This year we tried an experiment called Catalyst Backstage to enhance the Catalyst experience during the conference Oct 8-10. It was a central hub that allowed a behind-the-scenes peek into the event and provided a way for not only a new level of interaction with Catalyst, but a way for those who couldn't attend the event to follow some of what was happening as well.

It was a bigger success than we could have hoped for - with over 4,000 additional people getting to take part in Catalyst in addition to the over 12,000 leaders who were in Atlanta for the event!

We built the site from the ground up using some great code/technologies that are out there. It took many weeks of work, and as we worked through all of the kinks I decided it would be a complete waste to keep what we learned to ourselves.

Check out "Open Sourcing Catalyst Backstage" on my blog for a full explanation of how we did it, including some code samples to help you get started. All the base code we used is open source (except for the main blogging engine), in addition to what we added on top (our own). Feel free to take it, make it better and then share it back! Help us make it better - we'll be continuing to improve Catalyst Backstage for future events.