Marco Tabini Talks about php|tek

Last week, Marco Tabini, publisher of php|architect and all around nice guy, posted the "Call For Papers" for php|tek 2007. The theme this year is PHP::innovate(). Since I couldn't find my "marketing speak to English" dictionary, I decided to call Marco and see if he could translate it for me manually.

So Marco, exactly how does PHP::innovate() translate into English? (en-US) More specifically what does it mean for people proposing sessions and then to attendees?
Well I think you've hit the nail on the head when you identified that there are really two groups of people we are targeting when we come up with a slogan like PHP::innovate(). The first is obviously the attendees, we want to give them a slogan that is going to captivate them and at the same time give them an idea of what we are trying to accomplish with the conference. The second group we have to target is the speakers. We have to stimulate them to come up with ideas that are unique, different and intriguing. This helps us create a better conference for the attendees.

So the PHP::innovate() slogan we have this year was chosen specifically because it **is** going to mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. What we are trying to do with it is show that we've taken PHP out of the cocoon of this "beginners language". The language has matured, it has improved, it has become an enterprise tool. At the same time it is the perfect tool for developers to grow with. You can get started very easily in PHP but as you mature as a developers, you can move from simple scripts up to enterprise level applications.

So what we are trying to do is show that PHP has outgrown it's initial usage of a web scripting language and is now a full-featured development environment and a cutting edge tool. Now that PHP has matured, developers can turn their attention from innovating PHP to innovating with PHP. So this year we want speakers to come to the conference and show the attendees how PHP can help them create new and great applications. We want the attendees to come to find out how to leverage PHP inn new ways beyond a simple web site. We want them to learn about the cool new stuff that is out there today. Technologies like SOAP, Ajax, Web Services, these are tools that PHP developers need to know about. We also want to make sure that the attendees get a good solid foundation in the basics of PHP to build upon. Ultimately what we want the attendees to take home from the conference is a challenge to use PHP in bigger and better ways.

Marco, thanks for taking the time to help us understand this. I look forward to hearing more about php|tek 2007 as it shapes up.

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