Hey folks 👋
What a weekend we had! Last Saturday, I organized another Home Assistant Meetup, and it was a blast!
First, 180 people signed up, and I think we had about 150 people there! That is nuts! Thank you all for attending. I mean it. Without you, I would be alone in a very big venue!
I mean, I planned a few things, but the meetup had its own dynamic, and I loved it!
Also, big thanks to Norman and Linus for the pictures. Without them, this would just be a memory. I need to get better at just taking a picture!
My girlfriend, my daughter, and my podcast partner, Thomas, gave everyone a warm welcome and name tags. Thank you! Special thanks to my girlfriend, Theresa. She is a professional event manager and was a BIG help! Thank you to my baby girl. She behaved very well and made everybody smile 👶. Now, a few pictures!
The cake
The wife or girlfriend (sorry, I do not remember) of a community member (Jan) did create this beauty of a cake!
Home Assistant Cake
Nobody was touching that cake, until I decided to cut the first couple of pieces, and then it was gone in no time 😊. Unfortunately, I can not tell you how good it was. I left it to my guest to be the judge. Thank you very much!
A warm welcome from the AI Village
Big thank you to the AI Village! Big thank you to Ann-Catherine for helping out with literally everything, and Wolfgang Prinz for the warm welcome and his small booth to show off what they have done.
My Talk: Creating Open-Source Hardware as an Absolute Beginner
As you may or may not know, I am working on the PokyPow. And I just wanted to share my experience so far, from someone who basically has no idea how to build a hardware product.
Me talking about building a hardware product
I heard at least one person laugh (Andy!), so I consider this talk a success 😉
Eltako
Almir from Eltako was there as well. He called me and wanted to come in private, but I said that he should bring devices to show off. They joined the Works with Home Assistant Program a while back. You can see what they do here:
Miranda Bishop
The small desk was always occupied!
Home Assistant Demo
I also prepared a stand with a Home Assistant demo.
I did set up a recipe printer that would print a QR code to my podcast and PokyPow project when hitting that emergency button. After releasing the button, Thorstens Voice would chime from a Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition: "Danke" (thank you).
I had a demo of my PokyPow. Powering on/off a PC and showing the status on a tablet. Of course, it broke during the event ❤️🩹
I also gave away some devices from Apollo Automation, but since I am a social media noob, I forgot to take a picture! 🤦
Wyza
Food Bike
We had delicious Latin American sandwiches by Maria Maria. That cake was not enough 😉
Free 3D printed gifts
Peter asked me if he could bring some free 3D printed things. Why not?
He gifted away various adapters for Shelly devices and very nice NFC tags! I snagged 2 for myself 😇
Home Assistant officials joining the community
Driving over from the Netherlands, Frank Nijhof showed up with a very neat name tag!
But I was missing his iconic pink hoodie!
Guerilla Photo party
I heard some folks did set up a photo printer upstairs. Even though I did organize the event, a lot happend I did not even see, and I like it! Organized and charming chaos!
Thank You!
Thank you for coming. Without you, there would be no meetup with like-minded people!
My friend Flo did a video summary, but that is only available in German 😉
