• The videos are finally up! My apologies for the delay. The video hosting is kindly being provided by EdgeCase UK and can be found on their Vimeo page or by searching for the nlc11 tag.
  • It should be pointed out that the equipment being used this year was not great and any shodiness in the resulting videos is in no way the fault of the camera man. +10 internets for the first person to tweet James' gratuituous crotch shot during one of the talks! ;)

On Friday 2nd December, Aberdeen will host the Northern Lights tech conference. This year we are working on the theme of taking you and your business to the next level and are lucky enough to have some of the best tech speakers in the business joining us. The format will be one of open panel discussion, bookended with keynotes from people who can inspire us from their own successes.

Keynotes

We have two keynotes, bookending panel discussions. The opening keynote will introduce the theme of the day and get us rolling, whilst the closing keynote will wrap things up nicely afterwards. We have two great speakers from internationally renowned businesses. Well worth the price of the ticket alone! ;)

Opening - Joe O’Brien (EdgeCase)

Joe O'Brien (EdgeCase)

Joe is a father, business owner, speaker and developer. In 2006 he co-founded EdgeCase, a leading Ruby and Ruby on Rails training and consulting company. They have had a tremendous amount of success helping companies as large as Ingersoll Rand, GAP and AT&T Interactive as well as those startups still in the inception stage. Through a partnership he has been giving training for well over three years on testing and development with Ruby on Rails. He is a speaker and has spoken at conferences ranging from RailsConf to numerous regional conferences and countless user groups.

Twitter: @objo

Closing - Tom Preston-Werner (GitHub)

Tom Preston-Werner

My name is Tom Preston-Werner. I'm a cofounder and CTO of GitHub, a site that makes it easy to share and collaborate on software projects. We've attracted a community of more than one million developers and we're working hard to help them bring you the future faster than ever. Before that I invented Gravatars, the little avatars that follow you around the internet. I sold that to Automattic (owners of WordPress.com) in 2007. I live and work in San Francisco. The weather here is strange but I love it, and the mountain biking is unbelievably good. I like tater tots and beer.

Twitter: @mojombo

<< Top

Panel

The idea behind the panel discussions is that everyone in the room can get involved. The topic will be introduced through a 15 minute talk by one of the panel members. We will then open the topic up to the floor. It’s up to you to get the most out of it that you can!

Topics

People - the purpose of the People panel is to discuss how we can take ourselves to the next level as developers. We all have to keep up with times, so this is a chance to share your learning fu.

Processes - the Processes panel will discuss how we can improve our businesses through the use of the right processes. We will discuss processes that have worked for us and those maybe best avoided.

Lightning Talks - this is not a panel as such. Three of our speakers will give a short talk on a subject related to the Levelling Up theme. Whether it be on personal development or on great tech that can help your business, there should be something here for all.

Craftsmanship - we all take pride in our work. It has been said that you should be proud enough of everything you create to sign your name on it. This panel will discuss craftsmanship both in the traditional sense and the software sense.

Panel speakers to be announced shortly

<< Top

Schedule

<< Top

Pre-conf Dinner and Drinkup

On the night before the conference (Thursday 1st December for those of you following along at home) there will be a sit down meal and whisky tasting for up to 30 folk (at a cost of £30 per person). Even if you don't manage to make it along to this, it will be followed by a GitHub drinkup and a gig from local Aberdeen band 23Drops, which you are free to attend if you are a conf attendee. Both events are being held at Musa.

Whisky dinner starts at 7:30pm with the rest of the night kicking off about 9pm.

Whisky Dinner

The whisky dinner is a 3 course sit down meal followed by a whisky tasting given by the brilliant Craig Johnstone (@whiskycraig). There is a cost of £30 per head for this, but it will be well worth the outlay. If you love whisky you owe it to yourself to see a tasting by Craig at least once in your life. The tasting is sponsored by Bruichladdich.

Download a pdf of the menu

To book a seat at the whisky dinner, please register. Money for the meal will be taken on the night, so please remember to take cash with you (along with proof of registration). Thanks.

GitHub Drinkup

GitHub likely need no introduction. They have taken the open source world by storm by making it super-easy to get your code online and available to those who woud help you develop it. A huge success story in the tech world, they are renowned for their "giving something back" drinkups. They will be holding the first ever Aberdeen GitHub drinkup as part of the Thursday festivities. Let's hope we didn't anger the volcano god this time. ;)

In support of this effort, local band 23Drops will be performing an acoustic set. Get a taster of their Tequilla & Gin.

<< Top

Venue

Map of venue

The conference is being held at Aberdeen Univeristy in King's College (29 on the map). With lunch being served at the Butchart Centre (32 on the map). To get to the lecture halls that the conference is being held in, walk along College Bounds until you get to the entrance to the King's College quadrangle (opposite 35 on the map). Walk though the arch into the quadrangle and turn right. The lecture hall is the last door on the right hand side of the quadrangle.

Transport

There is limited parking at the university site, so please don't take cars if at all possible. If you do need a parking space, there are just 20 parking passes available. If you want one, please email northern dot lights dot conf at gmail dot com. Tickets will be issued on a first come / first serve basis.

If you're getting a taxi, ask the driver to drop you off at King's College. They might have to drop you off at the junction of College Bounds and University Road (it's buses only from that point), but it's only a short walk along. Speaking of buses, you can find timetables on the First Bus website. The 20 will take you straight there. The 1, 2 or 13 will all take you along King Street; get off at University Road. Email northern dot lights dot conf at gmail dot com if you get lost!

<< Top

Register

To book a place at the conference, please register. There are two ticket options:

  1. With Lunch (please bring £5 cash with you on the day for a lunch provided by the university)*
  2. I'll get my own lunch thanks
*If you are going for the lunch option and have any special dietry requirements (including vegetarian - this is Scotland after all) please email northern.lights.conf at gmail dot com with the details and we will do our best to accomodate.

Contact

If you have any other questions, please email Bruce Scharlau (@scharlau) or Alan Gardner (@mr_urf) on northern.lights.conf at gmail dot com. Thanks!

<< Top

Sponsors

Platinum sponsors

Speaker sponsors