LDSTech Conference 2011

Written by Tom Johnson

Thursday, 25 February 2010

March 31 – April 1, 2011. Riverton Office Building. Riverton, Utah

The LDSTech Conference is scheduled for the Thursday and Friday before general conference (March 31 – April 1) in Riverton, Utah. The conference is an opportunity to come to the Church's IT headquarters and share your technology skills on a variety of Church projects. You'll learn about the tools and services available, how to join a team, and ways to get working as quickly as possible.

Who Should Attend

This conference is for those who want to use their talents to develop solutions that benefit the whole Church membership and more. If you have a background in software development, project management, web design, quality assurance, security, technical writing, localization, or other technical skills, you can help out with a variety of projects.

LDSTech Conference

Conference Details

Date:	March 31 – April 1, 2011
Location:	Riverton Office Building, 3740 W. 13400 S., Riverton, UT
Times:	8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. both days (with a closing dinner and special presentation on Friday evening)
For Who:	Designers, developers, testers, support staff, technical writers, etc.
Cost:	FREE and includes breakfast and lunch
Keynote:	Guest speaker
Date:	March 31 – April 1, 2011
Register:	https://tech.lds.org/conf

Registration

The conference is a big hit this year, and we are already at full capacity. Therefore we aren't accepting any new registrations, but you can add your name to a waiting list by sending an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If you already registered but now cannot attend, please let us know by sending an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This will allow those on the waiting list to attend.

Conference Schedule

Project and session details are now available for the LDSTech Conference at https://tech.lds.org/conf. As you browse the list of events, you can sort by tag, presenter, or time to narrow the events shown.

Add the sessions and projects to your agenda as you wish. There’s no need to save your selections. The system will remember everything.

Note a few details:

Repeated presentations. Some presentations are repeated to accommodate multiple groups. If so, you’ll see (repeat) after the presentation title. Repeated sessions are the same each time.
Multiple project sessions. Most projects have multiple sessions. When signing up for a project session, sign up for all the sessions. For example, if you’re signing up for "Accessibility Testing – Mormon.org (1 of 3)," sign up for all three of these sessions.
Closing dinner and Hyrum Smith presentation. Among the list of sessions and presentations, you can also sign up for a closing dinner and a special Hyrum Smith presentation. Sign up for these sessions only if you plan to attend them. That way we can properly estimate food count and seating arrangements. About the food, if you have special dietary needs, you’ll need to account for that yourself. More details on the Hyrum Smith presentation are available below.

Please register for all the sessions you plan to attend at the conference. Registering for each session helps us estimate room sizes. We want to ensure popular sessions get larger rooms. Registering for a session doesn’t guarantee you a seat, but since it helps us allocate correct room sizes, it increases the likelihood that seating will be available for that session.

To register for your sessions:

Go to https://tech.lds.org/conf and log in.
Click a session you want to attend.
In the session’s pop-up window, click Register.

Streaming Schedule

The LDSTech Conference keynotes will be streamed, and the other sessions will be recorded for later viewing. This will allow the many members on waiting lists and at home to participate remotely in the conference. You can view the stream at the following URL: http://stream.lds.org/110330-110401. The following schedule lists the streaming times:

Thursday, 9:30 - 10:30 am	Ben Galbraith, co-founder of Ajaxian
Thursday, 10:30 - 11:30 am	What Is The Interaction Framework (IxF) and How It Can Make Your Life Awesom...er, by Aaron Barker, interaction designer
Thursday, 11:30 - 12:30 pm	Creating Faster Websites, by Aaron Barker, interaction designer
Thursday, 1:30 - 2:30 pm	New LDSTech / Project Spotlights, by Alan Smoot, Business Development Manager - Community
Friday, 9:00 - 9:30 am	Michael Carter, Director of Information Security / John Edwards, Portfolio Director of Internet Collaboration and Communication
Friday, 9:30 - 10:00 am	Joel Dehlin, Managing Director, Information and Communication Services

Talent Profile

Talent Profile shows information for each project on the LDSTech site. It's important that you add yourself to the projects you will be working on before the conference begins. The projects you join in Talent Profile should match the sessions you’re signed up for at the conference. Selecting a project ahead of time helps ensure your conference time is productive and assists project managers in planning work for their teams.

To join your project in Talent Profile:

On tech.lds.org, log in through the sidebar.
Click the Projects/Talent Profile tab that appears on the top navigation.
Click the Projects subtab.
Click a project name to view its details.
Click the Join button. The team will be notified by e-mail that a new member has joined the project.

Laptop Requirements

You must bring your own laptop to the conference. This conference is all about rolling up your sleeves and tackling these projects in your session groups. Without a laptop, you won’t be able to do anything. Also remember your power cords. Wifi access will be available, but no network ports (due to security restrictions), so make sure your laptop has wireless capability.

Dress Code

The dress code for the LDSTech Conference is casual to business casual clothing. Jeans are okay, but avoid shorts and sandals.

About the Venue

The Riverton Office Building is the Church's new building that houses the headquarters of the Information and Communications Systems Department. It's located at 3740 West Market Drive, Riverton, UT (see map).

Discount Hotel Rates

Discount hotel rates are available are available for those who may be traveling outside of the Salt Lake area and need to arrange accommodations. Note that you will need to provide your own transportation to and from the Riverton Office Building.

Special Hyrum Smith Presentation

On Friday at 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm there will be a special Hyrum Smith presentation. E. Gary Smith, third great-grandson of Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet, and his wife, Elizabeth Shaw Smith, will tell "behind the scenes" stories of Hyrum and Joseph in the fascinating early days of the Restoration and the martyrdom, using priceless family heirlooms and relics which have been handed down in Gary’s family.

Included in these items are the box in which Joseph kept the Gold Plates for a time, the clothes and watch Hyrum was wearing when he was murdered, with bullet holes and Hyrum’s blood stains still visible, Hyrum’s Nauvoo Legion dress sword, and other relics. These items are not available for viewing in a museum or in any context other than personal presentations such as this one.

Stay Connected

During the conference, we will keep you updated via Twitter (@ldstech) and the hashtag #ldstech. Twitter will be your source for news, information, and general events. Include #ldstech in your tweets to ensure that other conference attendees (who may not be following you) can find your tweets. You can see all tweets with #ldstech by searching for this hashtag at search.twitter.com. You can also join the IRC channel #ldstech on irc.freenode.net.