# Notes from JSUnconf 2016

DevFeed: [Notes from JSUnconf 2016](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/notes-from-jsunconf-2016-20248.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://anjana.dev/blog/notes-from-jsunconf-2016/>)

Author: Anjana Sofia Vakil (contact@anjana.dev)

Published: 2016-04-24T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Mozilla Automation](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/mozilla-automation.md>)

Topics: [Functional programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/functional-programming.md>), [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>), [AdventureX 2026](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/adventurex2026.md>)

Tags: [conference](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/conference.md>), [diversity](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/diversity.md>), [events](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/events.md>), [functional-programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/functional-programming.md>), [js](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/js.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>), [tech-conference](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tech-conference.md>)

## AI overview

A personal account of JSUnconf 2016 describes the conference's unconference format, diversity program, and the author's experience proposing, preparing, and delivering an introductory talk on functional programming in JavaScript with only about three hours' notice.

## Source excerpt

This conference was awesome: not too big, not too cramped of a schedule (long breaks between talk sessions), free drinks, snacks & meals (with vegan options!), unisex bathrooms (toiletries & tampons provided!), a code of conduct, and - most importantly, to me - a great diversity program that gave me and 16 others support to attend! The unconference format was really interesting, and worked better than I expected. It also enabled something I wasn't planning on: I gave my first talk at a tech conference! What's an unconference? There's no pre-planned schedule; instead, at the beginning of each day, anyone who's interested in giving a talk makes a short pitch of their topic, and for the next hour or so the rest of the attendees vote on which talks they want to attend. The highest-voted talks are selected, and begin shortly after that. It sounds like it would be chaos, but it works! I gave my first tech talk! On 3 hours' notice! On day 2 of the conference, in a completely unexpected turn of events, I proposed, planned, and delivered a 30-minute talk within a period of about 3 hours. Am I crazy? Perhaps. But the good kind of crazy! See, there had been some interest in functional programming in JS (as part of the unconference format, people can submit topics they'd like to hear a talk on as well), and some talks on specific topics related to functional languages/libraries, but no one had proposed a high-level general introduction about it. So, at literally the last minute of the talk-proposal session, I spontaneously got up and pitched "Learning Functional Programming with JS" (that's how I learned FP, after all!). Turns out people were indeed interested: my proposal actually got more votes than any other that day. Which meant that I would present in the main room, the only one out of the three tracks that was being recorded. So all I had to do was, you know, plan a talk and make slides from scratch and then speak for 30 minutes in front of a camera, all in the space of a