Lone Star PHP 2014
25 - 26 Apr 2014 at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre

Several people told me that Lone Star is their favorite conference of the year, and now I see why. This was a really great event, from the well-chosen sessions to the family-picnic-like after parties to the extreme care shown by the organizers. They were very devoted to the comfort and enjoyment of their attendees and speakers, and it showed. I regret to say that the code of conduct needed to be invoked with one particular attendee-- but the organizers dealt with it quickly and decisively, and it was much appreciated by several in attendance.

Wifi always sucks at conferences. It's the great irony of being in tech. Take it as a reminder that the ubiquity of the internet is still a myth.

I agree with the lighting problems in the main room; the slides were a little dim for the brightness of the room, and the light shone down on speakers from above, which put them in a weird shadown. I also found it a little hard to hear some people who were wearing the mic in all three rooms. But these weren't dealbreakers, just room for improvement next year.

All in all, a completely fantastic conference. I can't say enough good things about Jake, Omni, Chris, Daniel, and Bob and the show they're running. Spring in Texas doesn't hurt, either. ;) Will come back any year I get the chance!

I really enjoyed my first Lone Star PHP conference! Food was great, talks were great, venue was nice and cozy. It is always great to spend time with the PHP community.

My only suggestion would be to include a target audience with each talk in the program. Just including "Beginner", "intermediate" or "advanced" would help with talk selection. I went to a few talks that I thought were great, but were more beginner focused, where I was looking for something a bit more in depth.

Everything else was great! Thanks for inviting me to come speak! See you next year.

There were some really great talks this year. I think some of the sessions should have been moved around to accommodate people as some rooms were over flowing.

The first after hour party did not have much option for Vegetarians. It would be nice if maybe we could get one of the sponsors more drinks during the conference. Maybe some soda, or something other than Tea, Coffee, and water.

The internet was horrible most of the time and I agree with some of the lighting making the slides hard to see.

The organizers did a great job as usual.

It would be nice if all the Speakers would get slide decks posted as I wanted to reference something with some fellows at the office this morning but the deck is not available.

I look forward to next year.

My first PHP conference and it was awesome! Kudos to the organizers!! They certainly know how to host a great conference. I have to comment on the food because it was so delicious. Great job on the catering!

The speakers were great and the talks were amazing. I learned a lot of information and networked with a few others. These conferences are a fantastic way to stay current in the PHP realm. The social aspects were also nice - I finally won in cornhole on the 3rd game!! Wohoo!

Great job to everyone involved. I already know I'll be present next year. Thanks for such a good time!

I missed LSD13. I was delighted to see how far this conference has come.

Jake, Chris Omni and Ben do a great job of executing. The sessions were good, the food was awesome, parties were epic.

Yes, the wi-fi sucks. It does at every conference deal with it. Here's an idea, shut your laptop, pull out paper & pencil and be fully there instead of partly there and partly on twitter/facebook/email, etc.

Thank you for allowing Pantheon to be a sponsor of this great event.

Cheers!
=C=

Overall a well-executed event right down to the weather! Venue is cozy, organizers were readily available, and speaker selections were good.

• Would be really nice to have speaker's faces illuminated. Hiring spotlight crew might be excessive, but it's important to see the speaker's face, so hopefully something can be done next year.

• Lighting in main room should be reduced at least during presentations. This would help with slides, especially darkly-colored slides.

• Screens in smaller rooms should be up a bit higher for the benefit of folks in the back.

And that's it - can't think of anything else. A++++ will buy a free ticket from Cal/Pantheon again!

1995 wants it's 28.8 baud modem back (faster wifi that does not drop half my packets would be cool)