Elevator Pitch
I recently planned Mississippi’s first-ever developer conference in only 6 weeks. By the end of the talk, you should feel prepared enough to plan your own conference 6 weeks — though I don’t recommend it if you have the choice 😉.
Description
When the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi approached me about creating a developer conference, I jumped at the chance though it was only a few months away. Mississippi desperately needs more things like this and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity!
Fast forward to when I was actually able to start planning and there were only 6 weeks until the conference. In this timeframe, I had to name it, brand it, raise awareness, find volunteers, build a website, find and confirm speakers, raise money, and coordinate all the logistics for the day of. I threw in some workshops because my stress tolerance knows no bounds (spoiler alert: it actually does).
On April 18, 2019, over 130 developers came to Jackson, Mississippi to experience a conference they thoroughly enjoyed, despite not having certain things other conferences have (and despite a few tornadoes).