Just a quick update on where we currently stand with the planning for ThingsCon. It’s all moving pretty fast, so it seems helpful to occasionally share a snapshot of the development.
Program & speakers
The program is coming together almost by itself – we’re all super excited about the speakers already confirmed and the many more we’re talking to. (And the call for proposals is still going until the end of January, too!)
Currently confirmed speakers:
- Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, founder of Good Night Lamp & an advisor to ThingsCon.
- Brady Forrest, founder of Highway1, PCH’s hardware accelerator program & an advisor to ThingsCon.
- Louisa Heinrich, founder of Superhuman.
- Matt Webb, founder of BERGCloud.
- Emily Brooke, founder of BLAZE.
- Usman Haque, founder of Umbrellium and formerly of Pachube/Xively.
- Bethany Koby of Technology Will Save Us.
- Matt Biddulph, founder of Product Club and formerly Dopplr.
To all our speakers: Thank you! We really appreciate your trust in us to make ThingsCon worth your time.
On top of these already announced speakers, we have (if I’m counting right) six more that are just about ready to announce, and then there’s the whole call for proposals waiting to be sifted through too – so rest assured that the program will be awesome.
Hardware Day Berlin
For May 2, in addition to being the workshop day at ThingsCon, we’re planning to have a very open (read: no tickets required and everybody can organize their own autonomous events) Hardware Day Berlin. We’re just starting to reach out to the local community. The idea is to provide a framework for the hardware/IoT/connected devices/tinkering/startup/etc. communities to gather and put a big flag in the ground: Berlin can be a hardware hub, and through Hardware Day Berlin we can show it all.
Logistics
We’re just short of confirming locations, catering, wifi setup, and all the other fun things that need confirming. (Should you happen to have access to a location with 4-6 workshop rooms for a total of about 250 participants, let us know?)
Tickets
Currently, there are still some early bird tickets available (EUR 199+tax). Once they’re gone, regular tickets will go at EUR 299+tax. Buying tickets early on helps you make sure you get best value, and it helps us with the planning. So: Get your ticket now!
Sponsors
We work with potential sponsors to make sure that both the participants and the sponsors get maximum value out of a partnership. If you’re interested in sponsoring ThingsCon, please get in touch (thingscon at knowable.org) and we’ll be happy to see where the best opportunities are for you to get involved.
What’s next
So, lots happening! The next steps for us are to look into setting up a roadtrip where we can take Internet of Things folks to German Mittelstand, tech and manufacturing companies & telcos, to get the Hardware Day Berlin off the ground, and to spread the word beyond our immediate networks.
Give us a hand?
The main challenge (once the program is solved) for a small conference that happens the first time is to make sure everybody who needs to know about ThingsCon knows about ThingsCon.
So we really appreciate you spreading the word in your networks – every tweet, blog post and conversation helps. Thank you!
