Bryan and Adam were joined by Theo Schlossnagle, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, and Steve O'Grady to talk about conferences in tech. A lot has changed in the past couple of decades about the impetus for conferences and what makes it worthwhile to attend.
In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Theo Schlossnagle, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, and Steve O'Grady.
In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Theo Schlossnagle, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, and Steve O'Grady.
The lightly edited live chat from the show:
- ellie.idb: 2005, huh? y’all met when i was 2
- goodjanet: yea i was younger than 10 lol
- jgrillo_: I was just thinking I feel very young because I was a junior in high school but not anymore lol
- aka_pugs: my first conference - 1975
- ellie.idb: oxide appeals to the youth
- jbk1234: my first one was LISA in 05 or 06... mostly because it took a near act of god because my director didn't believe in sending his people to conferences
- jgrillo_: "before software ate the world" is what I usually call "when the internet was still fun"
- ellie.idb: my earliest memory was, uhhh, Google I/O 2008 when they gave every attendee that android phone
- ellie.idb: i don’t recall which one it was, but i do remember playing with it when i was 5 hahahaha
- taitomagatsu: I've only been to one tech conference in person, and it was a very tame SIGGRAPH that happened in Santiago, CL (I live in Chile). It was a lot about animation. I wanted it to have talks on image processing like the ones over on the US x3 but oh well, beggars can't be choosers
- goodjanet: I've never been to a tech conference
- devdsp2175: The Germans know how to run a conference. The chaos communications congress is wild.
- ellie.idb: same!! never actually attended one as an adult hahaha
- taitomagatsu: Have you attended one remotely?
- goodjanet: nope, closest is just watching recorded talks after the fact
- taitomagatsu: I attended the rustconf of 2 years ago remotely. It was amazing and I was soooo tired by the end of it. Brain got depleted of juice for the day
- network2501: looking forward to in person dtrace conference with a dedicated zball room
- ahl0003: more of a trade show, but I went to the MacWorld conference in the late '90s
- ahl0003: I still have some BeOS install CDs from then
- goodjanet: im so thankful for recorded talks
- ahl0003: this is kind of wild: I went with my brother who was 12 or so and we met a guy at Be... my brother would go on to work with him 30 years later!
- ellie.idb: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid the OG droid with the flip up keyboard and everything
- tocococa: ISCA this year was just around the corner from Santiago in Buenos Aires and it was pretty cool, and CARLA took place this year in Santiago too
- blacksmithforlife: Since I can never get a conference approved from work, I live off recorded conference videos on YouTube
- network2501: best mom
- devdsp2175: The shade! Sending hugs to Bryan's inner child.
- taitomagatsu: daaaaaamn, I didn't know about either! I might keep an eye on ISCA, maybe I can go next year ❤️
- devdsp2175: You can't record the hallway track...
- jh179: Bryan's talk for Papers We Love on the History of Containers is how I found out about him, Oxide and all the rest. Had an incredible tangent about jails...
- zeanic: Conference idea: all hallway tracks
- devdsp2175: YouTube keeps recommending Bryan's talks on running containers on the metal at Joyant.
- devdsp2175: And I keep watching them!
- ellie.idb: wow, ISCA had some really fucking cool talks this year
- ellie.idb: damn. i’m adding this to my watch list too!!! i’ll try and see if i can get funding for next year hahaha
- tocococa: yeah, 100%, but my brain was melted after every day
- nahumshalman: Bryan has the luxury of working on OSS. I think the point that Theo was making is that Surge (I only attended the very last one) was a space where you could be open about proprietary stuff. Talking about failure in a safe space, etc.
- nahumshalman: Ah, Theo is now making that point.
- taitomagatsu: Does ISCA have any sort of official YT channel?
- taitomagatsu: Because I might... have a handful of talks to watch
- goodjanet: 18 years ago isnt that long ago?
- network2501: 18 years ago is almost 3 generations of lives/eras ago
- ellie.idb: what HPC conferences are going on? i need to hear about the deets going on with CXL
- jgrillo_: although 18yr is ~half my life it doesn't feel very long ago..
- tocococa: I am not sure, I know that all keynotes were recorded, but I don´t know where they might be
- ellie.idb: 21 years ago i was not alive 😅
- network2501: What if the second time you do the talk it's even better than the last? Like book revisions?
- ahl0003: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i1OK4y9x0w
- taitomagatsu: I've found a channel that has older ISCA videos https://www.youtube.com/@acmsigarch2299, imma keep looking for one that might have the 2024 one
- blacksmithforlife: Working in government, watching "old" conference videos is great because they're "cutting edge" for where my organization is at currently. Case in point, we are just now going to the cloud and doing micro services
- taitomagatsu: https://xkcd.com/979/
- ahl0003: https://craft-conf.com/2025
- srockets: That’s why I liked !!con so much. No one tries to sell you anything.
- jgrillo_: I've never owned a car newer than 20yo, that's kind what it's like when you look at the car ads from its era
- devdsp2175: Are you also doing an "Agile Transformation" which is neither transformative nor optimising for agility?
- ahl0003: https://monktoberfest.com/
- srockets: (Also, Ghent had better bike racing than Budapest)
- srockets: But worse weather
- bcantrill: https://youtu.be/stMEuZJJDck?list=PLvsKqlNNP3R8JKE97pwewsDmZdcO5MEWV
- drkellyannfitz: Here are the talks from this year: https://redmonk.com/?series=monktoberfest-2024
- blacksmithforlife: What does "hallway track" mean?
- zeanic: Cringed
- nahumshalman: As an elder Millenial, I have experienced the hallway track.
- a172: I speak Gen Z, and that wasn't it
- ellie.idb: i cringed, but i also understood exactly what you said
- jbk1234: should someone paste the pic from Airplane! ?
- bcantrill: BRUH
- nahumshalman: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hallway_track
- jgrillo_: I have no idea what he said, but I absolutely know what the hallway track is... otoh I only went to conferences early in my career, not since.. which is making me think a bit
- jgrillo_: true fact about pdx btw
- taitomagatsu: Meeting in person is truly incredible
- network2501: is this oz-con or aus-con or os-con
- bcantrill: OSCON
- devdsp2175: The chaos communications congress have bars and food carts in the hallways. They also have community members running spaces like a tea house.
- taitomagatsu: FWIW, Tonari is trying to make remote spaces feel more natural. "Like a portal to another place" https://tonari.no/
- jbk1234: the pronouncation does sound like it'd be for fans of the Osmonds 🙂
- jgrillo_: TIL one can pause a discord
- taitomagatsu: foo camp, eternal rival of bar camp
- serverwentdown: Barcamp / Unconference
- jgrillo_: You can all show up at my place if you want lol, I have a field and a barn
- network2501: What's starting up a conference like? Is it kind sticky/hard in that you just need to push through low attendance or other challenges to create interest and awareness?
- taitomagatsu: Speaking of conferences. SIGBOVIK?
- ahl0003: https://bsky.app/profile/theahl.com/post/3lcodyiquq22o
- taitomagatsu: SIGBOVIK might look like just for the lols, but there are always a handful of jewels in the submissions. When they say it's a Conference for Computer Heresy, people take it to heart. And some folks come up with the most amazing (and cursed) projects
- ahl0003: supposed to be closing keynote, not a eulogy!
- devdsp2175: Conf organising is burnout as a service.
- taitomagatsu: I hope conference organizing becomes easier in the future. I feel like the in-person factor is so special, yet... the prep burnout is very real
- rtpg_: everyone I've talked to regarding conference prep has said the same thing. The prep is exhausting, tiring, and in the end the learnings are not very portable, even to the next year. Just a lot of churning work
- ellie.idb: i love this direction towards accessibility from bryan 💖
- rtpg_: lightning talks are always fun for giving people an opportunity to stand up and do a thing, because the expected level is fairly low
- silicongraphicscomputersystems: Accessiblilty is such an undercovered topic, sadly
- serverwentdown: Yes, it is really hard to find younger folk to do talks (other than asking peers I know directly)
- c_a_dunlop: From my experience, it's much easier to get first-time speakers for virtual events than in-person ones.
- ellie.idb: it’s all imposter syndrome or accessibility problems i fear
- nahumshalman: The FOMO for the social is real.
- rtpg_: This I think plays into the conference pricing and vibe as well.. if the tickets are really expensive and all the design is sharp then you feel like it's slotted for "pros". When the conference is leaning more on "hey we're just getting together" and it's priced that way... I really appreciate PyCon JP because their tickets are cheap, and they really insisted on like "hey just come up and talk about your experience using this tool"
- ellie.idb: i hate remote work, it feels so impersonal and… unconnected from my peers, and it’s so hard to build a relationship with someone!
- network2501: is the shirt an in person thing only or a shirt + ticket option?
- silicongraphicscomputersystems: coolest shirt I've ever seen tbh
- a172: compute sled for an oxide rack, if im not mistaken.
- goodjanet: I love remote work, but i dislike not meeting my team in person for sure
- jgrillo_: I meet with my team IRL ~2x/yr and it works great
- network2501: that makes sense, i don't recall SFPs having what looks like a thermal heat block and cooling pipes
- a172: As a network engineer, my brain definitely went to SFP first, too.
- ellie.idb: stop gatekeeping the cool ass shirts 🤨🤨🤨
- devdsp2175: I dream of having some gotcha moment when a RTO is being pitched because of collaboration and I get to say "oh, you think collaboration is important? How bout we stop assigning jiras to individuals and asking for status updates every day?"
- network2501: I'm hot under the collar for more P4 things 😄
- goodjanet: i want that shirt yea
- ahl0003: https://oxide.computer/blog/dtrace-conf24
- network2501: yeah it's true the tshirt is a banger
- ahl0003: it's a throwback to the 2008 shirt
- ahl0003: https://bsky.app/profile/ahl.bsky.social/post/3lcvqnu3xds2m
- network2501: damn i love the exploded diagram view it gives me early day manual diagram vibes
- jgrillo_: chevy 350?
- rtpg_: (regarding online participation sessions in general) very important to have some plants in each channel creating conversations so others give themselves permission to chime in. PyCon AU had 3 chat rooms for 3 different chats, and one was way more active than others (partly, I think, cuz the session chair was actively posting stuff during the talks)
- network2501: ohhhhh the conference is free
- goodjanet: im very excited for the conference, but i didnt see the shirt till now
- goodjanet: now i have two things im excited for
- network2501: really hoping for a note now
- network2501: i'm ordering the ticket and conference now
- network2501: really want that yellow one now too
- ellie.idb: when will shirts be shipped out? i’m moving soon and i don’t want it to get lost in the post 🥲
- jgrillo_: wrt tools you have to learn somehow, I learned in 3rd grade with a coping saw which only cut the nerves and artery on one side of my finger. They grew back because I was young and malleable. Safety first 🙂
- a172: idk if this makes sense, but I kinda want to see a P4 powered wireless interface for APs
- ellie.idb: there is unironically a crazy market on eBay for vintage Sun merch
- drkellyannfitz: is there an over/under on whether or not Bryan's kids just sell the shirts for profit?
- ellie.idb: i have DPUs at home finally so i’m getting the chance to toy with P4 soon hahaha
- ahl0003: hm. we should do that...
- ellie.idb: bluefield 2s are $240 off of eBay right now
- ellie.idb: ask me for the chinese hacked firmware if you get them
- network2501: the mikrotik ones or something else?
- aka_pugs: We loved Systems We Love!
- ahl0003: https://www.youtube.com/@systemswelove1592
- nahumshalman: Systems We Love every 10 years?
- network2501: Is BeOS in there?
- goodjanet: remember folks, the internet is not forever
- p5commit8816: No dtrace on PSP vita?
- a172: It's only forever when you don't want it to be.
- ahl0003: https://ahl.dtrace.org/2005/06/28/dtrace-in-the-javaone-keynote/
- sketchyetch: Hope the thumbnail for this episode is longhair Leventhal
- ahl0003: but do you?
- bcantrill: Now that I look at this again, it kinda has post-ripped Zuck vibes
- bcantrill: Theo's Closing plenery for Surge in 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieCTIPG43no
- bcantrill: At 12:30, he has to go compile Perl
- bcantrill: I think I rewatch this talk at least once a year
- zeanic: Speaking of DTrace.. y’all are gonna love this, but Microsoft has some pretty good docs https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/dtrace
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