ZendCon 2015
19 - 22 Oct 2015 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Following up here (as I can't edit comments). I was able to follow up with the Joomla representatives after the conference and they assure me their comments were intended to be a lighthearted joke of which I only heard a part. We've had some great conversations since then, and I'm confident there was no hostility intended.

Overall, this was a fantastic community event, and I'm glad we had the chance to follow up!

Overall fantastic conference.

Great venue, new announcements and in-depth technical talks. A real credit to the organisers.

Not sure but I think I may have been the only Brit attendee (aside from one of the speakers).

Las Vegas made the conference very attractive to an overseas visitor like me.

TL;DR: Excellent, well-organized event ruined by the venue.

Overall, ZendCon itself was a great show, but I found the overall experience lacking. Talks covered a broad selection of topics and skill levels; facilities were well laid out (with one exception: Studio rooms were isolated well away from the main venue and signage to them was poor); the provided lunch and supper each day was very good; despite a few hiccups the wifi was very good. I did sorely miss the uncon and hackathon events, though, and really hope it was a one-time omission and not the new normal. In the breaks between sessions the coffee kept running out so I found it hard to get any, and I didn't see any options other than cola and coffee.

Moving past the event itself to the overall experience, the Hard Rock Hotel was a terrible venue for a developer conference. To me, the mingling and chatting before/after/between sessions is just as important as the sessions themselves. I don't live in a major city with a vibrant PHP community so conferences are my opportunity to meet other developers, exchange ideas, put faces to the names from IRC. I felt that this venue was openly hostile to that. The small number of attendees relative to the whole population of people at that hotel made it difficult to even find people to meet. The central bar area was noisy, smoky and those with laptops out were regularly hassled by casino staff. I couldn't image a venue much worse or more exclusionary than HRH for the social aspect of the conference.

This was my first time at Zendcon and I loved it. I do agree that there might have been one too many things going on, a bit too many talks to pick from. That may have been part of the reason a few of the talks had such poor attendance?

I loved that it was in Vegas, and I hope it's Vegas again next year. I'll be there no matter where it is :)

I had a blast speaking at Zendcon this year. I thought the event was well run and enjoyable, a far departure from the bad old days of S&S Media. I didn't have the opportunity to stay until the closing session, so I'm not sure if there is/was an official survey, so here's my feedback:

- Need someplace for people to gather and hack on things (laptop friendly lobby?)
- If thought it was fun to have the event in Vegas, but if you put me on the spot and asked me should it be in Vegas next year, I'd have to say no. I do enjoy attending tech conferences and having fun in the local area, but the hotel like an unavoidable distraction.
- Ethernet at the podiums for tutorials was a lifesaver and a fantastic idea (especially for mine)
- I missed the uncon
- Power strips were abundant, you guys nailed that. Wifi was decent to good after some initial hiccups

Overall, excellent work by everyone involved, looking forward to the next one.

Fantastic show was put on here. I think there were actually *too many* tracks, it made it difficult to pick (too much choice can be bad).

There was also not really a place to sit & chat / relax / do coding / work etc. apart from the central bar, which was smokey (plus I heard you're not allowed laptops out in the casino, which makes it quite incompatible with PHP developers!). I'd like to have seen a breakout room, which meant either going back up to room, or wondering.

Overall these are minor problems, and I really enjoyed my first ZendCon, and the opportunity to meet with US folk that I've been unable to meet up with so far.

Adam and the team at Zend did a really good job, a very impressive conference with lots of bells and whistles. Thanks & maybe see y'all next year :)

The breadth of knowledge here was fantastic.

However, there were some items of critical feedback that need to be bubbled up:

- Having a conference in a smoking venue is hostile to anyone with allergies/asthma/sensitivity to smoke
- Some of the talks seemed to duplicate one another, making it difficult to know where to go
- Talks specifically geared towards one platform or another weren't clearly marked (a small tag on the placard outside the room wasn't enough)
- Attendee badges included a QR code with contact info that contained potentially sensitive personal information (home addresses)
- A lack of day-of communication when keynotes ran long led to confusing scheduling delays
- No facilitators in break-out rooms made it difficult to keep track of equipment or start/stop times (due to keynotes running over)
- Some vendors (i.e. Joomla) were actively and openly hostile to other platforms in the community (i.e. specifically targeting WordPress with unfounded negative comments), which is unacceptable at a community event and even more so when done by a vendor at their event booth!