BohConf: stand-alone developers conference to showcase Baltimore programmers

BohConf, really, wasn’t intended to be its own stand-alone, one-day conference.
Originally conceived by Yair Flicker of SmartLogic Solutions, BohConf was the unconference associated with the annual RailsConf, the major Ruby on Rails conference that called Baltimore home in 2010 and 2011. A local developer hailing from wherever RailsConf is setting up in a particular year is usually the person to organize the accompanying unconference.
Buy $40 tickets here, though the accompanying Ignite event is sold out.
After a failed attempt at helping organize the unconference at this year’s RailsConf in Portland, Flicker returned to Baltimore and, at the end of May, decided to plan a daylong event for Baltimore-based developers.
Tomorrow at the University of Baltimore, around 140 developers of different stripes — Android and iOS programmers, Ruby on Rails programmers, JavaScript, PHP, HTML and CSS developers — will spend a day doing what they love most (or, at least, enjoy a lot): coding, UI design, and listening to other coders talk about how much they love coding. And all that for just $40, a paltry amount for a ticket compared to what something like RailsConf typically charges. (Think hundreds of dollars.)
“It’s kind of an experiment,” said organizer Flicker. Most tickets to tomorrow’s BohConf sold out about a week and a half ago, he added.
The budget for the event, Flicker said, is $4,500, and at $40 a head, he thinks he’ll be able to break even on the costs for this first standalone conference. The day itself is organized into three separate tracks:

• 20-minute lectures from programmers and startup founders in the auditorium inside UB’s Thumel Business Center on W. Mount Royal Avenue.
• A series of BarCamp-style lectures, where topics will be picked by BohConf attendees.
• And “hacking” and office hours for attendees who need to get some work done on a Friday, or are looking for additional help on various developer progjects.

As for whether Flicker will look to host another BohConf next year?
“Tickets sold out well before I thought they would,” he said. “It seems like there’s a definite need for this in Baltimore.”