Crafting a Community: Angelique Martin on Organizing Software Craftsmanship North America
Crafting a Community: Angelique Martin on Organizing Software Craftsmanship North America
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
The Guest
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
The Conversation
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
Hi, I'm Mike Hall with UGtastic. I'm standing here with Angelique Martin from 8th Light. Historically you've worked with the XP Universe and the XP Agile Universe when it was rebranded because Agile was the thing. But now you're working with SCNA, Software Craftsmanship North America. This is our fourth year?
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Yes, it is our fourth year.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
Can you tell me a little bit about SCNA?
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
SCNA stands for Software Craftsmanship North America. It's organized right here in Chicago. It will be held November 9th and 10th at the Aon Center. It's a two-day conference. We'll have about 14 speakers, including Robert Martin, Corey Foyle, and many other names that I can't think of right now.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
Oh, remember the roster, right now.
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Yes, Gary Bernhardt, Sarah Allen, Sarah Gray, Leon Gersing... I won't be able to remember the full team, Brian Marick... but it's all on the website.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
That's okay. People can go to the site and see all of that information. But can you tell me a little bit about what SCNA is?
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
SCNA is a conference that aims at gathering people that care about their craftsmanship. They care about their craft. They care about improving themselves. They care about contributing to the community and meeting with their peers and hopefully exchanging and teaching each other.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
And traditionally, 8th Light shared responsibilities with Obtiva, handing it off back and forth.
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Right.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
And now this year, fortunately this year that Obtiva was acquired, it was an 8th Light year, so we're good this year, but...
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Correct. Well, Groupon Engineering was still very involved in the planning of SCNA this year. As a matter of fact, they helped considerably to secure the program. So they're still a main sponsor and they're still very involved.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
Okay. That's good. The year before, when 8th Light was in charge of it, one of the things I liked was you went beyond just the day-to-day. Like most conferences seem to have the sessions and an after-party, but it's usually local or right inside of the facility, whereas you organized a field trip. Did you get any feedback from that from people?
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Well, I got some really positive feedback. The idea behind this was instead of a banquet where you would get a DJ and gigs and really stand up and dance, we were going to take people out onto buses so that they could network, have a chance to discuss the topics that the speakers had rushed on that day, for instance, and we celebrated different areas of Chicago.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
That was one of the things from people from out of town—they were excited there was a chance to go and see things they might not have known to go see. Some of the people from out of town at past SCNA events were floundering. That's one of the hard things for introverts. Sometimes we will just go back to our hotel room and hack or stay local or not explore.
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Correct. You'll see the hotel room and the conference hotel.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
And the other thing was, you were in the city one year, and then you're out near the airport. Was there any logistical things that made it more difficult being in the city or being outside of the city?
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
I think that's primarily from the fact that one year we used to alternate. Obtiva would organize, and then the next year 8th Light would. At the time, 8th Light was mostly located in the suburbs. So we had decided, for cost reasons as well, to take the conference outside of the city. It was the very first year that it was going to be a two-day conference. To minimize the risk, we decided to take it out of the city. And we did it by the airport with a connection to the city within the parking garage of the hotel.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
So it was easy to get out there.
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Correct.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
But cost was one of the big things you were saying. You put events together. We don't do this for the money.
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Right. Yeah, but there's still a lot of money that changes hands, but mostly it's outgoing.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
Well, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me, and looking forward to SCNA.
Angelique Martin
8th Light, SCNA Organizer
Thank you.
Critical Insights
durable
"Organizing field trips and structured networking events at technical conferences is a highly effective way to encourage introverted attendees to explore the host city and engage with peers."
time bound
"Co-organizing large conferences (like SCNA) by alternating years between local tech companies (8th Light and Obtiva) distributes risk, financial burden, and logistical planning."
durable
"SCNA's core mission centers on developers caring about their craft, improving themselves, and contributing to a community of peers through knowledge exchange."
time bound
"Even after major corporate acquisitions (like Groupon acquiring Obtiva), the acquired engineering teams often continue to actively sponsor and program local community conferences."