If someone would tell me that it was possible to build a conference where the people are the curators and that the speakers have less than 3 days to prepare some of the most amazing talks I would ever yet to see, I wouldn’t believe it, however it happened.
It is amazing to me how TriConf is so decentralized in a way that people with different skill sets are available to fill the needs of the whole as they are called to action, it happens more than once, people joined forces to bring the best content, or simply to bring some content they know about, as people were interested and eager to ear about it.
I was nominated to talk at TriConf about LXJS, the Lisbon Javascript Conference, something that I’ve been doing for 3 consecutive years. However, the person making the nomination had written the title as follows: “Organizing the World’s Best-Organized Independent Dev Conference (LxJS)”, I completely panicked.. I thought “Oh my.. , what are these people going to think, that I’m so sort of Rockstar? The Best? What? People will get so disappointed”.. But I couldn’t let anyone down, for me, for the audience, the Lisbon Dev Community and specially for the team that has been putting so much energy and time into it. I was stressed and afraid.
Everything changed when I entered the room and start talking, people were so warm and welcoming, that moment I realized that after all, it was not about slides or infinite hours of preparation, I was talking about something I worked for so much and that people were eager to learn about (I loved when they’re made questions :)), it felt great!
In case you are interested, you can find slides here:
TriConf epitomizes everything I love and wish to see in a collective of people that shares a passion and has courage to pursue their goals. It gives room to the new, as we not only we get to see people that have contributed vastly to some technology or art, but also to newest, aspiring leaders, that are conquering their own fears.
TriConfidents really know how to be thankful and value each other. TriConf was definitely an encouraging and humbling experience.
I want to take this opportunity to thank again to Jenn Turner to put the conference together, all the organizers that make it happen, the sponsors that enabled this community event and all the volunteers that were providing support.
PS: I’m following my good fellow Mike Speegle advice and write down about what I feel during the moment it happens without getting distracted by anything, and not just write notes. Thank you Mike!