works at these Uncons which are attached to conferences.

Therefore, here's the (estmated) format for this con/uncon combination:

• Normal sessions start at the beginning of the day and the three tracks run until about 4 or 5pm;
• At that point, we take over and get full access to the rooms, projectors, network, and anything else not nailed down;
• We're slated to have three sessions in each room each evening, giving us a total of 18 sessions.

So here's your mission: