Last week was CodeMash 2026. I wasn’t selected to speak, which was a bummer, but I was able to attend and partake in a week of amazing content and activities. For those unfamiliar, CodeMash is a 4-day conference held at the Kalahari indoor water park in Sandusky, Ohio. It has long been the biggest and best developer conference for those in the Ohio Valley/Great Lakes region. It got me to thinking about the state of conferences in general, “post pandemic”, and I thought I would share a few of my thoughts and observations about conferences in general and CodeMash in particular.

Attendance

First, and most obviously, there’s no doubt that attendance at in-person events such as conferences and user groups is still down. Whether that’s a combination of people not wanting to be around others in this pandemic world or a shift in attitudes regarding such events is difficult to say. I get the impression it’s a little from column A, and a little from column B.

Many people are still hesitant to be around large groups of others. I can’t say I blame them. I came home from CodeMash, and a day later, was sicker than a dog. I still feel like crap as I write this. We use to call it “‘con crud”. But whether it’s some flu, or cold, or COVID (tested negative so far), or something else, there’s no doubt I picked something up from the crowd. It’s fine. I’m already on the mend and it was worth it for the experience in my view. But I think concern about illness is the smaller consideration.

I think the bigger influencer on attendance is attitude, which can be split into two parts. There’s the attitude of attendees, and the attitude of employers. Pre-COVID, a lot of companies would pay to send some or all of their devs to conferences like CodeMash. I’ve had a mixed bag of support from various employers over the years. But the sad truth is that during the pandemic, when they spent nothing to send devs to conferences, they decided it was an expense they would no longer cover, or would cut back on severely.

During the Thursday evening main session at CodeMash, they asked for hands on how many people paid their own way to attend. It was probably around 30% of people in the room. It was actually a rather impressive number. CodeMash isn’t cheap to attend. Pre-COVID, that number would have been a lot smaller percentage of the whole because the whole would have been a bit bigger of a group, with many more devs being there on their employer’s expense. Employers are funding far fewer of these kinds of things because they’re greedy, soulless bastards only interested in delighting their shareholders.

That said, I also feel like there’s a general shift in people’s attitudes regarding in-person events. I feel like a lot of people who used to enjoy attending such events have changed their feelings and perhaps no longer feel like it’s a good use of their time. I can’t really put my finger on why that might be. Perhaps it’s residual concern about the pandemic, or maybe just a shift in general about being in and amongst the community at large. But I feel like there’s a real difference in the percentage of people who want to spend their time attending such events. And that makes me sad.

The Sessions

One of the points of attending conferences are the sessions. This time around I attended a number of really fantastic sessions. It started off with a hands-on workshop Tuesday morning where I built a shark robot that had a laser pointer and sensors and could be used to battle other robots, being controlled via bluetooth and an app. I didn’t stick around for any battles, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process of building and testing the robot, and plan to play around with the programming a bit to see what else I can do with it.

Shark robot

The last session I attended on Friday was a fantastic session by Matt Eland using AI/ML, Aspire, OpenTelemetry, and Agent Framework for building and iterating on the development of a solo RPG game. It was a fantastic session and a great way to end the conference. If you want to know ANYTHING about machine learning, Matt is the one to talk to.

I also attended a bunch of sessions on AI, .NET, Azure, architecture, tracking balloons with radios, teamwork, logging, and everything in between. It’s unfortunate that most of the sessions at CodeMash don’t get recorded and made available, but as a former conference organizer, I understand the great cost involved and how that influences a conference’s ability to offer that.

Some people like to attend sessions about things they are already familiar with. I do a little of that, but I mostly like to attend sessions to get exposed to things I know little to nothing about. Conferences are one of the great ways to learn about something entirely new, and CodeMash is no different. My favorite “new topic” session this time around was by Tom Graham, who talked about attaching Raspberry Pi PICO boards to high altitude balloons and launching them to track them as they float around the world. It was really quite fascinating to learn about the fairly simple tech involved and how these enthusiasts are able to do it all.

The Hallway Track

One of the other points of attending conferences is meeting new people. Whether its at meals in the dining room, getting to know the speakers, or just talking to random people in the hallways, one of the biggest benefits of in-person events is making connections. This is where the biggest long term value of these events comes in. You need to make connections with people in the industry, especially in this worsening tech job market. These connections give you an enormous advantage when you want, or need, to find a new job. Ask me how I know!

Aside from that, in-person events can be a great way to get to know co-workers in a non-work environment. I am one of the least social people I know. I hate being around people in general. But last week I got to meet most of my coworkers, only two of whom I’ve met in person before. And it was great spending some social time with them. I hate social functions in general. But I enjoyed every bit of my time at CodeMash with them. It was amazing.

Volunteering

Events like CodeMash rely on volunteer efforts. Whether it’s as a speaker or as a volunteer organizer helping with the event, they could not exist without the hard work of a lot of people. I was on a board running a conference in Columbus for a few years. It didn’t survive the post-pandemic environment, but a lot of conferences and user groups still manage to keep going. And they rely on those efforts. If you aren’t involved, consider getting involved. Speak, help organize, whatever they need. Be a part of it. It’s worth it. I’ve blogged about this before. Get involved.

User Groups

It doesn’t have to be a big event like CodeMash. There are a lot of smaller, one day events. Or even better, user groups. I would highly encourage you to give them another look. Pick a user group. They’re free. They’re local. They’re a lot of fun. Get out and attend one. Go. Do it! DO IT NOW!!!!!! Well… just give it a try, would you? You don’t have to say a word. You don’t have to participate. Just attend. They’ll be forever grateful to you. The people who organize your local user groups put in a lot of hard work, and they don’t make a dime in return. In fact, a lot of time, they spend some of their own money to keep that group going. It’s also fairly likely you can find a group relatively local to you that focuses on your area of expertise. There’s all kinds out there. Give em a shot.

Conclusion

If you’re someone who has stopped attending in-person events, or someone who hasn’t ever felt the interest to attend one, I’d be curious to understand why that is. Is it still concern about COVID? Or something else? Whatever the reason, maybe you could give one another try. It will be worth your time.