And a huge thanks to Ben and Shane for organizing… See ya all there!

We are planning a repeat performance next year. And, we are considering options for a summer/fall event in the next six months. We’ve kicked around the idea of a rumble, hackfest or even an agile theme. If you have any ideas or feedback that you’d like share, send an email to all the guys or drop us a tweet.

Finally, I want to send out a huge thanks to all the attendees, speakers and sponsors for making RoA 2011 so awesome!

Rubyists for Japan is an effort to help build awareness and drive donations through the American Red Cross to Japan.  Step up Rubyists!

Matt and I have been talking about doing a software conference here in Bend for quite some time. After all, there’s a lot of people that have never heard of Bend, Oregon, not to mention the exceptional technical talent that this community has attracted.

So while we were in New Orleans at RubyConf, thanks to some helpful friends, we came up with the concept “Ruby on Ales” combining three of our favorite things: the Ruby community, beer and snow! It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but what the hell! It’s all in the name of science. In fact, I am hoping to get some statistically reliable data to support (or debunk) the Ballmer Peak theory.

We’re stoked that it’s actually happening, in no small part because we found some great collaborators in Coby, Josh and Mark.

So, check out the details, submit a proposal to talk, become a sponsor and get your early bird registration in cause the Hungover Bird prices are coming soon!

After a crazy flight back to the west coast – 15 hours of flying, circling, diverting, waiting, unloading, loading, sitting, waiting for a pilot from Baltimore to Portland – these are the things that stick out in my mind the most…

As I previously tweeted, Yehuda‘s keynote speech was awesome. If you think Ken Kesey new how to mix up a tasty batch of Kool-Aid, you should taste Yehuda’s. Oh, man, was I inspired (and still am)! For all the bravado that is the Rails, Yehuda’s talk defined the moral center of this community. If there’s only one video to watch from the conference. This is it…

A good complement to Wy’s speech was Gary Vee‘s talk on the “Give a Fuck Economy”. Gary bring’s more emotion to his talks than a JV cheerleading squad, not to mention that he drops more f-bombs than Matt. During the Q&A, I got to ask Gary about his interest in social action. Although, I think he initially misunderstood that I was asking about charity, he did express some interest in the shifting world of non-profit, community action. When you combine Wy’s community participation ideology with Gary’s “mom and pop” grow a relationship with your constituents, I see a brighter future. And that future makes me even more optimistic about UniteNow’s mission.

Here’s Gary’s talk…

Lastly, although not a keynote, I really enjoyed Ian McFarland’s talk Agile the Pivotal Way. Whether you are a consultancy, a startup, a non-profit, a government agency or anything in between, these insights are invaluable. The slides and video have not been posted, yet. But I hope they will be uploaded here soon.

Among other things, FanPageAnalaytics.com maps the connections of some 200 million Facebook user profiles and illustrates the “thickness” of those networks between various cities. For example, here is a map of Bend’s social network demonstrating the wide connections ranging from Los Angeles to Seattle.

You can also find other interesting connections for groups, famous people, etc. Who knew that Vermont has the highest per capita number of Jerry Garcia fans in the country?

Last year’s event was very informative and I expect this year will be even better. It’s not too late to get tickets, so if you’re interested you can check out the event details and order tickets here.