CMS Expo 2010 Highlights
May 7, 2010The Expo was the best technical conference I have attended to date. I have been to a few smaller, meet-up type conferences, FOWA (Future of Web Apps) Miami, and the CMS Expo ’09. Apart from last year’s CMS Expo (CMSX), the others I did not enjoy. You might think I am bias but I feel, after the second year attending, that the CMSX brings a much more attractive approach to the traditional “web” conference and for three reasons: 1) It’s a social event, 2) Actual business goes on, and 3) The strong point is the small sessions.
It is a social event
Ironically, the last FOWA conference I attended was about all aspects of social web apps however no social interaction went on! After the main speakers gave their lectures everyone went to the four corners of the auditorium and digressed to the great social past-time of glaring at a computer screen. There was very little human interaction or stimulation. Contrast that with the CMS Expo, people interacted with each other all day long (and all night long too). At one point, Kyle Ledbetter, from JoomlaPraise came over to a group of us and said “Alright guys let’s talk about something cool. Forget this technical talk…we do that on Skype…”.
The point is, CMSX is not just a great place for a technical conference but a haven for all those that need assurance there is life outside of geekdom.
Actual business goes on
At previous conferences I’ve attended, very little business went on and if it did it was one-sided. To be fair, it’s probably because most the attendees at other conferences were not business people. I venture to say that the majority of the CMSX attendees are business owners or people with drive to start a business. The multi-faceted purpose of the expo really lends itself to not just small breakout meetings regarding the latest technology or development standards but engaging debates and conversations on running a web business, or selling software, or how to scale your business (not just your server). I learned just as much about business as I did anything technical.
The small sessions are the strong point
In other conferences I’ve attended, the main events were the large keynotes. The CMSX had a handful of general talks, such as Dries Buytaert’s inspiring rally for the Open Source community. However, the real gem of the expo is in it’s small sessions. The sessions are not an after thought like many conferences but rather the focus. It offered a wide range of sessions for it’s attendees. For coders that need to sharpen their business wit, there was a business tract. For those looking to broaden their services to another CMS, they had opportunity to get good training in CMSs such as Drupal, Joomla, Plone, and WordPress. There were even some good overview sessions for lesser known CMSs such as EZPublish.
As someone who typically is skeptical at the value of conferences, I can highly recommend the CMS Expo to anyone. Plan on attending next year!
Rick,
You are absolutely correct! Your speaking session on effectively running web site companies was only one of the classes that were invaluable to me. I hope you’re speaking next year because I want to get the second part when I go back!
Thanks,
dakruhm
You’re so right on with your comments Mr. Blalock. These are the reasons why I only attend the CMS Expo at this point. You can get by with just sending drones to other conferences (and that’s what most seem to do).
My only thoughts about CMSX is that I wish there were a little more time split between the learning part and the business/dev part with a little overlap. I only say this bc I value chatting (partying) w/other devs and business leaders SO much.
I also hope there’s more WordPress folks there next year, because I really enjoyed hanging out with the Drupal folks this year. I think CMSX will become the 1 event all CMS people must attend each year.
Well put Rick. It’s a user-generated conference, so we’re LISTENING to all feedback, and welcoming some great ideas and input to help us bring those ideas to life.
Agree with Kyle on getting more involvement from WordPress. This year’s SF WordCamp was scheduled right on top of CMSX this year.
Next year’s CMSX is scheduled NOW for May 2nd, 3rd and 4th. If WP wants to make this a priority, they know when it is, and they’re invited!
PS: Rick, love the way you handle comments/replies on this blog – what DO you use?
@John – WordPress :-)
It’s almost as if I served you up a slow-movin’ 16″ softball on that one ;)
It’s nicely done, Ricardo. Iwannit.
You’re so right on with your comments Mr. Blalock. These are the reasons why I only attend the CMS Expo at this point. You can get by with just sending drones to other conferences (and that’s what most seem to do).My only thoughts about CMSX is that I wish there were a little more time split between the learning part and the business/dev part with a little overlap. I only say this bc I value chatting (partying) w/other devs and business leaders SO much.I also hope there’s more WordPress folks there next year, because I really enjoyed hanging out with the Drupal folks this year. I think CMSX will become the 1 event all CMS people must attend each year.