0:00:24.910,0:00:27.180
PRAKASH MURTHY: Good evening, everyone!

0:00:27.180,0:00:30.040
AUDIENCE: [mumbling, speaking] Good evening!

0:00:30.040,0:00:32.840
P.M.: I see the energy has sapped totally.[br]We

0:00:32.840,0:00:36.320
are at the end of the conference and there's...

0:00:36.320,0:00:41.030
At least that's how I am feeling. Am...

0:00:41.030,0:00:42.210
AUDIENCE: [indecipherable]

0:00:42.210,0:00:45.150
P.M.: OK. Good evening everyone!

0:00:45.150,0:00:46.920
AUDIENCE: Good evening!

0:00:46.920,0:00:52.210
P.M.: Yay! All right, do you- so, are you

0:00:52.210,0:00:55.010
ready for the last session of the Garden City

0:00:55.010,0:00:57.460
Ruby Conference 2014?

0:00:57.460,0:01:00.340
AUDIENCE: Yeah!

0:01:00.340,0:01:07.340
P.M.: Yes! So let me start by this thing.

0:01:08.780,0:01:13.060
This happened the day before the conference,

0:01:13.060,0:01:15.750
and I haven't processed all the

0:01:15.750,0:01:17.280
things that have happened in the last two[br]days,

0:01:17.280,0:01:18.720
but I feel like this is the best thing

0:01:18.720,0:01:22.500
for, from my perspective in the last, in this

0:01:22.500,0:01:27.800
conference. First off, we have already fixed[br]this problem.

0:01:27.800,0:01:31.440
There are, there are no longer one Ruby conferences

0:01:31.440,0:01:34.330
in India. There are - how many?

0:01:34.330,0:01:35.420
AUDIENCE: Two!

0:01:35.420,0:01:42.420
P.M.: Two Ruby conferences in India now. But[br]I,

0:01:45.349,0:01:49.310
I was really kind of shocked when Chad said

0:01:49.310,0:01:51.270
that. Yeah, in the US it was like that,

0:01:51.270,0:01:52.940
in fact in the whole world it was like

0:01:52.940,0:01:57.390
that. In fact, there was no Ruby conferences[br]ever,

0:01:57.390,0:02:00.119
and then somebody said let's make one happen.[br]So

0:02:00.119,0:02:02.630
Chad and a few others joined together and[br]did

0:02:02.630,0:02:05.369
the first RubyConf in the US. And I was

0:02:05.369,0:02:10.030
surprised learn that it was, it had only thirty-one

0:02:10.030,0:02:17.030
participants. 2001. In Tampa. And now, this[br]year's RubyConf

0:02:18.989,0:02:22.670
in Miami had around 500 participants. So it's[br]grown

0:02:22.670,0:02:28.379
all like that over the last twelve years.[br]I

0:02:28.379,0:02:31.170
find it heartening because we are at that[br]stage,

0:02:31.170,0:02:35.500
where they were back in 2001 and 2002. We

0:02:35.500,0:02:39.390
can learn from them and get, butt ahead in

0:02:39.390,0:02:46.390
the next couple of years. So, so [br]this is

0:02:48.820,0:02:55.820
what I have planned for this talk. I was

0:02:58.230,0:03:02.280
not supposed to be here. My plan for this

0:03:02.280,0:03:05.920
conference was to be spending all the time[br]with

0:03:05.920,0:03:12.920
my beautiful daughter and leave the team,[br]team to

0:03:14.220,0:03:20.030
take care of everything. And everything was[br]going fine.

0:03:20.030,0:03:23.900
In fact, two m- last two months I haven't

0:03:23.900,0:03:26.900
been on the mailing list as well. I let

0:03:26.900,0:03:30.730
the team take care of everything and I was

0:03:30.730,0:03:35.400
just, once in awhile, say what's up, what's[br]happening.

0:03:35.400,0:03:40.730
But today, we lost one of our keynote speakers,

0:03:40.730,0:03:43.220
and so that was a major crisis. I didn't

0:03:43.220,0:03:45.010
want to leave it on the team. So I

0:03:45.010,0:03:47.890
came here, and I'm here, and I'm on stage

0:03:47.890,0:03:52.580
giving this talk. With not much preparation,[br]I thought

0:03:52.580,0:03:55.330
it's maybe a good idea to just share about

0:03:55.330,0:03:57.290
how we came to be here. How this whole

0:03:57.290,0:04:00.730
Garden City Ruby thing happened. You guys[br]interested in

0:04:00.730,0:04:02.590
learning more about Garden City Ruby?

0:04:02.590,0:04:04.050
AUDIENCE: Yes. Yeah.

0:04:04.050,0:04:08.270
P.M.: OK. Let's begin at, from the very beginning.

0:04:08.270,0:04:14.020
In the beginning there was nothing. Let's[br]see, let's

0:04:14.020,0:04:19.039
see... yes. In the beginning there was nothing,[br]then

0:04:19.039,0:04:23.930
on June 29th, 2013, I sent email to the

0:04:23.930,0:04:27.400
Bangalore Ruby user group, saying hey, let's[br]do a

0:04:27.400,0:04:32.800
conference. This was a week after last, this[br]year's

0:04:32.800,0:04:36.770
RubyConf India in Pune, where I gave a talk

0:04:36.770,0:04:40.310
about taking Indian Ruby community to the[br]next level.

0:04:40.310,0:04:43.520
There I talked about essentially what Satir??[br][00:04:43] talked

0:04:43.520,0:04:47.970
about in his community lightning talk. We[br]need more

0:04:47.970,0:04:52.430
meet ups, we need more conferences. Afterwards,[br]I got

0:04:52.430,0:04:54.100
a lot of good feedback. A lot of people

0:04:54.100,0:04:55.440
came up to me and said, hey, you inspired

0:04:55.440,0:04:56.720
us, we are going to do a meetup in

0:04:56.720,0:04:59.630
Mumbai. We are going to do a meetup in

0:04:59.630,0:05:02.770
Kochi or whatever. Nobody really talked about[br]doing a

0:05:02.770,0:05:06.970
conference. So I said, OK, you know what,[br]let

0:05:06.970,0:05:11.880
me show it by example how it is done,

0:05:11.880,0:05:18.310
and I started this project. This mail got[br]an

0:05:18.310,0:05:21.270
amazing response. Around fifteen, twenty people[br]responded on the

0:05:21.270,0:05:22.520
Bangalore Ruby usergroup saying hey, we are[br]interested. We

0:05:22.520,0:05:29.520
want to help you. So, thanks to the Bangalore

0:05:29.540,0:05:36.290
Ruby user group for that kind of amazing response.

0:05:36.290,0:05:43.290
Next. So that's when it started. And [br]the very

0:05:49.020,0:05:50.990
first thing I focused on was to get the

0:05:50.990,0:05:55.040
keynote speakers. As somebody was pointing[br]out to me

0:05:55.040,0:05:58.730
earlier, if we have the key, one or two

0:05:58.730,0:06:02.690
keynote speakers, well-known keynote speakers[br]in the line-up, it

0:06:02.690,0:06:08.110
becomes very easy to sell the conference to[br]others.

0:06:08.110,0:06:12.400
And the first person I approached to was Chad,

0:06:12.400,0:06:15.560
and Chad enthusiastically said, yes, I'm coming[br]to Bangalore.

0:06:15.560,0:06:20.460
I want to be in Bangalore. And, yeah, I

0:06:20.460,0:06:24.120
was telling Chad yesterday, I attribute 80%[br]of the

0:06:24.120,0:06:27.030
success of this conference to him. Because[br]of him

0:06:27.030,0:06:30.550
being here, a lot of people decided to come

0:06:30.550,0:06:32.780
here. We got a lot of sponsors to pay

0:06:32.780,0:06:39.780
up. He says I'm, you know, I'm wrong, but

0:06:40.150,0:06:47.150
I believe, at least, if not 80, 79%. Yeah.

0:06:48.650,0:06:52.000
We got the keynote speakers lined up. Now[br]that

0:06:52.000,0:06:54.150
one, one other point I want to make here.

0:06:54.150,0:06:57.229
We can't keep having Chad come here every[br]time

0:06:57.229,0:06:59.830
we want to have a conference. So we need

0:06:59.830,0:07:04.340
more Indian Chad Fowlers. So we need more[br]of

0:07:04.340,0:07:06.680
the people sitting here to be up here a

0:07:06.680,0:07:09.260
lot of times, and make a name for themselves,

0:07:09.260,0:07:11.940
so that when you go to another place, or

0:07:11.940,0:07:15.220
some city to give a talk, people pay to

0:07:15.220,0:07:19.199
come and see you. So we'll get there in

0:07:19.199,0:07:21.800
a couple of years. Who wants to take up

0:07:21.800,0:07:27.270
that challenge? Nice. Nice to see a few hands

0:07:27.270,0:07:34.270
go up. The next thing I want to talk

0:07:36.190,0:07:40.889
about is the first, the organization behind[br]this conference.

0:07:40.889,0:07:43.949
So when I first started talking about this[br]conference,

0:07:43.949,0:07:49.120
my original idea was that we'll go with ITT.

0:07:49.120,0:07:54.870
ITT is the entity which puts up RubyConf India.

0:07:54.870,0:07:59.180
They have done a phenomenally good job of[br]organizing

0:07:59.180,0:08:03.560
four annual Ruby conferences in India. And[br]you already

0:08:03.560,0:08:06.370
heard from Ajay in the morning about the background

0:08:06.370,0:08:11.600
of those conferences. Very soon in the process[br]I

0:08:11.600,0:08:14.789
realized that may not work out for me, or

0:08:14.789,0:08:21.570
at least, what I was trying to accomplish.[br]If

0:08:21.570,0:08:25.400
we had gone with ITT, it would mostly have

0:08:25.400,0:08:27.780
been, again, Ajey, Gautam and a few others[br]doing

0:08:27.780,0:08:30.229
most of the work, or taking most of the

0:08:30.229,0:08:37.110
key decisions. And there's no - it would just

0:08:37.110,0:08:41.059
be another RubyConf India. I wanted a totally[br]new

0:08:41.059,0:08:44.380
team to come up, learn from scratch how to

0:08:44.380,0:08:48.759
do all this. How to do, get sponsors, how

0:08:48.759,0:08:51.560
to put up a program, how to organi- do

0:08:51.560,0:08:55.100
all the logistics stuff required for setting[br]up a

0:08:55.100,0:08:57.920
good conference. So I decided in the very[br]beginning,

0:08:57.920,0:08:59.369
OK, not, we are not going to go with

0:08:59.369,0:09:01.429
ITT. We are going to start a- we'll have

0:09:01.429,0:09:07.990
a new, non-profit entity created. And so maybe,[br]it

0:09:07.990,0:09:10.509
took us awhile to get there, but two months

0:09:10.509,0:09:14.779
later I think we had our trust. So these

0:09:14.779,0:09:21.779
are the six trust members. So among the organizing

0:09:22.249,0:09:24.809
team, it's me and Tejas who are not on

0:09:24.809,0:09:28.259
the trust, for different reasons. Everyone[br]else is on

0:09:28.259,0:09:35.259
the trust, and yeah. The one hour of time,

0:09:41.769,0:09:44.149
Satish at this point, because he did all the

0:09:44.149,0:09:47.509
ground work for finding out what's required[br]to do,

0:09:47.509,0:09:50.829
set up a trust. And he is also followed

0:09:50.829,0:09:54.809
up on the financial part of it. So big

0:09:54.809,0:10:01.809
hand to Satish. Satish over here. So, yeah,[br]that's

0:10:03.439,0:10:06.329
probably about the organization part. Then[br]about the talk

0:10:06.329,0:10:13.160
selection and, talk proposals and selections.[br]I want to

0:10:13.160,0:10:17.309
share this interesting breakdown of all the[br]talk proposals

0:10:17.309,0:10:22.220
we got. Total we got seventy-two talk proposals.[br]That's

0:10:22.220,0:10:24.399
a good number, given that we had only around

0:10:24.399,0:10:28.439
a month's time for call, when the call for

0:10:28.439,0:10:35.439
proposal was open. What do you make of this?

0:10:36.589,0:10:40.749
Everybody wants to submit a talk at the last

0:10:40.749,0:10:47.749
minute. This, actually we- Where's Leena?[br]Come on up

0:10:50.449,0:10:57.449
here. Carry the mic for her. Oh, you, yeah.

0:10:58.149,0:11:01.220
So Leena had the idea that we should actually

0:11:01.220,0:11:04.230
train some of these people who give us a

0:11:04.230,0:11:08.449
proposal and then maybe, yeah, we could interact[br]with

0:11:08.449,0:11:12.769
them, and then we'll lead much better proposals[br]and

0:11:12.769,0:11:16.589
much better talks in this conference. If this[br]happens,

0:11:16.589,0:11:19.809
if everybody submits at the last minute, we[br]can't

0:11:19.809,0:11:23.689
do much about that. So next time a conference

0:11:23.689,0:11:28.399
is announced, please make sure you submit[br]a talk

0:11:28.399,0:11:31.139
right at the beginning. We, we, well, I want

0:11:31.139,0:11:34.489
this to be reversed. I want more talk proposals

0:11:34.489,0:11:37.989
coming at the beginning than at the end. Just,

0:11:37.989,0:11:41.829
I have a few questions for you. So I'll

0:11:41.829,0:11:46.970
just show a couple of other things. We got

0:11:46.970,0:11:51.360
sixty-seven proposals from men and five proposals[br]from women,

0:11:51.360,0:11:53.569
and of the five proposals from women, three[br]were

0:11:53.569,0:11:58.040
from the same person, and one was a, was

0:11:58.040,0:12:00.809
paired with a perso- guy.

0:12:00.809,0:12:02.730
LEENA S N: And the-

0:12:02.730,0:12:05.519
P.M.: And the last one was, we made, we invited

0:12:05.519,0:12:08.079
those two to submit a talk. That was Sakshi

0:12:08.079,0:12:10.600
and Pallavi. We told them we need you here

0:12:10.600,0:12:13.550
talking, so you need to propose. So really[br]this

0:12:13.550,0:12:16.569
was almost non-existant for the number of[br]proposals by

0:12:16.569,0:12:16.980
women.

0:12:16.980,0:12:20.339
L.S.N.: And that too the three proposals was

0:12:20.339,0:12:21.709
not from India- I mean-

0:12:21.709,0:12:23.319
P.M.: Again, yeah, that three proposals-

0:12:23.319,0:12:25.739
L.S.N.: It was from Emily, Emily from Mongol??[br][00:12:26]

0:12:25.739,0:12:30.529
P.M.: So the womenfolk in the room here.

0:12:30.529,0:12:33.670
Any thoughts of submitting proposals for the[br]next

0:12:33.670,0:12:40.670
conference? OK. Let's, let's change this.[br]We got a

0:12:43.639,0:12:47.850
lot of proposals from different countries[br]as well. But

0:12:47.850,0:12:51.389
ultimately it ended up that none of them could

0:12:51.389,0:12:55.079
come. We selected two of the speakers from[br]this,

0:12:55.079,0:12:59.959
for, from non, who are not from India, and

0:12:59.959,0:13:01.819
both could not come for different reasons,[br]so we

0:13:01.819,0:13:05.160
ended up with only Indian speaker line-up,[br]other than

0:13:05.160,0:13:12.129
the invited keynote speakers. I was very happy[br]with,

0:13:12.129,0:13:17.619
to see this. The breakup from different cities.[br]This

0:13:17.619,0:13:20.589
shows that there is room for having meetups[br]and

0:13:20.589,0:13:23.670
conferences at each of these cities as well.[br]You

0:13:23.670,0:13:29.290
just need to start something there. OK, this[br]is

0:13:29.290,0:13:31.879
fine. So Leena. How did we go about talk

0:13:31.879,0:13:33.829
selection. What, what happened?

0:13:33.829,0:13:37.339
L.S.N.: So, like I'm, like

0:13:37.339,0:13:41.139
Prakash mentioned, we wanted to have a lot[br]of

0:13:41.139,0:13:45.779
conversation with the submitters, but that[br]didn't happen because

0:13:45.779,0:13:48.989
of lots, so many proposals came in. So we

0:13:48.989,0:13:53.410
relied on the busyconf rating system, so all,[br]all,

0:13:53.410,0:13:55.589
everyone in the, in the organizing committee,[br]they rated

0:13:55.589,0:13:58.790
the talks, and we went with the - most

0:13:58.790,0:14:02.839
of the time we went with the rating, given

0:14:02.839,0:14:06.220
by the, the auto rating given by busyconf[br]as

0:14:06.220,0:14:09.319
rated by all the organizers. And we had given

0:14:09.319,0:14:14.379
some exceptions. Like the Rails Girls, we[br]thought, OK,

0:14:14.379,0:14:16.959
we want them to be talking about how we

0:14:16.959,0:14:20.600
ran. Because it's experience important that,[br]that should encourage

0:14:20.600,0:14:23.189
others to join these kind of things. So, so

0:14:23.189,0:14:26.100
we made some exceptions like that, but mainly[br]it

0:14:26.100,0:14:28.609
was the rating given by, given by the organization.

0:14:28.609,0:14:31.529
P.M.: So it's these ratings here. Each of[br]the

0:14:31.529,0:14:35.329
team members gave a rating and we rated all

0:14:35.329,0:14:38.009
the talks. So started ?? from the ?? [00:14:38].

0:14:38.009,0:14:41.259
There were a few exceptions, right.

0:14:41.259,0:14:45.329
L.N.S.: Yeah, we had, only Rails Girls was[br]the exception.

0:14:45.329,0:14:47.249
P.M.: Rails Girls was exception, and I think

0:14:47.249,0:14:49.799
Emily also we had to remove one of her talks.

0:14:49.799,0:14:53.439
L.N.S.: Yeah, and we also, so Emily's - we,[br]I think

0:14:53.439,0:14:55.079
we have, we can pull out the blog post

0:14:55.079,0:14:56.299
that we have written. So we also, apart from

0:14:56.299,0:14:59.199
the rating, we also decided that we would[br]not

0:14:59.199,0:15:02.929
have more than two speakers outside of India,[br]and

0:15:02.929,0:15:06.029
we'll have only one speaker from the organizing[br]company-

0:15:06.029,0:15:06.739
P.M.: Organizing team, yes.

0:15:06.739,0:15:07.579
L.N.S.: Even if it gets

0:15:07.579,0:15:11.429
higher rating. And we also decided that we'll[br]not

0:15:11.429,0:15:15.139
have two talks from the same person, so that

0:15:15.139,0:15:18.259
negated many of them in the top, because Emily's

0:15:18.259,0:15:20.809
almost, all talks from Emily got a higher[br]rating.

0:15:20.809,0:15:26.269
But we negated those because same speaker,[br]and outside

0:15:26.269,0:15:27.269
India. And then we relied on the rating-

0:15:27.269,0:15:27.829
P.M.: Yeah.

0:15:27.829,0:15:30.059
L.N.S.: And exception was, and apart from[br]those

0:15:30.059,0:15:31.779
exceptions, we gave the exceptions to Rails[br]Girls-

0:15:31.779,0:15:32.619
P.M.: Rails Girls, yeah.

0:15:32.619,0:15:33.569
L.N.S.: Because we, because of the

0:15:33.569,0:15:36.829
Rails reason, and I think that was a very

0:15:36.829,0:15:38.889
good talk and I think we learned quite a

0:15:38.889,0:15:40.279
few things from them, so.

0:15:40.279,0:15:41.429
P.M.: And Hermant had

0:15:41.429,0:15:43.600
a very good talk proposal and which rated[br]very

0:15:43.600,0:15:43.889
high.

0:15:43.889,0:15:45.499
L.N.S.: So there was a lot of-

0:15:45.499,0:15:46.569
P.M.: And we had to remove him.

0:15:46.569,0:15:47.029
L.N.S.: Yeah, there

0:15:47.029,0:15:50.269
was a lot of debate on, we had to,

0:15:50.269,0:15:53.049
we, among us organizers, we had to, we had

0:15:53.049,0:15:56.859
a lot of debates. And that, that talk went

0:15:56.859,0:15:59.790
for a couple of calls, and then finally we

0:15:59.790,0:16:02.319
decided we'll have only one talk, and Hermant[br]had

0:16:02.319,0:16:05.470
two. But Hermant had a very good Panel Discussion-

0:16:05.470,0:16:06.290
P.M.: Panel Discussion, yeah.

0:16:06.290,0:16:07.350
L.N.S.: And, that I think

0:16:07.350,0:16:08.959
was a huge success, so.

0:16:08.959,0:16:11.119
P.M.: OK. So. I

0:16:11.119,0:16:14.199
want to thank Leena for doing a phenomenal[br]job

0:16:14.199,0:16:21.199
with the talk selection and leading everything.[br]Thank you.

0:16:26.239,0:16:26.799
You can give it to her. I want to

0:16:26.799,0:16:29.299
thank Emil over here for managing the website[br]and

0:16:29.299,0:16:33.959
everything related to that. He, he didn't[br]do all

0:16:33.959,0:16:36.449
the work, but he got the right people involved

0:16:36.449,0:16:38.019
at the right time, and he gave us what

0:16:38.019,0:16:42.059
we wanted. The blog featured in the website,[br]it

0:16:42.059,0:16:49.059
was amazing. He made it superb. How many of

0:16:53.419,0:16:55.689
you know about the opportunities scholarship[br]that we gave

0:16:55.689,0:17:02.689
in this conference? Nice. So, Swanand, what's[br]this opportunities

0:17:06.709,0:17:10.439
scholarship that we are talking about?

0:17:10.439,0:17:17.260
SWANAND PAGNIS: So the opportunities scholarship

0:17:17.260,0:17:19.339
is an opportunity for those students

0:17:19.339,0:17:23.839
and other underrepresented groups to attend[br]a conference. For

0:17:23.839,0:17:26.939
example students, who are studying ?? [00:17:26],[br]who really

0:17:26.939,0:17:28.860
want to be a part of the community, talk

0:17:28.860,0:17:32.650
to other people, but cannot really afford[br]to travel

0:17:32.650,0:17:35.800
all the way to Bangalore, or even for the

0:17:35.800,0:17:39.160
conference tickets. Usually conference tickets[br]in India are like

0:17:39.160,0:17:42.400
two, three thousand, in that range. For a[br]student

0:17:42.400,0:17:46.230
it's a decently steep price. So the idea was

0:17:46.230,0:17:49.820
also implemented in RubyConf India. I was[br]one of

0:17:49.820,0:17:51.900
the mentors of one of the students, and I

0:17:51.900,0:17:55.030
really had fun interacting with them all along,[br]like,

0:17:55.030,0:17:57.740
about the month leading to the conference,[br]and on

0:17:57.740,0:18:02.240
the conference days itself. So Prakash and[br]I decided

0:18:02.240,0:18:04.810
that if the budget allows it we are going

0:18:04.810,0:18:07.010
to do the opportunities scholarship here at[br]GCRC, too.

0:18:07.010,0:18:08.140
And, well I'll a-

0:18:08.140,0:18:09.950
P.M.: This is the list.

0:18:09.950,0:18:12.950
S.P.: So this is the list of all the

0:18:12.950,0:18:15.540
selected students, and-

0:18:15.540,0:18:17.990
P.M.: So where are the scholarship winners?

0:18:17.990,0:18:19.940
S.P.: Can all of them please stand up.

0:18:19.940,0:18:21.170
P.M.: Can you stand up.

0:18:21.170,0:18:23.400
S.P.: All the students.

0:18:23.400,0:18:27.890
P.M.: Students! And most of them don't even[br]know

0:18:27.890,0:18:30.280
Ruby, they are seeing the Ruby for the first

0:18:30.280,0:18:31.690
time, a couple of them are seeing Ruby for

0:18:31.690,0:18:32.580
the first time.

0:18:32.580,0:18:35.050
S.P.: Tushar here is coming from,

0:18:35.050,0:18:36.410
all the way from Jaiper.

0:18:36.410,0:18:39.680
P.M.: OK. Thank you.

0:18:39.680,0:18:46.680
And, OK. Oh yeah. I missed out some- an

0:18:47.800,0:18:51.700
important point here, which we did a lot of

0:18:51.700,0:18:54.350
work in figuring out the way to hold this

0:18:54.350,0:19:00.900
conference, and making all arrangements: food,[br]logistics, the internet,

0:19:00.900,0:19:07.900
everything - all this. Lanyards, t-shirts,[br]all that. Tejas

0:19:10.880,0:19:16.070
and Dheeraj- Dheeraj is here? OK, so big hand

0:19:16.070,0:19:23.070
to Tejas and Dheeraj, please. So this is what

0:19:29.770,0:19:35.040
happened with our registrations. We made that[br]much money

0:19:35.040,0:19:38.570
from it, and we had a total of 187

0:19:38.570,0:19:43.680
participants register. That included both[br]people who paid for

0:19:43.680,0:19:50.680
their tickets and who got complimentary admission.[br]Our aim

0:19:51.990,0:19:54.930
was to make it a two hundred people partici-

0:19:54.930,0:19:59.380
conference. Keep it very limited - not, RubyConf[br]India,

0:19:59.380,0:20:02.450
yeah, has four hundred people. Yeah. I was[br]there

0:20:02.450,0:20:05.540
for two days, and I didn't meet a couple

0:20:05.540,0:20:07.310
of people I wanted to meet, even though I

0:20:07.310,0:20:09.070
was there for two days. It was such big

0:20:09.070,0:20:11.390
crowd there. Here I wanted it, to keep it

0:20:11.390,0:20:15.010
smaller, two hundred, so that everybody can[br]meet everybody

0:20:15.010,0:20:22.010
else. Has that mostly been accomplished? Yeah,[br]174. OK.

0:20:22.310,0:20:26.330
And again, of that, I think that around twelve

0:20:26.330,0:20:29.440
or fifteen people didn't show up. So it's[br]about

0:20:29.440,0:20:31.980
160 people who have been here for the last

0:20:31.980,0:20:33.140
two days.

0:20:33.140,0:20:34.300
V.O.: 174

0:20:34.300,0:20:37.200
P.M.: 174? Oh great. Oh

0:20:37.200,0:20:42.420
that's, you already submitted, removed the[br]number. Great. And,

0:20:42.420,0:20:45.160
one other thing I want to show is the,

0:20:45.160,0:20:52.160
before I come here. It's in some- one of

0:20:53.490,0:21:00.490
these tabs. Yes. This was maybe a day, couple

0:21:01.370,0:21:06.470
of days ago that we went through our finances.

0:21:06.470,0:21:09.610
We got a total income of around one grand

0:21:09.610,0:21:12.760
for forty- oh, forty grand, forty to a thousand.

0:21:12.760,0:21:16.220
We started with the idea that we'll have this

0:21:16.220,0:21:21.470
fifteen grand event, but, and even with a[br]fifteen

0:21:21.470,0:21:25.320
grand budget. We met that target, almost came[br]very,

0:21:25.320,0:21:27.170
we came very close to meeting that target,[br]with

0:21:27.170,0:21:32.720
the sponsors and ticket sales. And expenses,[br]we, yeah,

0:21:32.720,0:21:36.610
it looks like we are just a little bit

0:21:36.610,0:21:41.120
below our income, or maybe a little bit over.

0:21:41.120,0:21:43.670
We'll know in a couple of days. We had

0:21:43.670,0:21:46.850
a couple of last minute expenses come through,[br]so,

0:21:46.850,0:21:49.240
but yeah. In this context, I want to thank

0:21:49.240,0:21:56.240
all the sponsors. These folks made it really[br]easy

0:22:05.990,0:22:09.740
for us to put up an awesome event, and

0:22:09.740,0:22:11.610
it was also amazing how easy it was for

0:22:11.610,0:22:18.610
us to get the sponsorship. At one point, there

0:22:19.320,0:22:21.350
was some doubt that maybe we won't be able

0:22:21.350,0:22:24.980
to do it. We won't have enough money, we

0:22:24.980,0:22:26.470
won't be able to do - we may have

0:22:26.470,0:22:30.200
to cut off a few things. We probably won't

0:22:30.200,0:22:35.440
have the opportunities scholarship or maybe[br]not, if not

0:22:35.440,0:22:37.840
lunch, at least cut something in the lunch[br]or

0:22:37.840,0:22:40.670
whatever. So. All that didn't happen. We could[br]get

0:22:40.670,0:22:47.240
all the, the budgeted, the intended amount[br]of money.

0:22:47.240,0:22:49.590
So thank you Flipkart, thank you Josh, thank[br]you

0:22:49.590,0:22:53.700
Nilenso, thank you GitHub, thank you Qwinix,[br]thank you

0:22:53.700,0:22:57.910
ParamiSoft, thank you Bang the Table, thank[br]you MavenHive,

0:22:57.910,0:23:02.570
thank you GoodWorkLabs, thank you CodeBrahma,[br]thank you CodeMancers,

0:23:02.570,0:23:06.700
thank you Multunus, thank you Mahaswami, thank[br]you SupportBee,

0:23:06.700,0:23:09.610
thank you Icicle, thank you Cognitive Clouds,[br]thank you

0:23:09.610,0:23:16.610
Big Binary and thank you MaSymbol. Maybe I[br]should

0:23:17.290,0:23:24.290
have said yes there, right, to update. MartMe[br]and

0:23:32.560,0:23:34.110
StartUp Village in Kochi?? [00:23:33] - they[br]were the

0:23:34.110,0:23:41.110
t-shirt sponsors, so thank you MartMe and[br]StartUp Village.

0:23:42.100,0:23:45.120
So wow. I covered all ten of the items

0:23:45.120,0:23:50.440
I had there. So now. My hope from this

0:23:50.440,0:23:53.340
conference is that it will inspire some of[br]you

0:23:53.340,0:23:56.240
to go back to your towns and start something

0:23:56.240,0:24:00.110
similar there. In that context, what questions[br]do you

0:24:00.110,0:24:04.090
have for me and the team here? So I

0:24:04.090,0:24:05.910
want all the team members to come up here.

0:24:05.910,0:24:09.560
So, questions, questions. OK. Yeah?

0:24:09.560,0:24:14.110
QUESTION: So what difference

0:24:14.110,0:24:21.110
does having a conference like this have over[br]all

0:24:30.240,0:24:37.240
the regular meetups and workshops, and- P.M.:[br]Yeah, who

0:24:39.020,0:24:44.130
in the audience can answer him? Yeah. Let's[br]-

0:24:44.130,0:24:46.500
let Gautam handle it.

0:24:46.500,0:24:48.850
GAUTAM REGE: So the short

0:24:48.850,0:24:52.110
answer - the more, the merrier. Right. And[br]the

0:24:52.110,0:24:54.980
longer answer to that is that in a larger

0:24:54.980,0:24:57.060
conference, you get to meet a lot of other

0:24:57.060,0:24:59.840
people, see how they work. See how- which[br]all

0:24:59.840,0:25:03.050
companies are interested. See what the other[br]people, what

0:25:03.050,0:25:07.430
experience they have. And that's why conferences,[br]people take

0:25:07.430,0:25:10.470
time out to come for conferences. Sometimes[br]it happens

0:25:10.470,0:25:13.090
in meet ups that, you know, it's an beyond

0:25:13.090,0:25:14.190
my job thing.

0:25:14.190,0:25:14.600
P.M.: Yeah.

0:25:14.600,0:25:15.270
G.R.: So if I

0:25:15.270,0:25:17.370
go there, it's OK, if I don't go, then

0:25:17.370,0:25:19.010
it's fine. But a conference, you attend. Meet[br]ups

0:25:19.010,0:25:21.060
- I'm not sure I'm paid meetups.

0:25:21.060,0:25:21.750
P.M.: So-

0:25:21.750,0:25:23.800
G.R.: Do we have paid meetups?

0:25:23.800,0:25:24.720
P.M.: ?? [00:25:23]

0:25:24.720,0:25:25.980
Has Chad Fowler ever covered your meet up?[br]Conference,

0:25:25.980,0:25:31.360
we need conference for that. K, next?

0:25:31.360,0:25:37.490
QUESTION: I would like to answer his - I would[br]like

0:25:37.490,0:25:41.130
to answer his question in one line. It, the

0:25:41.130,0:25:44.740
difference between ?? [00:25:43]. People go[br]to ?? [00:25:44],

0:25:44.740,0:25:45.760
people don't go to ?? [00:25:47]. So there's[br]the

0:25:45.760,0:25:49.690
answer I would give.

0:25:49.690,0:25:53.690
P.M.: OK.

0:25:53.690,0:25:59.970
QUESTION: Hello. What should be the mindset[br]of a person who is

0:25:59.970,0:26:03.000
attending a conference, or what should one[br]expect from

0:26:03.000,0:26:03.720
a conference-

0:26:03.720,0:26:04.080
P.M.: From a conference.

0:26:04.080,0:26:05.390
QUESTION: Or what should one do for a

0:26:05.390,0:26:07.180
conference, or, for that matter, a meet up?

0:26:07.180,0:26:08.680
P.M.: As a participant or

0:26:08.680,0:26:09.490
as an organizer?

0:26:09.490,0:26:10.150
QUESTION: As a participant.

0:26:10.150,0:26:15.730
P.M.: OK, as a participant, I would say, to[br]make more,

0:26:15.730,0:26:21.170
new friends. And to learn new things.

0:26:21.170,0:26:25.990
TEJAS DINKAR: All right, does anyone else[br]on the team want

0:26:25.990,0:26:28.860
to answer that question as well? Swanand,[br]or ??

0:26:28.860,0:26:29.220
[00:26:29]

0:26:29.220,0:26:31.850
S.P.: One important thing you need to consider

0:26:31.850,0:26:35.580
when you're attending any conference is basically[br]meeting new

0:26:35.580,0:26:39.010
people. So the talks and everything is one[br]part

0:26:39.010,0:26:42.340
of, obviously they're important. And probably[br]talks, you're gonna

0:26:42.340,0:26:44.760
go back home and watch it again on ConFreaks.

0:26:44.760,0:26:47.300
It's all being recorded. So the most important[br]thing

0:26:47.300,0:26:49.330
is you know meet new people and make new

0:26:49.330,0:26:51.230
friends. That is the reason, one of the reasons

0:26:51.230,0:26:54.370
why we have reduced the talk period from forty

0:26:54.370,0:26:56.620
minutes to thirty minutes, and have increased[br]the lunch

0:26:56.620,0:26:58.850
time and the, you know, coffee breaks. So[br]that

0:26:58.850,0:27:00.850
people get to talk to each other more. So

0:27:00.850,0:27:02.929
that's the reason behind that.

0:27:02.929,0:27:03.710
??: Meet new people

0:27:03.710,0:27:07.540
or keep meeting your friends at conferences.[br]There are

0:27:07.540,0:27:09.880
many people who I only meet at meet ups

0:27:09.880,0:27:12.020
or only at RubyConf India or RubyConf.

0:27:12.020,0:27:15.810
P.M.: And I meet Coby at every conference[br]I go to.

0:27:15.810,0:27:19.650
OK, next question here.

0:27:19.650,0:27:23.500
QUESTION: First of all, you

0:27:23.500,0:27:26.440
guys did an excellent job of getting this[br]conference

0:27:26.440,0:27:30.140
together. I basically have two questions.[br]First is, how

0:27:30.140,0:27:33.840
do you raise money from sponsors for a conference

0:27:33.840,0:27:36.590
like this? I'm sure it's very difficult. And[br]second

0:27:36.590,0:27:40.310
is, how do you get international speakers,[br]like, you

0:27:40.310,0:27:41.480
know, Chad, Coby?

0:27:41.480,0:27:43.820
V.O.: So I think Swanand wants

0:27:43.820,0:27:45.740
to answer this one.

0:27:45.740,0:27:47.650
S.P.: You don't raise money

0:27:47.650,0:27:49.840
for sponsors. You just ask them, hey we are

0:27:49.840,0:27:51.940
putting on a conference, and they just say[br]OK,

0:27:51.940,0:27:53.630
we are gonna sponsor, here's the money.

0:27:53.630,0:27:54.830
T.D.: Like,

0:27:54.830,0:27:59.300
a bit more practically, like this is something[br]I

0:27:59.300,0:28:01.910
had a big conversation even with Ajey Gore[br]about

0:28:01.910,0:28:04.350
that developed this?? [00:28:03]. You have[br]to understand that

0:28:04.350,0:28:09.620
no matter who is there on this board, every

0:28:09.620,0:28:12.420
company that sponsors is interested in something[br]else. It

0:28:12.420,0:28:13.970
kind of ties into what ?? [00:28:13] was speaking

0:28:13.970,0:28:16.290
about in the morning. So I'm just gonna take

0:28:16.290,0:28:18.620
my own example, is that we had at Nilenso

0:28:18.620,0:28:22.590
are hoping to meet interesting people and[br]eventually bring

0:28:22.590,0:28:25.150
on like, hire someone new, and that's why,[br]say,

0:28:25.150,0:28:28.010
Nilenso is, that's definitely one of the reasons[br]we

0:28:28.010,0:28:32.160
are sponsoring a conference like this. So[br]it's just

0:28:32.160,0:28:35.430
to try to get into the mindset of the

0:28:35.430,0:28:38.210
person you're speaking to and see what benefits[br]can

0:28:38.210,0:28:41.540
you provide them, because like, these, the[br]different levels

0:28:41.540,0:28:44.150
of sponsorships - you also have to, we also

0:28:44.150,0:28:46.750
have different things that they are allowed[br]to do.

0:28:46.750,0:28:49.780
For example, a gold sponsor like Flipkart[br]is allowed

0:28:49.780,0:28:51.580
to bring in that large banner back there and

0:28:51.580,0:28:53.000
have a booth, and allowed to speak-

0:28:53.000,0:28:53.730
P.M.: And they get two minutes.

0:28:53.730,0:28:54.230
T.D.: Yeah - and are

0:28:54.230,0:28:57.420
allowed to speak to people. A silver sponsor[br]has

0:28:57.420,0:29:00.110
their own set of benefits, like giving out[br]something

0:29:00.110,0:29:03.410
in the pamphlets, so. It's about going and[br]speaking

0:29:03.410,0:29:06.110
to these different organizations, trying to[br]understand what they

0:29:06.110,0:29:08.720
are looking for, and seeing how your conference[br]can

0:29:08.720,0:29:11.180
help them and vice versa.

0:29:11.180,0:29:13.160
??: What Dejas said

0:29:13.160,0:29:15.010
just now was exactly what Ajey was saying[br]in

0:29:15.010,0:29:18.500
the morning about keeping the stakeholders[br]in the loop.

0:29:18.500,0:29:21.790
P.M.: So the other part of your question was

0:29:21.790,0:29:25.460
about keynote speakers. I would say it's all[br]about

0:29:25.460,0:29:29.850
personal relationships. I knew Chad from before,[br]so I

0:29:29.850,0:29:31.030
reached out to him and he said, yes, I

0:29:31.030,0:29:33.250
am ready to come. And it helped that he

0:29:33.250,0:29:35.070
was in Bangalore before and he wanted to come

0:29:35.070,0:29:35.759
back.

0:29:35.759,0:29:37.120
??: Actually Coby has a very nice answer

0:29:37.120,0:29:40.540
to this question. I was talking to him in

0:29:40.540,0:29:41.660
the afternoon. He said, why do we need it?

0:29:41.660,0:29:42.830
P.M.: Why do you need it?

0:29:42.830,0:29:47.800
??: Why do you always need foreign spekers[br]to come here?

0:29:47.800,0:29:51.080
P.M.: Yeah, so. Till we have Indian Chad Fowlers,[br]we

0:29:51.080,0:29:52.470
need the real Chad Fowler.

0:29:52.470,0:29:53.750
??: So, there you go.

0:29:53.750,0:29:56.150
Your goal is set for the next two

0:29:56.150,0:29:56.790
years.

0:29:56.790,0:30:01.950
QUESTION: I just wanted to ask you [indecipherable

0:30:01.950,0:30:06.520
- 00:30:04] at what state do you think the

0:30:06.520,0:30:09.500
local meet ups can actually arrange a conference,[br]because

0:30:09.500,0:30:11.690
there needs to be a certain mileage or momentum

0:30:11.690,0:30:13.640
that needs to be accumulated by the local[br]meet

0:30:13.640,0:30:16.090
ups to then, you know, result in a conference.

0:30:16.090,0:30:18.260
You just cannot have a big conference right[br]away,

0:30:18.260,0:30:20.460
right. So where do you think is the equation

0:30:20.460,0:30:21.760
of breakdown should happen?

0:30:21.760,0:30:23.380
P.M.: Yeah, so. You want

0:30:23.380,0:30:25.220
to answer that? How, how-

0:30:25.220,0:30:32.220
??: So what do you mean by big conference,[br]I mean?

0:30:36.950,0:30:37.170
QUESTION: [indecipherable - 00:30:35]

0:30:37.170,0:30:37.830
T.D.: So how big do you think

0:30:37.830,0:30:40.730
that the first RubyConf India was? I don't[br]know.

0:30:40.730,0:30:42.890
Actually I don't remember myself, but it was[br]somewhere

0:30:42.890,0:30:44.480
around 300 or 350 people.

0:30:44.480,0:30:45.430
V.O.: 250 people.

0:30:45.430,0:30:48.720
T.D.: 250, is it? We were really, really scared[br]if

0:30:48.720,0:30:51.150
we were gonna get about 40 people in that,

0:30:51.150,0:30:52.830
in that hall. Because we had, it was completely

0:30:52.830,0:30:56.960
untested waters. Like I personally, I think[br]I'm a

0:30:56.960,0:30:59.820
bit romantic about this, but I strongly believe[br]in

0:30:59.820,0:31:03.630
what, in Ajey said in the morning. It was

0:31:03.630,0:31:05.620
really one person's vision. One person wanted[br]to run

0:31:05.620,0:31:07.400
a Ruby conference, and everyone else was just[br]kind

0:31:07.400,0:31:09.800
of following along with that vision and doing[br]it.

0:31:09.800,0:31:14.340
So in reality, the answer to your question[br]was,

0:31:14.340,0:31:18.270
well, money aside, it was about 4 to 6

0:31:18.270,0:31:21.140
people, that was all that was needed to organize

0:31:21.140,0:31:23.460
the first one. And people came. I think, I

0:31:23.460,0:31:27.850
think Bangalore definitely India is such a[br]place that,

0:31:27.850,0:31:29.809
you put out something, you know, some new[br]technology

0:31:29.809,0:31:32.740
like, like we have some obscure, like Go language

0:31:32.740,0:31:36.610
conf, next month, just because it's interesting,[br]people will

0:31:36.610,0:31:40.900
show up. ??: This may not be the only

0:31:40.900,0:31:43.400
way to organize a conference, you know. Everybody's[br]welcome

0:31:43.400,0:31:45.429
to figure out their own way. People from ??

0:31:45.429,0:31:47.510
[00:31:46] can travel together, and they talk[br]about Ruby

0:31:47.510,0:31:49.700
and come back the next day. You know, you

0:31:49.700,0:31:54.080
can do your own plans, really.

0:31:54.080,0:31:59.320
COBY RANDQUIST: So as far as, do you have[br]to have meet

0:31:59.320,0:32:01.440
ups to build up a momentum to hold a

0:32:01.440,0:32:06.670
conference. I actually disagree. Because in[br]Bend, it's a

0:32:06.670,0:32:11.390
town of about 85,000 people. We had literally[br]twelve

0:32:11.390,0:32:15.440
Ruby developers in town, and we started Ruby[br]on

0:32:15.440,0:32:20.110
Ales to get, to put Bend on the map

0:32:20.110,0:32:23.150
in the Ruby community. So we knew we didn't

0:32:23.150,0:32:26.270
have a mass of people there. Now what that

0:32:26.270,0:32:28.570
did mean, is we had to go about it

0:32:28.570,0:32:31.820
a little bit differently, because we had to[br]do,

0:32:31.820,0:32:34.620
you know, more external marketing, and to[br]Prakash's point,

0:32:34.620,0:32:37.660
one of the, one of the big advantages of

0:32:37.660,0:32:40.679
large conferences, or actually I wouldn't[br]even call this

0:32:40.679,0:32:43.870
a large conference, but of conferences in[br]this size,

0:32:43.870,0:32:46.770
is that you do get to meet more people.

0:32:46.770,0:32:49.540
And you get to create relationships with people,[br]you

0:32:49.540,0:32:52.690
know, honestly the reason I'm here is because[br]Prakash

0:32:52.690,0:32:57.350
and I talked several years ago at RubyConf[br]in

0:32:57.350,0:33:02.160
Loiussiana, and that's really how it came[br]about. You

0:33:02.160,0:33:04.850
know, Chad and I's relationship over the years,[br]I

0:33:04.850,0:33:08.750
think we've never met anywhere but conferences.[br]I've got

0:33:08.750,0:33:12.740
a whole group of, you know, literally hundreds[br]of

0:33:12.740,0:33:14.740
friends at this point, that the only time[br]I

0:33:14.740,0:33:17.660
ever see each other face to face is at

0:33:17.660,0:33:23.559
conferences. Yes. And now I've added another[br]country. So

0:33:23.559,0:33:26.160
when you're trying to put together an event,[br]part

0:33:26.160,0:33:27.920
of it is make sure you know what you're

0:33:27.920,0:33:31.679
trying to accomplish. That's the key part,[br]because if

0:33:31.679,0:33:33.220
you know what you're trying to do, then you

0:33:33.220,0:33:36.559
can set your limits. And the other key piece

0:33:36.559,0:33:40.400
to the budgeting aspect is, always remember[br]you don't

0:33:40.400,0:33:43.840
want to dig yourself a hole. You know. So

0:33:43.840,0:33:47.429
limit things. With our OpenStack on Ales that[br]I

0:33:47.429,0:33:50.230
mentioned yesterday, we basically said, we[br]know what it

0:33:50.230,0:33:53.160
costs to rent the place, and if we only

0:33:53.160,0:33:56.830
have ten people show up plus our speakers,[br]we're

0:33:56.830,0:33:59.350
OK. We know what, we know what our out

0:33:59.350,0:34:00.980
of pocket expense is gonna be. But we're not

0:34:00.980,0:34:03.530
gonna provide coffee - you know, there's water[br]because

0:34:03.530,0:34:06.510
there's water fountains. But we were able[br]to control

0:34:06.510,0:34:10.579
those factors. So yeah, you don't, you don't[br]need

0:34:10.579,0:34:14.719
a lot of momentum locally. You do need an

0:34:14.719,0:34:17.319
interest, or you need to scale your cost model

0:34:17.319,0:34:19.399
so that if you only have three people show

0:34:19.399,0:34:23.668
up you're OK with it. But, yeah.

0:34:23.668,0:34:25.849
T.D.: Also, one more thing I want to say.[br]I would

0:34:25.849,0:34:27.440
like everyone to look at the back of the

0:34:27.440,0:34:31.460
hall near the Flipkart stall, that's Karen[br]over there.

0:34:31.460,0:34:33.219
Everyone wave hi.

0:34:33.219,0:34:34.980
P.M.: Hey Karen!

0:34:34.980,0:34:36.748
T.D.: So, Karen,

0:34:36.748,0:34:40.379
or Jase, as he's known, and is partners of

0:34:40.379,0:34:43.989
about I think it's a team of five, have

0:34:43.989,0:34:46.389
been running, I think, like a dozen successful[br]tech

0:34:46.389,0:34:50.489
events every single year under the banner[br]of HasGeek.

0:34:50.489,0:34:51.879
And so if anyone wants to know how to

0:34:51.879,0:34:54.918
run a conference successfully and on a different[br]range

0:34:54.918,0:34:59.970
of budgets, from like, really big to really[br]small,

0:34:59.970,0:35:02.269
please talk to Jase.

0:35:02.269,0:35:06.910
P.M.: OK, so. We are almost out of time.

0:35:06.910,0:35:08.539
I want to thank all

0:35:08.539,0:35:12.470
the, my co-organizers here, and the one last[br]thing

0:35:12.470,0:35:15.430
I want to say before closing is, it's not

0:35:15.430,0:35:18.049
just the few of us up here who did

0:35:18.049,0:35:20.950
this conference. There are a lot of people[br]out,

0:35:20.950,0:35:24.480
who helped us from outside. We may not have

0:35:24.480,0:35:27.109
time now for everyone, but I want to thank

0:35:27.109,0:35:31.009
everyone who helped us put this conference[br]up, and

0:35:31.009,0:35:33.400
made it an amazing journey so far. Thank you

0:35:33.400,0:35:33.880
everyone.

0:35:33.880,0:35:40.880
V.O.: We will see you at RubyConf India in[br]March.