Oh look, a write up for a conference. I totally didn’t plan to do one either but I got thinking.
Following on from the little article I wrote for Everyday Designer (i’m allowed to plug on my own site, someone has to eh), I went to a conference in Milton Keynes a few days back. I wasn’t due to go down but speaking to friends who were going, I decided to chance my arm and see if I could get a ticket. I got one…obviously.
The lineup looked really good to be fair but the lineup of people attending was rather good too so I wanted to take the opportunity to catch up with friends and see some new faces that I spend most of the day with on Twitter.
We got there the night before and spent time with some cracking people. We had beers and curry and I got drunk. A big thanks to Sean Johnson who let me copy his beer and curry order. I have no idea what I had but it was very good.
The highlight for everyone else was watching me question Christopher Murphy about who he was and what he did only to find out he was speaking at the conference I was attending. Bit embarrassing but taken in good humour. I said on the day but you have to have a conversation with this man.
Anyway I was last man standing (That NEVER happens) except I thing it was actually Cole who fucked off somewhere at one point.
Next morning I was lucky to share breakfast with Jon Hicks (not just us two). What did we talk about? Did we talk about designing icons or the latest design trends. No, I pushed my thoughts on hoarding bottled water. I still stand by the statement though. Water will be a currency one day. The lads from North Wales were making an impression alright.
Right, I’m going to skip a lot of detail on the talks.
They all had interesting content. There some quite funny talks and a couple that inspired me to do something about something. A couple went on too long and a couple felt too short but I can honestly say, all had an element of something I’m interested in or trying to do.
The venue, well a mixed bag. The room with the talks was all right. Big enough like. Intimate. The facilities, well it’s no conference center put it that way. Quirky.
All in all the day was very good. I saw the good side and bad side of conferences at times. Actually scrub that. I saw the good side and bad side of people.
A big shout out to Dean Leigh who ventured to his first ever conference. I’m made up that he’s got out of the house and come down to meet people who he communicates with on the internet. He’s networked ( I hate that phrase mind ) and put himself out there. Well played. It was nice to meet you.
I maintain conferences are about people. We all get together to talk about work, share ideas and try and get along. Some people are good at it, some clearly are diabolical at it but that’s life innit. I’m no social butterfly. I spent most of lunch sat on my own trying to get a signal.
My only regret is not speaking to a few more people. I’d love to pick Mark Boulton’s brain. I got to meet Adam Onishi but wish I’d had more time to chat. I got see another of Stu Robson’s awful jumpers too plus I got to see one half of Oasis talking. I met a load of twitter friends but time was limited. Maybe there should be an event where there are no talks, just socialising.
I think my point is really. Conferences are what you make them. The organisers did a good job and I hope that there is one in 2015. I’ll be going.