Journal
Web Jam Session '07
23 September 2007 › 9 comments
This past weekend, I was able to attend the Webmaster Jam Session hosted locally here in Dallas. I have to say, of all the conferences I have been to, I got the most out of this one. In the vein of the adage “less is more,” this concise event packed quite a bit into the two days it lasted.
I think the smaller venue was actually of higher quality than larger counterparts like South by Southwest. While there is of course much to be learned at SXSW, due to the sheer amount of attendees and speakers, it’s tough to really absorb all that is going on amidst the commotion.
I’ve heard it said that a priciple of good stand-up comedy is: “leave ‘em wanting more,” and that’s how I felt about this year’s WJS. That’s not to say I was let down, rather that everything was high quality. CoffeeCup might primarily be a software company, but they sure know how to put on a conference. For this only being their 2nd, it was well polished.
Depicted above is the the badge given to each attendee. The schedule for the entire conference was listed opposite the person’s name and company affiliation. This made it easy to check the time and location of each session, without having to carry around any extra pamphlets. Granted, this wouldn’t have worked at a larger event, but it was perfect for this scope.
I was also impressed with the lineup of speakers, the caliber you might expect at a far more expensive gathering. Here is a list of the sessions I attended.
Friday
- The Dawning Age of User Experience
- Designing for Hackability
- Behind the Curtain: Application Interface Design
- Design for Developers
- Typography: Beyond the Font
- Comparison Shopping Engines
- Design is in the Details
Saturday
- Web Design Roundtable
- Content Strategy and Web Design
- Unlocking Value Through User Experience
- The Contextual Web
- All Systems Go
- Creating the Adaptive Interface
- Real World Accessibility
All things considered, this was a great value for the money, and it was awesome to catch up with old friends. It was made even more significant, because my old Albertson’s cohorts Cody Lindley and Nate Logan crashed at our new house in Dallas. I’m already looking forward to next year!
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 Ben
Sounds like fun! I’m really hoping that my boss will be willing to send me a to a few of these down the road… haven’t been to one yet but sure would like to go.
#2 Jason Beaird
I wish we had more time to hang out, but it was good to meet up with you again and cool to meet Cody and Nate. I definitely agree on the quality of this conference. It’s tough to compare WebJam with SxSW because of the enormity and length of the former, but the guys at CoffeeCup put on a quality, well-executed event. I’m sure I’ll be back next year, even if they don’t let me back on stage. :)
#3 Nate Klaiber
Nice wrap up. Looks like it was an awesome conference. I wish I would have been able to attend, but my schedule wouldn’t allow this time around.
#4 Nathan Logan
Agreed on all counts.
And thanks for letting us crash at your pad. I had a great time and enjoyed catching up with you and Olga. You have an open invitation to stay at my place for the next major Boise-based Web conference…
#5 Nathan Smith
Ben / Nate Klaiber: Yeah, it’s definitely worth attending next year.
Jason: It was good catching up with you, however brief the time.
Nate Logan: Keep me posted as to the next big Boise event!
#6 Tom Krush
Sounds like an awesome conference. You missed out at Internet Ministries Conference though. The only downfall at IMC 2007 was the sessions were not as technical. I’ll keep Web Jam Session ’07 in mind for next year.
#7 Nathan Smith
Tom: Yeah, I wish I could have gone to both, but unfortunately the overlap in scheduling didn’t work out. I certainly had a good time last year speaking at Gospelcon, and now that it’s merged with the Internet Ministry Conference, I really wanted to check it out. From what I heard, it was more marketing driven, so I probably got more out of WJS than IMC.
#8 Steven Nez
Great post. It is unfortunate that I didn’t get to meet you at the conference. Maybe next year!
#9 Nathan Smith
@Steven: Yeah, hopefully IMC and WJS won’t be in time-conflict next year.