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[1223.74 --> 1225.90] It's really exploded in the last few years.
[1226.06 --> 1228.66] Um, and we're just going to talk a little bit about speaking at conferences.
[1228.98 --> 1236.56] Um, if you're thinking about going to a conference, what to look for, if you're thinking about applying to speak, what to look for, and maybe even a little bit about what it's like to run a conference.
[1236.56 --> 1248.92] So, I would say if someone is looking into wanting to start attending some JavaScript conferences, the best thing that they could do is go to jsconf.com.
[1249.32 --> 1252.96] So, it's the jsconf family of conferences.
[1253.54 --> 1261.68] And, um, I'm pretty sure what that means is first there was jsconf.us and it was started by Chris Williams.
[1261.68 --> 1266.16] And there's this whole, um, family of other conferences.
[1266.50 --> 1271.48] And it has a strict code of conduct where, you know, you're, you're nice to everyone.
[1271.66 --> 1278.16] There's no, you know, um, racism, misogyny, making assumptions about people, sexism.
[1278.32 --> 1279.94] It's just like super welcoming.
[1280.34 --> 1281.66] It's really fun.
[1281.86 --> 1283.44] It was always at a great location.
[1283.44 --> 1291.72] And then as people started attending these conferences, they were like, wow, it would be really awesome if we had this conference where I live.
[1292.14 --> 1298.48] And so Chris started allowing other people to have, uh, conferences under the jsconf family.
[1298.82 --> 1307.66] And the way that you would be able to do that is if you've attended a jsconf so that you know how they run, you know how that runs, uh, you're able to branch off.
[1307.66 --> 1311.66] And now there's, there's like, I'm trying to count really fast.
[1311.76 --> 1314.70] There's, there's two, that's four, eight, 12.
[1314.82 --> 1320.54] There's 12 that are jsconf underscore, like whatever country they're in.
[1320.66 --> 1324.40] There's a jsconf US or, well, there's not jsconf US anymore.
[1324.76 --> 1330.88] Um, for now there's jsconf EU, which Michael and I will be going to, I'll be speaking.
[1330.88 --> 1333.86] And there's jsconf AU in Australia.
[1334.30 --> 1335.92] And there's, there's just so many.
[1336.02 --> 1342.40] If you listened last week, um, Juan talked about jsconf Colombia and they're everywhere.
[1342.86 --> 1346.86] And then there's not just the jsconf, uh, namesake ones.
[1346.86 --> 1348.58] There's, there's also robotsconf.
[1348.70 --> 1349.68] There's jsunconf.
[1350.12 --> 1350.88] There's Cascadia.
[1351.66 --> 1351.88] There's Empire.
[1352.64 --> 1354.88] There's a lot of other ones that are under that umbrella.
[1354.88 --> 1361.98] And it's usually, you know, like two to three days of just really, really well curated talks
[1361.98 --> 1366.02] and workshops with a bunch of people that are like-minded.
[1366.46 --> 1371.04] And it was the first conference that I ever attended in 2014.
[1371.10 --> 1376.56] And I mean, it, it pretty much changed my life due to the people that I met there from
[1376.56 --> 1382.56] seeing them speak and the people that inspired me to, you know, go out of my comfort zone and
[1382.56 --> 1390.56] try and do more with JavaScript robotics and, um, just, just try and be a better programmer.
[1390.82 --> 1394.24] And from there, here we are today.
[1395.28 --> 1398.28] So there's, there's a lot of really awesome resources.
[1398.28 --> 1402.74] And a lot of these conferences also have, um, you know, diversity sponsorships.
[1402.74 --> 1409.54] So if you are from a, um, marginalized group or underrepresented minority, you can often attend
[1409.54 --> 1413.32] at a severely, severely discounted rate, often sometimes free.
[1413.88 --> 1415.04] That was a great breakdown.
[1415.54 --> 1417.84] I don't think that we could have done that nearly as well.
[1418.92 --> 1419.32] Yeah.
[1419.36 --> 1423.66] Alex and I are, are both people that, you know, Chris helped out, uh, getting our events
[1423.66 --> 1425.72] off the ground in that JSConf family.
[1426.02 --> 1431.80] Um, for me, NodeConf and JSFest and, um, for Alex, TXJS.
[1431.80 --> 1434.52] But yeah, I mean, that's, that's a great group of conferences.
[1434.84 --> 1440.00] Even the conferences that aren't quote unquote JSConf family are really directly influenced
[1440.00 --> 1441.80] by that, that whole thing.
[1442.02 --> 1442.42] Yep.
[1442.60 --> 1446.00] There's all kinds of new events popping up all over the place and you can really see the,
[1446.00 --> 1448.90] the difference in the content and how people are treated.
[1448.90 --> 1452.94] And, and I mean, a lot of the code of conduct stuff that is now pretty standard in conferences
[1452.94 --> 1456.70] really started with JSConf, uh, US like a while back.
[1458.48 --> 1459.94] Alex, do you have anything to add?
[1460.94 --> 1461.34] Me?
[1461.80 --> 1462.50] This Alex?
[1463.24 --> 1463.68] Yeah.
[1463.96 --> 1465.06] Uh, yeah, sure.
[1465.30 --> 1466.84] Um, uh, I'd love to talk.
[1467.26 --> 1473.62] No, uh, Michael and I, uh, we're both on staff for some of the earlier JSConf with Chris.
[1474.30 --> 1480.32] Um, and I just wanted to share a story about, I think it was in Arizona, uh, and it was the
[1480.32 --> 1485.32] morning of JSConf and, uh, like the first morning and everyone had to come register.
[1485.52 --> 1490.20] We were like laying out badges and putting together bags for, for people to do.
[1490.20 --> 1495.38] And I remember Chris and Laura scrambling to get everything right and putting everyone
[1495.38 --> 1495.98] in their places.
[1495.98 --> 1503.24] And then I look over and in the corner, Michael has this coffee grinder, Mason jar contraption
[1503.24 --> 1506.42] and he's just grinding his own coffee in the corner.
[1506.72 --> 1513.16] Um, and he was just like, I can't, uh, help you guys until I'm done grinding my own coffee
[1513.16 --> 1515.72] and then pouring it over, over in this corner.
[1515.72 --> 1522.78] Um, that's just maybe one of my favorite, uh, Michael JSConf, uh, stories.
[1523.20 --> 1529.94] Um, I actually, uh, maybe have, uh, a, a observation that I don't know if it's true.
[1530.10 --> 1535.50] It feels like the actual peak of conferences maybe occurred like two years ago.
[1535.60 --> 1537.96] Not now that does that feel right.
[1537.96 --> 1540.74] I feel like it was almost zero.
[1540.92 --> 1545.64] And then JSConf US, uh, I mean, there was like a Jackson before that and some like jQuery
[1545.64 --> 1548.52] camp or, you know, a few things like that.
[1549.22 --> 1553.42] So what you're saying is the decline of conferences started when I started speaking.
[1553.78 --> 1554.14] No, no, no, no, no, no.
[1557.44 --> 1560.70] Uh, I'm not trying to imply that I'm trying to directly state it as fact.
[1560.70 --> 1567.70] Um, the, the, no, I feel like there was kind of this explosion of conferences, uh, that
[1567.70 --> 1568.72] that was nonlinear.
[1568.96 --> 1571.50] So, you know, like 2010 was almost zero.
[1571.78 --> 1578.00] Uh, and then by 2014 or so you had a ton of like city based conferences.
[1578.08 --> 1583.38] And I feel like a lot of those have fallen off and now there's again, maybe a little more
[1583.38 --> 1586.58] specialized like React comps or different things like that.
[1586.58 --> 1590.00] I think that it's definitely, definitely getting more specialized.
[1590.28 --> 1594.98] Cause I mean, there, there used to be, uh, well, I think there was one year there was
[1594.98 --> 1600.54] like Cascadia and Texas JS and JSConf US.
[1600.54 --> 1604.28] And now we aren't going to have Cascadia.
[1604.48 --> 1605.92] We're not going to have TXJS.
[1606.02 --> 1607.70] We're not going to have JSConf US.
[1608.12 --> 1611.06] There's not going to be a JSConf Iceland.
[1611.38 --> 1614.02] There's only going to be, I think, Dinosaur.
[1614.02 --> 1619.32] There's the one in Omaha put on by, uh, the Harlins.
[1620.46 --> 1625.48] There's, um, you know, there's the Taclahoma ones.
[1625.74 --> 1627.44] There's their, their group.
[1628.18 --> 1633.14] Since we mentioned Taclahoma, they have a, like a family of, uh, different events.
[1633.14 --> 1638.84] Like they, they have like constant learning and meetups as well as, but the Oklahoma is
[1638.84 --> 1640.62] their, their conference isn't called Taclahoma.