http://norman.walsh.name/2009/06/03/balisage 12 20 2009-06-03T09:41:54-04:00 Norman Walsh 2009 Norman Walsh Bring out yer demo for free beer! Denis Diderot Only passion, great passion, can elevate the soul to great things. I'm delighted to learn that the i's have been dotted, the t's crossed, and Mark Logic is now an official sponsor of Balisage 2009. Good on us! You all know what a great conference I think it is, so I won't repeat myself. Much. In addition to straight-up sponsoring the conference, we're also going to run a “beer and demo jam” on Tuesday night. I'm not sure we've worked out all the details yet, but I know what we're using as a model. One evening of each of our company meetings is devoted to “Demo Jam” hosted with great panache by Matt Turner (author of Discovering XQuery). All the engineers and consultants are encouraged to demo something. A crowd gathers. Everyone has a few beers and then it's off to the races: five minutes to show anything you want. The winner is judged by the loudest audience response (measured in true geek fashion, as carefully as one can under the circumstances, with a dB meter and everything). It's great fun all around. So, I don't know exactly what we'll do for beer and demos at Balisage, but if you're coming, bring along your favorite project. Obviously it doesn't have to be Mark Logic related, or XQuery related, or even, for that matter, probably, XML related, though I'm sorta guessing most of them will be. Good cheer and free beer, FTW!