{"id":5411,"date":"2016-10-12T15:22:26","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T19:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redmonk.com\/sogrady\/?p=5411"},"modified":"2016-10-12T20:37:44","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T00:37:44","slug":"the-2016-monktoberfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/sogrady\/2016\/10\/12\/the-2016-monktoberfest\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2016 Monktoberfest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"846f23b2-8791-4cda-a47a-f310d737af0d\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The week of the 2016 Monktoberfest didn’t start out particularly well. First our daughter, and then my wife, came down with fevers. Next, my brother got in a car accident (he’s fine). Last, there were the questions around whether Hurricane Matthew<\/a>, the first category five Atlantic hurricane since 2005, would lead to widespread flooding in Portland as we had last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It didn’t, and the rest of the week was enjoyably drama free. Thanks in part to the blameless post-mortem policy that we borrowed from Etsy – from a past Monktoberfest talk by Rafe Colburn<\/a>, in fact – our process improves perceptibly each year. Organizing a conference remains an enormously time consuming and stressful challenge, but it takes far less of a toll than it did the first few times we put the show together.<\/p>\n

As I tell new attendees every year, using our twin broad themes of social and technology, the Monktoberfest has two primary goals. First, to encourage attendees to engage with other attendees. From the initial Monktoberfest through the sixth iteration, we design the conference with the explicit goal of giving people time, space and the opportunity to meet each other. To share stories, to make connections or just to talk about their favorite craft beer.<\/p>\n

The other hope is that attendees of the Monktoberfest are challenged, that they walk away from the show with different perspectives than what they arrived with. Sometimes these insights may arrive in the form of new information, at other times through the sharing of personal experiences. Some of these experiences are intensely personal and difficult, so much so that speakers have told me that the Monktoberfest is the only conference they can imagine talking about these subjects. Which means that they can be hard, in some cases, for attendees to hear. But every talk selected for the Monktoberfest is selected for a purpose, whether that’s discussing how oral traditions are passed down in the technology industry or how technology is impacting children today in ways that are surprising and, at times, frightening.<\/p>\n

This year’s slate of speakers met that goal and then some. They were, as always, incredible: researched, prepared and, in a few cases, very brave. To answer a common question: yes, the talks were filmed, and we’re working to get them online as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

The reactions to the event were, as they always are, incredibly humbling.<\/p>\n

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can't wait until next year #monktoberfest<\/a> #patterns<\/a>
because portland: the place where social, technology, & beer intersect
HT @the_spinmd<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/7N6V8xKzdL<\/a><\/p>\n

— Claire Giordano (@clairegiordano) October 9, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n