In contrast to FOSDEM, which is the primary place that KiCad developers gather, this will be focused on the people who use KiCad for hobby projects, education and professional use. I have been really excited to see growth in all of those areas over the years.
We’re getting a lot of stuff figured out still, but the main thing is that it will be held in Chicago IL in April of 2019, looking at the last Friday and Saturday (26,27). Tickets will go on sale after more details are buttoned down, but the best way to guarantee a ticket is to apply to give a talk.
The main site for KiCon 2019 has other information about the current state of planning, so please read there before asking on this thread.
As we’ve had discussions about KiCon over the past few weeks, I got really excited to share best practices with other users and to learn more about how to use KiCad even better (I use it every day for my consulting work now). I think this will be a great opportunity to build and even stronger open source community for building electronics.
Is anyone else having trouble reaching the KiCon site? I’m getting a “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” page. I’m wondering if there is a server issue, or if I can’t access it through my corporate firewall here at work.
I understand the thought process behind pushing ticket sales before the event. Either talking to a room full of empty chairs, or the commotion of 50 heads trying to peer through an open doorway, is rough on presenters. (Likewise, you can’t keep eight dozen donuts in the freezer until next year, nor do you want some poor soul trampled under 500 bodies grabbing for 150 doughnuts.) And I’m sure there will be a time-phased price structure, with the admission price escalating steeply as the Conference draws near.
But can you give us a clue about the target admission price? Is it $25 - affordable to a serious hobbyist - or will it require a manager’s signature on a $400 purchase order?
I see you have already booked some A-list personalities. Have you tried tapping any of the regular Forum contributors, asking "Hey, would you be willing to talk about . . . . "? Or, maybe some Forum member would nominate a potential presenter here in this thread.
It always depends on what you want to convey. Some talks get boring after 15mins but others are still worth listening to after 50+mins.
Talk to a mirror or better still record your self and watch it back. Hearing your self will give you a good indication of how good your talk is. (don’t force a particular length if you have the freedom to choose. Some length will show itself naturally after a bit of training.)
@ChrisGammell could probably give more insight. I don’t know what the format of the thing will be. Will this be a ‘one room’ thing or will they be offering a couple venues and giving choices? If that’s the case you might need to come up with an hour or perhaps share time with someone giving a similar talk.
Something to consider is is a morning/day for training for a new user. I am a heavy Altium user and have been keeping an eye on Kicad but it is very expensive (in time) to learn the workflow. It would be efficient to have a day to see the workflow (create symbol, map 3d models, library management, schematic entry, pcb layout, documentation prep, etc). from someone who is skilled who could answer questions.
