Conference Information
The Los Techies blogging community is a truly exceptional group of developers, writers, teachers and mentors who love what we do for a living and take pride in producing quality software. Because we want to foster this within our software development community, we are proud to sponsor Pablo's Fiesta, a two-day open space conference. This conference will be dedicated to strengthening and expanding a passionate community, creating quality software & constantly striving to be better at our craft. To be better craftsmen, we need to:
- Sharpen our saw
- Help educate other developers
- Cultivate a culture that understands and appreciates the role software quality plays in our industry
- Help business leaders & executives understand how software quality affects the bottom line
The Los Techies crew is very diverse and discussion will not be limited to any specific programming language or platform. It will be an excellent opportunity to expand your horizons and meet other developers that share your passion for software development—not to mention have a damn good time in Austin!
You can register for this event here. Because St. Edward's PEC have donated their space, registration fee is only $15. We're a cheap date!!
Conference Schedule
This is the general schedule for the conference. We'll provide a more detailed schedule closer to the eventFriday, October 18
Starting at 6 PM we will have the opening session. This is when we get to select the topics we will discuss on Saturday & Sunday
Saturday, October 19
We will start the at 9:00 AM (hopefully with something for breakfast, we'll see how the budget looks) and start sessions around 9:30. It will be a full day with lunch provided and end around 5:30. Dinner will not be provided.
Registration
Coming Soon!Open Spaces
What is Open Space Technology?
Open Space Technology is one way to enable all kinds of people, in any kind of organization, to create inspired meetings and events. Over the last 20+ years, it has also become clear that opening space, as an intentional leadership practice, can create inspired organizations, where ordinary people work together to create extraordinary results with regularity.
In Open Space meetings, events and organizations, participants create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme of strategic importance, such as: What is the strategy, group, organization or community that all stakeholders can support and work together to create?
With groups of 5 to 2000+ people—working in one-day workshops, three-day conferences, or the regular weekly staff meeting—the common result is a powerful, effective connecting and strengthening of what's already happening in the organization: planning and action, learning and doing, passion and responsibility, participation and performance. See also WorkingInOpenSpace (Guided Tour).
When and Why?
Open Space works best when the work to be done is complex, the people and ideas involved are diverse, the passion for resolution (and potential for conflict) are high, and the time to get it done was yesterday. It's been called passion bounded by responsibility, the energy of a good coffee break, intentional self-organization, spirit at work, chaos and creativity, evolution in organization, and a simple, powerful way to get people and organizations moving—when and where it's needed most.
And, while Open Space is known for its apparent lack of structure and welcoming of surprises, it turns out that the Open Space meeting or organization is actually very structured—but that structure is so perfectly fit to the people and the work at hand, that it goes unnoticed in its proper role of supporting (not blocking) best work. In fact, the stories and workplans woven in Open Space are generally more complex, more robust, more durable—and can move a great deal faster than expert- or management-driven designs.
What will happen?
We never know exactly what will happen when we open the space for people to do their most important work, but we can guarantee these results when any group gets into Open Space:
- 1. All of the issues that are MOST important to the participants will be raised.
- 2. All of the issues raised will be addressed by those participants most qualified and capable of getting something done on each of them.
- 3. In a time as short as one or two days, all of the most important ideas, discussion, data, recommendations, conclusions, questions for further study, and plans for immediate action will be documented in one comprehensive report—finished, printed and in the hands of participants when they leave.
- 4. When appropriate and time is allowed for it, the total contents of this report document can be focused and prioritized in a matter of a few hours, even with very large groups (100's).
- 5. After an event, all of these results can be made available to an entire organization or community within days of the event, so the conversation can invite every stakeholder into implementation—right now.
- 6. AND... results like these can be planned and implemented faster than any other kind of so-called "large-group intervention." It is literally possible to accomplish in days and weeks what some other approaches take months and years to do.
The good news, and the bad news, is that it works. Good news because it gets people and work moving, bad news because that may mean lots of things are going to be different than before. Wanted things can appear, unwanted things disappear, and sometime vice versa—but that's how life is. In short, then, Open Space brings life back to organization and organizations back to life.
Location
St Edwards Professional Education Center
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Travel
Hotels
St. Edward's, our facility, has negotiated special rates for users. Go here and scroll to the bottom. Each of the links there will take you to a reservation page with the pre-set discount code.Please note that the Holiday Inn is the closest and within walking distance.
