Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ 16 Conferences for Mac and iOS Professionals in 2018 Adam C. Engst There's no shortage of Apple-focused conferences for professionals to gather with peers. We have once again collected details ' or at least dates ' for all the Apple-related conferences we can find; if we've missed any, let us know in the comments. We've sorted them by date so you can scroll through and see which might fit into your schedule. If you want to meet some of the TidBITS gang, Adam Engst will be at the ACEs Conference in May, and he and Tonya are likely to go to MacTech Conference in November. If regular TidBITS contributors are asked to speak at any other conferences, we'll be sure to mention that in a future article. MacTech Pro: February'September 2018 -- A regional event series from the folks behind MacTech Conference, [1]MacTech Pro is designed for professional Apple techs and consultants. Events are single-track, hotel-based seminars, and the all-day schedule includes lunch. Topics may include creating a storage strategy, deployment methods, scripting Python, IoT and home automation, security, troubleshooting, [2]and more. Early bird pricing is $299 (only $249 before 31 January 2018) with prices increasing until they hit the on-site pricing at $499. Educational and non-profit tickets cost $199. The MacTech Pro events will take place in nine cities throughout the United States: * February 28 in Seattle, WA * March 14 in Boston, MA * April 18 in Denver, CO * May 16 in Washington, D.C. * June 20 in Atlanta, GA * July 18 in Chicago, IL * August 15 in Orlando, FL * August 29 in San Francisco, CA * September 26 in New York, NY Appdevcon: March 15'16, 2018 -- Formerly known as Mdevcon, Appdevcon will be held in Amsterdam on March 15th and 16th for mobile app developers. [3]Appdevcon offers sessions for both iOS and Android developers. Tickets cost '¬190 for conference-only tickets or '¬410 to add the tutorial day. iOSCon: March 22'23, 2018 -- Returning for its fifth year, [4]iOSCon takes place at CodeNode in London for two days. The [5]program features a number of sessions on building apps with Swift. Tickets cost £650 plus VAT but are only £395 until 30 January 2018. App Builders Switzerland: April 16'17, 2018 -- Another conference for mobile app developers, [6]App Builders Switzerland will take place in Lugano on April 16th and 17th. It offers two tracks: one for iOS developers and another for Android developers. Regular tickets cost 349 CHF and include 'unlimited coffee and food' ' 'late bird' tickets will cost 399 CHF starting in April. UIKonf: May 13'16, 2018 -- Billed as 'Berlin's independent conference for serious iOS developers,' [7]UIKonf is still lining up [8]speakers but currently promises developer Cate Huston of Automatic, typographer and developer Frank Rausch, and author Rob Napier. Regular tickets cost '¬529, and last minute tickets will be '¬579. All tickets include the 19 percent VAT. ACEs Conference: May 9'10, 2018 -- Organized by Apple consultant Justin Esgar, the Baltimore-based [9]ACEs Conference is in its fourth year and promises to be 'the place for inspiration, ideas, business networking, and instantly-applicable knowledge.' Focusing on ways that Apple consultants can grow their IT businesses, topics will include brand coaching, business workshops, and even meditation for dealing with high-stress situations the job entails. It's scheduled for May 9th and 10th at the Hilton Baltimore. This year's keynote will be delivered by Walt Hampton J.D., president and CEO of Book Yourself Solid Worldwide. Other speakers include Adam Engst and other well-known names from the Apple IT and enterprise communities, like JAMF's Charles Edge. Early bird pricing is $524, and will be $699 after that. You can also buy one-on-one consulting sessions with Jennifer Dawn of Jennifer Dawn Coaching for $399 and sign up for Proactive Support professional certification for $250. MacDevOps:YVR: June 7'8, 2018 -- [10]MacDevOps:YVR will take place June 7th and 8th in Vancouver, Canada on the campus of Simon Fraser University. If you code as part of managing Apple devices, check out this conference. Speakers will include Meg Ciliberti of Shopify, Jessica Deen of Microsoft, and Zach Wasserman of Kollide. Tickets cost CAN$595 for corporations, CAN$495 for independent developers, and CAN$395 for education. Your ticket includes over 20 educational sessions; 10 hours of networking; an evening reception; and breakfast, lunch, and snacks. X World: June 27'29, 2018 -- For those who manage Mac and iOS installations in a support, lab manager, network technician, or systems administrator role, the Australian Apple University Consortium puts on the [11]X World conference. Session and registration information are not yet available, but the conference will take place at the University of Technology Sydney, Broadway City Campus. MacAdmins: July 10'13, 2018 -- Hosted at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College, PA, the [12]MacAdmins conference offers over 50 technical sessions on Mac and iOS deployment plus networking opportunities for over 400 Apple-focused admins. Details about sessions and speakers for 2018 are not yet set, but [13]registration opens spring 2018. Last year's registration was $599 for early birds and $799 otherwise. Registration includes workshops, breakout sessions, and networking events. Rooms at [14]recommended hotels can be found for around $100 per night Macstock Conference & Expo: July 21'22, 2018 -- Returning for its fourth year in Woodstock, IL, [15]Macstock 2018 will be held July 21st and 22nd. Speakers include Bob 'Dr. Mac' LeVitus, videographer Wally Cherwinski, and podcaster Allison Sheridan. Tickets cost $89 for a single day or $179 for the weekend. FileMaker Developer Conference: August 6'9, 2018 -- This one's pretty specific, but since the [16]FileMaker Developer Conference is open to the public and FileMaker is an Apple subsidiary, we're including it. It takes place from August 6th through 9th at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas. No other information is available at this time. 360|iDev: August 26'29, 2018 -- Claiming to be 'the Leading indie iOS/Mac (and watchOS, and tvOS) developer conference,' [17]360|iDev is scheduled for August 26th through 29th at the Grand Hyatt Denver in Denver. Registration is $799 for the conference, which also includes lunch all four days, swag, and receptions on Monday and Tuesday. For $1049 you can get an all-in ticket, which includes breakfast all four days and a Sunday night reception. Speaker and session details aren't yet available. Swift By Northwest: October 18'21, 2018 -- Focusing on Swift language training for iOS and Mac developers, [18]Swifty By Northwest will take place between October 18th through 20th in Portland, Oregon. [19]Speakers for will include developers Brent Simmons, Daniel Steinberg, Dave Delong, and Jaimee Newberry. Registration for Swift By Northwest currently costs $600 for early bird tickets. iOSDevUK: September 3'6, 2018 -- Focused on iOS development topics, the eighth installment of [20]iOSDevUK will take place from September 3rd through 6th. No other details are forthcoming, although the organizers say that tickets will go on sale around Easter. Digital Book World: October 2'4, 2018 -- If you're sad about the absence of the iBooks Author Conference, don't be, because it has been rolled into the [21]Digital Book World event (see '[22]iBooks Author Conference Highlights Worries about iBooks Ecosystem,' 24 October 2017), which will take place October 2nd and 3rd at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Sessions will cover all aspects of the publishing industry, such as iBooks Author's strengths and weaknesses, sexual harassment in publishing, promoting books on social media, podcasting in the publishing industry, and using the blockchain in publishing. The keynote will be given by legendary technology journalist Walt Mossberg, so you won't want to miss it. Super early bird passes are sold out, but you can buy early bird passes through 1 May 2018 for $1295. Regular admission is $1595, and group passes for companies buying five or more are $895. Discounts for non-profits and educators are also available. Jamf Nation User Conference: October 23'24, 2018 -- Much of being an Apple IT administrator these days involves device management. Jamf, one of the leading suppliers of device management systems with Jamf Pro (previously known as Casper) and Jamf Now (previously called Bushel), puts on the [23]Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC) with the purpose of 'empowering people, transforming business processes and making IT life easier.' Held in downtown Minneapolis, the JNUC provides product demo and preview sessions, in-depth tech sessions, sessions dedicated to Apple services, and certification courses. Registration fees range from $499 to $1099, depending on when you sign up and if you're in the education market. MacTech Conference: November 7'9, 2018 -- The Los Angeles-based [24]MacTech Conference offers attendees three days of sessions, seminars, and vendor interaction, plus pre-conference workshops and a pair of superlative evening activities. We've attended a number of times (see '[25]MacTech Conference 2012 Opens Mental Doors,' 22 October 2012, '[26]MacTech Conference 2013 Abounds with Networking and Fun,' 11 November 2013, and '[27]Three Highlights from MacTech Conference 2015,' 9 November 2015) and recommend it to Apple IT professionals. It's too early for there to be a list of speakers or sessions, but now is a good time to pencil MacTech Conference onto your calendar for November 7th through 9th. No Details Available Yet -- There are other conferences that, as far as we know, are still in business, but have yet to announce details for 2018. We'll update this article when we learn more. If you're affiliated with any of these conferences, please let us know if you plan to have an event in 2018. * [28]AltConf * [29]CMD-D * [30]/dev/world * [31]iOSDevCamp Colorado Springs * [32]iOSDevCampDC * [33]Layers * [34]MacSysAdmin * [35]MacTech Pro * [36]MacTrack Legal * [37]try! Swift * [38]Ãll * [39]WWDC Of course, we know WWDC will take place, we just don't know when yet. And several of the conferences in this list are WWDC adjacent, such as AltConf and Layers, so we won't know any details for them until Apple announces the dates and venue for WWDC. If we've missed any notable Apple-focused conferences that are open to the public and attract attendees from a broad geographic area, please let us know in the comments, and we'll look into adding them. References 1. http://pro.mactech.com/ 2. http://pro.mactech.com/topics/ 3. http://appdevcon.nl/ 4. https://skillsmatter.com/conferences/9319-ioscon-2018-the-conference-for-ios-and-swift-developers#overview 5. https://skillsmatter.com/conferences/9319-ioscon-2018-the-conference-for-ios-and-swift-developers#program 6. https://www.appbuilders.ch/ 7. http://www.uikonf.com/ 8. http://www.uikonf.com/speakers/ 9. https://acesconf.com/ 10. https://mdoyvr.com/ 11. http://auc.edu.au/xworld/ 12. http://macadmins.psu.edu/ 13. http://macadmins.psu.edu/conference/registration/ 14. http://macadmins.psu.edu/conference/accommodations/ 15. http://macstockconferenceandexpo.com/ 16. http://www.filemaker.com/learning/devcon/ 17. http://360idev.com/ 18. https://swiftbynorthwest.com/ 19. https://swiftbynorthwest.com/speakers/ 20. http://www.iosdevuk.com/ 21. https://www.digitalbookworld.com/ 22. http://tidbits.com/article/17558 23. https://www.jamf.com/events/jamf-nation-user-conference/2018/ 24. http://conference.mactech.com/ 25. http://tidbits.com/article/13346 26. http://tidbits.com/article/14286 27. http://tidbits.com/article/16070 28. http://altconf.com/ 29. http://www.cmddconf.com/ 30. http://auc.edu.au/devworld/ 31. http://iosdevcampcolorado.com/ 32. https://iosdevcampdc.com/ 33. https://layers.is/ 34. http://macsysadmin.se/ 35. http://pro.mactech.com/ 36. http://mactracklegal.com/ 37. https://www.tryswift.co/ 38. http://ull.ie/ 39. https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/ .