More then a week went by since E2EVC has taken place for the 30th time and it took me a few more days to sort out all the dead brain cells in order to review this event for myself. This year has been my third time in a row starting from E2EVC Berlin and Lisbon in 2015 and Dublin this year.
This event started as Pubforum many years ago and it´s founder Alex (not Justin, not Alice) Cooper has done a great job over the couple of years building this conference to what it is today. Although I heard a few times about PubForum in the past I never managed to get there. When I look back I should have done it earlier.
Although someone might think that it is only about drinking tons of beer it is a pure IT conference with a lot of great speakers from all over the world that share their knowledge with everyone who wants to learn and dig deeper into the topics. It is so special because you have the chance to speak face-to-face to MVPs, CTPs, vExperts and all the other guys you are following on Twitter.
As what I heard there are always round about 150 – 170 people joining the conference.
This year´s edition of E2EVC was called EPIC because it was run for 4 days instead of the usual three. And that is really hard, especially if you are as old as me ;-).
For the one´s that join for the first time (maybe in Rome) it makes sense to arrive one day earlier at the venue location because it gives you the chance to chill a little bit in front of the action and it gives you the chance to meet some of the guys that arrive early too.
I for myself always try to arrive one day earlier in order to get the chance to meet some of the folks. It is also a good thing to book the venue hotel as early as possible to prevent being in an hotel somewhere in the outback. It makes things easier if you get drunk at the bar and need to go to your hotel room… and the chances are high that you will get drunk ;-).
Although I do not like beer very much E2EVC is the only time of the year where I drink so much of it that in the end I get used to it ;-). E2EVC attendants have practiced a lot to start drinking beer in the morning until the sun goes down and rises again, without even having stopped drinking.
Prepare to have a minimum of sleep if you join going to the bar or bars in the various cities E2EVC takes place. Respect to all the guys that drink till the morning and present their sessions at 9:30 AM with the rest of the crowd that is sitting in the rooms giving the presenters and sponsors their kudos!!!
Alex we talked about that topic at the bar but I thought I should repeat it at this place… I think we all now how busy you are planing all these events and how hard it is for you during the event to get all the people into the right direction.
If there are people complaining about things that are not running 100% perfect… f… it! I really like the floating agenda and the pre-event tweets and mails that announce agenda finalizations about a 100 times. From the very first event I had the feeling that you are taking care of every person out there that is attending and that you are trying to give everyone his credit in the small amount of time you have. I have huge respect for what you have achieved.
But there´s one thing you screwed up this time: The buses were red, not blue ;-).
E2EVC grandfathers guide newbies through the conference. If you are new and you have a question don´t hesitate to ask them, they will be glad to help you. Especially if you pay them with a beer (or two, or three).
All of the sessions I´ve been to were really great and I learned a lot. Thanks to all the presenters for doing so much for the community for free and thank you for sharing such an impressive amount of knowledge. It will take me a lot of time to go through all of the videos in the next weeks.
The next E2EVC is going to take place in Rome, November 18-20. I booked it and I´m really looking forward to see all of you again. If you want to be part of it check http://www.e2evc.com and book your ticket.
I think pictures speak for themselves…
It was a pleasure meeting the “swiss army”, especially Thorsten (and your lovely wife) and Massimo Ferrara (who´s name is pure sex… LoL).
Thank you Frane from Croatia for the beer invite. I´ll contact you if i get the chance to visit Split again.
Thank you Carsten and Sascha for the Dicey Club experience ;-).
I would also like to thank Luke Wignall from Nvidia for taking his time at 2:30 AM to listen to the community.
And many, many thanks to those who attended my session. I hope you enjoyed it.
See you,
Sinisa
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