Webstock08

How can I summarise Webstock08 in a few words?

Easy.

It.was.awesome.

You want more? OK then...

Webstock08 fully lived up to all my expectations. It was exhausting, exhilarating, and well worth the wait.

It's such a joy being part of Webstock. The attention to detail is just astounding, from the branding to the pre-conference workshops to the inspiring collection of national and international speakers right through to the great food, free fair-trade coffee (thanks, People's Coffee!) and icecream.

Stunning design from DNA - the website, the fabulous it's-so-cool-I-want-to-use-it-every-day conference satchel, the great-looking T-shirt, the lovely recycled-but-luxurious programme and the nifty nametag that doubled as a quick reference guide to what's happening where and when.

I love the fact that everyone's smiling and happy at Webstock, I love the fact that every speaker has something new and fascinating and useful to share, I love the fact that I can reconnect with (and get hugs from) 50 people I know but haven't seen for ages (and can take a sneaky peek at their nametag if I can't remember their names) and that I have the chance to meet 50 (or 500) new people I didn't know before.

I love the fact that everyone seems to swap tables on a regular basis throughout the conference, just for the opportunity to say hi to someone else. I love the fact that you can rock up to some rockstar CSS guru after his talk and thank him for his website which helped you enormously when you were teaching yourself pure CSS (thanks, Dan!). I love the fact that the Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra played at our post-conference drinks (hi guys!), and that Kathy Sierra (Kathy - you rock!) closed the conference with another wonderfully passionate presentation.

I'm thrilled by the fact that Russell not only knew who I was, but took the time to offer me some advice on encouraging Gatherers to contribute to The Gathering Archives website - and invited me to write a guest post for Public Address about the site. Crikey!

I'm inspired to share best practice for creating online forms with my fellow Shifties (thanks Luke W for a great workshop!) and I'm also inspired to tinker with the design hierarchy of The Gathering Archives homepage (thanks again, Luke!), make easy-to-use connections with APIs such as Flickr (thanks Tom - your presentation was brilliant!) and continue to agitate for more involvement earlier on in the process of creating a great website (thanks again Tom!).

I'm also planning to teach myself JQuery (thanks for your workshop clearly showing us its power and simplicity, Simon - and for your very endearing enthusiasm for all things JavaScript).

I need this T-shirt (thanks, Kathy - and thanks a million for being willing to return to Webstock to share your thoughts and ideas with us - I hope it wasn't too scary for you - we really are just cute fluffy bunnies), and I spent a whole lot of time laughing my socks off (you were VERY funny, Damian).

I got completely worn out before the end of Day 1 and then miraculously found (or Webstock gave me) a whole heap more energy and enthusiasm on Day 2, and by the time the very awesome Town Hall staff finally threw us out of there some time around midnight last night, I really didn't want it to end.

Thank you SO much to Mike, Tasha, Miraz, and the rest of Team Webstock for your incredible hard work, to the speakers for sharing your knowledge so generously and inspiring us to go forth and Code for Freedom, to the sponsors for providing the means to make it happen, to the tireless and wonderfully polite Town Hall staff for making it all run so smoothly, to the team of sign-language interpreters who made the conference accessible to all - and to my fellow Webstockers who were a joy to hang out with. You all rule!

Roll on Webstock 2010!

Technorati tags: Webstock08, Webstock, web conference, Wellington, new Zealand, web design, web development, internet, conference, mike Brown, natasha Hall, Miraz Jordan, Dan Cederholm, Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra, Kathy Sierra, Russell Brown, Public Address, The Gathering Archives, Luke Wroblewski, Tom Coates, Simon Willison, Damian Conway, Wellington Town Hall, Code for Freedom, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.