PHPNW 2013
4 - 6 Oct 2013
at Manchester Conference Centre
What did you like about this event, and what do you think could be better for the next time? Leave your feedback to help the organizers know what you liked, and what could be improved on.
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First time at phpnw, and I had a great time. Some very good, informative and funny speakers and talks. I'd definitely like to come back next year, though it would seem the conference has outgrown the venue. There were are few times that members of our group were turned away from talks that were full to capacity - so maybe next time you could get a better venue?
Also very happy that the free beer was not skimped on - there was plenty to go around and that is definitely a good thing! Lots of prizes too which was good, though a shame I didn't win any!
Overall I had a very good experience.
another year, another great conference. was nice to be back at MCC too, and good to see the issues last time we were there have been addressed and corrected by the venue staff this time round.
as others have said the air con in track one was a little high so it was rather cold in there at times, having been before Im familiar of the layout but a couple of the guys I came with did get a little lost the first morning so a map might be a good idea next time.
Apart from that it was another great conference, many thanks to Jeremy and the rest of the organising team for putting on another great event.
At Ampersand Commerce, we sent 9 of our developers to the conference. They all came back very impressed and inspired. We're collected their feedback here: http://ampersandcommerce.com/hobgoblins-mindgasms-and-why-we-loved-phpnw13/
It's been an amazing conference again. The preparation, email and general organization of the event was spotless. Great food, a nice big exhibitor hall with a lot of good companies and the staff has been incredible - always attentive and helpful.
Every other point was already been made by lineke :)
My second PHPNW and the venue this time was way better than last year's (if a little chilly and mazelike!).
The quality of speakers this year was OFF THE CHARTS, though I think last year had more varied and interesting topics. May I politely suggest that having two talks both on the topic of Vagrant was a bit of a mistake? (Especially on the same day and right after each other!)
Improvement suggestions:
[] Talk titles aren't always indicitive of talk content
[] Would be nice to know the difficulty level of each talk
[] Break time after every talk (with tea and coffee available)
[] Ending keynote was (for me) rather too long
Great!
Another great conference from the PHPNW team - well done and thanks again for all your hard work.
I wonder if offering a prize draw open to everyone who gave feedback on joind.in would increase the amount of feedback further?
This is my 2nd year attending PHPNW.
Full of a rich and diverse crowd of people. Some people I knew, some I recognised and many I didn't know.
This will only improve with each year that I attend.
Going to the conference feels more like a very informative gathering of old and new friends.
1 very minor point: the wifi password was dotted around the conference. While this was good, it was sadly all in uppercase while the actual password was all in lowercase.
PHPNW14 is already in my calendar!
Great conference, as always. Great people, great talks, and a good time
And a welcomed return to an excellent venue (even if, sadly, it meant a reduction in numbers) - it was a bit of a maze but the organisers/helpers and MCC staff were superb and you were never lost for too long
The food was brilliant too all weekend - I never went hungry for long (although can anything be done to decrease the length of time between closing remarks and the food being served?)
By the way, it was also great to see there were so many women. The amount of women at PHPNW keeps on growing every year and I believe PHPNW has the most women of any conference I have ever been to.
Also, special thanks for Jenny for having me sleep over at her place and to Andy for picking us up from the airport and taking me back to the airport.
Thanks everyone for an awesome weekend!
Once again the conference was awesome! I didn't even come for the sessions, I came for the hackathon and networking but got to see some great talks as well.
Some constructive feedback:
Hackathon
It was well organised and went smoother then last years, so that's a plus. The burgers weren't that good, but what can you expect if they have to cook them for so many people at the same time. The sound of Guitar Hero became distractive at one point, so maybe next time have a separate room for it or something.
Conference
The rooms were really hard to find, I could have done with a map or better directions. It would have been good to have bottled water like last 2 years instead of tap water. I guess I am spoiled but your tapwater tastes like chloride to me :). It was a bit weird when asking for it on sunday they said they had it but I then had to pay for it. Would have been nice to know that in advance. Food was good and many thanks for the phpwomen table!
Social
The social was awesome because there were so many rooms where everyone could sit. This meant that you hadn't had much background rumor when playing a game or having a conversation. The downside of this was that the bar was very far and it was harder to find someone because there were so many places to look.
All in all I would say these are details and the overall feeling was the same as the last two years I visited: Awesome! See you next year!
First time at PHPNW and it was truly exceptional. I've come away feeling more inspired about PHP than I have in a long time.
The quality and content of the talks and tutorials was amazing, so a massive thanks to the speakers.
My only comment, and I'll be the first to admit it may be my fault, but in reading the site and booking tickets it appeared to us that the hackathon ran concurrently with the afternoon tutorial and so we didn't book on it. A shame as I would have loved to attend that too. Just saying (Friday:PM) left it a little ambiguous.
Other than that, I just want to say a massive thanks to everyone who made this happen. I had an amazing weekend and I'm already looking forward to next years. I feel this conference may become a regular fixture in my calendar.
Always a great conference that gets better each year!
Liked that the second day was also part of the conference and not just a bolted extra. Also, the opening keynote innovation over the two rooms worked really nice.
Shame I couldn't make it to the hackathon. Maybe a bigger space for that next year?
A big thanks to everyone who made this happen!
Always looking forward to the annual phpnw conference, and never been disappointed.
For the unconf it would have been very helpful to put the moving schedule somewhere on the interwebs. Missed some good talks as it seems.
And as it was a topic in Lorna's and Ivo's keynote, I (maybe some others too) would really love to see a pre-conference 5k to push that healty programmer idea a bit forward.
The best thing about PHPNW13 is the people, this is something that can't be controlled but it's just the spirit of this conference that keeps me coming back even before I've seen the schedule. I also really loved the social events this year, the fact that the venue was big enough so that people could do whatever they felt like, I hate to hang around in a busy bar all night where I can hardly talk to people, but there were games and quiete areas which made this event SO AWESOME, and we could really connect better than if we did it in any other way.
Things for next year that actually was slightly annoying:
* The venue was like a maze, we need either a map or great signing.
* I could hardly find the uncon, it should be advertised more. And you need more than one uncon organiser so that one can maintain a schedule in an area that people can see.
* The burgers on the hackathon sucked.
All in all: I'll be back next year. Thank you <3
As always a well orgainised event, and congratulations to the MCC as they were very on hand to keep the event running smoothly )
As a first time speaker, I couldn't have asked for a more helpful group of organizers. Despite a late arrival due to flight problems, the organizers went out of there way to help get me there on time. I'm very grateful for that.
Only thing I would change is to have a small map printed on the badges. Until I was properly oriented, it was a bit of a struggle finding everything.
Other than that, it was a fantastic conference.
As my first conference, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. However, everyone I met was very welcoming and friendly. I have really enjoyed myself. The talks I saw were entertaining and interesting and I learnt many new things. I was lucky enough to catch Stefan Koopmanschap's talk "How to make the most of a Developer Conference" (which I have fed back on Joind.in) I didn't manage to attend the free bar / social on Saturday evening as I was ill, but I thought that was a great idea, although I sympathise with those who struggled with the early start (maybe drink less, I don't know??....).
Downsides - the Uncon room was really tucked far away (but that did not distract from the quality of the talks I saw, I hasten to add). The Track 1 hall was sometimes quite chilly. Track 2 the sound was a little quiet for Ivo/Lorna's opening keynote (although my hearing is not perfect, so that may just be me).
Some of the highlights (not all of them!) for me were Anthony Ferrara's talk, Volker Dusch's humour, doing my first conference talk, playing Cards Against Humanity and just meeting some really clever people. I will definitely come again next year.
Pro tips I have learnt: bring some business cards next year. Staying at the same hotel as the conference was *extremely* convenient, I would do the same again next time. Just talk to people, go up and say hello (be polite and courteous of course though). Don't drink so much at the Hackathon, I was not very productive at all (and I sucked at Guitar Hero!).
Thank you to all the PHPNW13 organisers, helpers, MCC staff, speakers, and everyone who made me feel welcome.
Really enjoyable weekend, thanks very much! Although I did find the 9am start a bit of a challenge this morning after the free bar ;) Very well organised and everyone was really friendly. I hope to attend next year!
My first time at the PHPNW conference, and I hope it won't be my last. Fantastic venue, well organised, awesome talks and people. It's just a shame there's a year until the next one!
It truly was a great conference.
Knowledgeable speakers and talks of pretty high quality. Great venue and friendly people and organizers all round.
Special thanks to Jenny for getting me a ride; twice!
I think I've been saying this for years now, but PHPNW is still the absolute best PHP conference in the world. Great content, excellent venue, fantastic and very friendly crew and delegates and I've been really impressed by the vegetarian food. Veggie food at conferences is often boring and uninspired, but the veggie food has been amazing throughout the event. Thanks everyone, what a fantastic event.
Congrats guys. Very interesting talks (too bad I can't clone myself to attend to all 3 tracks), helpful staff (both from phpnw group and mcc), great event. Hats off!
Really well presented and very informative! Will be coming back again next year. Also, open bar!
By far one of the best conferences I have been to, free bar all night helped as well :)
First time at PHPNW, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've taken away a lot more actions and learning points than I expected, and have been exploring many technologies and patterns that the conference introduced me to. A great crowd there, and I've come away inspired and motivated.