PHPBenelux Conference 2016
29 - 30 Jan 2016 at Ter Elst

Again one of the best conferences I've attended! I also like the touch of vegetarian fries and that there were 2 carts this year. The hallway-track is still packed, not much room to navigate during breaks between the sponsors and food/drinks table in the center, but I'm not sure how to improve on this one. All-round: keep it up!

Awesome again! Minor things: mostly the room temperatures (either too cold or too hot), the last slot on saturday had no spare time in between the closing.
Juice bar was a really great plus for me! Sponsor area is awesome, loved the thought of the quiet room (although I didn't use it). Themeing was a great idea too! I will be back next year (as volunteer I hope!)

Small negative points; it'd be nice if the conference hotel was big enough to accommodate non speakers also. Also, I personally don't like the drinks token system for the Spark Central / Hostnet socials. Just have an open bar and be done with it :|

I know not the conference's fault, but is it me, or is that place falling apart? Leaks everywhere...

Loved the talks, the Combell juice bar, bumper cars, sponsor involvement & interactivity, socials, quiet room, ibuildings unconf was great, and food was good.

Raffle tickets didn't work very well imo; the winner of the PHP South Coast 2016 ticket did not approach me after (I hung around for a while after the closing, I tried tweeting out), and because it was a raffle ticket, there was no contact details...

Overall however, it was an awesome conference, better than last year because of bumper cars I think :) Thank you PHPBNL crew, hopefully see you next year.

A lot has already been said and I agree with most. Things that stood out for me
+ talks quality
+ food
- queue for food: I know, I know, it's more expensive to have more stands. Maybe there's a different solution?
+ JeoPHPardy
- talk level: beginner, intermediate, advanced were shown on the website, not on the card that we carry around. Easy fix for next year :)
+ tutorials are more in-depth talks than hands-on tutorials: I find this way more rewarding than typing along and seeing things work. I believe it works, that's why it's still there. This does imply higher demands on tutorial instructors because they need to have quite a head start on the subject.
- social area seemed a tad too small at times
+ atmosphere!

Great job organisers! Thanks

(this includes my previous comments)
it's helpful if the conference has a map on the badge and signs in place (I only found one of the rooms because I followed a sign for a tutorial, I didn't find the sponsor area until late Friday evening and I never really found the quiet room), I'd really like a sticker/t-shirt with the conference logo, please put talks up on joindin earlier, tweet when the schedule is up, tweet schedule changes (seems silly there is no automated blog post > twitter)

why is the PHPBNL logo so square/'formal'? the `php` logo itself is rounder and lower case
didn't see any (staff with) red badges and although the grey hoodies were nice, they didn't stand out much
please communicate what the social vouchers are valid for (2 for alcoholic drinks I think, I had to ask what drinks were available - beer, wine, water), make it clearer WHEN food is available, please don't make me pay for water or make it clearer where to get tapwater (conference building had 'no drinking water' in toilets)
the blog post with final notes took 3 clicks to get to from the main site - this'd be a lot easier/friendlier if there was a 1 click option from twitter or a button or note/update thing for a more direct route
one of the rooms had a seat close to a projector, possibly leave more of a gap as that space got very warm
do announcements in breaks or after/before talks or have an announcement board

there were a lot of sponsors but it's nice that they all got a personal shout out during the closing ceremony
did like the scarf & hat, awesome and relevant sponsors, good social area (football and snooker/billiards table, pin ball machine), good talks
liked the wifi (bit confusing at first) and having power sockets available
also liked the availability of tea/coffee/cake

more on sponsors: good size stands, well setup, awesome juice bar, video games (Microsoft & PHPPro), swag (planning poker from Coolblue, t-shirts, stickers), giveaways (BB-8, continuousphp, JetBrains)

Was my first year at PHP Benelux and when I arrived around 08:00 in the morning I got a bit lost because the registration desk wasn't open yet (there were no banners at that time). I saw Richard from the organization and I had to ask what I had to do to register myself.
The ticket and website mentioned it should be open at 07:30... for next year: inform people :-)

The conference was awesome! Heard about the bumper cars two years ago and it was a blast! Nice people, excellent tech and non-tech talks, excellent catering, and so on...

First of; Great to hear at the kick-off before the conference that you did something with the feedback of last year. (good too point out, even for a first timer, also a veggie :))

I must say, as a newby I was struggling to find my way around, so the venue was some sort of jungle too. After the first time I made it to the social area, I had to search for it again the second time. Luckily there was a stream of people walking in the same direction.

The veggie pieces of bread at the first evening where absolutely great! Also lunches on both days were just great. If it was only for the food, I would return. I've met wonderful new friends at the venue, thats priceless.

Bumpercars are a great idea to relax(and get bruises allover) and meet new wonderful people.

I would definitely go again!

This is just such a community-minded and welcoming event, after last year I'd say it could not be improved upon. But they managed to pull it off!

My teeny-tiny-almost-not-on-the-radar issue would be the constant re-entering of my password on WiFi, and the fact that the Sponsor room is _packed_ during breaks so I avoided it. Meaning I gave the sponsor booths less attention than they could have gotten.

Overall really great conference. Loved it last year, loved it this year and certainly will be back next year!

My biggest frustration for the event is something that's out of your control; the wifi. By the end of day two, I learned username and password by heart, but it does influence the otherwise super-smooth experience a bit.

As Mark Baker already said, Combell having the juice bar really added to the conference. Loved the fact they only served non-alcoholic and throughout the whole event. Sure hope Combell will sponsor a juice bar again next year!

Thanks for organizing, get a good night's sleep (or two) and see you next year!

I'll give it 4* instead of deserved 5* just due to fact that it's located in a small hotel where I wasn't able to book a room so I couldnt stay long on socials and had to travel up and down. Not a big issue, but 4,5* isnt an option.

Tutorials: I went to Event sourcing & CQRS and loved it 5*
Sessions: There was a range of beginner to advanced level talks, mostly concentrating on experiences and not shiny new tech stuff. 5*
Organization: Amazing. 5*

I organized few conferences in the past and was loving the extra details that PHP BNL crew did: integrating sponsors almost seamlessly into the event, having all the extra game perks in (billiard table, pinball maschine, bumper cars and much more) while not sacrifising the core of the conference: learning & networking.

I will come back next year ...

Great conference as always. Enjoyed every moment of it. Okay, maybe not the bruises, but that's worth it :)

The juice bar is a brilliant idea - great for those of us that don't drink alcohol, and who don't want to get bloated with too much water... and having it available all day gives us a real alternative choice. The barman was friendly throughout as well.

awesome: food, bumpercars, swag; improvements: make it clear (alcoholic?) drinks are 2 tokens instead of 1, stickers with the logo please, put up some signs for the tracks/rooms (it took me a while to find the sponsor area), do announcements in breaks or after/before talks or have an announcement board; good: quiet spaces, different spaces, tea/coffee/cake