So, we’re already doing some planning for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 events. Because, you know. We do that around here ;). One thing we’re considering is an option to lock-in venue pricing for that three-year period, helping to ensure we can keep our pricing at around $950 for a 3-day event. Doing so requires a hotel room block lock-in as well. On the plus side, that’ll lock in hotel pricing for 3 years too, which is great in terms of affordability and predictability. It’s scary, because we’re committing to paying for those rooms whether people sleep in ’em or not. Another upside is bringing all or most attendees together into one hotel, along with our speakers. So what we’re considering is opening 2017 registration by only offering packages of either 3 or 4 days (it’ll be your pick) which are _inclusive of your hotel room. _This would be at a Marriott property, and we could provide receipts/invoices that showed the conference/travel expense breakout, if you needed. So up front, you’d only be able to buy that complete package. The package would also likely include something like a Sunday night meet ’n’ greet at the hotel - again, only open to people staying there. Closer to the event, say in the 60 days before, we’d open registration to ticket-only sales, for however many seats we had remaining. This is obviously an unabashed attempt to reduce risk by “forcing” people into the hotel package. Realizing that some people might not be able to book “inclusive” packages due to company policies, we’d try to also offer an option where you could buy just a ticket early-on, but were required to book your room in our block. Honestly, this is all about making sure we fill the block. Our feeling is that a 3-day package would be around $1500 including hotel (3 nights), and you’d have the option of booking on additional nights if you wanted to. it’d be about $2300 for a 4-day/4-night package, if we do the pre-con day again (which is likely as it’s been our most popular option for 2016). Another advantage of having our rates and dates locked in so far out is that we could let attendees put down a (refundable) deposit for 2017, 2018, and/or 2019 - locking in your seat before registration even opens, so you don’t have to worry about hitting the website at midnight sharp the day sales open ;). Now that we’re a nonprofit, collecting that in advance is much more do-able. Anyway… we’d like some input from the community. Take a quick, one-question poll to tell us what you think.
OK, here’s a quick update of where we’re at with registration for PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2016. We’d originally scheduled 150 seats for the April event, inclusive of speakers. Yesterday (1st Feb) we opened 3-day sales (previously, only 4-day seats had been available), and are now at 126 total attendees. So we’ve got 24 seats of our original space remaining. The venue assures us that we can accommodate at least another 25 people, possible as many as 50 more. So we’re working with them to make that happen - in the meantime, I strongly recommend you register soon if you plan to attend. It looks like, no matter what, we’ll be in a sellout situation again this year. Now, keep in mind that we’ve greatly expanded the event this year. We’re running three full-day pre-conference workshops (that’s what you get for the extra day in the 4-day pass). We’re having an informal gathering on Sunday evening (after the pre-cons) at the Courtyard Downtown Bellevue, a bar crawl Monday night, and a reception with the WMF team on Tuesday evening. In addition to two tracks of content, we have a third track which will run some extra-long sessions (although not all day). We’re also welcoming the WMF team on Tuesday after lunch for a “State of the Shell” address by two of the main team leaders, followed by “Lightning Demos” from a variety of team members. It’s a lot of content. As always, we’ll be recording most of the sessions. Basically, the pre-con sessions won’t be recorded, nor will the extra-long “bonus” sessions in the third track (we only have two sets of recording gear). All of what we do record will go on YouTube as usual. However, this year, Pluralsight will be on-hand with camera crews in our two main rooms, and they’ll be producing recordings that include screen capture as well as live video of the speakers. Those “better” recordings will go into the Pluralsight library, and everyone attending in person will receive free access to those even if you don’t have a subscription. For anyone not attending, you can either access our screen-caps on YouTube for free, or use a Pluralsight subscription to access the nicer videos. This is an experiment with Pluralsight and we appreciate their support! Oh, and we’ll also be offering Verified Effective exams (no computer required!) on Wednesday, to anyone who’s interested (no advance registration required). Anyway, as you can see, it’s going to be a busy-busy-busy Summit, and it’s looking firmly to be a sellout, even if we’re able to secure the extra space at the venue. So register right the heck now if you plan to attend. If you’re just now getting around to talking the boss into it - well, honestly, you shoulda started back in November ;). At $950 for the 3-day pass, though, this is probably the best educational deal you or your company will ever find, and more than a few people see enough value to pay their own way every year. So I hope we’ll see you there!
We’re currently past our 50% registration point. Right now, only 4-day registrations are available. Register at https://eventloom.com/event/home/PSNA16.
In just a few days, on February 1st, we’ll open all remaining seats for both 3- and 4-day registrations (same registration URL).
Registration ends during the first week of March. At that time, we’ll review the situation, and may be able to open additional seats. However, the price will go up a bit. Our absolute final date for registrations will be March 20th.
So you’ve got about 3 days before 3-day registration opens, and from there about a month to sign up. After that, if we have additional space or can make additional space, we’ll open more seats - but the price will be higher. If you’re attending, don’t forget to head over to http://www.zazzle.com/collections/powershell_devops_global_summit_2016-119347973985746667 to pick up an official conference t-shirt, hat, coffee mug, or notebook to bring with you! We also have commemorative tiles available, and will offer a new one each year for you to collect.
Here’s everything that’s fit to print regarding Summit 2016, running April 3-4-5-6 in Bellevue, WA! You can also download: Brochure-PowerShell and DevOps Summit 2016 to share with your boss and team.
Registration
Registration for Summit will open December 1, 2015, and run through March 1, 2016. Visit the registration website for more details. Registration will be limited to about 200 attendees. Initially, we will only offer registration for a 4-day event, which includes full-day pre-conference sessions on April 3rd, 2016. On February 1st, 2016, we will open any remaining space for 3-day registration.
The Call for Topics for the 2016 Summit is now closed. We’ve had an amazing number of top quality submissions. We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to submit a proposal for a session at the Summit. We’ll be working through the submissions over the next few days as we put the agenda together for what looks to be a superb Summit.
Want to attend the newly expanded, 4-day PowerShell and DevOps Summit coming to Bellevue, WA in April 2016? Well you can - if you make your own community contribution!
Our TechLetter newsletter is looking for articles. And, November is of course NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. But we aren’t looking for a novel - just newsletter articles! So we’ll call it National PowerShell and DevOps Article Writing Month (NaPoshDoArWriMo). Er. Or something.
Our call for topics for PowerShell and DevOps Global Summit 2016 is open until November 1st, and I thought I’d share some ideas for the kind of 400-level content we’re looking for.
First, to submit abstracts, pre-register as a speaker candidate. Be sure to fill in the brief demographic information presented, and then add any information for the Attendee Directory that you’d like. When you’re done with that, select Abstracts from the menu at the tippy-top of the page, and enter your session information. Be sure to include, as the first characters in the abstract, either “[45m]”, “[90m]”, or “[120m]” as an indication on your desired timeslot - 45, 90, or 120 minutes. Also set your session to “Ready for Review” when you’re done.
We invite speakers to re-visit their existing proposals and indicate the desired length of their session. For example, simply add “[45min]” to the session abstract if you feel your session is suitable for our traditional 45-minute time slot. Or, indicate an alternative of [90min] or [120min].
As we kick off PowerShell Summit Europe 2015, I wanted to share some decisions we’ve made regarding the future of the event.
When we first launched PowerShell Summit in 2013, our goal was to be the spiritual successor of the former “PowerShell Deep Dive” events held as part of Quest’s The Experts Conference (TEC) event. Dell’s acquisition of Quest eliminated TEC, and PowerShell.org worked with the PowerShell product team to create the Summit.
