EE Month Wrap-up

November 18, 2009

“ExpressionEngine Month”, as Leslie dubbed it, has come and gone. Now that the dust has settled, and we are enjoying the calm before the storm, I thought I’d jot down some thoughts on this magnanimous month we called October.

EE Roadshow

It started with a trip to Seattle for the ExpressionEngine Roadshow, which turned out to be a ton of fun. I couldn’t have been more off-base when I criticized the team for pitching the event as a “place to hang out with people who do what you do”. Sure, there was a conference tucked in there somewhere, but at the end of the day (5am), it really was a glorified meetup.

I spent my flight home assembling a list of all the people I got to meet and hang out with. I was thinking about posting it, but I’m sure no one cares. Suffice to say, I had a blast.

The conference itself went well, too. I had the pleasure of participating in a panel about add-on development with Fred Boyle, Ryan Masuga, and Mark Huot.

You can view all of the session videos on the EE Roadshow website.

EECI2009

Two weeks later, I hopped onto a plain to freakin’ Europe for the ExpressionEngine/CodeIgniter Conference. This would be my first time across the pond, so I was quite excited, to say the least.

I landed in Amsterdam on Sunday the 18th, and spent the following two days exploring the city and surrounding area with Leevi Graham. On Wednesday, I took the train down to Leiden, where the conference would be held on Thursday and Friday.

The conference was amazing. Robert Eerhart and the rest of the Whoooz! crew did a fantastic job putting it together. Leiden is beautiful, the venue itself was perfect, and there was a great variety in the speakers and their session topics. Everyone was in high spirits. As a speaker, I can’t thank the team enough. We were truly spoiled.

My session, Make a Market Out of Our Community, went reasonably well. I made a case for charging for add-ons, and gave a few tips that I’ve learned from doing it. Time will tell if I got through to anyone.

You can view this video side-by-side with my slides, along with the rest of the session videos and slides, on the EECI2009 website.

It’s only been a few weeks, but I already miss it. The good news is that EECI2010 planning is already in motion. They’ll be making an announcement about it on November 30, so make sure you’re following @eeci2010 for the scoop. One thing is for sure: I’ll be there, whether or not I’m invited back as a speaker.