I just finished the @media2007 conference in San Francisco, and all I can say is “wow.” I was totally in over my head, which in this case is a good thing!
The speakers were all renowned experts in their fields, and I’d be willing to bet 90% of the audience were seasoned web development veterans — no freshmen on this campus! Being an instructional technologist and merely a part-time web developer, I felt like the wallflower at the school dance hoping someone would talk to me. Ok, maybe I wasn’t that far out of my element, but it sure was amazing to not only meet the authors of books and blogs I’ve been reading for years, but also to hear them speak about topics they’re truly passionate about. Plus, many of them were very funny guys with excellent stage presence.
At times I enjoyed simply being a wallflower and listening to other people’s conversations. These people, after all, are the movers and shakers of the web world, including W3C members, design gurus and book authors. I mustered up enough nerve to ask a few questions from time to time, but once or twice I felt like a nitwit, as if I just asked a race car driver if his car goes fast! Oi vay.
For the most part, the speakers were very nice, were approachable, and graciously answered questions, even if it was obvious they’d been asked the same question many times before. Some even handed out free books… I’d like to thank Dan Webb and Jeremy Keith for my books!
Overall, the conference was a success, and the energy/buzz/web-geekiness-run-amok was palpable. I’m very glad I went. Truth be told, I enjoyed it much more than the O’Reilly Web 2.0 conference a few weeks ago.
On a side note, while attending the “Hot Topics” discussion at the end of the event, I volunteered to produce some test suites (mockups) of proposed CSS 3.0 specifications for the W3C’s CSS working group. I must admit I’m pretty nervous about this, but I think it’s a great opportunity to give back to the community and also expand my knowledge and understanding of CSS. *Keep your fingers crossed for me*
I also have this amazing urge to completely redesign my website for fear it won’t live up to the standards of the @media2007 crowd…