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Added paragraph about using the #irc channel in Slack to view the IRC feed so we can point newcomers to it at the conference
The conference back channel on IRC is the most invaluable tool available to help you quickly get the feel for the conference and the people attending. Most technical people have the attention span of a gnat at times, and the channel helps keep a conversation flowing when the presentations get slow. Be warned that the level of discourse on the channel is very similar to how a group of friends would be talking around a table full of drinks. The topics range from inside jokes about bacon and sad facial hair to esoteric explorations of the RDF expression of specific pieces of metadata. The channel is also very useful for seeing where groups are going for lunch or dinner. You can find more information about IRC and how to get on it via the [http://code4lib.org/irc IRC page on the main Code4Lib site].
There is also a Code4Lib Slack team, which includes a feed from the Code4Lib IRC channel. You can see what's going on in IRC here, or post a message to the IRC channel. You won't be able to send commands to Zoia (the Code4Lib IRC bot). You do need to be invited to join the Slack team initially and you can use [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/120Dw1JjLxPJB9VTGl0mUY7Ot6yg6YNY1RZUISJFzdwk/viewform?c=0&w=1 this Google form to request an invitation]. Once you've joined the Slack team, join the public channel #irc to view the IRC feed.
=== Listen 90% of the time / Talk 10% of the time ===
