Hey, we now have a wiki for PHP Appalachia, so if you’re attending be sure to list your name on there. I could do it myself but what do I know; you may want to keep that your little secret. Plus, I’m lazy.

We’re also listing great places to eat, so if you know of any in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, feel free to add it to the list.

Also, if you want to add fun places to go, that would be killer too.

We still have spots open for anyone that is interested in attending. Plus, we know it will be way better than PHP Vikinger… (just kidding, Derick ).

People have been asking me about the camping arrangements for PHP Appalachia, so here’s the deal, if you’re interested.

In order for us to formally reserve camp sites or cabins, we would have to provide upfront the full deposit on the cabins and one night’s fee for the tent sites. Not only do we not have the cash to front that, quite honestly I’m not sure how many of our attendees will want to camp versus making other arrangements (how many people can think that far ahead? )… thus making it difficult to reserve anything formally at this time.

However, what we’ve worked out with the Pigeon Forge KOA is that you can call and make your own reservations for whatever you want (camp site versus tent site) and mention that you’re with the PHP Appalachia group. They’ll do their best to keep us all together as a group.

Although they’re completely open right now, the sooner you make arrangements, the better chances you have of getting a reservation and being put with the rest of the group.

To make your reservation, you can call the Pigeon Forge KOA at (800) 562-7703. Incidentally, at the moment, if you try and reserve online it erroneously says that they’re all booked up, so you’ll have to call.

After a bit of a PHP Appalachia feeding frenzy earlier, all rooms have now been accounted for. However, if you still want to attend, there are a few things you can do:

1. Sign up with the $15 registration fee and request to be put on the waiting list for any rooms that might open up. If you are unable to attend, you will of course get your money back.
2. Sign up with the $15 registration fee and reserve a spot at the nearby KOA (http://koa.com/where/tn/42109/) to stay in a tent or a cabin. They are currently closed for the season but will reopen next week. We will be confirming large group availability then, but you are able to reserve individual cabins now.
3. Sign up with the $15 registration fee and make other arrangements for accommodations at a nearby hotel of your choosing.

Keep in mind that we will be limiting the number of attendees at the conference to 50. We still have spots open, but unfortunately I don’t know how long they will last. Of course if you register and then need to cancel, you will get your $15 back… so you should register now and at least reserve your spot.

We have only 2 rooms left! So if you’re interested in staying at the lodge, you need to contact me (elizabeth _-at-_ naramore _-dot-_ net) as soon as possible.

We are also coordinating a group at a nearby KOA if you’d rather camp or if you need a less expensive alternative. There will be a lot of coordination between the two groups, so everyone can appreciate the full unconference experience.

As well, we have developed cost-effective sponsorship packages, so if your company is interested in sponsoring the event, let us know.

PHP Appalachia is back and badder than ever! Instead of renting tiny little cabins, this time around we are going BIG.
We’re renting this entire lodge (affectionately known as the beast), complete with wi-fi, game room, and movie theater. You should really check out the supreme awesomeness of this structure.
Conference Specifics:

When? October 11-14, 2008.

Where? Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (where there is a lot of fun stuff to do)

What’s the Schedule? In true un-conference fashion, we will likely have a few informal presentations but for the most part we will let the participants dictate the course of the discussions. If you are interested in giving a talk or if you have an idea for a focused discussion or activity, contact Elizabeth Naramore or Keith Casey.

How much is it?
If you want to stay at the lodge, the cost per room is $100/night ($300 total). Almost all rooms have 2 beds so if you want to split the cost with someone you are obviously welcome to do so. (Spouses are welcome too!). We have a very limited number of rooms left (as in 6), so if you’re interested you should reserve one right away. We require $200 now, you can pay the rest later.

If you would rather make your own arrangements (or perhaps pitch a tent next to the cabin?) then you don’t owe us anything but your registration fee.

Registration for all conference participants is $15 for incidentals. Fee includes an official PHP Appalachia t-shirt.

So you’ll have a very captive audience for 4 days… interesting. How can my company sponsor this event?
There are several sponsorship opportunities available. If you’re interested in sponsoring this event, contact Elizabeth Naramore or Keith Casey.

How do I register?
We’re cleaning up the code to let you register for the conference online… but in the meantime you can email me (elizabeth .. at .. naramore .. dot ..net) and I’ll get you registered. You can register with your $15 now, which will reserve you a spot at the conf, but won’t reserve you a spot to stay at the lodge.

I have an unanswered question. Who should I contact?
You can contact Elizabeth Naramore or Keith Casey.

[also posted on Elizabeth’s Blog]

Short version: it rocked!

See the photos.

Long version: 3+ days of collaboration, exchanging information, hiking, building campfires, and basically getting silly is now on my “highly recommended things to do before you die” list. Not only does a gathering like this provide you with an outlet to expand and share your knowledge on a professional level, it gives you an opportunity to relax with like-minded people and just plain have a good time. We had 12 total attendees, which made it nice to get together as a large group, but also allowed those who wanted to venture off in smaller groups to do so. There were ample opportunities to talk about technology and other subjects, and the conversations were always lively. I enjoyed the “take it as it goes” attitude we adopted, and I think it really fostered the development of professional relationships. The Wi-Fi and cell phone service was a little flaky, but I think we were all able to go with the flow, and we didn’t let it get in the way of our un-conference.

I really enjoyed Ben and Chris’s presentations on REST and regex, and they did a great job of making them easy to understand and professional. Thanks for all your hard work, guys! I also greatly enjoyed the informal discussions that came up. Some of the topics we discussed included

• trying to hire good developers & the Zend certification’s role in that
• managing client expectations through agile development
• how books introduce people to PHP and how beginners may learn pitfalls from the very beginning
• the Zend Framework and the front controllers
• simplepie.org’s RSS aggregator
• Ajax and accessibility issues
• JSON and JPSPAN
• why and how we all got into PHP
• the publishing industry
• s5
• astronomy and other related topics
• and numerous others

There were also others on our list that we didn’t get to talk about as a group, but perhaps we’ll continue those through our phpappalachia mailing list.

The weather was basically cooperative (except for the hailstorm we got caught in while hiking up to Clingman’s Dome on Day #2!) Thankfully Day #3 redeemed itself and we were able to make a return trip. We saw some amazing views although I was terrified to climb to the top of the observation tower, so I hung back near the bottom.

All in all I greatly enjoyed the mix of professional discussions with the informal attitude we adopted, and I am happy to have fostered some great PHP friendships. Heck, I even got to try some grits which I’d never had.

I think the photos really captured the spirit of the conference. I’m really looking forward to a bigger and better PHP Appalachia next year!

To me, it’s always very interesting to hear the pre-PHP stories of other PHP programmers — the days before they programmed in PHP, what they did and how they came to call themselves PHP programmers. The stories vary greatly from programmer to programmer, and almost none begin with: “I was working toward a degree in computer science ….” In fact, the more people I talk with, the more I’m convinced that the typical PHP programmer, in fact, sort of got to where they are by an odd arrangement of life circumstances we call coincidences. Almost none elected to be where they are, but nearly all enjoy the work they do, many to a great degree of passion.

Joined by Elizabeth Naramore, Chris Spruck, Randall Bollig, and James Logsdon, we discussed how we all have diverse backgrounds ranging from marine biology to organizational behavior to literature to business to early employment from job offers while in high school. I’ll let the reader decide to whom each background belongs. I think other programming communities do not have such diversity of backgrounds; I could be wrong. Yet, it seems to me that other communities have developers who started with the intention of gaining a Computer Science degree for the purpose of being a programmer. This does not seem to be the case (to me) with much of the PHP community.

Such were the conversations held in my Honda Pilot as we ascended into the Great Smoky Mountains with the intent to reach the summit of Clingman’s Dome. As I pulled into the parking lot near the summit, visibility dropped to near zero as clouds enveloped us. I opened the door to a great blast of icy wind, and though we weren’t exactly dressed for the occassion — we saw a family wearing scarves and toboggans — we proceeded to hike up the half mile trail to the summit. We couldn’t make out much of the way in front of us, so as it began to sprinkle a freezing rain, we made the decision to turn back, not knowing how far from the top we were. We determined this was a good thing, for, even as we were soaked in the rain walking back to the car, it began to hail and sleet with great force once we reached my Pilot.

Rain-soaked and cold, we proceeded down the mountain, nevertheless upbeat and, I think, happy to have shared the adventure with fellow and diverse PHPers.

How did you come to be a PHP programmer?

[Cross-posted on BenRamsey.com]

Ben Ramsey is, at this very moment, giving a presentation on REST, and you are missing it if you aren’t here.

If you are here, we seem to be getting the best internet access on the “Linksys” network. There are 5 access points above 60dB in the conference room. Randall is getting 0% packet loss to New York : 38.1/44.2/148.2ms.

For anyone curious about what our plans are for the PHP Appalachia conference, we’ve posted our schedule here on the site. Our plan is to keep things flexible, but with a pinch of structure, and a couple of formal presentations thrown in for good measure. If you’re going to be attending and you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send an email to the mailing list, or to me or Ben.

It’s getting closer - only 7 more days until PHP Appalachia. Looks like the weather will be cooperative, at least as far as they can predict today. I’m dusting off my camping gear and getting ready to head out.

I wanted to give a quick acknowledgement to our sponsors for the event, as posted by Ben on our PHP Appalachia site. We have so many sponsors, and so many door prizes to give away, a good time will definitely be had by all. Their donations are really helping our grass roots gathering come together, and we all greatly appreciate their efforts. I also want to give a quick thanks to Cal Evans who also personally donated numerous t-shirts and goodies as well.

Our rough schedule is in the final stages of completion, and besides alotting time for our presentations and lively campfire discussions, we’re also going to be setting aside time for lightning talks (in true OSCON fashion) so the attendees can take the floor for 5-10 minutes and speak about whatever’s on their mind. We’ve also of course included time for hiking, sightseeing, and simply hanging out around the campsite. I’ll be posting the schedule to the PHP Appalachia site once everything is finalized… or as finalized as we’re getting at this gathering.

Although it’s only a week away, you can still register for the event. Registration is only $15, and all attendees get a free t-shirt and free Wi-Fi while they’re at the conference. The more the merrier we say - so come join us!