Continuing our series[1] on how to learn about Bitcoin and its more technical aspects, in this article, we will focus on presenting at conferences and meetups as a means to this end.
On the Ladybug podcast[2], Ali Spittel[3] coined the term “conference-driven development.” Aspiring Bitcoin savants can pursue this sort of development by taking on the responsibility of presenting at a conference on a subject matter that lies outside their current area of expertise.
The Ladybug podcast hosts discussed their experiences with “conference-driven development” preparing and delivering presentations on as diverse topics as debugging, GraphQL and Gatsby. The podcast includes lots of great advice for anyone applying to speak at a conference or meetup. This includes the process of applying and preparing for your talk and tips for actually delivering your presentation.
There are a number of conferences tentatively scheduled for 2020 with technical Bitcoin presentations: Advancing Bitcoin[4], Stanford Blockchain Conference[5], Bitcoin 2020[6], MIT Bitcoin Expo[7], Building on Bitcoin[8], Bitcoin Edge Dev++[9], Scaling Bitcoin[10], The Lightning Conference 2[11] and Lightning Hack Days[12].
Obviously, when there are a number of renowned experts competing to speak on a particular topic at a conference, the chances that your proposal will be accepted is less likely. However, there are a lot of conferences out there, and in Bitcoin there are whole new fields of research and software projects opening up all the time. In 2019, we saw a vast number of announcements[13] on everything from Miniscript[14] to SNICKER[15]. Plus, the existing subprojects of Bitcoin and Lightning are being advanced
