the 200ok weblog

Another year, another new venue! Luna Park was a curious location, but if you want to see adults turn back into kids - give them free access to dodgem cars!

A new venue, side shows, main shows, amazing talks and a good time had by all...

Web Directions South 2013 is done and dusted, as ever seeming to pass in a blur and be over in an instant.

Here are my notes, hammered out quickly for my own recall. The usual notes: they're done in a hurry, if you need exact quotes check the recordings later. Presume everything is a paraphrase rather than a quote. Jump menu is old school but hey it's a big post…

The speaking is done, the blankets packed away to save us from the freezing aircon again next year, drinks consumed and planes have returned our friends to various corners of the globe.

It must be time for the Web Directions South 2012 Big Stonking Post™.

Welcome to the Web Directions South 2011 Big Stonking Post™, my rough notes hammered out on a laptop (to aid my own recall) and posted here for your enjoyment.

The usual notes: These are very raw notes - excuse typos, and if you need an exact quote please check the podcast as some of my quotes end up more like paraphrases (I can only type so fast...). Anything marked "Aside:" is my own thought and not something the speaker said.

Roll up roll up roll up, for my Web Directions South 2010 Big Stonking Post™. A yearly wander through my impressions of WDS, hammered into an EEEpc and posted here for your enjoyment.

In the tradition of my "big stonking posts", these are my notes from WDS09 - basically unedited (expect typos ;)), unfiltered for the most part (so they are a bit liveblogish in tone). Stuff [inside square brackets] is an aside, my own thoughts rather than something the speaker said. Sketch notes taken from Waferbaby's awesome sketch notes (under CC license).

What follows is Web Directions South 2008, as seen on my flickr and twitter streams. With some annotations where I felt it was appropriate. I kind of like the picture that emerges :)

In the tradition of my "big stonking posts", these are my notes from WDS08 - basically unfiltered for the most part (so, effectively they are "liveblog" in tone). Anything [inside square brackets] is an aside, my own thoughts rather than something the speaker said. I did think about putting these into the stream post, but it was just getting insanely long :)

The Big Stonking Post continues for WDS07, with day two...

I had planned to liveblog these as the day went on, but as is now traditional the laptop refused to connect to the wireless network.

So, here they are in One Big Stonking Post™! :)

I've been tagged! The meme is to find photos of yourself from Web Directions... Although I escaped WE05 relatively unsnapped, there are still a few photos of me from that year. WD06 was a different matter. I usually tend to be a bit camera-shy (I'd rather take a photo than be in one), but frankly I had to get over that or I'd have had a meltdown.

As friends gathered the photos started and Amit used me to test stage lighting as a sort of speaker stunt double. The workshops were a bit of a blur, but I can say for sure that I ate muffins and lunch.

At the speaker dinner we made Molly a little worried but thankfully we didn't scare her away. Recursive photos ensued and apparently I nearly ate the man in blue during yum-cha. Then in the lift we proved that at Web Directions, you can't turn around without seeing a camera.

On Day One the Web2.0MFG levels started to pick up, as did the drinks. On day two, my nerves reached their peak and after some magic spells were cast Cheryl and I finally spoke. Then it was all over and we were at the Pump House. Beers, photos and hand gestures were flying and there was even some chimping to be observed. It appears that eventually my brain started glowing and somehow more yum cha was involved.

Last but not least there was a quiet after party and while saying farewell may be sad, people had to go home - all good things come to an end.

...now, I'm supposed to tag three people. However I think it's more fun to say anyone who took or appeared in one of the photos above - particularly if you were drunk - should consider themselves tagged! That includes Andrew K, who's been tagged already but won't get around to it if we don't all hassle him :)

It's very weird to hear your own voice as others hear it, but curiosity won out: webdirections | september 26-29 2006 » Cheryl Lead and Ben Buchanan - Moving your organisation to web standards.

It's funny how I love public speaking, but I feel embarrassed listening to a recording of it later! :) But that's the nature of things I guess... most of us don't hear our own voices played back too often, so it always comes as a bit of a surprise.

Still, people seemed to enjoy the session and I think we covered some good stuff. The questions were great, too! ...and we remembered to repeat nearly all of them for the podcast :)

One visual thing that didn't really come across... when I said "may geek out without warning" I was referring to the shirt I was wearing :)

So anyway, check it out...

So it's just a few short sleeps to Web Directions 2006. Or, as it's been called for a few days now, Web Directions South. That'd be the green one. The orange one will be announced on Monday :)

After Web Essentials 2005 many of us did wonder what the organisers could come up with in 2006 - WE05 was a hard act to follow. So far we have Tshirts and a microformat- and API-driven networking system. Web 2.0 is nothing more than a slogan to many people; but WD06 is living the dream ;)

So if you're heading to WD06, get over to Web Connections and sign up. Sure, you'll probably get tagged by weirdos, but that's all part of the fun!

On a quick personal note; you may notice my Web Connections profile lists my new employer: News Interactive. I didn't mention it in the previous post since I felt like it was a little silly to talk about it before I was actually here. So, there you have it :)