FOSCon was amazing! Picture 100 Ruby geeks and Ruby geek wannabes gathered in a fairly small industrial building that’s been converted into something I heard described as “a frat house for geeks”. There were five talks (Lucas Carlson, Topher Cyll, Ryan Davis>, Geoffrey Grossenbach, Jim Weirich, and Amy Hoy) and a great deal of side room discussions. As good as OSCon is, FOSCon is even better, albeit in an anarchic sort of way.

The pdx.rb started FOSCon last year out of a desire to particpate in OSCon without needing to pay the conference fees. They invited a bunch of OSCon speakers and a couple of other folks to come out and present to an underground audience. This year, O’Reilly invited them into the fold, and FOSCon became a track unto itself — an all Ruby all the time track that came with pizza, drinks, and attitude.

So, other than making you jealous why am I writing all of his? Simple. I want you to be able to enjoy the same kind of experience — and you won’t have to come to Portland to get it. How’s that you say? Again, simple. All you need to do is work with you local Ruby Brigade (and maybe others in the region if you’re lucky enough to have them) and plan a regional Ruby Conference (and here and here). Pick a Saturday, find a location, invite a speaker or two from somewhere else, and put out a call for papers in your area. It’ll be great. Trust me.