---
title: Voices that Matter and RubyConf 2008
teaser: Talks we are giving at various events.
tags: news,web
author: Tammer Saleh
published_on: 2008-12-08
---

We've been busy this past few months, having been asked to present at both
[RubyConf 2008 in Orlando](http://rubyconf.org/), and at [Voices that
Matter](http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/ruby2008/) (aka Obieconf) in our home
town of Boston.

## Voices that Matter

The most recent conference was Voices that Matter, in good ol' Beantown.  This
was one of the best conferences we'd been to, for a few different reasons.

Obie Fernandez chaired the conference, and did a great job of keeping it focused
and dense.  The talks were limited to 30 minutes each, and mostly dealt with
practical business matters: how to run an agile ruby shop; what technologies are
ready for wide-spread use; building strong teams; etc.

Some of the main themes included
[TATFT](http://smartic.us/2008/8/15/tatft-i-feel-a-revolution-coming-on), pair
programming, and [maintaining a friendly and inviting Rails
culture](http://blog.l4rk.com/2008/11/pro-ruby-conference-wrap-up.html).  We
were also very surprised by the amount of thoughtbot love we encountered.  We
participated in two round table discussions, and presented both [Agile in the
Enterprise](http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/ruby2008/sessions.aspx#nature) and
[Rails
AntiPatterns](http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/ruby2008/sessions.aspx#antipatterns),
and we were mentioned in a handful of the other presentations.  We can't express
how happy we are to know that people are getting real value from our tools and
philosophies.  You can download our talks here...

[![Agile in the Enterprise](http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/2008-12-5-agile-enterprise.jpg)](http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/2008-12-1-VOICES-THAT-MATTER-Agile-Enterprise.pdf)

[![Rails AntiPatterns](http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/2008-12-5-antipatterns.jpg)](http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/2008-12-1-antipatterns.pdf)

Chad and I were very pleased that the AntiPatterns talk (which was a sample from
our upcoming [Rails AntiPatterns](http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321620293)
book) got a 5-star rating across the board!

## RubyConf 2008

[![Coding for Failure][failure]](http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/2008-12-5-coding-for-failure.pdf)

[failure]: http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/2008-12-5-coding-for-failure.jpg

We also presented at RubyConf on [Coding For Failure: All you need to know for
building rock solid applications](http://www.rubyconf.org/talks/37 "in 45
minutes").

I'm not sure what to say about RubyConf that hasn't already been said.  Except
that I would be greatly disappointed, and take it as a personal insult to me,
and everyone I love, if it's not held in exactly the same location next year.

As alluded to, RubyConf featured the laziest of rivers, the most full RV rides,
the dirtiest go-cart racing, and a water slide that was strangely difficult to
climb up from the bottom to the top despite one's personal interest in achieving
such a feat.

Note to future conference organizers - if the talks could somehow be projected
onto a screen that you could see **from the hot tub** you probably would not get
any complaints.