Web Jam Session '07
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 principle of good stand-up comedy is: "leave 'em wanting more," and that's how I felt about this year's Webmaster Jam Session. 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!