Speaking & Events

Conferencing part 1 - ETech

As you're no doubts aware I'm an unabashed conference junky, so it will come as no surprise to you that I've spent the last couple of weeks in the States attending three such events. First up was "ETech":http://en.oreilly.com/et2009/, the emerging technology conference from O'Reily. Moved from it's spiritual home in San Diego, this year it was help in the Chino wearing capitol of Silicon Valley, San Jose. The event was much smaller than last year and the tone was somewhat downbeat. However I don't think this was necessarily down to the economy as a lot of people were speculating. ETech is an amazing place to showcase new technologies and is where start-ups like Flickr made their debut. However if there are no new breakthroughs on the horizon, the events obviously lacks its reason d'etra. I think that was the case this year.

Speaking & Events

9 Ways to Stop Your Conference Panel From Sucking

Each year, hundreds of assorted geeks will get the chance to speak on a panel at SXSW, many for the first time. I've witnesses some truly inspiring and thought provoking sessions at SXSW. However I've also had to sit through my share of turkeys, from the mind numbingly boring to the painfully embarrassing.

Speaking & Events

Bye-bye Boston

I've been in Boston the past week, attending User Experience 12. I arrived late on Friday night and was greeted by the tail end of a hurricane. Pouring rain and 60 mile an hour winds weren't go to stop me from sightseeing, so after purchasing a brolly I hit the Freedom Trail the following day. It turns out that wandering round Boston in the rain isn't much fun, so I ended up wandering around the Museum of Fine Art instead. If you find yourself in Boston on a blustery day, I can highly recommend the collection at this fine museum. On my travels I came across a discount theatre tickets stands and and bought a ticket for the stage version of Donnie Darko. I wasn't not quite sure what to make of the play, but it was definitely interesting. At the very least it made me want to watch the movie again.

Speaking & Events

Rebooted

Ever since hearing about "Reboot":http://www.reboot.dk/ three years ago, I've wanted to attend this Scandinavian conference. I was supposed to speak last year, but fate conspired against me. However Jeremy went, and by all accounts knocked their socks off with a love letter in praise of the hyperlink. Jeremy came back all enthused, so I set a reminder iCal as well as a mental note to attend.

Speaking & Events

XTech 2007

Last week I had the pleasure of attending "XTech 2007":http://2007.xtech.org/ in gay Paris. I've not been to XTech before, but "Jeremy":http://adactio.com/ spoke there last year and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to check it out.

Speaking & Events

Conference Reflections

In the last month I've attended four conferences, and spoken at three of them. I've already talked about "SXSWi 2007":http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2007/03/another_year_another_southby/ in some detail, so though I'd give the other events a quick write-up.