The weekend of August 16th was a busy one for the 250 attendees of the Northeast PHP Conference, which took the NERD Center by storm! The three-day event was jam packed with workshops, speakers, and general sessions about PHP, web technology, and user experience (UX).
With the inaugural PHP conference a success last year, organizers and attendees were thrilled that the tradition continued this year due in part to Microsoft’s support as Platinum Sponsor and venue provider. It’s no surprise, however, that the conference returned, as it was a fan favorite, voted #1 in the Top 12 Events at NERD in 2012!
The conference, a collective brainchild of Boston PHP, Atlantic Canada PHP, and Burlington,VT PHP, united both experienced speakers as well as emerging talent in the northeast region of the United States and Canada. With 35 talks from 28 speakers, it’s safe to assume that attendees had plenty of options for speakers and topics!
Eli White kicked off the conference with a well-received keynote on “Looking to the Past, to Predict the Future.” Judging by the 4 and 5 star ratings his talk received on Joind.in, I would say his presentation was a hit! White’s counterpart, Terry Chay, wrapped up the weekend with a closing keynote on “Ten Evil Things: Features Engineering at Wikipedia.” Chay’s talk was highly anticipated, as the conference was his first appearance after a hiatus from public speaking. Welcome back Terry!
Along with the PHP experts, there were also some newcomers to the show. Several first-time speakers, including Eryn O’Neil (You Can UX Too: Avoiding the Programmer’s User Interface), Ryan Freebern (The UX of URLs), Katelyn Sessions (Mobile-First Design), were introduced and well received.
So what’s in store for the conference next? In addition to the Boston event, you may also see the conference become a travelling show with satellite events across the northeast. We’ll keep you posted!
