Can you feel it? It's coming...

Even after the glory that was SocialDevCamp, we have another DC local conference coming:

The 2008 DCPHP Conference

This is a real conference which means the agenda is set, the speakers have been determined, and the sponsors are coming.

The highlights:

Since the fine tech summit that was BarCampDC, there has been quite a bit of rumbling about the lack of investors (Angels & VC's specifically) lurking in and around DC. In the past couple weeks, some people have laid out a grand vision of "Bringing the Valley to DC" (Nick O'Neill), while others are focusing on building it from the ground up by motivating groups and connections (Will Kern), and others are just ticked because - despite pitching the idea a month earlier (Ann Bernard) - everyone is acting like its a new idea.

DC is a funny and unique place. In the 6+ years I've lived here, here are the key aspects I've identified:

First, there is a huge amount of tech. I've discussed this recently, on any given week you could easily attend 2-3 meetings in the area between downtown DC and Reston, VA. There are groups on everything from general web design to PHP to Ruby to Drupal to startups and probably more that I haven't heard of. And those are just the communities, when you consider the companies, the number quickly grows. The sheer amount of technology people and projects is staggering.