Droidcon Berlin 2015

A few weeks ago I had an amazing time speaking at Droidcon Berlin on Accessibility! I was very excited to visit Berlin for the first time, and to speak at city that started the Droidcon conference series.

The conference started out with a crazy chance meeting with Georgi Knox, who recently spoke on Linux at Women Who Code Denver.  Georgi had just finished speaking at Berlin Buzzwords (check out her talk here on NSQ), and we met up at the combo Buzzwords after-party / Droidcon pre-party.

The conference was held at Postbanhof, an old train station converted into event space and concert venue. I spent the conference marveling at all the neat details.

Postbahnhof is the coolest venue for a tech conf! Going to feel like a rock star on this stage Friday! #droidconDE pic.twitter.com/EFGrGbdhNh

— Kelly Shuster (@KellyShuster) June 3, 2015

It was my first developer conference outside of the US, and it was really cool to hear about development from people all over the world. It was so neat to discover the different development considerations depending on what country you are developing for.  One of my favorite talks was about what it is like to develop apps in Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa. I also enjoyed the talk on developing for right to left languages.  And, it was really very cool to attend the Android Auto talks in the auto center of the world!

Just learnd abt importance of mobile money in E. Africa from @plugintheworld at #droidconDE, then @OdunEweniyi shared http://t.co/2ouodskqBy

— Kelly Shuster (@KellyShuster) June 4, 2015

Great talk on RTL from Danny Preussler @Groupon! Protip: Be careful mirroring images, so you don't change meaning. Ex: > and < #droidconDE

— Kelly Shuster (@KellyShuster) June 4, 2015

Where to have a panel about "Connected Cars" better than in largest cars industry country!? Top Hit at #droidconDE pic.twitter.com/nKo4N29zFU

— Mohamad Harastani (@MoHarastani) June 5, 2015

The night before my talk I was getting a little nervous, so I decided to go through the talk one last time. In the middle of my talk, my computer went black and shut down… I started panicking that this would happen during my talk. My computer rebooted and everything seemed fine, but I was still shaken. I had a fitful night, dreaming about everything that could go wrong.

The day of my talk everything went awesome.  My talk was well-attended, people were really interested and asked great questions at the end, and my computer didn’t crash.  The audio crew was really spectacular and even helped me when I realized in the middle of my talk that I forgot to set up the audio connection for TalkBack! They quickly were able to hand me a mic that I could hold up to the phone. Phew.  You can check out the full talk here.

. @KellyShuster easily the best presentation of the conference so far. Thanks! #droidconDE pic.twitter.com/8zhfinmbzF

— Ruskin (@jonnyparris) June 5, 2015

The conference had a lot of really nice details.  They took the speakers on a bus tour, which was awesome since we didn’t have a lot of time for sight seeing. I really appreciated the time to see some of the really famous spots in Berlin while also getting to know fellow speakers.  There was also a fun photo competition which I participated in, and won a book!

Sharing the #android love with Dina and coordinating my #androidWear with Andy at #droidconDE <3 pic.twitter.com/r9g89QlR52

— Kelly Shuster (@KellyShuster) June 4, 2015

The conference also had delicious food everywhere, including cookies for breakfast.The best one was the little leaf in the lower right corner. Yum!!

The food in Berlin was incredible! I had been worried that I would have a hard time finding vegetarian fare in Berlin, but I was very wrong.  Berlin supposedly has more vegan and vegetarian restaurants than any other city in the world! And the conference food was all vegetarian or vegan; no meat option. I was so pleasantly surprised.  My most favorite dinner was at a vegan Indian restaurant that I went to with some new friends from the conference.  I’d almost fly all the way back to Berlin just to eat there. 🙂

I really appreciated that Droidcon Berlin offered 3 different conference-affiliated hotels, depending on your budget. It was one of many thoughtful details throughout the conference.  Of course, I picked the lodging listed under the category “The Penny Pincher.” 😉  Though it was the least expensive option, in my opinion it was also the coolest: it was a boat converted into a hostel, docked on the River Spree and right next to the Berlin Wall!

It was one of the coolest places I’ve ever stayed; very cozy and relaxing.  If you’re ever staying in Berlin definitely check out the Eastern Comfort Hostel!  I got to see the train pass by at night, and little ducks float by in the morning.

I had a BLAST at DroidCon Berlin. I hope I can come back again in the future! Thank you for having me!