It’s a lazy Saturday morning in late April as I write this. Winter is now just a memory and I’m sipping coffee on the deck while birds busy themselves with home construction and loud arguments. There are also reasons to be hopeful on the COVID front as well. Notwithstanding some current major challenges around the world, it’s looking like things are inching back toward something approaching normal.
It’s time to start thinking about AstriCon 2021! AstriCon is the long-running annual conference devoted to all things Asterisk and open source communications. It brings together people from all aspects of the community from open source enthusiasts to engineers to business leaders, in a fun and informative gathering. We are currently planning our next AstriCon event in Orlando from September 28 to 30 and are now accepting applications for speakers. Anyone who’s interested in becoming a presenter is welcome to submit an application at https://astricon.net
We are planning an in-person, live Astricon, but are building in contingencies in case that turns out not to be possible. As a result of this uncertainty, we ask prospective speakers to be flexible and be prepared to speak in person, with a contingency of virtual-only if the event goes virtual.
You can listen to Julie Webb, Matt Fredrickson, Joshua Colp, and myself where we chatted recently about Astricon presentations in the “Open Source Chatter” podcast here. You can also see all of last year’s virtual Astricon 2020 (Plan 9) on youtube.
So for everyone in the Asterisk and FreePBX communities, consider this your invitation to participate at Astricon 2021, either as a speaker or an attendee. It’s a fun event, and a terrific way to both contribute to and benefit from the projects.