Filed under: vietnam
I love going to conferences. Especially when they're free. Fundraising conferences, open source software conferences, education in Vietnam conferences, Vietnamese-American nonprofit conferences, internet retailing conferences. I love the break from work, the exposure to new information/ideas, the opportunity to meet interesting people – and in some cases, establish meaningful professional connections – and well, I even like the free lunch.
Sadly, the last year has been dry in terms of conference-going. I'd been holed away in what we call the "bat cave" (Vietnamese staff don't seem to like sunlight even with the air conditioner on!) on average 12 hours a day. And there simply wasn't much opportunity for a project manager at an outsourcing company in Vietnam to conference-go in HCMC.
Well, all that's about to change as I'm about to embark on a Bay Area conference craze. Turns out, there are TONS of conferences happening immediately upon my return. Unfortunately, most of them cost an arm and a leg for someone currently in a state of joblessness. No fret. These techies have hearts big as nonprofiteers. Being jobless means also being able to apply for scholarships or having the time to volunteer in order to get a free pass.
Going!
WordCamp: May 30. A one-day gathering for WordPress bloggers. Author Tim Ferris will speak, which is kinda cool because I read his book and met him here in HCMC. $25 – can't beat that! Though I did. Scholarship.
140 Twitter Conference: May 26-27. A 2-day community event for avid Twitterers. BIG names in the Twitter space including Jeremiah Owyang, a Forrester Research analyst who reports on the social web, and Robert Scoble, a prolific technology evangelizer and blogger. $249 – not bad for a 2 day event with industry experts. But again, free for me. I'm a volunteer online evangelizer!
CommunityOne: June 1-3. A 3-day super-geeky event for open source developers. I probably will only understand 5% of what the speakers and other conference-goers will talk about. But this one actually IS free, so that makes the 5% worth it. Plus, it's at the Moscone Center. Ooh la la…
Not Going :(
Penguin Day: Sadly this event took place on Saturday. I attended Penguin Day a few years back, and it offers really informative sessions for cash-strapped non profits in need of technology solutions. Sorry I didn't announce this earlier.
Another Twitter Conference That Shall Not Be Named: It's happening within the same week as the 140 conference. But since I'm volunteering already for 140, it's a bit awkward to try to do both :( Also this 1-day even happens to be $595. Hmmph.
Online Community Unconference. June 10. An informal gathering of developers, community managers, and online marketers to talk about building online communities. $145 – not bad again, but will work for free pass? Have emailed. Will see.
Gosh, I wish I could go to school all over again and major in something like The Social Web. Anymore conferences out there I should go to? Sen
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