I was reached out to by Modern Frontends conference back in June this year. November is the most busy month of my DevRel calendar, I always expect ...
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Thank you for being so open about this. As speakers I think it is our duty to bring this to attention especially as experienced speakers. And it takes braveness to actually call it out so well done and thanks.
Can confirm all of the above, and will not speak, sponsor, or attend again unless drastic changes are made.
Was an antendee, can confirm many of these details and spoke to various speakers who experienced similar treatment.
I enjoyed your talk though Jo! Ably seems like a great platform for serverless websockets. Good luck on your next role to! If it's in devrel still I'll try and follow your work.
Good on you for writing this post Jo. Certainly doesn't sound like it was a very good event and very disappointing to hear the organiser's attitude regarding the whole thing. Hopefully those people do get their money back and people won't be dismayed at taking a chance speaking at other, more caring and true conferences.
Wow ...sounds terrible! And then they have the temerity to ask a whopping 600 quid for a ticket, adding insult to injury ... a conference whose demise would be fully deserved, and Gen Ashley (I don't know her TBH) clearly did not cover herself in glory with this, lol.
This reminds me of the “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” documentary.
Gen Ashley was also one of the organisers for an event I spoke at last year where she promised to upload individual talks but to this day has not.done so.
I was an attendee and also found it to be a disappointing experience. I received blank stares when I enquired why there was absolutely no signage to point the way, as the exhibition centre is massive. The only organisers I ever spotted were at the reception desk. I was equally unimpressed with the chilled sandwiches (in November?) for lunch from catering staff who looked like wanted to be elsewhere (I could sympathise with that).
The only saving grace was the quality of the speakers themselves.
I’m not sure if making changes will make a difference, as I’m sure some, if not all, of the speakers that drew me to the event won’t be returning.
Either way, I for one certainly won’t be making that mistake again.
What's so nice about diversity? Can't think of anything. It's absolutely doesn't matter at all, who your colleagues are. They can be great people regardless of whether they represent the entire color palette
I used to follow Gen on twitter when I still had an account. This really sucks to read, especially from so many trusted voices. Thank you.
Thanks for your feedback! 🙏🏻