How I Got Involved With CascadiaFest.

I feel very lucky to have been invited to organize CascadiaFest for the past two years - first as Browser (JavaScript) Day Curator, and this year as CSS Day Curator. Sometimes people have asked me how I got involved with CascadiaFest in the first place, so I thought I'd tell that story.

Way back in 2013, I decided that it would be good for my professional development to attend some conferences. I had just started a new job, with some savings left over from unemployment time, and so I had some budget to attend conferences on my own dime. I had met Carter Rabasa (founder and long-time organizer of CascadiaJS) by attending the SeattleJS meetup in the previous year. So I arranged a trip to Vancouver, BC for CascadiaJS in November. On the Hacker Train up from Seattle to Vancouver, I met Tracy Hinds, who had organized the Hacker Train all the way up from Portland.

CascadiaJS 2013 was an absolute blast. The talks were interesting and educational, and I met a bunch of new (and now long-time) conf-friends and even got mistaken for a speaker! I followed new friends on Twitter, and CascadiaJS on Github. Not too long after coming home, I wrote up and posted some of my notes and published them on this blog. I knew I would be ready to do it again in 2014.

And I did. CascadiaJS 2014 was in Portland, and I bought a ticket and lodging nice and early. Beyond being excited about attending, I had even begun to think I might be able to speak. I had even submitted a talk. It was pretty awful, but that's the first step. 2014 was just as wonderful as the last year - I made sure to thank Tracy and Carter (head organizers for that year) personally, since I knew it was a ton of work to organize something so big and so lovely. (Organizing a conference is kinda like organizing a wedding, once a year.) Since I followed the CascadiaJS repo, I was able to observe many parts of the organization process, and contributed some (hopefully!) helpful thoughts for the next year.

By early 2015, I'd had some success with my talk proposals, and had managed to speak at 2 other conferences. Thus I felt qualified to help other people with their talk proposals and I volunteered to do so; and also to help with CFP out-reach - something I feel passionate about. But Tracy responded asking would I be interested in becoming a core organizer and curating JavaScript Day? After only a little thought, I responded "absolutely yes"!

So, there you go. I got involved by attending first, providing useful feedback to the organizers, and participating in the community.

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