I hope you’re getting excited for the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2021! I can’t wait to get back to seeing fantastic demos, exploring new topics and learning from others. I have written in the past about how the Summit 2021 event will be a little different because of it being a virtual event. But even though we won’t be together in person, there is one thing about Summit you expect over the years: AWESOME DEMOS!
It’s time to get excited for the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit, which is
returning April 27-29, 2021
as a virtual event
. I’m here to share with you some details we have planned for this year’s event. The upcoming summit will differ from years past, since
this event will be 100% virtual
. You may wonder what a virtual event would be like, and is it worth it to attend?
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The DevOps Collective INC is pleased to announce the return of the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit in April of 2021.
The 2021 event will be a little bit different than those in years past, as this event will be all virtual, hosted in late April 2021. We assure you that this will not be another multi-day webinar! We will do our best to make sure you have the best experience possible. **
What does that mean for attendees?
The third edition of the PowerShell Conference Book is now available and on sale at the discounted price of $19.99. But you need to hurry because the discounted price is only available until Friday evening!
What is the PowerShell Conference Book?
The book is designed to be a representation of what it’s like when you attend a conference. Traditional books have a singular topic, such as “Windows Server 2019” or “Mastering Ansible”. But this book is not geared towards a single topic. Instead, much like a conference, it’s a collection of ideas all focused around a general theme. All the chapters are related in some way to PowerShell and DevOps. The book contains over 20 different chapters, each written by a different author. The authors of the book are community members and subject matter experts who have graciously donated their time and knowledge for a good cause. Each chapter is similar in length and focus to what it would be like if you attended a conference and listened to the author present their topic to a live audience, except now it’s in written form. Imagine if you were able to capture those sessions and lock them into a format that you could refer to over and over again. It’s a conference in a book format!
Some of you may be familiar with the Plaster PowerShell module. This slick tool lets you build out a new module in seconds. Actually, Plaster can be used to scaffold a framework for any type of project. You can install the current version from the PowerShell Gallery. However, the project has been in limbo for a while with no updates or progress. After discussions with the PowerShell Team about the module, a decision was made to transfer ownership to the PowerShell community. We’re happy to report that the Plaster repository is now under the auspices of PowerShell.org. The GitHub repo, including pull requests and issues, can now be found at https://github.com/PowerShellOrg/Plaster. It will take some time to get re-organized and work through the backlog of issues and pull requests. Although it is possible that we’ll simply zero out things like pull requests and start with a fresh slate. The basic functionality of the module should work just fine in its current state. Enough members of the PowerShell community recognize the value in the Plaster module which is why this transfer was made. And frankly, this is one of PowerShell.org’s primary purposes: to serve the community. In this case, Microsoft had a languishing asset that needed more attention than what they could provide. Which is exactly where PowerShell.org fits in. We can step in providing the resources and in the end contribute back to the community. A big thank you to Steve Lee at Microsoft for making this possible.
The timeline for this process should be as follows:
Close submissions on Monday, May 4th, at 11:00 PM PDT
Notify everyone by May 25th
Final drafts will be due by June 1st
Finalize publication by September 30th
We are looking for one chapter per author on the topics of PowerShell, DevOps, WinOps, Open Source, or IT Careers. Topic depths can range from novice to expert. Chapters can be technical or cover cultural aspects. Authors can be new or well established. The book will be written in American English, but non-native speakers are welcome (our editorial team will support you)!
So! Proposals for the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2020 are due in less than two weeks, on October 1st. We have some solid talks lined up, but we’re still behind where we were last year, and need more proposals! We’ve heard a lot of questions - What topics are you looking for?, I don’t know what to propose! and so on. Let’s cover some ways to find topics and hopefully spark some ideas!
We are so excited for the 2020 PowerShell and DevOps Global Summit! We’re about halfway through the CFP season and are still looking for your awesome submissions. If you are hesitating, please don’t… think seriously about submitting a topic or two. To help you, we’d like to give you some ideas about what makes a submission stand out (and what doesn’t).
Something Unique… We’re looking for a new spin or twist on an old (or new) topic. If something similar has been done at a previous Summit, think about how you’re doing something different from what’s previously been presented. DevOps topics are always popular, but what new thing are you doing with your source control, your testing, or your build pipeline?
Failures… Alternatively, is there something you started out to do and at some point, figured out that you it wasn’t going to work the way it was planned? If you’ve had some good lessons learned that you think would benefit others, we’d love to hear about it.
Broad scope vs. deep scope… If you’ve done a snack “bake-off” and could talk about chips, cookies, and crackers, this session would be attended by folks who prefer chips or cookies or crackers. However, a session that is only about cookies might only be of interest to Rambling Cookie Monsters. If you’re a subject matter expert on chips, though, and can show how to use chips to build a house, that would have that uniqueness factor we’re also looking for.
Multiple submissions… Multiple submissions on different topics help us select a wide variety of topics. It’s hard to say from year to year what topics will be popular. For example, we had a lot of Git and Pester submissions last year… not so many this year. We’re looking for variety so submit as many ideas as you have.
Something that wasn’t selected last year… We may have really liked your submission last year and it may have simply been on the bubble. You’re only up against the submissions that we’ve seen for this year, so if you had a submission from last year that you feel passionate about and is still a hot topic, please submit it!
“Post OnRamp” submissions are welcome… We have a graduated class of OnRamp students from last year who we want to continue learning. Therefore, we’ll be looking for a small number of sessions at this level.
Last week at the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit, we announced the dates for next year’s summit. The event will again be held at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington on April 27th to April 30th.
DevOps + Automation Summit - Nashville
We are also proud to announce that our flagship summit event would be getting a new addition to the family in the form of the DevOps + Automation Summit being held on October 21st to October 23rd, 2020 at the Renaissance Hotel in Downtown Nashville!
If you check out our free eBook, PowerShell.org: History of a Community, you’ll see both the original PowerShell.org logo and our second, “Metro-fied” take on it. The first one is probably easy to make sense of, with the PowerShell logo superimposed over the Earth, suggesting a global community. The “Metro” version go a bit abstract, since the Earth became just a simple round circle. What both logos lacked was a clear commitment to a diverse community of _people. _Part of the recent re-launch of PowerShell.org included our Community Member Directory, with specific rules of inclusion that are designed to emphasize the people in our community, and to highlight their contributions and accomplishments. With that in mind, today we’re launching a new logo for PowerShell.org. It’s designed to clearly communicate “people working together around PowerShell,” and it stands as a more unique identifier for this website and the community it supports. We’re also launching a page to help people understand how they can contribute to the broader community, using PowerShell.org as a platform for their efforts. In celebration of our new logo, we’re offering an exclusive, limited-time selection of cool merchandise. All proceeds benefit our nonprofit programs, and be aware that these items will only be available for a few months. You can visit our Zazzle Store now to start selecting your items. Pay close attention, because many of them offer customization options for style, color, size, and so on. We’re aware that a few of the prices are a bit on the higher side, but that’s the nature of these one-of-a-kind, print-on-demand items, as we can’t financially or logistically bulk-order, warehouse, and fulfill items ourselves. Keep in mind that Zazzle routinely offers significant discount codes, too - watch their site for those. And yes, some of the items are a little silly, but we couldn’t resist putting the logo on stuff like Oreo cookies, cake pops, and wrapping paper. We’re also re-branding our library of free eBooks with all-new covers featuring the new logo. If you’ve not checked them out, this is a great time to download the entire collection (any money you choose to pay supports our nonprofit programs, and you’re welcome to pay nothing). If you’ve already got them, go ahead and re-download these great new covers. Don’t forget to let Leanpub notify you via email of updates, as these are “living books,” open-source hosted in GitHub, and we do periodically make corrections and updates. We hope you’ll join us in spreading the word, and welcome to the new PowerShell.org!
Some of you may be familiar with the Plaster PowerShell module. This slick tool lets you build out a new module in seconds. Actually, Plaster can be used to scaffold a framework for any type of project. You can install the