Periplous Association
Why Periplous
A small conference, on purpose. Run by volunteers from a non-profit association, in a different Greek harbour every December, for people who build, design and ship things for the web.
How it started
In 2023, five of us came back from a conference in an aircraft hangar where we never saw the same face twice. On the ferry home we agreed that the best part of any conference is the second conversation with someone you met the day before.
So we made a conference for that. The first one was in Syros, in a borrowed classroom, for 60 people. The wind closed the port on the Sunday, a fisherman took everyone around the island, and the name came from that trip: a periplous is a voyage around.
It has grown since, slowly and on purpose. We still sell out rather than move to a bigger hall, and we still end on a boat.
The rules we keep
Written down in the association's statutes, so they survive any of us. Changing one takes a vote of the members.
A cap, not a target
Big enough for three rooms, small enough that you see the same faces on the second day. When we sell out, we stop.
No sponsored talks
Six reviewers choose the programme without seeing names. Sponsors pay for coffee and captions. They never buy stage time.
Speakers are paid
Travel, two nights and a 400 euro fee, for every speaker, first-timers included. Nobody pays to speak here.
One seat in ten is open
Free, with money for travel if you need it, for anyone the price would keep away. No proof, no essay.
Talks belong to everyone
Every talk is captioned and published free within two weeks. No paywall, no sign-up.
The accounts are public
Every January we publish what the conference cost and where the money went, to the euro.
Where 290 euros goes
A conference pass, split the way last year's published accounts split the whole budget. Nobody is paid to run Periplous. The crew and the thirty volunteers eat the same lunch as everyone else.
Full accounts for every edition: ask us, or read them at the members' meeting.
The crew
The board of the association, and this year's local host. Volunteers, all of them, with day jobs.
Nefeli Stavrou
Chair and programme, since 2023
Nefeli has run Periplous since the first edition in a borrowed classroom. Before that she built booking systems for island ferries, which is where most of her opinions about slow connections come from.
Giorgos Linardos
Treasurer, since 2023
Keeps the books, publishes them every January and asks what everything costs, twice.
Eleni Markou
Access and conduct, since 2023
Reads every conduct report with Tomás, and walks every venue with a wheelchair user before we sign.
Tomás Rey
Partners and conduct, since 2024
Talks to sponsors, and says no to them more often than yes. The second reader of every conduct report.
Marta Kowalczyk
Volunteers and the boat, since 2023
Runs a crew of thirty volunteers and finds a boat in every harbour, even in December.
Dimitra Kanaki
Local host, Thessaloniki, since 2026
Lives ten minutes from Warehouse 9 and knew which door of the port stays open after six.
The association
- Name
- Periplous Association
- What it is
- A non-profit civil association registered in Ermoupoli, Syros, in 2024. It has no employees and pays no salaries.
- Members
- About two hundred. Anyone who has attended can join for ten euros a year.
- Members' meeting
- Every April, online. Members elect the board, approve the accounts and vote on the next harbour.
- Address
- Periplous Association, 14 Proiou Street, 841 00 Ermoupoli, Syros, Greece
- Write to
- crew@periplous.example