.d8888b.                         888                            .d888
    d88P  Y88b                        888                           d88P"
    Y88b.                             888                           888
     "Y888b.   .d88888888  888 8888b. 888888 .d8888b .d88b. 88888b. 888888
        "Y88b.d88" 888888  888    "88b888   d88P"   d88""88b888 "88b888
          "888888  888888  888.d888888888   888     888  888888  888888
    Y88b  d88PY88b 888Y88b 888888  888Y88b. Y88b.   Y88..88P888  888888
     "Y8888P"  "Y88888 "Y88888"Y888888 "Y888 "Y8888P "Y88P" 888  888888
                   888
                   888
                   888
        

         ____                    _    ____             __
        / ___|  __ _ _   _  __ _| |_ / ___|___  _ __  / _|
        \___ \ / _` | | | |/ _` | __| |   / _ \| '_ \| |_
         ___) | (_| | |_| | (_| | |_| |__| (_) | | | |  _|
        |____/ \__, |\__,_|\__,_|\__|\____\___/|_| |_|_|
                  |_|

     __
    (_  _     _ |_
    __)(_||_|(_||_
         |
     __       _
    /   _  _ (_
    \__(_)| )|

Why / What is SquatConf?

Squatconf if a tech conference that will happen... in a squat, hence the name. it won't be a conference about squatting or squatters, but will also talk about technologies that can be used in squats.
On top of that, the name sounded nice, isn't it ?

It started because some of us are lucky enough to attend marvelous conventions, made with love by amazing people. Great events with top-notch speakers, incredible venues, and amazing parties.

These conferences are run with huge contributions from volunteers, and financial support from sponsors, providing top-notch events at affordable prices.

But even then, they're not affordable for everyone.

We're building an alternative model: SquatConf.

SquatConf won't be your everyday conference, but we'll have good talks from amazing people. It'll be donation-based, and you'll get to contribute if you want to.

How is this possible?

Conference costs are huge, and ticket prices are often nowhere near the true per-attendee cost, even for a non-profit conference.

Fancy venues, transportation, hotels and food are really nice perks to have, but…

If you hold a conference in a squat… the speakers advance their travel expenses… tell people to bring some food… and the wifi will be dodgy for sure…

You'll have a zero-cost conference made with love, but a little rougher around the edges.

Where and when?

November 15th 2014. A squat in Paris. For obvious reasons, we can't yet disclose where.

The Plan

We are a bunch of crazy programmers that believe in anarchy and decentralised systems, conferences included.

We will provide a space, we will provide a context, some talks, and the rest will be up to you…

Who is behind this?

The inception of SquatConf was at LXJS. It was a great conference, and the organisation did an amazing job, and after the final day of the event we ended up with dominictarr, joates and I talking about autonomous self-driving boats when this idea came to life. Now the idea matured and some folks (mmalecki, nathan7, no9, substack, ...) are in the loop now.

Okay, so you're a bunch of idealists, running a 10-people conference in a dump.

What you'll get out of SquatConf is in the end exactly what you put into SquatConf.

• Tickets will be donation-based. You want a cheap conference? Give us nothing. You want food? Contribute.
• This won't be a 400-people event, but do you need that many people?
• We already have speakers lined up you're probably prepared to pay for :)
• You have ideas for improvements? Suggestions are always welcome.
• We plan to make SquatConf zero-sum. We'll split any profits with attendees — ROI on a conference!

I want to give a talk!

Please see our talks repository to propose a talk.