DDD Adelaide 2023 done

On Saturday we ran DDD Adelaide 2023 - a community-run conference for the software developer community. The preparations and planning for this had begun much earlier in the year, and now everyone could enjoy the fruits of all our work. It was a very early start (7am), arriving at the University of Adelaide to set up with my fellow organising team and volunteers (including my wife and my two daughters). Doors opened at 8am (and continued to be re-opened all day due to the uni’s weekend security policy!) and people started rolling in.

Cargo Catering and B3 Coffee did such a great job in 2019, so it was great to have them back again. One significant change was to move to a larger venue, so we could increase the number of tickets (about 100 more than 2019).

The vibe was really positive all throughout the day, and the weather didn’t disappoint either. Aaron Powell’s keynote of how getting involved with DDD conferences impacted his career kicked it all off. Then the 3 tracks of speakers ran for the rest of the day, with breaks for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

A short wrap up at the end of the day provided the perfect opportunity to thank everyone involved, draw prizes and then some attendees continued the conversations and socialising at a nearby pub.

Of course my Akubra hat made a return too, adorned with DDD stickers 😊.

I’m particularly grateful for all the volunteers (and especially my family) for working tirelessly all day to make sure everything ran smoothly. Also, it was so nice to have some of my SixPivot colleagues (from Adelaide and interstate) attend and present.

It’s a good chance for the organising team to take a short break before we start planning for next year. If you can’t wait until then, do check out DDD Brisbane (coming up on 2nd December) and DDD Melbourne (16th March 2024).