We've launched the FAQ and registration page for Travel Companions on the RubyFringe website. We want to ensure that significant others traveling with RubyFringers from out of town have a great time, and hopefully walk away with new friends. Our Travel Companion program is offered at cost, and allows them to participate in the evening events and activities at your side.

And speaking of which, the schedule for evening RubyFringe events is now posted! Please let us know if you have questions or suggestions.

Also, please note that you can grab your hot and fresh "I'm attenting RubyFringe" badges to make your blog look oh-so-sexy. Get them here: http://rubyfringe.com/images/rf_attending.jpg

We've given our speakers a lot of leverage to choose what they want to speak about, but we expect that most of them will be nailed down by June 11th, when we will post a full schedule. In the meantime, we're going to keep you updated with outlines, ideas, and manifestos from the speakers in the next weeks as the excitement builds. Pro tip: These will generally hit the RubyFringe RSS feed first.

We don't want to be a broken record, but please don't forget to register for your discount room at the Metropolitan Hotel ASAP. July is a really busy time for tourism in downtown Toronto, so we expect the hotel to be sold out long before summer seems like more than just a dream.

Always yours,

The RubyFringe Team http://rubyfringe.com/

NEW TO TORONTO?

If this is your first time to Toronto, we set up a page just for you. Welcome!

TALK REQUESTS?

We've got some pretty smart folks coming to speak at RubyFringe. Some of them are associated with well known projects, others are less predictable. What would you like to see them speak about? Let us know.

TRAVEL COMPANION?

Have a spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend tagging along to Toronto? In conjunction with some of our lovely female comrades, we're orchestrating an activity program to help evade the boredom that is often spawned from being the less-nerdy travel companion. For a small fee, your special friend will be admitted (with all the perks) to all the evening dinners and parties hosted by RubyFringe. During the conference hours, Faye and Heather (two of Toronto's most sterling ladies) will be organizing activities and sightseeing away from the tourist deathtraps, along with some good old fashioned mingling and pint-sampling. We want to ensure that everyone traveling to the city for RubyFringe, regardless of a badge, walks away with some awesome memories. A registration page and rundown of benefits will appear here in about two weeks.

SITE UPDATES

One of the most common questions we've received is whether it makes sense for an employer to send someone to RubyFringe. The answer is a loud YES! but it's a fair question, so we've composed a general rundown of some knowledge you'll be walking away with in the FAQ. The schedule has seen a few updates as well.

PYCON: SOLD OUT?

Bruce Eckel posts about what happens when a conference sells all of its best slots to paid sponsors. (Spoiler: It sucks.)

GOOGLE GROUP

If you want to keep up on the gossip outside of the mailing list, you can also join the RubyFringe Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyfringe

PROPOSALS

Thanks to everyone who submitted a talk proposal for RubyFringe. We have reached our capacity for submissions now, and will be in contact with everyone this week.

SCHEDULE

We've posted a schedule of events which will be growing and subject to change with weekly updates, giving you a taste of what's in store.