In February, four Beez traveled to New York for PauseOnError, the annual winter gathering of FileMaker developers. PauseOnError runs as an “Unconference”; attendees organize the entire agenda, and work together to support presentations and ad-hoc discussions. This makes for a highly-relevant and participatory experience.
In the third year of PauseOnError, we saw the deepest range of discussion topics related to FileMaker development and consulting: agile, data modeling, testing, FileMaker Go, User Experience, recruiting, business marketing, the FOCUS framework, Web and SQL integration, and more.
Fortunately, there were plenty of the best, brightest and most generous FileMaker experts in attendance. Participants shared their time and tips, not only with other attendees, but also with the world — via Twitter, reports to FM User Groups, blog posts, the conference Wiki and other channels.
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PauseOnError has turned into a much needed late-winter opportunity to connect with our peers in the FileMaker developer community. Our biggest industry conference, FileMaker DevCon, is always in late summer. Yet, as fast as technology moves, a year between major meetings with the FileMaker world would otherwise be an eternity without PauseOnError.
This year’s PauseOnError event even “sold out” — or rather, “ran out of space” since it’s a free event. That kind of crowd is a healthy sign for the FileMaker community. The biggest challenge might be accommodating the growth of interest in such a gathering.
Finally, even though PauseOnError is attendee-driven, there is a steering committee that worked hard to bring everyone together. Here’s a big “Thank You” to Molly Connolly, Ernest Koe, Andy Gaunt and John Sindelar. Can’t wait until next year’s event!