In those halcyon, pre-pandemic days, Xojo’s annual conference was something I always enjoyed planning. Since the Xojo Team works entirely remotely, I looked forward to seeing all of my coworkers in-person, catching up with the core group of people who attend every year, and getting to know new attendees. It’s really inspiring to learn about the different things developed in Xojo; to see demos, share ideas, give feedback, help troubleshoot and so much more. So I am very excited to be planning the Xojo Developer Retreat coming up in Nashville in September.
Through the years of XDCs, attendees expressed how the sessions are great, but said over and over again that the true benefit is the discussion over a meal, the quick chats in the hallway or what they learned while sitting in the hotel bar with a group of Xojo users. See our past conference highlights videos to hear what attendees said – 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015. After having to (sadly) cancel multiple conferences in recent years, we wanted to get something in-person on the schedule. Choosing Nashville again feels a bit full circle, since we were days away from hosting XDC there in 2020 when the pandemic forced us to cancel.
Some of you have asked why we’re calling this event a retreat rather than a conference. We decided to call it a retreat to signify that we are emphasizing the part that attendees over the years has told us was the best and most beneficial part of XDC, the time spent with other users – networking, troubleshooting and building relationships. We are still going to have excellent sessions from Xojo and the community, but we are also going to find ways to ramp up the “hallway talk” opportunities.
The Hyatt Centric hotel is higher priced than hotels we have held previous conferences at and there are a few reasons for that. First, we want to hold conferences at a location within walking distance to local attractions and restaurants so you won’t need to rent a car or rely on hiring transportation. Second, September is a beautiful time of the year to visit Nashville. And third, in general, hotel prices are higher as hotels try to recover from the pandemic. To counter the higher hotel price, we lowered the event registration cost. Plus, there are a number of lower cost hotels (or maybe AirBNB) in the area that you can stay at while still attending all the retreat events. You can always save even more by presenting, Xojo is offering free passes for conference speakers!
If you want to meet the Xojo Team and community members, attend some great sessions, network, collaborate, have fun and enjoy Nashville, please join us at the Xojo Developer Retreat. Tickets are discounted by $100 through May 15th. Register early to save money and help us plan the best Xojo conference! We hope to see you there!