webmaster jam session wrap-up

Michael Barton — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:38:12 +0000

Just thought I’d post a wrap-up on my experience at the webmaster jam session now that I’ve recovered. It was very different from a developer convention. There were lots of macintosh notebooks and trendy people around… you know, with their hair messed up just so. I didn’t fit in too hot, though I did meet a few cool people.

Many of the presentations were interactive, and it was really easy to meet and talk to everyone there after sessions. It felt more like a “jam session” than a convention, which was cool. There was lots of CoffeeCup branding on the swag, but the speakers didn’t push their software at all. I’m sure if I attent next year, I’ll have to whine about how commercial it’s become. I mostly wanted to go so I could hear Eric Meyer, Chris Wilson, Jared Spool, and a couple others talk. In that regard I wasn’t disappointed.

As far as content, the technical discussions weren’t all that fantastic. We suggested that they run a few advanced sessions next year, though I don’t know what they can do given the inherent boringness of watching someone else go over code. The marketing sessions were really interesting, mostly because marketing is voodoo to me. Another thing I noticed was that a few of the speakers weren’t the greatest web designers ever, but they were known for their successful blogs. So why did they talk about web design rather than building successful blogs? It’s a worthy topic.

They recorded all the sessions and said they’d be available as podcasts later, but I don’t know where.

Oh, and there was lots of free coffee. Awesome.

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webmaster jam session wrap-up