RunRevLive.14 Report

We're back, it's all over for another year and the jetlag is fading. So how did it go?

Fabulously well! Everyone seemed to have a good time, no-one got lost or missed a session (well if they did they didn't complain to me, maybe they are still wandering the hotel corridors...), the one to one bookings came thick and fast, and judging from the applause coming from the session halls the presentations were interesting and useful. It is a joy and a privilege to spend four days with so many smart intelligent people and the atmosphere was totally positive. Smiling faces everywhere!

Pictures say more than words, so here are some that I took, to try and give you a flavour of the event.

View across San Diego bay from the Manchester Grand Hyatt

The weather was fabulous throughout the conference, warm sunshine every day but not too hot (at least, not for me! I can never bring myself to complain about sunshine after living in the British Isles). Waking up at 6am every day to prepare is no hardship when the sun shines.

Kevin Miller Presents the Keynote (image courtesy John Patten)

During the Keynote presentation, our CEO discussed the upcoming widgets and announced the release of the first release candidates of LiveCode 6.7 and 7.0.

Sessions were well attended, here Scott Rossi is giving his talk on UI.

Lots of great content was provided by a total of 30 speakers. As always in these events I was not myself able to attend more than one or two sessions, as I was busy on the front desk booking the seminars and one to ones and making sure everyone had what they needed. From what you all told me however there was a ton of learning on tap and everyone learned something!

Any Questions?

Our track managers (here Hanson Schmidt Cornelius, standing, in black) were kept busy doing the rounds with the mic to ensure simulcast attendees could all hear what was going on.

It all happens in the corridors...

The most interesting part is always the chats that go on outside the sessions. Wherever you look little knots of attendees are putting their heads together and comparing notes. Here Robert Cailliau is talking to Rama Viswanathan and Greg Cole.

Getting to Know You

The LiveCode Speed Dating went very well, with everyone getting stuck in and talking to each other for three minutes. A great way to break the ice and make connections!We will definitely repeat this format next year.

Theresa Pettit One to One with Michael McCreary

Our engineers were much in demand for the one to one sessions, where you can get an hour of exclusive time working on your LiveCode projects, bugs, issues and generally get in-depth help.

Mark Waddingham and Mike Farr

Everyone was up for grabs for one to ones, even our CTO Mark Waddingham and our CEO Kevin Miller.

One on One Kevin Miller and Kaveh Bazargan

We had an exciting announcement at this conference. Robert Cailliau very kindly has decided to offer an annual award to the LiveCoder from the community who has made the biggest contribution to the core engine development over the last year. We held a ballot during the conference and the first winners of this award, jointly, were Mark Wieder and Monte Goulding. Congratulations to you both! The award is worth 1000 euros and will be available every year.

Announcing the first Annual Award for LiveCode Community Contributions

Have you ever wondered what Richard Gaskin, our Community Manager, looks like? Wonder no more...

Richard Gaskin and JoJo Hernandez. Love the Moustaches.

Richard is proudly wearing his LiveCode Kickstarter tShirt from our open source campaign in 2013.

Ben Beaumont, LiveCode Product Manager, in Conversation during Coffee

A constant supply of coffee was essential to keep the conversation flowing - these are programmers after all! However, also much appreciated was our supply of Real Tea shipped out from the UK by JoJo for the more discerning US tea drinkers.

Talk on the Terrace - Kevin Miller and Paul Looney

Our venue included a beautiful terrace where lunch was served, and throughout the day attendees were free to wander, sit and chat. This was something of a trial to those of us on the reception desk, sitting indoors looking out on paradise...

Relaxing after Lunch

In the foreground, left to right, Tereza Snyder, Chipp Walters, Kathy Jaqua and Judy Perry.

Round Table Conference

Lunch was a great time for conferring with other attendees. Above, as seated round the table from the left, Jim Lambert, Mark Talluto, Kevin Miller, David Beck, Trevor DeVore, Colin Holgate, Richard Gaskin (I think that is the back of his head!) and Bonny Lambert.

A little bird told me...

Our conference was so compelling even the birds wanted to join in. These two charming sparrows made their way in while the doors were open, and were remarkably tame. I was sad when the hotel staff gently shooed them out.

Gun Battle in the Bay

There was so much more to see in San Diego, we were treated to a gun battle by some historic tall ships that happened to be having a festival at the weekend, the zoo was amazing, local restaurants served great food, all in all it was a great experience. I haven't even touched on the evening events, two great parties organized by JoJo. We had a cocktail reception in the delightful hotel grounds, and on the Thursday evening a trip to a Paddle Steamer with excursions round the bay in a smaller pilot boat.

Evening Bay Cruise (photo courtesy John Patten)

I cannot finish without mentioning the top photo in this article. This was kindly taken for me by Don Michael Klinger, who happened to have the most amazing high powered camera with him, with a truly heavy duty wide angle lens. My little iPhone was clearly not up to the job! My thanks also go to Ralph DiMola whose help was invaluable in getting everyone to line up and present themselves for the photo. Since the photo was taken at the very end of the conference sadly some attendees had already left, but we got as many of you as we could!

Once again, I have come away from RunRevLive feeling energised and, yes, the only word is privileged, to work with such great people.