014: Conferencing After Babies

Parent Driven Development Episode 014: Conferencing After Babies 00:16 Welcome, Tess and Sean Griffin! Tess is a Site Engineer at GitHub. Sean is a developer at Shopify, renowned Rails committer, the creator of the Diesel Framework, host of The Yak Shave podcast, and a former host of The Bike Shed podcast. 02:14 Deciding on Conference to Go To and Speak At Conferences who offer on-site childcare are very attractive. Shoutout to Ruby Central conferences and Rust Belt Rust! 09:56 Evening Childcare Going through conference organizer recommendations is preferencial because they spend a lot of time scouting the cities, however, services like UrbanSitter and Care.com are options in a pinch. Conferences that offer child/kid-friendly after-hours activities are also great for parents. It seems like more conferences like that are popping up and opting for less bar atomosphere gatherings. 👍 16:38 Awesome Conference-Provided Amenities / Wishlist Items Swag Options for Kids (onesies and t-shirts!) Badges for Kids and Babies A list of kid-tolerant folks / Babysitting Co-ops for parents amongst attendees / Equipment share (Could be in the form of a Slack channel. 23:34 Having Answers BEFORE Asking People to Commit Just having people click a box saying they will need childcare but not having any details about what those plans are isn't cool. (It also gives them a great excuse to turn down coming.) Parents want to know from the get-go that there is a solid childcare plan in place before they commit to going to a conference. Remember, the younger the child, the more logistics are involved around needs and stuff (equipment). Is there a supermarket or supermarket delivery service nearby? How will I get from the airport to the conference hotel? Is there additional costs for children? 27:31 Getting Around Public transportation around your conference is key. 10-15 minutes away from the airport is an ideal distance. 29:26 School-Age Children and Conferences 32:43 Genius / Fail Moments Chris: Print-and play projects (#Genius) Tess: Investing in a nice child gate (#Genius) Allison: Having thoughtful and interactive conversations with your kids (#Genius) Sean: Teaching babies words is hilarious! 🤣 Follow & Support Please follow us @parentdrivendev on Twitter or email us at [email protected]. Our website is at ParentDrivenDevelopment.com. We are listener supported. Please consider Supporting us via Patreon and gaining access to our our kind Slack Community. Panel Chris Sexton Allison McMillanSpecial Guests: Sean Griffin and Tess Griffin.