Last weekend saw a crowd descend on central Manchester in the UK for the first PHP North West conference. We had almost 180 attendees, 12 sessions, 16 speakers, and lots of fun. The day itself went off very smoothly and although I didn’t manage to see many of the sessions, the atmosphere both at the conference and at the socials was absolutely buzzing. I found myself doing the introductions which was a bit scary but apparently the audience were more scared than me when I laid down the law about not moving around during the talks!

On a personal level, I met up with lots of friends and also made several new ones – one of the best things about the conference for me was being able to meet “in real life” the friends I’ve made online, either on IRC or through my site or the phpwomen site. There were people there that I’ve met through my work and through attending other tech events – and to be able to shake hands and chat in person was great.

We also had a phpwomen stand at the event – which generated quite a bit of interest. For the record, we counted around 15 women in the 174 attendees, which is actually quite a lot – or rather, its more than usual – and it was great to see it. Also there were 2 female speakers out of 16 which was accidental but is also quite a good ratio so I’ll mention it (hi Steph, hi Zoe!)

All in all, it was a pretty stunning first conference – I’d like to personally thank Jeremy and the people from his family and company that he dragged in to help, and Jenny who also did a great job. The speakers were ace and the helpers on the day were also really excellent. The main sponsors were my employers, Ibuildings and it was great to have them around for this – and of course to catch up with my colleagues!

In a month’s time I’ll be in Manchester, ready for the PHP North West conference. The conference is a one-day event (Saturday, 22nd November), although the social side of things will kick off the night before. Tickets are 50 GBP for the early bird, 35 GBP for students and concessions – so register now.

There are some amazing speakers, I hate picking out names, so go and look at the schedule and pick your own favourites to shortlist! As well as traditional hour-long conference slots, we’ve got a selection of shorter talks, plus a panel discussion at the end of the day … right before we party some more :)

Attendees get a year’s subscription to php|architect magazine with their tickets, and there will be sponsors and other exhibitors there – including some interesting user and voluntary groups so plenty to see and plenty of people to talk to. There are also some very nice giveaways so look out for those if you are there.

All in all, its a pretty exciting event, there hasn’t been anything like it outside of London that I know of for a while – and with the London conference still months away, this is a great chance to get to meet a few people and also pick up some new technical ideas in the meantime. If you’re coming, let me know so I can say “hi” at the event itself – looking forward to meeting you :)

Tickets are now on sale for PHPNW – the PHP Conference in Manchester, UK, on November 22nd. This is a conference aimed at bringing together and promoting the amazing wealth of local talent and activity in PHP within the North West and wider area. The schedule is online already and tickets are priced at a very reasonable and credit-crunch-friendly £50 (with discounts for students and OAPs) – and all that isn’t enough to persuade you, remember I’ll be there on the day too :)

Today saw the publication of the schedule for the PHP North West Conference – you can see it in full on their site. There are some great speakers lined up – Johannes Schlüter, Rob Allen and Stefan Koopmanschap to name just a few that immediately jump out of the page. Tickets aren’t on sale yet but will be in the next week or so – I know I won’t be missing out on this event :)

With just over a week remaining on the PHP North West Call for Papers, plans for this Manchester-based conference are fairly racing along. The call for papers closes on 21st September (in time for me arriving home from ZendCon so we can make some decisions before I shoot off again). So far the submissions have been of a very high quality and I’m really excited about this event. In addition we have confirmed Derick Rethans as one of the keynote speakers, more details about that on the PHPNW site itself.

Tickets will be on sale somewhere around the end of September or beginning of October, and we’re already finalising some of the sponsorships – thanks so much to the companies who are getting involved in the event. So many of them are really adding to the experience as well as just buying advertising space, its giving the event a very special feel. I’m looking forward to seeing at least some of you in Manchester on November 22nd!!

Yay! The PHPNW site is now online with all the details of the PHP North West Conference to be held on November 22nd, 2008 in Manchester, UK. The conference is specific to PHP and aims to develop the skills of the developers in the local area. Look out for local speakers, some drinking, and generally a good crowd. Put the date in your diary, tickets will go on sale soon.

We’re also launching the call for papers for this event – it runs til 21st September and I’m really hoping we’ll see some good entries covering a wide range of topics. We are including some shorter slots as well as the traditional 1-hour presentations, so hopefully you can think of something you’d like to talk about for one of those units of time.

If you’ve got any comments or questions about the event, the talks, submitting a paper or anything else PHP-north-west-y, then add a comment or drop me a line.

I’m wildly excited to be able to tell you that the PHP North West Conference now has a date and venue confirmed! The event will be at Manchester Central (apparently this used to be the GMex), on Saturday 22nd November with an early bird ticket price of £50. At the moment we have no website, no confirmed speakers, and no other information to release … but rest assured there are lots of plans being worked on behind the scenes!! The site for the PHPNW user group and conference will be at http://phpnw.org.uk and there is a mailing list you can sign up to already.

The event is aimed at people working with, or wanting to work with, PHP in the north of England. We’ll have a selection of sessions, with the technical content intended to be accessible to a whole range of audiences – it will also be multi-track so there’s sure to be plenty of material to interest you, whatever your background. We will be having a call for papers for the sessions, and we’re hoping that we’ll get some good submissions – particularly from senior developers around the area and the wider UK. Whether you’re hoping to speak, hoping to learn, looking for a good crowd to mingle with on a Saturday, or you just really like PHP geeks – put 22nd November in your diary and I hope I’ll see you there!!

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this event, just let me know (I’m not organising the whole thing but I’m helping!), either by leaving a comment or by contacting me directly.