Dear PHP community,

We wanted to provide some context and background on our decision to move the Dutch PHP Conference (DPC) to an online-only format going forward.

To start, let’s put things in some context: Ibuildings is not an organiser of conferences, but a specialized software development agency that loves PHP and its community, and we have always been eager to drive the growth of PHP as a technology. For this reason, we started organizing DPC back in 2007 as a side activity to our core business of delivering successful bespoke software development projects to our customers. 

Over the years, DPC gradually grew into a three-day event with over 600 attendees and 50+ speakers at the Amsterdam RAI venue. I think it’s safe to say that DPC grew a little more than we anticipated :-)

But it was all good! Together we made it work. Fueled by an enthusiastic community, willing sponsors and backed by Ibuildings delivering the necessary resources and leadership.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to move the conference online in the last two editions. This allowed us to continue providing valuable content and opportunities for learning and networking.

We had hoped to return to an in-person format for the upcoming edition in 2023, but the post-pandemic realities and increased costs have made it difficult for us to continue organizing a community-oriented conference the DPC-way. 

Ibuildings is not a professional conference organizer, and we don't want to turn DPC into a commercial conference. Additionally, we realized that we would need the help of an external agency to continue organizing DPC at the same scale as before. With that, the numbers just don't add up anymore: We don't want to compromise on the community spirit of DPC by increasing ticket prices beyond reasonable levels. 

Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to move the conference to an online-only format going forward.

While the in-person DPC has come to an end, we look back on an incredible journey over the past 15 years in which we made friends, learned a ton, and succeeded in driving PHP as a first-class technology for building anything for everyone. And that will continue to be our goal going forward.

We hope you will join us for the online conference and look forward to connecting with you virtually.

Sincerely,

Tom Schenkenberg, founder Ibuildings & Dutch PHP Conference