Dear Handmade Folks,
Happy Friday! Today marks the opening of the Spring sale. This year is uniquely awesome because it’s gasp the 10-year anniversary of the Handmade movement. Boy do I have unexpected surprises for each conference.
Tickets for Boston and Seattle are now available:
Many have been reserved already as fundraiser perks, so grab the remaining stash while you can.
Handmade Boston: Aug 9-10th, 2024
Boston is a two-day masterclass conference on Friday August 9th and Saturday August 10th. Three important changes have been made:
- Our new venue is fancier: The JFK Presidential Library
- No more forums or homework assignments
- My event coordinator, Morgan Rammell, is taking over logistics
You should expect the same caliber of high-profile, competent speakers as last year. This conference is to dive into technical rabbit holes and come out a better programmer one way or another.
For the physical track, we’re also booking an exclusive after-party: remember Kings Dining and Entertainment?
Well we had only reserved the dining part but their building is much bigger with a retro vibe (perfect for Handmade) featuring bowling alleys, arcades, billiards, and two bar areas. The owner told me he wants to host us again, so we will be renting the whole establishment.
Handmade Seattle: Nov 20-22nd, 2024
Seattle is our flagship conference, and it’s rapidly becoming the biggest place where new folks get to learn about Handmade for the first time! As always, we will have new talks, demos, a trade show, and a job fair. And as always, it will be at the Seattle Center, live-streamed with the help of my amazing technical staff.
For the physical track we want to finally do a better job with hotel accommodations. With Morgan’s help, I’m partnering with the Mediterranean Inn. It’s the most popular choice among attendees:
The goal is to offer really good discounts and make your travel budget more affordable. We’ll keep ticket holders posted with developments.
Note that on Friday, November 22nd we will no longer be at the venue. Instead, the physical track will join a series of optional hangouts, ending with the final after-party of the year, full of ChocoVine.
Enough is Enough: No More Matrix 🚫
I swear I don’t even have the energy to discuss this here, but I’m frustrated with chat servers. We will still have a private chat for Handmade conferences, but it will no longer be with Element nor Matrix in general. I give up, I’m sorry.
There was a huge reaction over in Loris Cro’s Software You Can Love Discord. The thread in question is here, and if you need an invite link, here you go.
Conference Schedules 📅
I’m currently in the middle of deciding the themes, topics, schedules and talking to candidate speakers/demoers. This year I will also be live-streaming part of this decision-making process with the input from top fundraiser contributors (forgive the delay on that.) Note that final decisions still rest with me.
Stay tuned for updates soon.
Fundraiser Perks 🏆
If you participated in our 2024 fundraiser, you should’ve received a Donorbox receipt and a confirmation email from yours truly. Perks started to roll out in March and will continue over the next couple of months.
Signing off for now. Don’t miss the movement’s 10-year anniversary, there’s much in store for you at these events.
Your indie organizer,
Abner