POSSCON Plans

With the POSSCON conference approaching, I had to make a decision about which speakers I wanted to meet with. After looking through the list of speakers a couple of times, I was still unsure about who I wanted to meet, so I went through the schedule to see what each speaker was going to discuss. After looking through the schedule and topics, I came across the three speakers I would like to meet with and talk with. Below is an outline of the speakers I want to talk with, what they are talking about, their times, some of the questions I will be asking and my plans on when to speak with them.

• John Metric
• Senior Software Engineer / Partner and Community Developer Liason, SugarCRM
• Session 
• Time: 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM, Thursday March 24
• Topic: Developing Easily Deployable PHP Application
• Time to meet with speaker: Lunch - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (Backup: 2:00 PM - 2:15 PM)
• Questions
•   When did you start working with PHP?
•   I understand that you created the Windows installer for PHP. What challenges did you face in its design and development?
• What was your first experience with open source?
•   Do you have any advice for PHP developers who want to get the most out of their applications?
• What types of applications have you developed over your career?
•  Do you utilize any other web languages besides PHP?
• Chris Hinkley
• Senior Security Engineer at FireHost
• Session
• Time: 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Thursday March 24
• Topic: Web Hosting - Knocking out Application Layer & Open Source Threat
• Time to meet with speaker: 10:45 AM to 11:00 AM (Backup: 3:00 PM - 3:15 PM)
• Questions
• What types of technologies do you use most often when dealing with security in web applications?
• What open source projects have you used while working at FireHost? Do you contribute to any in your free time?
• How did you go from developing websites to doing security engineering?
• David Duggins
• Open Source Evangelist and Long-time User
• Session
• Time: 3:15 PM to 4:00 PM, Thursday March 24
• Topic: Starting and Running a Business on-the-cheap with Open Source
• Time to meet with speaker: 4:00 PM - 4:10 PM
• Questions
• When did you start using open source software?
• What open source software have you used in helping businesses with their start up phases? What made you choose these pieces of software over similar open source software?
• Do you hold any type of degree in computer sciences?
• What advice would you give to someone who wanted to start a business using open source software? 

I do hope that I get to speak with all of these speakers. My speaker of interest to talk with is John Metric because of his experience in developing PHP applications. Since I have an interest in programming PHP applications I would really like to talk with an expert. I'm excited about the conference and can't wait to talk with these speakers!