The first RailsConf scheduled for June 22-25 in Chicago sold out so fast it made our heads spin. 550 seats were snatched up before the program was even ready or a week had passed. That left a lot of people from Europe and even the US without much of a chance to participate.

Here comes the remedy: RailsConf Europe. From September 14th to 15th, London will set the stage for the second official Ruby on Rails conference.

The program has yet to be finalized, but a good number of headliners have already been confirmed: Dave Thomas, Jamis Buck, Jim Weirich, and my favorite blogger and thinker on passion, Kathy Sierra. Marcel Molina, David A. Black, Chad Fowler, and yours truly are also lined up. A call for proposals should be going up shortly to fill in the rest.

Bringing over that many speakers from the US and putting them and the conference up in central London ain’t cheap, though. So the sticker might carry a bit of an initial shock. There’s a super-early bird special of £400 and the rates then travel from there to a just-before price of £575.

But none of the speakers are taking home a dime and Chad Fowler has been working his ass off for free through RubyCentral, which is the non-profit organization putting on this show. They have in the past used profits from conferences to fund Ruby hackathons. So at least you know your quid isn’t being blown on white powdery rails. All the hype is 100% home-grown.

To the tune of that violin, let me just remind that as with RailsConf Chicago, there’re a limited number of seats. Roughly 500 spots. When they’re gone, they’re gone. If you want to go to an official Rails conference this year, meet and hear the core team among others speak, this is the last chance.

See you all in London in September!