Community 8/18/2022

Finally back again: MageUnconference 2022

Finally: Get ready for MageUnConference in Cologne from 30.09 to 02.10.2022! This event has been held since 2015 but was paused in 2020 and 2021 for everyone's safety. As one of the main sponsors, we at integer_net have of course been especially eager for it to return. Why are we so happy to support MageUnConference and attend it every time with the majority of our team? This becomes clear when you look at the event's concept: The participants, the Magento community and their ideas are the focus - you are invited to be creative and spontaneous. But let us explain in detail what this concept holds in store for you. Gruppenfoto Team

In a nutshell

Date:  Fr, 30.09. until Su, 02.10.2022

Place: Tor 28, Machabäerstraße 28, 50668 Cologne

Allow creativity to run free

The name says it all: The UnConference puts aside the conference atmosphere and focuses more on thinking outside the box. At the same time, attendees are free to be extremely creative - and spontaneous, too! While at other conferences the topics and presentations are already fixed long in advance, at MageUnConference you can decide on the fly whether you want to be a speaker and which topic you want to talk about. For this reason, MageUnConference is also very suitable to try yourself out as a speaker. In the morning, everyone gets together and the topic proposals are collected. Here, you don't have to focus exclusively on Magento or Adobe Commerce: You want to give a talk about starting an escape room? No problem! Which knowledge you share with the community is up to you. Or maybe you want to know more about a topic and would like to hear a talk about it? Then you can share your idea and see if experts can be found. All suggestions will be summarized before the voting and multiple entries on similar will be merged. After that, it's the turn of all attendees: With stickers, they give their voice to the topics they would like to hear more about. If there are no speakers on a topic, this does not stop the panel: In this case, if there are enough votes, it can turn into a discussion round with moderator and experts. The sessions are limited to 45 minutes each; between the presentations, everyone has 30 minutes to have a coffee and exchange ideas with other participants.

A growing family

New friendships

But the goal of MageUnConference is not only to broaden one's own horizons. While at other events networking is often rather superficial, here you get to know the members of the community even closer: Thanks to the presentations, there are lively discussions and conversation starters. To quote our former colleague and good friend Willem Wigman:

*In other communities you would 'network', here you 'make friends'.*

This way, even new members of the Magento community quickly get into conversation with the seasoned members and make good connections. The coffee breaks are not the only opportunity to exchange ideas: The joint meals is also a great chance to make new friends. But that's not all: There are also parties for those interested, which can be attended to round off the day in a relaxed atmosphere. Especially the pre-party helps newcomers to make a few contacts straight away even before the conference is officially kicked off.

Child care

Attendees naturally grow older along with the community. New stages of life begin and many participants have children. That's why MageUnConference has had childcare since 2018, so that parents can enjoy the UnConference without time pressure. And this childcare is something to be proud of! Thus, in the past, adults have looked enviously at the children's program.

Fun for all

In addition to the somewhat different agenda concept there are also other fun elements for adults at the UnConference: for example, we gave the 2019 attendees an exciting puzzle to crack and Julian Nuß was the lucky winner of a stuffed version of our mascot. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Julian became part of our team? We hope that this blog post has made you curious and that you want to be there on site! We can tell you from experience: It's worth it because the organizing team and FireGento e.V. always put on a great event! You can register or learn more here:

Website of MageUnConference