In October I had the privilege of speaking at the final Çingleton conference. I’ve now given this talk, titled “Maximum Viable Products,” in six cities in three countries, but the Çingleton version was my favourite.
You should also watch Laura Savino’s talk on language and self improvement. Then, go ahead and watch every other Çingleton talk ever. The mix of small audience, round tables, and wonderful speakers that Guy, Luc, and Scott pulled off is truly a recipe for a great event. The format really shines, though, for more personal topics like surviving being indie, telling meaningful stories, and leading by example.
In the afterglow of the last day, after the announcement that they wouldn’t hold another, I was overwhelmed with the desire to pick up where Ç left off. As it happens, Vancouver has its own geodesic dome - what better place for Çingleton to live on? Since then, however, I’ve felt more and more that trying to reproduce somebody else’s show is a fool’s errand. If you start something thinking of it as a sequel, it’s never going to be truly special.
We have no specific plans for an event in Vancouver at the moment, but I can say that if we do ever do something, it’ll need to be unique. The Çingleton team realized the value of doing something special when they started in 2010, which is why they decided to host a one year conference. Sure, they later changed their minds and did it three more times, but the spirit of doing something unique ran through it all.
Although Ç is behind us, there are many more great events ahead. We have Úll, CocoaLove, and now Release Notes in the indie app world specifically, and many more in the web and game dev worlds. I’ll be at as many of them as I can manage, hearing others’ stories and, when I can, sharing my own.