Entering the Chute

When you run conferences for a living, you get used to a very predictable pattern -- one that revolves around the logistical build-up to a show (and the following let-down post-show). At about four weeks out from a show, you "enter the chute." "Entering the chute" describes the feeling your life takes on for that four weeks. Namely, like this massive onrush of details is rushing at you, you're powerless to stop it, and the only thing you can do is just work night and day until the show arrives.

Now, attendees and sponsors don't need to concern themselves with "the chute" -- hell, most of the time they don't even see it or know about it. But being in the chute does mean a couple of things, logistically, for those attending Gluecon:

1. I will lock the agenda this week. It's close now, but I still have to move a few sessions around and make some adjustments. Once I do that and lock the last few sessions, we'll be finalized and going to "print." If you're undecided about coming to Gluecon, please do take a look at the agenda. You'll find it devoid of sales pitches, full of technical goodness, and built to completely overwhelm your ability totake it all in. I'll stack it up against any agenda anywhere on the topics of cloud/big data/mobile/APIs.

2. Grab your hotel room. The hotel extended the discount cut-off for us until this Friday, but you need to get your room QUICKLY. The hotel (not our block, the entire hotel) is filling up fast, and you really don't want to stay anywhere else (imagine being in the space where every where you go, you find a gluecon attendee).

3. Get registered. If you don't come, you'll find yourself wondering why - during the week of gluecon -- all of the amazing stuff is happening without you. Don't take my word for it, see what other people say. Your registration includes danishes and coffee in the morning, morning and afternoon breaks, lunch, an open bar reception with appetizers, and the most amazing group of developers you'll find *anywhere*.

4. Stand-by for more info on the Hackathon. When you register for Gluecon, you'll be asked if you're attending the hackathon. Answer "yes" and you'll be on the pre-show mailing list for hackathon participants. In the next few weeks, I'll be sending out logistics, code repositories, documentation, hack ideas, the list of prizes you can win, meetup times and places for pre-hackathon get togethers -- all KINDS of good stuff. So, register, say "yes," and come build something.

5. Don't forget about CloudCamp. As you're planning your flights in, time on-site, etc -- do NOT forget about CloudCamp (and the Twilio workshop) which is happening the day before Gluecon.

We've entered the chute. I'll see you guys on the other side. In the meantime, I hope you'll choose to join us at Gluecon.