Author: Dani Plicka

ClueCon 2023 is just around the corner! Hosted at the iconic Drake Hotel in Chicago from August 14th-17th, this year’s conference promises an array of networking events, thought-provoking presentations, and tons of fun that you won’t want to miss. It’s still not too late to register. If you can’t make it, be sure you’re subscribed to the FreeSWITCH YouTube channel to catch the livestreams!

Here’s what to expect from this year’s conference:

Monday: Kickstarting the week with the Coder Games

ClueCon begins on Monday with the Coder Games hack-a-thon. There are both coding and non-coding challenges available, so whether you want a break from programming, or you want to flex your skills, you can team up and build your way to some awesome prizes.

If you’re looking to do some coding this year, the Maker Challenge is for you. We’re challenging participants to work solo or in teams to connect an Arduino sensor to a phone call using SignalWire.

If you need a break from writing code, get ready for the egg drop challenge that will test your engineering prowess. You’ll be given an egg, a set of materials, and a limited amount of time to design and build a contraption that will prevent the egg from breaking when dropped from a balcony.

But it’s not all coding and competition – gain invaluable insights into various open-source projects each day of the week over lunch. Monday will feature a HOMER lunch & learn session.

If you’re looking for a taste of Chicago, join us for the Welcome Dinner at Giordano’s, where you can savor Chicago’s famous deep-dish pizza served alongside a fantastic view of the city.

Tuesday: Keynotes, AI insights, and celebrations

Tuesday brings the start of three days of presentations, and the stage is set for some groundbreaking discussions. First up will be the keynote by Anthony Minessale, FreeSWITCH founder, SignalWire CEO, and a visionary in the world of communication technology.

The day continues with more presentations, and at lunchtime, check out the Kamailio workshop hosted by Daniel-Constantin Mierla. Join this session to discover how config preprocessing can help to increase elasticity of your deployment and leverage better container-based infrastructures.

As the conference day comes to an end, get ready to ask your questions about AI during the AI roundtable. AI is having a big moment right now, and many leaders in the industry are implementing AI into their products, or thinking long-term about how to leverage this powerful tech. During this session, industry experts will discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence and communication technologies.

Don’t forget the annual Gigabit reception, a perfect opportunity to network, relax, and hang out with fellow attendees. One of our favorite networking events! Enjoy drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and games. Bring your favorite instrument if you want to take part in the annual jam session, or jump in with a mic for the highly-anticipated ClueCon karaoke.

Wednesday: A day of learning and luck

Wednesday will be a full day of presentations spanning various topics. At mid-day, enjoy the FreeSWITCH workshop over lunch, where you can explore how to make your first call to FreeSWITCH using Docker.

As the evening approaches, get ready to roll the dice at Casino Night! We’re going back in time to the 1920’s, the decade when the Drake was built. Arrive in style with fashion inspired by mobsters and flappers, get yourself a cocktail, and enjoy craps, roulette or blackjack.

This exciting event features the annual Poker Tournament hosted by World Poker Tour Champion Phil Gordon!

Thursday: Wrapping up with demos and prizes

As ClueCon 2023 draws to a close, the presentations continue, offering one last round of enlightening talks. The OpenSIPS lunch & learn provides insights into another powerful open-source SIP server.

At the end of the day, brace yourself for the classic Dangerous Demos competition hosted by James Body. This annual favorite showcases cutting-edge, experimental, and sometimes even outrageous demos that will leave you astonished. Will you impress the audience, or crash and burn?

And finally, the end of the week will bring the moment everyone is waiting for: the grand prize drawing for the custom-engraved MacBook. Will luck be on your side? There will be many chances throughout the week to gather raffle tickets, so get as many as you can!

Don’t Miss Out on ClueCon 2023

Whether you’re a developer, entrepreneur, or tech enthusiast, ClueCon 2023 is a must-attend event that will expand your horizons and connect you with like-minded developers. Get ready for an unforgettable journey at the intersection of technology and communication. See you at the Drake Hotel in Chicago from August 14th to 17th!

(Stay up-to-date by making sure you’re signed up for the FreeSWITCH newsletter!)

Our countdown to ClueCon 2023 has officially begun! With just two months left before the annual developers’ conference, August 14th-17th, we at FreeSWITCH and SignalWire are buzzing with excitement for our yearly adventure to the Windy City. 

There are a lot of reasons why you should attend ClueCon – informative presentations, one-of-a-kind networking events, community building – but there’s something special to be said about getting to explore Chicago in the summertime. (If you’ve only been to the most recent two October ClueCons, give it a try! We promise it’s better…)

Many updates are to come in the next two months on the specifics of speakers, schedules, and other details surrounding the business side of the conference. But to kick off our Countdown to ClueCon series, let’s talk about the home of ClueCon: Chicago. 

The Drake

Nestled in the heart of downtown Chicago along the Magnificent Mile, the Drake Hotel is an iconic landmark that exudes timeless elegance, located conveniently for daily excursions between conference activities. 

As the venue for this year’s ClueCon, this luxurious hotel offers a perfect blend of history and modern amenities. Many of our nightly activities this year will be 1920’s prohibition-themed, and as the decade when the Drake was built, this historical hotel will serve as the perfect backdrop for our Casino Night and annual Gigabit Reception.

With its breathtaking views of Lake Michigan and impeccable service, the Drake promises a truly memorable stay. Explore its opulent interiors, dine in one of the many nearby restaurants, or unwind with a cocktail at the famed Coq d’Or Lounge. The Drake will be the perfect base for your ClueCon adventures.

Not to mention, it may or may not be haunted…

The Magnificent Mile

The Magnificent Mile is a famous section of Michigan Avenue, rich with landmarks, cool restaurants, and all kinds of shopping. Boasting an impressive lineup of upscale boutiques, department stores, and luxury brands, the Magnificent Mile offers a pleasant walk towards Lake Michigan.

The Drake also happens to be located along the Magnificent Mile, so you’ll be right where you should be to explore Chicago’s downtown!

You can also head to the Chicago Riverwalk to check out the river. There, you’ll find waterfront cafes, wineries, monuments, museums, and boat tours, lined along a backdrop of public art. It’s also a good spot to get outdoorsy – try kayaking or paddleboarding! 

Culinary Delights

Chicago is renowned for its food scene, and you’re in for a treat during ClueCon! We’re hosting our Monday night welcome dinner at Giordano’s, so that you can try Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza. (If you really love it, you should also give Lou Malnati’s a try…)

For an elevated dining experience, Alinea, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, will take your taste buds on an unforgettable culinary journey. And let’s not forget the mouthwatering steak options at Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse for a truly indulgent meal.

You can find Chicago’s famous hot dogs piled high with all the fixings or a classic Italian beef sandwich at Portillo’s, if you’re looking for something more casual. 

For your free days in the city

We also have a curated list of things to do in Chicago for when you’re not busy with ClueCon activities. Whether you’re into history, art, nature, architecture, food, shopping, or just wandering around and seeing the city, we’ve got you covered.

Chicago is rich with all kinds of museums, whether you want history, art, or nature. If you’re into music, there are a ton of music festivals throughout the city during the summer (and Chicago is home to Lollapalooza, two weeks before ClueCon). Aquariums, planetariums, boat tours… whatever you like to do or see on vacation, you can find in the Windy City!

The ClueCon team is familiar with Chicago and has plenty of suggestions for how to spend time in the city. If you’re looking for any guidance as you book your hotel room and plan your trip, feel free to ask us! 

And don’t forget – you get a special rate for staying with us at the Drake! Be sure to book your room by July 21st if you want our room block discount. You can get our special rate from August 11th-19th, so we encourage you to book an extra day or two to check out the city while you’re there.

Get $200 off your ClueCon tickets with the code COUNTDOWN. We can’t wait to see you there!

#ClueCon2022 was a huge success! We were so glad to be back fully in person this year, and want to thank everyone who made it possible – whether you were an attendee, speaker, sponsor, or you joined our livestreams. Below you’ll find a recap of the week, along with all the info you need for next year!

First and foremost, we kicked the week off with a new FreeSWITCH release! This is a minor release containing important bug fixes and stability improvements. Click here to view the release notes for v1.10.8.

As always, we started off ClueCon with the Coder Games hack-a-thon. This year we challenged attendees in the Maker Challenge to build their own Arduino car and live stream an epic stunt! We used sensors and cameras to live stream what was going on in the race track to a SignalWire Office. For FreeCYCLED hacks, attendees were challenged to build functioning projectiles that tested aim and accuracy by shooting various objects through different sized hoops. There were no rules about how this projectile had to function… all that mattered is how far the projectile could fly while maintaining peak accuracy.

Each year, the awesome presentations are a huge part of what makes ClueCon so memorable. Tuesday morning included our keynote presentation by Anthony Minessale. At lunch, attendees got to choose their workshop: Kamailio and its powerful iterators for management of SIP headers and body, or All Things Campaign Registry, depending on whether they wanted to learn about the recent version of Kamailio’s new tools for configuration files, or the current state of 10DLC messaging (The Campaign Registry) and messaging best practices. An open source roundtable ended the conference day, where we were joined by several open source experts from various projects. We heard about the latest developments, community building, financing projects, and got some questions answered.

Of course, after day two, we celebrated with our annual Gigabit Reception – as a Halloween party! Attendees dressed up in their best costumes for the costume contest, belted out their favorite songs at karaoke, ate pizza and enjoyed some games and networking after a long day of presentations.

Wednesday was another day full of presentations, and over lunch, attendees had the option to get an Introduction to QRYN with Jachen Duschletta! They learned how to set up, integrate and use QRYN – the open-source, high performance and cost-effective platform for logs, metrics and telemetry events designed for the next-generation of Telecoms and RTC Enterprises.

Evan Woolley hosted a panel for attendees to Ask a VC their questions about investing. Our top-notch investors spoke about some of the key things they look for in a growing company, or entrepreneur, before they make a move. We brought back a new annual favorite for that evening  – Poker Night! Attendees competed in a tournament, enjoyed some drinks and snacks, played board games, and won some cool prizes for their efforts.

The presentations for ClueCon 2022 finished on Thursday, with plenty of familiar faces from the world of open source. We even got an update on the newest FreeSWITCH release from Andrey Volk, who called in from across the world to talk about the latest fixes! 

Thursday’s lunch and learn was led by Liviu Chircu of OpenSIPS, where attendees learned about Building STIR/SHAKEN services with OpenSIPS 3.3. The workshop included a live coding session and demo, and attendees brushed up on knowledge of leveraging the “stir_shaken” OpenSIPS module in order to build open-source, production-ready STIR/SHAKEN services.

We wrapped up the conference with Dangerous Demos, hosted by James Body, where we had SO MANY great entries for demos that had to get dangerous in 3 minutes or less. Participants even bribed attendees with Golden Tickets to win votes in their favor, to receive the coveted crystal Dangerous Demos trophies.

The Grand Prize giveaway of the custom-etched MacBook Pro marked the end of the conference! If you want your own, you’ll just have to attend next year…. (save the date for August 14th-17th, 2023!) But there’s good news if this year gave you FOMO… Early Bird tickets are now available! These will be as cheap as ClueCon tickets will possibly get, so take advantage of the sale while you can! Get 2023 ClueCon tickets for just $599.99.

If you just can’t wait for next August, you can find all the presentations, panels, and demos on the FreeSWITCH YouTube channel!

We’ll see you next year!