Peter Coles DC: Cider & Waffle from Bristol

*Rollover for translation

Web Developers’ Conference Wrap-Up

Although a little belated I thought it would be nice to do a personal wrap-up of what went on at WDC (and SkillSwap the night before) for a few reasons. Firstly, because it’s nice to ‘de-brief’ and reflect, but also because it was an inspiring few days, spent with inspiring people, in an inspiring environment; and anyone involved with putting together WDC can be truly proud.

It is indeed testament to the community that exists within the realms of the ‘internets’ in the UK (though not exclusively to the UK) that an event like this could come together in the way that it did, let alone be as successful and informative as I felt it was. I’d like to extend a congratulations to Alex and Dan for pulling it all  together.

An event re-capped

James Box’s Presentations from both SkillSwap and WDC were excellent. The former of the the two is available here. I’d also like to thank James for my new-found Nabaztag obsession. Quite what my actual pet rabbit will make of him is yet to be seen.

Joe Leech’s short but insightful presentation on user-testing was brilliant and I learnt a lot in a short space of time. He’s also a top bloke.

Patrick Lauke’s rants were great too. Especially enjoyed his presentation at SkillSwap and I spent the next day adding :focus and :active elements to my page in places I had never even considered.

Chris Garrett’s talk on beyond the browser was an interesting one. It constantly amazes me what is possible with the technology we have and Chris really knows his onions.

Elliot Jay Stocks, Elliott Kember, Dan Williams, Dan Donald and John Gibbins’s panel was great and I think the students really appreciated having great insights from top professionals. I particularly enjoyed hearing about topics as broad-ranging as Google Chrome to Freelancing.

Jon Tan, Mel Kirk, Rick Hurst, Joe Leech and Myself spent the last 45mins of the day on a panel discussing the merits of working in the South West and career direction. It was a cool experience for me and I really enjoyed sitting along side people I have respected for such a long time. I hope I made a valid contribution, some of the advice dispensed by my fellow panelists was absolute gold dust. (by-the-by I forgot to name drop Jon Hicks as an inspiration, I had a total mind blank when we were asked who to watch out for)

A personal thank you to…

Alex and Dan for putting it all together and being so enthusiastic about everything, it’s great to see such passion and devotion.

Jon Tan for being a total star and keeping me all up-to-date with what was going on leading up to the event and for also organising a great post-event meal and drinks.

Elliot Jay Stocks for being truly great company and for shouting Myself, Chris and Alex a lovely breakfast at the Lounge, North Street on a damp, cider-induced-hangover-riddled Thursday morning.

Chris Garrett for not only being a really nice guy, but for suggesting the ‘Bristol-geek-out’ pub quiz team. An idea I think would be cool to run with if we can recruit a few more members.

John Gibbins, Joe Leech, Dan Williams, Mel Kirk, Rick Hurst, Dan Donald, Elliott Kember,  James Box, Patrick Lauke and anyone else who shared a chin-wag over a beer. It was great to meet you all, the only shame for me was I didn’t get to speak with some of you for as long as I would have liked too.

Links from elsewhere