Gary's Law Of Conference Failure
I wasn't at WhereCamp EU in Amsterdam recently. At least, I wasn't there in person, but according to Mark Iliffe and Giuseppe Sollazzo I was certainly there in spirit. You see, at WhereCamp EU in Berlin last year I was doing what I usually do at conferences; watching a talk, laptop on lap, live Tweeting furiously. This particular talk contained a live demo and a backing track of Arthur Conley's Sweet Soul Music. What could possibly go wrong?
Of course, a live demo can go wrong and did go wrong, which prompted me to say
Never work with children, animals, sweet soul music or live code demos. You have been warned
Although I'm sure someone might have said something similar before. That was last year's WhereCamp EU. This year's WhereCamp EU, thanks to Messrs Iliffe and Sollazzo, seemed to have elevated that random Tweet to a law. A law which happened again at WhereCamp EU in Berlin. More than once. And then again at Mark's PhD presentation.
So it's official. Gary's law of conference failures is now codified as never work with children, animals, sweet soul music or live demos. And before you ask, I've learnt the hard way, never, ever, to do a live demo, because what can go wrong, will go wrong. Photo Credits: Uncle Zirky on FailBlog.
