NERD Summit 2024!

March 8-9, 2024 at UMass Amherst NERD NERD Summit is an inclusive, community building tech event in New England.

A note about NERD Summit 2025

Unfortunately, NERD Summit 2025 is off. There are two main reasons for this:

  1. Rick Hood stepped off as lead organizer and no one was willing to fill that slot.
  2. No one was willing to fill the lead on getting sponsorship.

We did have volunteers for many of the other jobs, but we really needed these two jobs to be filled in order to commit to 2025. Sponsorship has been getting tougher over the years. Last Call Media (Kelly Albrecht) had to plug the hole in 2023 and 2024 which is greatly appreciated, but not really sustainable. We did plan on reducing from 2 days to 1 day, which more or less halves the cost.

Keynote Speakers

David Weinberger

Keynote #1 - Friday

Knowledge without Understanding: The Light Cast by Our AI Nightmares
We are thrilled to announce that our keynote speaker for Friday will be David Weinberger.
David has been writing about the effect of technology on our ideas about ourselves and the world since the 1980s. His most recent book, the award-winning Everyday Chaos (HBR, 2019), presents a unique perspective on the rise and importance of machine learning.
1:00-2:00PM, March 8

Jessica Cobb

Keynote #2 - Saturday

The Inventure Mindset: Future-fitness on the Frontier
Jessica Cobb will be our keynote speaker on Saturday. This should be a fun one! Jessica is an international emerging technologist and the founder of Mission Control Lab. She asserts that as agents of “inventure” we can cultivate future-fitness for ourselves, while influencing the causeways shared between humans, nature and machines.
1:00-2:00PM, March 9

NERD

2024 Program

In 2024 the summit will be held on Friday & Saturday, March 8-9, with sessions and trainings on both days.

Sessions will include talks, panels and group discussions on a wide variety of topics.

NERD Summit has been an incredible success thanks to excellent presenters, generous sponsors, and an enthusiastic community.

Mission

The mission of NERD (New England Regional Developers) is to collaborate with the regional community to ensure that the annual Summit and events throughout the year offer everyone, regardless of background or finances, a diverse curriculum for relevant skill building and valuable networking opportunities. This supports our vision of creating positive and supportive learning opportunities for people who work or want to work in web and related technology. Too many smart, passionate people have been traditionally excluded from tech careers, and we're changing that.

NERD App

Look for the app on the iOS App Store, thanks to Lou Franco.


SCHEDULE

Workshops require an addtional ticket - link to tickets is in each workshop description.

View 2024 session videos

FRIDAY March 8

SATURDAY March 9

Location

NERD Summit is held in the Murray D. Lincoln Campus Center [Google Maps link to parking ]

Drive times: Logan (BOS) Airport: 2 hours, Bradley (BDL) Airport: 1 hour, New Haven: 1.5 hour, NYC: 3.5-4 hours.

UMass campus map

Download full size map

The most convenient parking is the Campus Center Parking Garage at a cost of $1.75/hr.
We will have passes at the registration table that cap that at $6.50 per day.
When you enter the parking garage, go down one level and enter the building there -- see signs for hotel.

There is free parking on the weekends, see lots 43 and 63 on the map above [full UMass parking map].

Accommodations

There are many hotels in the area close by to UMass.
Hotel UMass has reserved a block of rooms for the event until February 8. Update: These are sold out now.
Thursday, March 7, 2024 | 6 rooms | $159 *
Friday, March 8, 2024 | 30 rooms | $199 *
Saturday, March 9, 2024 | 3 rooms | $199 *
*per night plus applicable fees, currently 6% plus $1.00 per room, per night
Reserve a room here

2024 Summit Sponsors

 

Platinum

Gold

Be the first Gold sponsor!

Party Sponsor

Be the Party sponsor! (one available)

Silver

Keynote

Be the first Keynote sponsor! (two available)

Bronze

Community

Partners

Cross-promotion and non-monetary contribution partners.

  • SPONSOR NERD SUMMIT 2024

    • About

    New England Regional Developers

    NERD Summit is a product of New England Regional Developers (NERD).
    NERD creates positive and supportive learning opportunities for people who work, or want to work in web and related technologies in the New England area.
    Read more at: nerd.ngo

    Code of Conduct

    Attendees are encouraged to read the NERD Summit 2023/2024 Code of Conduct.

    The NERD Summit 2024 team

    NERD Team

    • Rick Hood - Lead Organizer
    • Kelly Albrecht - Founder, Sponsorship & Underwriter
    • Jen Wahlund - Communications
    • Heidi Stanclift - Content
    • Stephen Cross
    • Molly Taaffe - Graphics
    • Lisa Sieverts
    • Patrick Regan
    • Lou Franco - NERD IOS App

    Volunteers

    • Matthew Baya
    • Andrew Aiken
    • Julio Rodriguez
    • Cheryl Handsaker

    Contact

    To volunteer, email Rick Hood at [email protected].

    To stay up to date on NERD and NERD Summit, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Masks are optional. We will have masks and hand sanitizer available.