The PHP Women site has a new post today - "Experiences of a Conference Virgin", a piece written up by Tess Barnes on her attendance at this year's PHP Northwest conference.

Up until November 2008 I was a conference virgin: no jollies, no hotel booking panic and no development talks. As I’ve been self employed as a website developer for three years I decided it was about time to break the mould, invest the profits and head up to Manchester.

She talks about the parts of the process - getting there, her concerns and her experiences there. She talks a bit about the conference and some of the talks and events and even sums it up with a few assumptions (like "Women can get exactly where they want to in the industry with hard work and determination").

The first annual PHP North West conference happened this past Saturday (Nov 22, 2008) and was a great success. Over 150 attendees made it for the day long event, large groups of which came to the social events as well. Here's some of the slides and wrapups posted by speakers and attendees alike:

Blog Posts

• Lorna Mitchell's PHPNW Post-match Analysis
• Stefan Koopmanschap's look back
• David Goodwin's summary of the event
• Rob Allen's look at the conference

Slides

• The Power of Refactoring by Stefan Koopmanschap

Lorna Mitchell has posted a countdown - only one month until this year's PHP North West Conference.

In a month's time I'll be in Manchester, ready for the PHP North West conference. The conference is a one-day event (Saturday, 22nd November), although the social side of things will kick off the night before. Tickets are 50 GBP for the early bird, 35 GBP for students and concessions - so register now.

She mentions a few things surrounding the conference like the excellent speaker list and the free subscription to php|architect magazine all attendees will receive.

Check out the conference website for more information and to reserve your spot. Hurry! Time's running out!

The PHPNW conference has announced which community members will be making up their "State of the Community" panel discussion:

• Steph Fox, editor of php|architect
• Ivo Jansch, CTO at Ibuildings
• Scott MacVicar, contributor to PECL and PHP core
• Felix De Vliegher, PHP Belgium organiser and PHP core contributor

The PHPNW conference happens on November 22nd in Manchester (UK) and is a day-long even packed with great speakers and now a great panel discussion too. You can still register for your tickets on the conference website.

The PHPNW conference crew have just announced a newly added session to finish off the conference day - a panel discussion about the current state of the PHP community.

This will be a panel discussion on the topic "State of the Community" and will bring together some of the leading lights of the community to discuss the PHP community as a whole, how people can get involved, and how the community relates to PHP as a day job. If there's a question you’d like to see the panel answer, please post it in the comments below and we'll include as many as we can!

The conference happens on November 22nd in Manchester (UK) and there's still spots open if you'd like to attend.

Lorna Mitchell notes that PHPNW tickets are on sale and can be purchased on the PHPNW conference website.

This is a conference aimed at bringing together and promoting the amazing wealth of local talent and activity in PHP within the North West and wider area. The schedule is online already and tickets are priced at a very reasonable and credit-crunch-friendly £50 (with discounts for students and OAPs).

The PHPNW conference is happening November 22nd and includes talks from speakers like Rob Allen, Derick Rethans and Adrian Hardy.

As mentioned on the phpNW conference blog the schedule for this year has been posted.

The schedule is now online for PHPNW - there are a few slots still unconfirmed but this is the main body of the technical sessions that will be happening on the day. We’ve got some great sessions planned and we hope to see you on 22nd November 2008 in Manchester!

Speakers currently lined up for the event include Derick Rethans, Rob Allen, Zeo Slattery and Stefan Koopmanschap. You can get complete details about the event on the conference website.

Lorna Mitchell has posted a quick update about this year's PHP North West Call for Papers (the deadline's coming up soon!)

With just over a week remaining on the PHP North West Call for Papers, plans for this Manchester-based conference are fairly racing along. The call for papers closes on 21st September (in time for me arriving home from ZendCon so we can make some decisions before I shoot off again). So far the submissions have been of a very high quality and Derick Rethans as one of the keynote speakers, more details about that on the PHPNW site itself.

She mentions ticket sales - starting sometime around the end of September/beginning of October so keep an eye on the conference website to reserve your spot.

The PHPNW group has officially posted their Call for Papers today for the upcoming conference (being held in Manchester):

phpnw08 will take place on Saturday 22nd November 2008 at Manchester Central Exhibition Centre. phpnw08 is organised by developers for developers and is the perfect opportunity to learn, network and mix with peers and industry leaders, as well as discover the latest tricks, techniques and innovations in PHP and internet development. The conference will have a mix of in-depth and shorter talks.

If you're interested in presenting, you'll need to submit an abstract that's between 250-500 words like and would last about 55 minutes presented normally. Shorter talks should be about 25 minutes with some time for Q&A after. Submit your proposal via the form to be considered. The final day for submissions is Septemper 21st and accepted papers will be notified by September 29th.