Philosophy of WebExpo 2009 conference

What is WebExpo 2009?

WebExpo 2009 is the second year of the biggest Czech professional conference about web technologies and related topics. For the concept of this event we have been inspired by popular and professional conferences which are held abroad, be it either Carsonified's events or international conferences about web 2.0 by O'Reilly. We wish to bring fresh energy and joy from meeting people who like to talk about web and share useful information with others. The conference also aims to revive the Czech scene of web developers, designers and people whose businesses are bond to web.
The website of the first year is on the following address: 2008.webexpo.cz.

Our target is developers, designers, freelancers, techies, entrepreneurs and also students who are often in contact with the most recent technologies and trends way before they actually come to big companies. It could be a great opportunity for both seasoned businessmen and progressive marketing specialists to get to know new web technologies or simply start negotiating contracts with exhibitors. For we had the feeling, that such a conference or expo hadn't existed in Central Europe, we decided to organize this event, because we like to embark on places other people are too afraid to venture.

The idea of this project was also gladly accepted by university ground, therefore in cooperation with the Department of Information Technologies at Faculty of Economics and Management at Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague we can welcome you in a cozy area of this campus. During the whole event there is going to be a Wi-Fi connection.

Conference schedule

The core of the conference is mainly formed by professional lectures on programming, web design and web business. But that is not all you will have the chance to see. Apart from the above mentioned there are going to be so many additional speeches and attractions that it is hard to define which ones will be the most exciting ones. We are hoping everyone will find their own area of interest.

There will be four thematic rooms:

• Developer Hall (The content will be simultaneously translated to English.)
• Webdesign & UX Hall (The content will be simultaneously translated to English.)
• Business & Startup Room
• Enterprise 2.0 / Frameworks Room

Further content of the conference:

• Keynotes
• Workshops
• Panel discussion
• Startup Show competition
• Community Meetings
• Partner's exhibiton
• Book store
• Books bazaar

Keynotes

Keynotes are from famous and prestigious leaders and speakers. They usually take place at the beginning of the conference so that people can scatter to different lectures. We have decided to do it the other way around and have keynotes at the end of the day so that people could relax after the exhausting programme and listen to lighter topics. For our keynotes we are going to get both known people and some "fresh blood" who have something to say about the current web happening.

Main partners talks

Intended for attractive topics about web technologies which are among the topics or offers of our main partners. This year our main partners are Sun Microsystems and Microsoft. They prepare talks about JavaFX, NetBeans, Silverlight 3, application testing and more.

Expert talks

The essence of the expo is going to be made up by professional speakers who know the exhibited technologies very well, because they have been using them themselves. Lectures given by developers are going to cover news in , PHP frameworks, JavaScript, Flash and deployment of web technology in enterprises. etc.

There will be speeches about internet business with new views to connects area of marketing, software companies and startups. We think in marketing it is always essential to look toward the future and try to be one step ahead of the competitors. Your business is as good as good is it about to become.

We prepare a huge amount of speeches for attendees from web design community. The speeches which will bring most recent information from the world of web design and user experience. Partner of "Web Design & UX Hall" is Czech branch of a worldwide organization which is focused on user interface, usability and accessibility of web Prague ACM SIGCHI.

Corporate talks

Are meant for companies and their potential customers who would want to review the offered product or service in one hour speech. Box solutions must also relate to web or the intranets. It could be a great opportunity for managers to familiarize with offered solutions in business field and for companies to present them to experts.

Contests

Another area we lite to support are startup projects and novel ideas for web services. We have prepared a competition everyone can join with their internet project that exists live at least in public beta version. Four most interesting projects will have chance to present the idea in a 15 minute presentation at the expo supervised by an expert jury and the conference attendants will pick the winner of Startup Show 2009 competition. The main prize is a promotion of the winning project supported by a media partner Lupa.cz.

Community Meetings

Even though Community Meetings seem to be the minority part of the whole event, on the contrary they can become the most interesting and beneficial attendees experience at conferences. During free discussions visitors will have an opportunity to talk to the other participants and speakers on topics they feel interested about.

Partner's exhibiton

The foyer is going to be adjusted for exhibitor presentations, where companies engaged in web application development will demonstrate their projects they are currently working on and job vacancies. This is an excellent chance to talk to the company technical managers and employees, ask for work opportunities without staggering around the city looking for personal agencies and undergoing hundreds of job interviews. After just a few minutes you can figure out whether you want the position or not without going anywhere.

Book store with a discount

Grada - publishing house is going to have a book shop with books on conference topics. Books will be sold with a special expo discount!

Books bazaar

In case you are interested you can bring a web related book you have already read and want to sell to someone else. There is going to be a special reserved area for a bazaar, where you will be able to place your book with a price. In case your book is sold, you will not be charged any additional payments.