More about the CakeFest 2018 Nashville cancellation

This past weekend was the original date for CakeFest 2018 Nashville, we wanted to address our community about the sudden (and unexpected) cancellation of CakeFest 2018 - Nashville.

CakeFest is organized for developers, managers and newcomers - we welcome anyone with an interest in PHP and PHP frameworks, not only those interested in CakePHP. With many years behind its belt, CakeFest has been come to be known for a casual, safe and knowledgeable space where attendees can share, ask questions and learn. We’ve generally always been on the smaller side, with numbers around 100-150 attendees - and while other conference’s peak numbers at 500, we’ve celebrated the cosy, casual feel that CakeFest brings. Offering our speakers a welcoming crowd, and our attendees a casual environment to reach out and get to know both speakers, attendees and the CakePHP Core team alike.

CakeFest is a not-for-profit event, and it’s funded through a variety of methods - our biggest contributor is CakeDC, who provides both monetary resources as well as other resources, such as developer time (getting our site updated, ensuring all ticket glitches are taken care of and handling on-the-day streaming and technical support), my time (which is used to organize the hotel, venue, swag, speakers, schedules, ticket issues, community engagement and event promotion) as well as our videographer and all of his equipment (Thanks Larry a.k.a @phpnut!). We also use all of our ticket sale funds and anything raised via sponsors towards the venue and catering costs - this however is never enough due to two factors We keep ticket prices as low as possible for attendees, we know that travelling is expensive and we try to be cognizant of this. We wish we could have these tickets at an even cheaper rate but due to the next point as well as number of attendees, this isn’t always possible The current economic climate has seen a lot of companies cut back heavily on their sponsorship budgets, especially for niche conferences such as CakeFest. We appeal to our community to assist us in this regard.

CakeFest has traditionally switched locations every year - either in Europe or in the United States. This year, we were set for Nashville.

A few have approached CakePHP and asked us why it wasn’t in Europe this year - as a community we decided a few years back that every 3rd CakeFest would be in Europe due to the lower attendance generally observed at our European conferences. This lead up to 2018 being hosted in the United States - and Nashville was selected. Having come off of a successful 2017 conference hosted in New York City - the team was excited. Nashville is an exciting place - it’s not an international hub and does not have any direct flights for international travellers, but as a travelling conference we thought it would be a fun, new and exciting locale for our community.

CakeFest, being an international conference, pulling attendees from all of the world (quite literally) has many cards stacked against it - BUT it has been well attended and well supported. From our voted-in speakers to our core team who dedicate hours and hours toward the framework and community support, CakeFest is a representation of the support and energy surrounding the framework.

And that brings us to the next point - this cancellation is a disappointment to everyone, however, Larry felt it was better to cancel the event this year rather than risk hosting our annual conference at a level sub-par to what has become expected to our community. Due to personal reasons, he was unable to commit the time needed for the planning and organisation of the conference.

We are proud to say that even after a very difficult personal time, Larry is committed to the framework and community - and while CakeFest is cancelled for this year, we will back in 2019. We’d also like to let you know that this bump in the road does not change our resolve to continue building and growing the cakephp community

2019 is already in our view, and we are going to put the location up to vote! We’d now like to hear your feedback on these 4 options - Let us know where you’d most like to attend CakeFest 2019:

• Japan,
• Atlanta GA, USA
• France
• Germany

If you are keen to get involved with CakeFest - sponsorship, ticket holder, community supporter - then reach out to us.