Due to a slight mishap in my own coverage of the 2008 DCPHP Conference coverage, this writeup of Day 3 is going live long after my "Closing Thoughts". And by "slight mishap", I mean I forgot to write this one. ;)

Two weeks ago saw the third DCPHP Conference happen on George Washington University. This post covers the third and final day of the conference and was written after everything was done. Previous coverage is available here: 2008 DCPHP Conference - Day 1 and 2008 DCPHP Conference - Day 2.

Disclosure: Although I am a shameless promoter of the DCPHP Community, my only formal role is one of the three moderators on the mailing list. Other than being a member of the group, I have no title, investment, or financial/legal ties to any of the groups involved. I just believe firmly that success for the conference and the community means bigger success for the community... myself included on both sides of that equation.

Last week saw the third DCPHP Conference happen on George Washington University. This post covers the second day of the conference and was written after everything was done. The first day of coverage is available here: 2008 DCPHP Conference - Day 1.

Last week saw the third DCPHP Conference happen on George Washington University. This post covers the first day of the conference and was written after everything was done.

The opening keynote was from Kshemendra Paul, Chief Architect for the Office of Management and Budget Executive Office of the President, who talked about their attempt collaboration and coordination going on between the different Federal Agencies. While I found some of his discussion points and examples interesting, there weren't many Fed or govt-types in the audience this time around. In addition, he didn't bring slides, so the url's he shared were spelled out for all to write down. Wha? The dynamic duo from the State of Iowa - Michael Tutty and Tony Bibbs - were in attendance and shared some perspective and ideas, but it simply wasn't relevant to a good portion of the audience.

There are a few times each year where I get personal in this space. It's not often, it's not too personal, but if it annoys you... shut it and come back tomorrow.

Memorial Day is my favorite holiday around DC. Unlike most of the others, it's not just a day off or a time to see a parade or just a day with lousy Metro service... though all are true. The real highlight of the weekend for me is Rolling Thunder. Of course, I didn't get to see it the same was as my friend S Dawn Jones (USMC) who covered it from the White House.

But I've been thinking quite a bit lately about the people that I look up to and have admired in business, life, etc and I found a couple common threads that tie most of them together. The single most common thread is serving in the military. So here - in roughly chronological order - are some people I'd like to thank:

A couple ofpeople have noted that in my responses - titled "It's the Tech Guy Obviously!" and "What about the Business Guy?" respectively - to Ann Bernard's initial post "The Tech Guy vs The Biz Dev Guy" that I've been hard on the BizDev Guy. As in incredibly hard, ripping him to shreds, openly mocking him, and just short of bringing up elderberries. I'm sorry gentlemen, but it's time to take a look at ourselves...

What does the Tech Guy lack?

When the highly esteemed Zend'er Cal Evans was in DC earlier this week, a number of local DCPHP'ers met up with him for drinks.

One of the hottest topics we discussed was conferences. He - and much of the PHP Community on Twitter - are currently at php|tek in Chicago. Then we have the 2008 DCPHP Conference in less than two weeks. Then we have ZendCon 2008 in September.

And the question always comes up...

Why should I go to these conferences?

Well, they're fun.

But don't tell you boss that.