MageUnconference 2016 in Berlin – Review

On March 12th and 13th 2016 we had the second MageUnconference which took place in Berlin. Contrary to a “normal” conference, topics at an UnConference are determined spontaneously – they are proposed in the morning and elected by the participants. We have written more about the concept of an unconference in a separate blog post.

Participants

Similar to 2015 there were about 100 participants, mostly from Germany and the Netherlands, but also from other european countries. There have been employees of small and medium agencies and merchants as well as freelancers foremost: developers, project managers, QA and marketing managers. According to that, the topics on both days were very mixed:

The topics included both technical and non-technical talks and discussions. For the first time there was a focus on Magento 2, but also Magento 1 topics and more ore less Magento independant topics were very popular.

Special Guest: Ben Marks, Magento Inc.

For the first time, an employee of Magento was present at a Magento Unconference: Ben Marks, Community Evangelist. He played an active role in many discussions and picked up a lot of input and suggestions from the community.

Discussing a great approach of having “silent” hours for developers at #mageuc16. Something good to implement! pic.twitter.com/5dAtHwqJJQ

— Olena Sadoma (@OlenaSadoma) 13. March 2016

Very remarkable: his participation in the discussions about the future of Magento 1 after the release of Magento 2. While the current status of Magento 2 was discussed controversial, a possible future support and further development of its predecessor must come from the community. Possible approaches have been reviewed in a very open and constructive atmosphere.

. @benmarks about future of #magento 1 😉 #mageuc16 #realmagento pic.twitter.com/cv6NFzZ4hq — Firebear Studio (@fbeardev) 13. March 2016

Ben Marks’ conclusion about the MageUnconference was very positive, as he stated in personal conversations as well as openly. Due to this we assume that the Unconference will play a role in influencing the Magento 2 product and the perception of different topics inside of Magento Inc. in a positive way.

Absolutely FANTASTIC event. Have more product notes and feedback than from any other conference. Well done #mageuc16 organizers & attendees!

— Ben Marks (@benmarks) 13. March 2016

integer_net at the MageUnconference

We played an active part at the MageUnconference 2016, not only by sponsoring. All eight team members were present. Sonja was on-site since Thursday as a part of the organizational team while the rest of the team arrived on Friday. Besides the moderation of different discussion rounds, there were four talks from our ranks:

“Magento 2 Frontend Workflow” with Sandro Wagner und Fabian Schmengler

.@fragdochkarl and @fschmengler talking about the #magento2 frontend workflow #mageuc16 pic.twitter.com/fgVHMYtlld

– Matthias Zeis (@mzeis) 12. March 2016

“Tax Configuration for B2B and B2C” with Andreas von Studnitz

Free B2B oriented #Magento extensions https://t.co/cgcTWi0bpI & https://t.co/fJtRnbdo3Z by @avstudnitz #mageuc16 #RealMagento

– Firebear Studio (@fbeardev) 13. March 2016

“Dynamic Content with Varnish” with Fabian Schmengler (and Nils Preuß)

Sharing experiences with Varnish at the 2nd session today with @fschmengler and @tutnix #mageuc16 pic.twitter.com/RzRVKbYL6S

– Anna Völkl (@rescueAnn) 12. March 2016

“Embracing Change” with Sonja Riesterer

@sonjarierr danke für deinen super Vortrag. Hat sehr weitergeholfen.

– Gerhard Fobe (@gerhardfobe) 13. March 2016

Black and White

Compared to last year there were a few changes, mostly due to the changed location. The new venue at the FU Berlin was more central, but also a bit restricted. As the weather wasn’t as nice as last year, it wasn’t possible to have sessions outside. Thanks to the flexibility of the organizers it was possible to add a forth track with some more discussion topics spontaneously on the second day. As the event’s highlight we see the willingness of the generally open-minded participants to share their knowledge. The atmosphere was great despite a certain uncertainty regarding Magento 2 which shined through now and then.

Conclusion

Thanks to near-perfect organiation and active participants, the MageUnconference was (as last year) a very interesting and open event. We picked up many impressions and ideas. Especially the discussions, with or without Ben Marks (who clearly enriched the event), have been very constructive and honest. We are happy that we could play an active role with organization, sponsoring and participation. We will be present next year again.

I am just going to say it @MageUnConf is hands down the best event for @magento in Europe. The people are so good there.

— David Manners (@mannersd) 13. March 2016