There are only five more days before the Early Bird Tickets are finished. Get your skates on and head over to the Tickets page to book at the Early Bird price!

PHP relies upon the community, and without which PHP would not be where it is now. This support comes in many different forms; developers, documenters, testers, evangelists, technical aids and many more. Just like PHP, PHPNW also relies upon the support of the community for it to be successful, and if you are passionate about the PHP community then there are many ways of getting involved as individuals.

Promotion

Are you attending the conference? If so then tell people that you are! There are a number of ways that you can do this; you can link on your website/blog using one of our logos, using the #phpnw11 hashtag on Twitter or by telling people who would be interested personally. We rely on people spreading the word and personal recommendations in order to keep on growing, and every year we get great feedback. If you enjoyed it in previous years then please tell others!

Volunteering

If you would like to attend the conference, but do not have the spare cash, then we are still in need of a few volunteers over the weekend to help with the running of the conference. We need speakers shadows (to make sure the speakers are kept happy, fed, hydrated, and most importantly they are on time for their sessions) and people to drive speakers from the airport to the hotel on the Friday and Sunday. Volunteering will not only get you a free conference ticket, but will give you an exclusive opportunity to chat with some of the speakers personally! If you are interested in this then please contact us.

Attending

Even by attending you are supporting the conference and the PHPNW user group. The money from the tickets goes back into the conference and community which allows us to continue doing this. But it’s more than just paying for your ticket, people wouldn’t attend if they weren’t having a good time. Learning is an important aspect of any conference, however you learn so much more when you’re enjoying doing so. Attending the sessions is only half of what the conference has to offer.

I cannot stress how important the socials are and how they are a great place to meet new people, gain knowledge, and of course have fun! I know from personal experience I’ve often learnt as much in the bar as I have during the sessions. Attending the pre-conference social is a great way of breaking the ice and meeting new people who have a similar passion for PHP, you will be able to chat and share experiences about your particular areas of expertise and interests. This is also a great prelude to the Saturday night social, as by then you will already know people and be able to talk about what you have seen during the day. Please don’t be shy to come up to us or the speakers during any of the socials to say hello, we don’t bite!

  Rick Ogden   

 @rickogden