After this year’s ZendCon, there’s a question that’s been sitting in the back of my mind, bugging me to come up with a good answer – what role should companies take in the developer community ecosystem? The problem with the question is simple, though, because no two user group situations are the same.

I’ve heard things from both ends of the spectrum on this one. Some groups prefer to keep the companies away from their groups and rely on the support of those that make it up (much like a lot of the general PHP community) and there’s others that swing far to the other side and want any and every company that could potentially help them out to come walk through their door. The tricky part comes up when you get into that gray area in the middle. Some groups want help when they need it, but don’t want a company coming in and using that same influence to change the course of the group or to try to leverage it for their own purposes (“sure, we’ll help you out with that if…”).

So, what I want to hear from all of you – where do you think companies fit in our corner of the world in the PHP community? There’s several large ones out there that can and do contribute and others that don’t…which is the right blend and, more importantly, what can we do to help the situation?

So, given some of the comments from my previous post on conferences (and what they are/aren’t) I felt like I’d lost a bit of my “conference roots”. I’ve been to enough of them that my perception is, almost definitely, skewed in favor of the group of folks like me – the ones that seem to be making a career out of attending as many conferences as possible. We all know each other and we all have our own little bubble we float around in at most conferences. There’s comfort there, but there’s also one large problem – the bubble isn’t big enough.

Some of my advice from before pertained to those attending these conferences that might not be a part of this bubble. This includes the large number of attendees that are at a conference for the first time. Ever. They may or may not have even been to a local user group meeting before and this could be their first wide-spread exposure to the Wonderful World of PHP (and might be for a while after). So, fellow residents of the bubble – what can we do to help make these people feel welcome in our community and leave them with the feeling like they’re appreciated and that they can contribute back to PHP in their own way? Here’s a few suggestions:

• First off, an easy one – you were a newb once too, remember? No one was just born into the PHP community, it was a matter of discovery. Maybe you were working with Java or just learning HTML and how to design web sites. It’s possible you might have even glanced at PHP before but pushed it away as one of those “languages that’s just a fad” but have come back around. You explored the language, poking around in all of its nooks and crannys to figure out the best of the best practices for you and your code. How would one do this, you might ask? Well, it’s simple really – experienced users, much like you are now, took the time to sit with them and talk them through a problem they’re having. Or they did something as simple as stand at the front of a room and talk for an hour on something that interested you enough to want to devour any knowledge you could. In short, generations of folks from inside “the bubble” were the ones that helped you become the developer you are. Don’t forget that and don’t forget to follow their lead. We can’t have strong leadership in the language or community without guidance from those more experienced. Without it, our community will surely die.
  
• Next, an even easier one – sometimes, it’s not really about the code. Trust me on this one…when meeting people at conferences, it’s only maybe 30% about the actual code. Sitting in the conference rooms and learning about the technology is one thing, but walking around and shaking hands with people you’ve never met before fills out the rest. After the sessions are done, you’ll be surprised by the number of people that just want to sit around and shoot the breeze about what they’ve learned or another related bit of web technology. If you’re lucky enough to be a speaker and happen to overhear someone talking about something you know well, stop and listen. Offer advice where it fits and help them on the path to understanding some of the more difficult concepts. I remember being at my first conferences and seeing the speakers walking around and talking with each other and wondering if I’d be able to break in and ask one of them my own questions. Remember speakers, it’s not always about the other attendees coming up to you – keep your ears open and listen for places you can offer advice. There’s going to be a *lot* of people at ZendCon next week, so be sure to be ready to be what you’re there for – some of the most knowledgeable in your area. Be sure to share!
  
• And finally – the comfort zone is the danger zone (I bet you’re humming “Highway to the Danger Zone” now, aren’t you?) Jokes aside, this is just a quick one…don’t let yourself pass up an opportunity to share what you know with someone else because it’d be a step outside the usual. Remember, we’re all a part of the same community and if there’s no sharing going on, bad things happen.

Most of this is common sense and just about every speaker I know does this at one time or another, but I just wanted to remind those “bubble people” to get out there and mingle with the crowds and spread that knowledge around a bit. What you might see as one small comment to a random developer from a group could be the key to the problem they’ve been working on for months.

As I sit here and prepare my liver for the onslaught coming next week (ZendCon, of course), I can’t help but think about those folks that’ll be attending the conference. I’ve been trying to think back to the first time I went to a PHP conference (php|tropics represent) and how I felt walking about with the people I’d only knew by name from books, blogs and articles I’d read. I was actually sitting there learning from *the* Wez Furlong and was there with *the* Andrei Zmievski learning about PHP and it was amazing and thought provoking and I felt like I could write and do anything while I was there, surrounded by all these great minds.

Fast forward a few years to 2009 and you’ll find me still attending conferences and still enjoying getting to be around some of the big thinkers in the PHP community, but it’s just different. It’s not the talks or the evening events – those are all pretty much the same. No, I’ve definitely changed my expectations of conferences and I think it’s something that can easily happen to any attendee, speaker or not: you forget.

Yup, two simple words sums it up. You’ve been to one conference, maybe three and the sameness of it all starts to catch up with you. You follow some of the same patterns: you wake up, you drink enough coffee to make it through the first session, head to a few more, then lunch and on through the afternoon. Lather, rinse, repeat for the remaining days of the conferences. You can see how it’s easy to get in a rut and just coast your way through the conference absorbing what you can and drifting out the other side to an airplane that will take you back home.

Here’s another two words for you – speaker or not, conference attendee or organizer: wake up! As much as it pains me to say it (being a speaker and all), these events are *not* about the talks. Want me to repeat that? Conferences are *not* about the talks. I think Keith hit the nail on the head with some of his comments in a recent post talking about the “hallway track” and meeting people. Conference organizers will promote the sessions and the panels and talks they’ve managed to pull in with the big names, both in the PHP community and outside it. They want you to come and see these people and feel good that you sat in a room listening to the folks that took a chunk out of their conference budget. This makes them happy and they hope it makes you happy.

I can tell you one thing from my years of going to PHP conferences – if you listen to them, you’re missing out on the best part of the conference. See, the other benefit of having large events like this that companies can feel good about sending their employees to is…well…that it’s a large event with lots of people at it. That’s the key right there – the people. Enlightenment is fun, but sitting around having beers with the “internet famous” people you know from blogs and articles is so much more interesting. I’ll say it again just to be sure it sinks in – conferences are not about the sessions, they’re about the people.

So, what can you do to make sure you get the most out of your conference experience? I’m going to blatently steal some of these ideas from Keith but with a few of my own dropped in:

• Sessions are interesting, but people are fun – there are a *ton* of sessions happening at ZendCon this year. So much so that I have no clue where I’ll end up. Chances are, you’ve picked out a schedule that interests you and are just waiting to know which room they’re in. Do me a favor – each day, pick one talk that you’re on the edge about (yeah, you know the one) and don’t go. Yup, that’s right – don’t go, hang out in the hall or commons area or something. If you’re hesitant to go, chances are you’d just sit there and check your email or chat on IRC most of the time anyway. Do yourself a favor and get out and meet people. This kind of thing only comes around every once and a while, so make the most of it!
• Make connections – Keith recommends business cards because they’re easy, but I’d say take it a step beyond that. Really get to know people – it’s funny how a “camp” atmosphere can help people bond more quickly than usual. Take advantage of this time and really talk with people – go beyond the “hi, so what do you do?” kind of thing and find out who someone is, why they’re there and something interesting about them. Then exchange the cards…and IMs…and IRC nicks…etc. Get to know these developers! They’re your comrades-in-arms, after all!
• After-hours For The Win – The conference will have events after each of the full days of talks, that’s pretty much a given with any sort of conference. It’s what happens after that is some of the real fun. No, you don’t have to go out and party until the break of dawn (though there’s sometimes that too). I’m always a little bit disappointed that more people don’t stick around to hang out after whatever evening events might be going on. They scatter to the four corners of the hotel, not to be seen again until the start of the next day’s sessions. If you’re one of those types, trust me – being out just a bit longer won’t kill you. Plus you get an *amazing* benefit from it…you get to see people, speakers and non-speakers, how they are “off the clock”. Once the day is done, no one has to report to the next talk or worry about what the conference organizers will think. They sit down, stretch out and shake down until they’re just them. *This* is when real conversations start. If it hadn’t been for this time of the day joind.in might not even exist. Come, relax and just enjoy being around people – it doesn’t matter if they’re speakers, core developers or rockstars.