Unfortunately, it's over. A conference different than others, an un-conference! The Java Open Spaces Conference, or Java Specialists Symposium took place from 29th of August till 1st of September 2011 in Perle Resort Spa Hotel at Chania/Greece. A conference different than others. The theme for our 2011 Java Specialists Symposium was: Making Java Fun Again.
An Open Spaces Conference
The conference was based on the principle of Open Spaces (thanks to Kim and Kate Tucker). In short, this means that we didn't invite key speakers, but the participants organised themselves to suggest topics of interest. This was the reason that no schedule was published even till the last day before the event. However, as you can see here, the magic of open spaces conferences worked and the participants organised themselves to present very interesting and advanced topics. Heinz Kabutz, Kirk Pepperdine, Ben Evans, Michael Hunger, Dimitris Andreadis, Sven Reimers, just to mention a few, led some very interesting discussions on various topics. The outcome of the un-conference will be published under the Creative Commons license.
Excursions
A number of excursions in the afternoon followed the morning sessions. This added substantially to the coherence of the group. The participants enjoyed them and became more attached to each other. We went to some secret beaches, we swam, we tried traditional Cretan delicacies, and for those who preferred something else than sight-seeing there have been programming sessions (puzzlers!) in the evenings. Heinz Kabutz offered his house for a BBQ on Wednesday evening which contributed to a great atmosphere!
The participants loved the whole event. It was a combination of everything: conference, fun, sun, sea, great food, great company. What else can one ask? Ideal for you and your family. See you again next year!
An Open Spaces Conference
The conference was based on the principle of Open Spaces (thanks to Kim and Kate Tucker). In short, this means that we didn't invite key speakers, but the participants organised themselves to suggest topics of interest. This was the reason that no schedule was published even till the last day before the event. However, as you can see here, the magic of open spaces conferences worked and the participants organised themselves to present very interesting and advanced topics. Heinz Kabutz, Kirk Pepperdine, Ben Evans, Michael Hunger, Dimitris Andreadis, Sven Reimers, just to mention a few, led some very interesting discussions on various topics. The outcome of the un-conference will be published under the Creative Commons license.
Excursions
A number of excursions in the afternoon followed the morning sessions. This added substantially to the coherence of the group. The participants enjoyed them and became more attached to each other. We went to some secret beaches, we swam, we tried traditional Cretan delicacies, and for those who preferred something else than sight-seeing there have been programming sessions (puzzlers!) in the evenings. Heinz Kabutz offered his house for a BBQ on Wednesday evening which contributed to a great atmosphere!
The participants loved the whole event. It was a combination of everything: conference, fun, sun, sea, great food, great company. What else can one ask? Ideal for you and your family. See you again next year!
