Hi Tristan, I'm @hintjens on Twitter and my blog is at hintjens.com.
You may also enjoy cultureandempire.com which I'm publishing piece by
piece.

The first ZeroMQ event I went to in Portland I arrived and listened to
some guy drone on about something complex for 45 minutes, and no-one
had the nerve to tell him it was boring.

So my idea, which worked, was to switch it around; you get a short
slot, and only if you get upvotes, you get an extension. That, plus
the queue of speakers made the event very lively and great fun.
Everyone was involved and especially when one guy came up to present a
third slideshow, people were cheering him on like it was sport.

I can imagine several tracks and queues being interesting especially
if speakers and audience don't know what room they're going to be in
beforehand.

It needs brutal timekeeping and moderation.

-Pieter

On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 5:27 PM, Tristan Winters
<tristan_winters@???> wrote:
> Hi Pieter,
>
> Thanks for your mail and prompt reply.
>
> Guys on our team from Sydney have been doing smaller events for a while i.e.
> "Beers 4 Bitcoin".
> We also have an older guy who has organised many tech events in his career.
>
> I would still value your input however. From time-to-time.
>
> There are definitely elements of your proposed model which appeal. I will
> stew them over in my mind, on how best to fit them in.
> They have enormous potential for "fun". Or, at least avoiding making things
> too "stale". Like some conferences can become.
>
> Do you use twitter? I'd like to follow your posts. I am @tristan_winters.
> As the founder of the ZeroMQ community, your work is of great interest to
> me.
>
> TW.
>
>
> On 17/10/2013, at 5:12 PM, Pieter Hintjens <ph@???> wrote:
>
> Hi Tristan,
>
> My advice is to start up front with some smaller events to get the
> hang of things. It's easier to organize a tiny, medium, and large
> conference than to organize just a large one. The unconf model I
> explained can help a lot to keep things fluid and fun.
>
> -Pieter
>
> On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 5:04 PM, Tristan Winters
> <tristan_winters@???> wrote:
>
> Pieter,
>
> I am in the very early stages of organising a conference in Australia.
> This will be the first of its kind in Australia, by our newly formed Bitcoin
> Association of Australia.
>
> We are a team of 8 people. So we've got ample human resources.
> I'd like to consult you at different stages for your advice, as we proceed,
> if that's OK. You seem to have ample experience.
>
> Cheers,
>
> TW.
>
> On 17/10/2013, at 3:09 PM, Amir Taaki <genjix@???> wrote:
>
> > That sounds cool. My last conference had 350 people but anything up to
> 1000 people is possible. What are you thinking? We're going to put up
> a Wiki soon and I'll be able to send you some links with more info.
>
> On 17/10/13 08:45, Pieter Hintjens wrote:
>
> I've organized a lot of conferences small and large. The very
> best, and least hassle, was a ZeroMQ unconf we did in Portland. All
> we need is a large room and people. Here's how it works:
>
> - anyone can speak - there's a queue of speakers (a row of chairs)
> - a speaker gets 15 minutes (you could cut this to 5 minutes if
> you wanted to be brutal) to give the short story - the audience
> votes by IRC +1 if they want to hear more - the speaker gets
> additional 5 minute slots until the moderator gets bored - it's all
> recorded on video and published
>
> No registration, no organization except technical (room, WiFi, food
> & drink, video). Some funding or sponsorship for the room,
> usually.
>
> I'd be happy to organize something like this in Brussels.
>
> -Pieter
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 1:41 AM, Amir Taaki <genjix@???>
> wrote: no time really to be organising conferences. doing them is
> super stressful and i don't really feel like it pays off compared
> to just writing code and making kickass projects or working
> spaces.
>
> On 16/10/13 12:15, Jaromil wrote:
>
>
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> Pieter Hintjens
> CEO of iMatix.com
> Founder of ZeroMQ community
> blog: http://hintjens.com
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--
-
Pieter Hintjens
CEO of iMatix.com
Founder of ZeroMQ community
blog: http://hintjens.com