On a bit more controversial note, David Coallier has posted about a rather unpleasant experience he had at this year's PHP Quebec conference - in his own words:

As many of you know, this time of the year is usually the PHP Quebec conference and many php internals and international speakers fly to Montreal to speak. [...] This morning (2008/13/03) I saw Lukas on IRC and we said "Hey let's meet around 1pm to discuss about the PHP TestFest"

He met Lukas at the hotel, in the lounge of the hotel, not attending any of the talks. As he sits there talking to the others, a PHP Quebec staff member walks out and hands him a bill (for around 450 CAD) for attending the conference. After a little checking - both with fellow user group members and with the hotel staff as to the validity of this behavior, he could only assume that it was some "money driven" attempt on the PHP Quebec conference's side to get what they could.

Be sure to check out the comments for some other views from the community.

If you're headed up to this year's PHP Quebec conference, keep an eye out for Cal Evans and the Zend team. According to this new post on the Zend Developer Zone, they'll be giving away a free copy of the Zend Studio software.

If you are at PHP Quebec and want a chance to win a copy of Zend Studio, find either myself or John Coggeshall and give us your business card. I'll take them all, put them in a jar I keep just for these occasions and draw one at random and give that person a shiny new license to Zend Studio.

You'll need to still be around to win the big prize and keep an eye on DevZone to see who ends up taking it home.

Christopher Jones is trying to bribe you to come to this year's PHP Quebec conference - he'll give you an elePHPant if you show (as sponsored by the OTN).

This year's PHP Quebec conference will be happening March 12th through the 14th in Montreal at the Sofitel Montreal Hotel. There's still spots available and you can still register (only 20 days left!) on the conference website. You can purchase tickets for just the conference, for just the PHPLab event or you can bundle them both together and attend both events.

Sebastian Bergmann points out that he will be speaking at the upcoming PHP Conference in Quebec (2008). He will be presenting three talks/tutorials:

• Test-Driven Object-Oriented Programming - Learning and Understanding (with Marcus Borger): This PHPLab is an in-depth introduction to object-oriented and pattern-based programming using PHP 5. You will learn everything necessary to write your own cutting-edge components and applications - and of course how to use and extend components from other people or companies.
• PECL: The PHP Language Workbench: A look into PECL shows how flexible the language core of PHP, the Zend Engine, is.
• Graph-Oriented Programming with PHP: This session presents the eZ Components' workflow engine, its possible applications and the underlying principles and techniques.

You can find out more about the conference from their main website (including other speakers that will be presenting) as well as registering to reserve your space for the March 12th-14th conference.

Sebastian Bergmann points out that he will be speaking at the upcoming PHP Conference in Quebec (2008). He will be presenting three talks/tutorials:

• Test-Driven Object-Oriented Programming - Learning and Understanding (with Marcus Borger): This PHPLab is an in-depth introduction to object-oriented and pattern-based programming using PHP 5. You will learn everything necessary to write your own cutting-edge components and applications - and of course how to use and extend components from other people or companies.
• PECL: The PHP Language Workbench: A look into PECL shows how flexible the language core of PHP, the Zend Engine, is.
• Graph-Oriented Programming with PHP: This session presents the eZ Components' workflow engine, its possible applications and the underlying principles and techniques.

You can find out more about the conference from their main website (including other speakers that will be presenting) as well as registering to reserve your space for the March 12th-14th conference.

Via Damien Seguy:

PHP Quebec is pleased to announce the sixth edition of the PHP Quebec Conference. The Conference will take place in Montreal, Canada between March 12th and 14th, 2008. We are looking for speakers willing to share their expertise with Canadian and United States PHP professionals.

The Conference features the PHPLab, where speakers and visitors will find solutions to actual business problems. The two days of technical talks will be dedicated to advanced software development techniques with PHP5 and PHP6, XML, web services, databases, etc.

Organizers will prioritize new and original topics in English or French. For more information, visit the website: http://conf.phpquebec.com

Via Damien Seguy:

PHP Quebec is pleased to announce the sixth edition of the PHP Quebec Conference. The Conference will take place in Montreal, Canada between March 12th and 14th, 2008. We are looking for speakers willing to share their expertise with Canadian and United States PHP professionals.

The Conference features the PHPLab, where speakers and visitors will find solutions to actual business problems. The two days of technical talks will be dedicated to advanced software development techniques with PHP5 and PHP6, XML, web services, databases, etc.

Organizers will prioritize new and original topics in English or French. For more information, visit the website: http://conf.phpquebec.com