Web Unleashed 2013 • Boston, MA

I am excited to be heading to Boston in just over a week to speak at the Web Unleashed 2013 Conference in Waltham, MA. This will be my third time attending and speaking at this conference, and if you are in the area or can find a way to make it, please consider attending.

Details, Details

The conference is November 7 and 8, in Waltham, MA (A little outside of Boston, MA). The ticket for the full day conference is only $129 – but if you use the discount code SPEAKERVIP, that price will be reduced to only $116.10.

If you are planning on attending, please be sure to tweet at me and let me know!

My Talk

This year I will be giving an expanded version of my Machina.js talk on State Machines. If you haven’t tried Machina.js you are missing out on an awesome tool for code flow and organization:

Taking Control With Machina.js

Are you losing control? Are you tired of adding more if/else statements when you add new features to your application?

Take control of your application’s complexity with machina.js, a Finite State Machine (FSM) library for JavaScript. From handling offline/online status to simplifying complex initialization and workflow processes, Machina.js can help you streamline application flow and reduce conditional logic. Through this session, you will be introduced to the many ways you can leverage Machina and learn how it can be integrated into some of the frameworks you are already using. Even if you have never built an FSM before, this session will give you what you need to start using Machina to take back control!

My History with the Conference

I was first asked to speak back in 2010 when Rey Bango (@reybango) was unable to attend, and he recommended to the conference organizer Brian Rinaldi (@remotesynth) that I could speak in his place. This was my first time ever attending this particular conference, and at the time it was called “RIA Unleashed.”

I was excited to speak - BUT – this was a conference that was heavily Adobe focused and I was a JavaScript/jQuery developer. I hated Flash, and really didn’t respect ColdFusion. I thought I would be a fish out of water talking about jQuery at this conference.

I couldn’t have been more surprised by the genuinely warm reception I received. I was shocked at how many people there loved jQuery. One of the other speakers told me:

The “j” in jQuery stands for “Joy.” It has put the joy back into JavaScript for me.

I was very embarrassed at my original view of “Adobe developers” and “ColdFusion developers” as they were an incredibly smart and extremely gracious group of developers and hosts. In many ways I felt more welcomed at this Adobe-centered conference than I have at jQuery conferences. I was blown away by the kindness of this particular community.

The next year was the first year that FITC was running the conference. When I was asked back to speak, it was a no-brainer – yes, I’d love to speak again at this incredible conference. That year, 2011, I also did a 4 hour workshop on jQuery Plugins and Widgets.

After having too much going on last year, I am excited to return again to the Web Unleashed Conference and hang out with Shawn Pucknell (@Pucknell) and the FITC gang at what will be another incredible conference.