No YAPC !

I am suffering from a lack of Perl – maybe not the language but definitely the community. As far as I can remember, I have always been there – behind the O’Reilly table, filled with all the pale blue books. You guessed this year I am not going to YAPC as it is outside of my territory – that feels very strange and my Summer is incomplete. Come on Perl people get YAPC back in my part of the world! Since I cannot talk about YAPC, I will talk about two new (or not so new courses) that we have organized with Floss UK. These courses are not just about Perl but the tutor is the Perl Guru – Damian Conway.

I will not bore you with the details of the course, you can read them on the website –

Regular Expressions Training Course

Thursday 11th October 2012

Venue: Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London WC1B 5BB

Presentation Skills Training Course

Friday 12th October 2012

Venue: Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London WC1B 5BB

I thought I would just give you some examples of people’s feedback after they listened to Damian’s courses or talks. First quote is about the “Presentation Skills” course given in London in April (I know you’ve read this quote in a previous post but if the BBC can do repeats why can’t I):

“I attended Damian’s ‘Presentation Aikido’ yesterday. It’s the only time I’ve remained so engaged with a subject for 7-8 hours, and that includes school, university, OSCON and an all night session with Lord of the Rings. What’s even more impressive is that I remained engaged with a subject I normally find incredibly tedious. Like almost everyone else, my professional life has been blighted by three dimensional transitions, psychedelic colour schemes and psychotic presenters, not all of my own creation. Damian’s skill is to focus on the content and to cut the rubbish that can make presentations so unbearable. And that content is unparalleled. Using his hard-won experience as a speaker, he imbibes attendees with a very real sense of what it takes to make great presentations, and that’s the best possible outcome I could have hoped for.” – Graham Morrison, Linux Format

Then I ramdomly took some quotes from Damian’s website – please note for once I am not guilty for the typos etc.

“Damian is a witty, engaging and experienced speaker and it shows in his delivery style and the quality of his talk and slides. He makes the whole process of presenting look effortless. Of course, if you had attended his class on presentations you would know that he had already practiced his talk at least three times in the week before. That was an important lesson and it does help as it makes you confident and knowledgable about the flow of your talk. There were several other tricks that Damian gave in that presentation and if you get a chance to attend, I recommend you take it.” 

“Dr. Damian Conway is an extremely clever, creative, witty, and entertaining lecturer. He has been aptly characterized as a cross between Donald Knuth and Monty Python.”

“Damian is the most engaging and motivated instructor I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. I can’t wait to see what he has up his sleeve in the next twenty years!”

“Very knowledgeable (for obvious reasons) as well as congenial and animated. Made the subject quite fun and very enticing.”

“Informative and interesting; not boring. Lively speaker; no way to get any sleep in here.”

“Great pace/instruction. Damian is an excellent teacher; very creative and knowledgeable. The humor really made for a great presentation.”

“Damian is a top-notch instructor. I was extremely pleased. It’s good to be taught by leaders in the field!”

“Too much fun; should be declared illegal!”

I hope I have convinced you that these two courses are a must, if not have a look at Damian’s website where you will find more fantastic quotes.