Key Takeaways from An Event Apart

Zeldman on Choosing Clients

I’ve attended An Event Apart four years running now. It is, hands-down, the finest web conference around, and if you work on the web at all, whether you’re a designer, developer, copywriter, or client-services, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Reviewing my notes from previous conferences, I noticed that there were some running themes. Each year, I’ve come to expect that Jeffrey Zeldman will discuss how to manage relationships with clients who sometimes have little or no respect for what we do. Eric Meyer will talk about a currently hot topic in the CSS arena (usually one he is at the forefront of), and a bevvy of talented designers, copywriters, usability experts and other roles will share their insights.

So, here is my take on the running themes of the conference, as well as my individual key takeaways from each year. Naturally, these reflect my interest in front-end code, so you might have gotten more from different speakers than I did, but I think it will still help give you an idea of what you can expect from An Event Apart. Continue reading

An Event Apart Seattle 2009

An Event Apart Seattle Title

The night before An Event Apart, I was at a party with some college friends. When they found out I was in town for a conference, they wanted to know what it was about. I said it was a web conference, and they said “Aren’t those usually held on the web?”

Eventually, I explained it like this: You know how in every industry, there are the A-List people? The real movers and shakers who influence everyone? In the web design world, those people are Eric Meyer and Jeffrey Zeldman, and An Event Apart is their conference.

This was my fourth time, and it just gets better every time. The quality of the speakers, and the breadth of the material being presented simply blows away every other web conference. If you are at all involved in the web industry, whether as a designer, a developer, a copywriter, or even a project manager, I cannot recommend An Event Apart strongly enough. Guaranteed, you will learn a lot, and come back recharged about your work.

I was going to write a huge post with details about all the speakers, but to be honest, the very idea exhausts me — and if I don’t want to write it, there’s no way you’ll want to read it. Instead, if you’re interested in reading more, Russ from Think Brownstone wrote a review perfectly summarizing why An Event Apart is the best web conference available. He also shares my opinion that single-track conferences are better than multi-track ones.

Note: This was originally posted on my work blog, and I’m re-posting it here for archival purposes.

An Event Apart San Francisco 2008

Columbus Tower

I’ve managed to attend An Event Apart every year so far, and this year was particularly exciting because the nearest location was in San Francisco. I went to Seattle the last two times, which was fine, but I know Seattle pretty well, so the opportunity to play tourist in a new city was very appealing to me. Luckily, my coworker Libby was coming with me, and she used to work in “the City” so I had the advantage of a guide.

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An Event Apart Seattle 2007

Last year, I attended An Event Apart 2006 in Seattle. It was a great event, although I remember it being really rushed, because they seven sessions packed into one day. So when I heard that they were coming back to Seattle, and had changed the format to two days, I signed up right away. I’m happy to tell you that the new format is a huge improvement. The event no longer feels rushed, and even though there are six sessions every day, there’s a 15 minute break between each one, and a 1½ hour lunch. That might sound insignificant, but if you’ve ever been to an all-day tech conference, you’ll understand what a lifesaver those breaks can be.

Downtown and Docks

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