The ‘One More Thing Conference’ is running again this year in May on the 25th and 26th, and like its launch last year it’ll be located in the beautiful city of Melbourne, Australia. It isn’t a traditional programming conference, but more of a “meeting for iOS developers, designers and those who just want to come along for the ride”. In fact the aim of the conference isn’t necessarily to improve your designing or programming talent, but rather to “leave with more confidence in your abilities as an iOS developer or designer.”
The conference comprises of two parts; the main conference on the 26th of May and two “mini-confs” on the 25th. Speaking at the main conference are people such as Raphael Schaad of Flipboard, Adam Kirk of Mysterious Trousers (makers of Calvetica), Igor Pušenjak of Lima Sky (makers of Doodle Jump), Justin Williams of Second Gear (makers of Elements) and other very talented people in the iOS world. Meanwhile the “mini-confs”, are smaller (limited to 30 people) sessions where the environment is more conversational, with one focusing on design and the other on programming. Loren Brichter (formerly of Tweetie and Twitter) and Neven Mrgan are just two of the speakers that will lead these respective “mini-confs”.
Tickets to the main conference are currently selling at $249 (that’s an early bird price though, after the 12th of April it goes back to $349), whilst the “mini-conf” session tickets cost $499 but are limited to just 30 people.
Short Q&A with Organiser Anthony Aguis
To get some more information and perspective on what the One More Thing Conference is, I spoke with one of the organisers, Anthony Aguis who also ran the first conference last year.
Graham: Hi Anthony! So give us a brief overview of what the One More Thing conference is about and perhaps what you learnt from running the conference last year.
Anthony: I learned that I could actually make a conference happen and that people liked it! The feedback we got from last year’s event was fantastic. It would have been a shame not to do it again. The overall theme of the conference is still the same as 2011 - get developers confident, psyched, and ready to move from dreaming of making apps, to just doing it. The main difference for 2012 will be the lessons we will learn from the speakers. There’s some serious experience in our line up that have awesome stories to tell.
Graham: One of the new things for the conference this year are the mini-confs, one focused on design and the other on programming. This sounds like a great idea, especially considering it will promote a more conversational atmosphere between the audience and the great speakers you’ve got attending. What made you decide to have such “mini-confs” alongside the full conference?
Anthony: The mini-confs came about because some of the speakers I invited weren’t comfortable in front of a large audience, so rather than not have them come to Australia at all, Lauren (my One More Thing sidekick, who designed the website and everything else you see to do with One More Thing), suggested we just give them a smaller venue, so we did. That creates a unique opportunity to pick the brains of some super talented people. It’s like a university or college tutorial where you debate and interact, as opposed to a lecture with lots of people in it.
Graham: What are you most looking forward to yourself in the conference this year?
Anthony: I’m really hoping there’s a spate of wonderful apps released on the app store, a few months after One More Thing, inspired by what attendees have learned there. That’s why I put the effort into putting it on, to have cool apps to use myself!
Graham: The conference is being held in Melbourne, Australia, for those who aren’t from Melbourne and particularly for those overseas, can you tell us a bit about the city and perhaps why someone from the US or Europe might enjoy visiting?
Anthony: I’ve lived in Melbourne all my life, so I’m a little biased - but if you’ve never been to Australia before, Melbourne is a great place to start. It’s a very cosmopolitan and urban city, with over 5 million people of all sorts of cultural backgrounds calling it home. But not too far out from the city is some of the most beautiful countryside and scenery, you’ll ever see, with the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians National Park just day trip away. If you like sport, you’ve gotta watch an Aussie Rules football match too. I’ll even go with you!
Graham: So if our readers are interested in attending, where can they get more info and purchase tickets?
Anthony: onemorething.com.au has all the details - we have special early bird pricing if you register before April 12th, so don’t take too long deciding to attend.
Graham: Thanks for speaking with us Anthony, is there anything else you’d like to tell our lovely readers before we wrap this up?
Anthony: We’ve got a podcast up on iTunes in which Peter Wells & Marc Edwards interview all the speakers at One More Thing 2012. Plus everyone can watch the videos from the 2011 conference up on Vimeo. Great way to get a feel for what you’ll get from One More Thing in 2012.
