335 - Blastoff Rails: Starting a Ruby Conference from Scratch with Travis Dockter

In this episode I talk with Travis Dockter, organizer of Blastoff Rails in Albuquerque. When Sin City Ruby and RailsConf both ended, Travis decided to start his own conference. We discuss how cheaply you can run a conference outside a big city (about $2,400 for a two-day venue), why roughly 40 attendees turned out to be the right size, and attendees who flew in from Brazil and Puerto Rico. We also talk about the "stone soup" way of having an impact on the community, giving people plenty of time between talks to socialize, and how a single-track conference gives everyone a shared experience. Links: - Blastoff Rails - Blastoff Rails on X - Blastoff Rails on Bluesky - Travis on LinkedIn - Travis on X - Travis on Bluesky - Nonsense Monthly