Chris Cornutt Talks about the Lone Star PHP Conference

Chris Cornutt Talks about the Lone Star PHP Conference


Where are you from originally?

Dallas, Tx


What university did you go to?

Abilene Christian University


What is your group’s mission?

The Lone Star PHP Conference seeks to bring some of the best PHP content and talent to the DFW area in a yearly event open to developers and non-developers alike.


What need does it fulfill?

The conference brings the format of the once-monthly DallasPHP meetings, a popular venue for learning and experiencing PHP, to a larger scale. Web professionals have to keep learning all the time to keep viable in their careers. Our event helps them by providing a wide range of sessions on topics ranging from the more technical to the “soft” topics.


What exactly does it bring to startups?

Like any other company, employees of startups have to keep broadening their horizons. This conference offers them an affordable way to do just that.


What type of startup would benefit from your group?

Any startup looking to learn more about not only the PHP language but about a wide range of surrounding technologies including web application deployment, Drupal, Windows Azure and unit testing your applications.


What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the initiative?

The planning has been the hardest part - going in I didn’t know quite what all was involved in setting up a conference, but I’ve found out quickly. I’ve been an attendee at several conferences and have friends that have helped to organize other, similar events and it’s been nice to have them to lean on. There’s so many small details you have to consider and it’s good to have a few people to ask questions when I need a few quick answers.


What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

I keep coming back to it, but they shouldn’t forget to be constantly learning, whether it be a new technology or a concept that can help their product be the best it can be. If you’re not learning something new every day about the world you and your product exist in, you’re doing something wrong.


What Dallas-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

The most helpful has been the DallasPHP user group. It’s where the event started from and it’s the group that’s providing a solid foundation for it. Quite a few of the speakers are former DallasPHP speakers (and some just may be future ones too).