RubyFringe: July 18-20

If you’ve been having doubts about whether mainstream conferences like RailsConf are worth the money, time and bother, the alternative Ruby-but-not-Rails conference RubyFringe, which takes place in Toronto in July, might be the conference for you. Read on for more details…

There’ve been hints about it all over the ‘net for the past couple of weeks, but it’s finally out: the RubyFringe conference is taking place in Toronto on July 18th through 20th. Its organizers — local Ruby/Rails heroes Unspace — describe it as “an avant-garde conference for developers that are excited about emerging technologies outside of the Ruby on Rails monoculture”. If the “sold-out and over-sold labradoodle shows that are now staged with alarming frequency” are Kenny G, RubyFringe aims to be the Sex Pistols.

“We believe that the most important function of a geek conference is to encourage networking between smart people doing awesome stuff,” the site says. “We have plans to keep everyone engaged for the entire duration of the event, with several meals as well as after-hours socializing covered.”

The event boasts:

Just one track
A limit of 150 attendees
No technical sponsors

If there’s a group capable of making this gathering — calling it a conference would be contrary to its spirit — it’s Unspace, who are the folks behind Toronto’s original regular gathering of Rails developers, Rails Pub Nite.

Also adding to the event is the speaker list, which already has an interesting assortment of people. Hampton Catlin wrote in his blog that when coming up with the idea for the conference, they had a list of 10 dream speakers and they’ve secured all ten, and from the list below, they’ve got even more:

The conference will take place at the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Toronto, just a hop, skip and a jump away from some of Toronto’s more interesting neighbourhoods, including Chinatown, Queen Street West, Kensington Market and College West. The early-bird registration rate is $650, and you’ll be able to register starting February 18th.

If you’re looking for a change from the usual big conference fare, this might be the event for you, and Toronto — a great city with all sorts of things to do — is a great place to have it.