Speaking at conferences is one of my favorite things. It gives me an excuse to travel, I get to practice something that’s scary and thrilling, I get to meet and talk to really interesting people, and learn new things about subjects I care about.

This is part of our 100 Things in 2017 challenge. Here’s the full list. Click on the photos for a closer look!

This conference was called Codemotion Amsterdam. It was two days long, had around 700 attendees from all parts of the software industry across Europe, and was held in an old shipyard building on the north side of Amsterdam. Becky and I both made the trip, and extended our stay before and after for some sightseeing.

Our Airbnb flat came with a couple of bicycles, so I made a point to ride across town to get to the conference on the second day. It’s an experience I’ll not soon forget; the Dutch ride bicycles like New Yorkers drive.

I ended up giving my talk twice on the second day of the conference – once for the Codemotion attendees, and one for a Digital Ocean meetup at a local development agency that evening. Both crowds were a lot of fun and pretty interactive, and I feel like I did pretty well with my talk; people laughed at all the right places, and I even saw some taking photos of my slides, which is always a good thing.

This conference was a joy. The organizers operate like a well-oiled machine, and it’s hard to come up with a way they could have run the event better. I may or may not have already submitted proposals for some of their other events.