RubyConf AU 2019 - Melbourne

RubyConf kicked off on the evening of the 6th Feb with a delightful opening party at the Skydeck located on the 89th floor of the Eureka Tower!

In addition to the fabulously friendly crowd, free-flowing beer & champagne, fancy foods, fun and frolics, etc., guests were also treated to a dramatic light show, as nature played out a most impressive lightning storm on cue.

The actual conference spanned the following two days at the Forum, with an after party on the Friday evening. Attendees were offered a great variety of presentations delivered by talented speakers from the world over, including:

Nadia Odunayo

Nadia was exceptionally polished in her delivery of The Case of the Missing Method - A ruby Mystery Story. She treated us to a delightful, fast-paced Ruby Objects exploration, in the style of a detective novel starring herself as the ‘Deirdre the Detective’. The entire presentation was cleverly synchronised with perfectly timed slides, while injecting witty humour throughout. Her parents had flown over from the UK to see her present for the first time, and they looked super proud. While chatting with Nadia later, it transpired that Nadia lived in Neasden, London, around the same time that I did! Small world!

Other speakers included: Heidi Waterhouse, David Halesz, Tom Stuart, Daniel Fone, Laura Mosher, Kelly Sutton, Betsby Haibel, Tekin Suleyman, Merrin Macleod, Keither Pitty, Tim Riley, Mila Dymnikova, John Sawers, Elle Meredith, Tom Ridge, Tom Gamon, Kelsey Pedersen, Adam Cuppy, Beth Haubert.

Lookahead Search were one of the sponsors providing much needed caffeine hits from the coffee cart.

Compares Caitlin and Rose, entertained the audience between speakers with fun facts about Australian animals. The picture above is a Quokka, which is a marsupial I’d never heard of before!

The after party was within the same venue, and the vibe was set with dim lighting, a jazz band, and two open bars, and board games! Thus allowing ample opportunity to mingle with speakers and other attendees. That’s David Halesz above, he gave an awesome talk on how to hijack, proxy and smuggle sockets with Rack/Ruby!

Thanks to Pat Allan and his awesome team at Ruby Australia, the event was beautifully timed and orchestrated. Not a speck of dust out of place! As far as conferences go, this one was definitely up there as one of the best!