As we head into another Northern Hemisphere pandemic winter and hope that things won’t be quite as bad this year, next summer seems an extremely long time away in the future. But it will be upon us sooner than we might think, and along with it will we hope come a resumption of full-scale hacker camps. One of the biggest will be in the Netherlands, where MCH 2022 will take lace at the end of July, and if you’re up to casting your minds ahead far enough for that then they’re inviting submissions to their Call for Participation. Their events are always a memorable and relaxed opportunity to spend a few days in the sun alongside several thousand other like-minded individuals, so we’d urge you to give it some consideration.
If you’ve never delivered a conference talk before then it can be a daunting prospect, but in fact a hacker camp can be an ideal place to give it a first try. Unlike a more traditional technology conference where most of the attendees file into the auditorium, at hacker camps there is so much else on offer that many talks are delivered to only that sub group of attendees for whom the subject is of real interest. So there is less of the huge auditorium of anonymous crowds about it, and more of the small and friendly crowd of fellow enthusiasts. The great thing about our community is that there are as many different interests within it as there are individuals, so whatever your product, specialism, or favourite hobby horse might be, you’ll find people at a hacker camp who’d like to hear what you have to say.
In just a few short weeks, we’ll all be meeting up online for the second Hackaday Remoticon on November 19th and 20th. This is the year of the Talk, and who better than you, dear reader, to give one? Good news — we’ve extended the deadline for proposals to Wednesday, October 20th. We’ve all got at least one or two subjects that we could happily bloviate about for hours, be it hardware, software, skill sets, or the stuff that inspires you to stop dreaming and start doing. Why not share your wit and wisdom with the rest of the community?
So, what are you waiting for? Submit your talk proposal today! We’re not looking for you to pack the whole talk into the description box, but we would like to know what your talk will be about, and why it’s relevant to an audience of geeks, hackers, and engineers. Talks are typically 30 minutes in length, but we can likely accommodate shorter or longer talks if needed.
Everyone has something worth sharing, and the fact is, we are always looking for first-time speakers to showcase. Just share the things you’re doing that you’re passionate about, and you’re bound to have a great talk that generates excitement all around.
So grab some go-juice and start brainstorming the outline of your talk — give us enough information that we’ll be thirsty for more. Have you got terrible stage fright? Then encourage your outgoing hackerspace buddy to give one and cheer from the sidelines. Although we would rather see all of you in person, moving this conference online comes with the flexibility to hear from hackers all over the world, and no one has to leave home.
The Hackaday Remoticon is happening this November 19th and 20th and the whole Internet is invited. This time around we’re packing the weekend with talks about all the hardware, software, special skills, and inspiration that gets poured into the world of electronic stuff.
Send in your talk proposal now! I know, Call for Proposals sounds so official, but it’s really just a matter of giving us a summary of what the talk will cover, and an in-depth description where you make your case on why the talk is relevant to the people who will be watching it.
We go out of our way with all of our Hackaday conferences to get first-time speakers up on stage (or I suppose in front of a webcam in this case). Whether it’s your first time or your fortieth, the substance of the talk is what matters the most — we want to see what you’ve been doing at your workbench and in your lab so please give us a window into that part of your life.
Like many of you, we desperately wanted to get back to an in-person Hackaday Superconference this year. We waited until now to make the call in hopes that maybe a smaller live conference would be possible, but at this point, even if we could pull off the weekend safely, it’s hard to imagine people would have the relaxing good time that Supercon has come to be known for. On the plus side, holding a virtual event like Remoticon means more of the Hackaday community gets to join in on the action. To shake things up for 2021, we’re pivoting away from workshops to make room for more talks and adding some excellent new ways for you to participate that we’ll be sharing more about very soon.
But to pull it off we need a slate of engineers, hackers, and geeks who want to share what they’re passionate about with a captive audience of like-minded individuals. Think you’re up to the challenge? Submit your ideas and let’s build something amazing. Or if you’d rather just kick back and watch, reach out to your favorite hacker and encourage them to speak. The one huge upside of a virtual conference is that it breaks down the time and treasure barriers of travelling to Pasadena to participate, and having this event accessible to a much wider range of people is something we can all get behind.
As we stare dejectedly at our screens and consider what might have been during the 2020 summer that didn’t quite happen, here’s a little something to look forward to in a future where the COVID-19 pandemic will with any luck be much less of a threat. We have have had precious little in the way of events in 2020, but the call for participation has been announced for one of the largest planned for 2021. MCH2021 will be big European summer camp of next year, and is scheduled for the 6th to the 10th of August at Scoutinglandgoed Zeewolde in the Netherlands province of Flevoland. It will be the latest in a long line of such events going back to 1989, and with such a track record we know it’s going to be a good one.
We know that among our community are many people who’ll be interested in going to MCH, and that each and every one of you will have some fascinating insights that others would love to hear about. The challenge of the MCH orga is to bestow upon you the courage to stand up in front of your peers and talk about it, and from our experience here at Hackaday we’d say that an event such as this one makes for a very good place to give speaking a try. As always they’re interested in all the cool stuff that comes from our diverse community, but to help you along they’ve suggested a theme. Recent events have it’s fair to say presented a challenge to the world, and in that light they state that “we are especially looking for content that is about our ability to recover from extreme events of whatever nature”. We look forward to seeing you there.
We want you to present a talk at Hackaday Belgrade and this is the last call to send us your proposal.
Europe’s biennial conference on hardware creation returns to Serbia on May 9th for an all-day-and-into-the-night extravaganza. Core to this conference is people from the Hackaday community sharing their stories of pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on their electronics workbenches, firmware repos, and manufacturing projects.
Here at Hackaday we live a life of never ending deadlines, but we also understand that this isn’t true for everyone. In that spirit, we’re extending the deadline so that those who count procrastination as a core skill don’t miss their chance to secure a speaking slot at the last minute. You now have until 18:00 GMT (19:00 in Belgrade) next Friday to file your talk proposal.
The conference badge is being built by Voja Antonic, the inventor of Yugoslavia’s first widely-adopted personal computer. We know he has prototype PCBs on hand and plan to share more information on what he has in store for you very soon.
The Hackaday Superconference is the highest density of the coolest hackers anywhere. Other events may be bigger, but we’ll be so bold to say that none are better. If you love Hackaday, and we know you do, you should really come join us in November in Pasadena, CA.
Far and away the best way to participate in a conference is to participate in the conference. This is your chance to give a presentation or a workshop and share your hard-earned knowledge, your crazy hacks, or entertaining tales of hardware heroism with a crowd that gets it. And you get free admission if we pick your talk for the big show.
One of my favorite tales from Supercon was meeting Jennifer Wang at her (and my!) first Supercon. She was a longtime Hackaday reader, and was honestly a little bit awed to meeting all of the great people there in person. By the next Supercon, she was giving a presentation about her IMU-based machine learning Harry Potter wand and inspiring the rest of us with her love of the cool things you can do with sensors and code. It’s one of the most honest and informative talks on machine learning I’ve seen!
You’ve got your story to share too, right? You’ve also got one week to put a proposal for a talk together. You can do this!
Stop what you’re doing and get your ticket to the Hackaday Superconference. This is the ultimate hardware conference, November 15th, 16th, and 17th in Pasadena, California. It will sell out, especially the early bird tickets which are certain to be snapped up before the end of this day. (Edit: Early Bird tickets are already sold out, but you can still get the Early Bird price by submitting a talk).
Supercon is all about hardware creation. From prototypes and manufacturable designs, to one-off hardware art and products that have sold thousands, this is where you meet the people and hear the stories behind new and interesting feats of engineering. It’s a weekend filled with fascinating talks and mind-expanding workshops, but Supercon is so much more.
This is a Hacker Village where the greenest beginner and the grayest veteran sit shoulder to shoulder to solder, to code, to dream of the future, and to share stories of the past. We want you here, and you need to make it happen. Whether it’s professional development (yes! ask your boss to make this a business outing) or your hard-earned vacation, Supercon will recharge your batteries and top off your inspiration for the year to come.
Yes, I’m talking to you. Core to the mission of the Hackaday Superconference is to encourage more people to speak publicly about everything that goes into designing and manufacturing hardware. This means we want first time speakers just as much as we want seasoned presenters. You will be celebrated at Supercon; the ethos of this community is warm, welcoming, and thankful that you took the time to help everyone learn something interesting.
Don’t stop to ask yourself if you should… yes, we want to read your talk proposal. No topic is too big or too small for consideration. This is your chance to give back as a thank-you to so many people who have helped you gather your own skills over the years. We stand on the shoulders of giants, it’s your turn to be giant.
True Believer Tickets
We like to think of our Early Bird tickets as a nod to the true believers out there. We haven’t published the speakers, the workshops, or really anything else. That info will be public as everything comes together, but by then it may be too late to get a ticket. Right now all we can tell you for certain is that there will be a big celebration to name the grand prize winner of the 2019 Hackaday Prize, there will be a ton of badge hacking on a mind-blowing hardware badge being designed by Sprite_TM (Jeroen Domburg), you will have way too much fun and get far too little sleep, and tickets will sell out. In other words, this will be awesome.
Competitive soldering
Hackaday Prize winners
Opening ceremonies were packed tight!
Workshops in full swing
Badge hacking throughout the weekend
Standing room only as Ben Krasnow gives the last talk of the conference on Sunday
Need more convincing? You can watch the recap video from 2018, or dive into the weekend overview, badge-hacking, and competitive soldering roundups. I’ve never met anyone from the first four years of Supercon who regretted buying early bird tickets. I’ve met plenty of people who regretted missing out. Don’t miss out on year five of the movement. This is your community, there is truly something for everyone, and Pasadena is a beautiful place to be in the middle of November. See you at Supercon!
