Well, it's that time of year again. The time when you are deciding which conferences to attend and how you'll get there and who you'll meet and what you'll learn.
DNNcon is one event (taking place April 1-2, 2016) you may not want to miss. Not only is DNN a web application framework, but it's also a thriving community, full of people who have a passion for open source and... well, other people. People like you!
Obviously you'll have to convince your "higher ups" that you should take time from; the office doldrums, the office clown (who might be your boss), and your desk photos, so you can jet, drive, walk or take your bike to Baltimore. Now... here are three good reasons why you should go... and we'll follow up with three good reasons to help you persuade your boss.
Three Reasons You Should Go:
One: Your job actually sucks, you hate your commute. If only there was another way to get your bills paid, feed your family and work from home. If you go to DNN Con, you'll meet a lot of people who used to be just like you... once in a dead end job, working miracles for people who under-appreciate your skill set. Bring your tool box ready to share and meet other people who complement (or can partner with) you so you can go back home and tell your boss and co-workers to take a flip flying fling off a tall building.
All you need to be successful with DNN is a good marketer, a good designer and a good developer. So you have two people you need to meet. Know which one you are and buy drinks for the other two until you come up with a cool company name... like Blue Bolt, or Arrow, or 10 Pound Gorilla, or Bring2Mind, or Glanton, or Engage, or Siliqon, Inc. Heck... call it "Ack-Something" if it works for you. Attending DNN Con... could be the first step that forever changes the course and quality of your life!.
Two: Eat, Drink and be Merry for tomorrow you die. Yes, it's taken from the Bible and we are warned that those who live this way may not be the kind of people who ultimately do well in this life or the next... but remember, too... all things in moderation. It's okay once in a while to just turn off the every day diligence of doing good for others, always keeping your commitments and never failing anyone or missing anything.
Be selfish, and think about the rest of your life... and at DNN Con... for 48 hours; you can grow your hair out, ignore shaving and wear your pajamas and slippers around a bunch of people who won't notice. There will be plenty of food, lots to drink and tons of conversation about what sucks and what rocks as far as being a DNN community member. Attending could be the most fun you'll have all year... and you only have one life to live; make it a lot of fun doing what you love!
Three: Words like, "Token" and "Node" make you laugh. So while your spouse and kids are wandering around like zombies looking at the local sites (Lake Kittamaqundi, The Mall in Columbia, Ellicott City, Railroad Museum, Inner Harbor, National Acquarium, Science Center, Oriole Park at Camden Yards), you'll be in your element... listening to uber geeks prattle on about acronyms only you understand. So don't be a SAP, and get your GAPE on, and talk and laugh about BPOS, SCCMs, compare your VDI, forecast the demise of MDOP, hail the IaaS, and hone your SaaS model, or reminisce about CaaS, deride your nemesis MSSP and share anecdotes about FAT vs VFAT abuse.
Three Reasons You Should Tell Your Boss You Need to Go:
One: Say... "Send me to this conference and I'll know more about open source options that could save our company hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure costs. We can get rid of this, and that, and dump this and that and you'll never have to deal with such and such or So and So again. We need to know the future; and this conference is a veritable school of the prophets for the non-LAMP world."
Two: Or try saying... "Let's get out of the office and meet some new talent... you know we're being taken advantage of, that we need to scale back our payroll. This conference is going to be well attended by freelancers, mavericks and companies who are willing to be white-labeled. We could double our productivity, while reducing costs... plus, we can see Archie Bunkers' chair at the Smithsonian."
Three: If neither of those work... how about... "We need new product; our sales are dwindling (or the same, or growing); let's take advantage of what other people are willing to publicly share. This isn't a closed source conference, it's an open source conference... so everyone there will be blabbing and bragging about software that we can actually use without paying for. If we find the right solution, we can expand our service offering, save the company, grow the company and get into a niche market that would normally costs millions to develop from scratch."
So there you go... kick, scream, punch, rub or kiss your way to DNNCon. You have your own reasons to forever change your life!
More about the conference can be found here: http://DNNcon.com (note the first day of the conference is on April 1st, 2016... but we're not fooling at all).