New Adventures and me
Some conferences just have ‘that’ special feeling. @media was the first for me in 2005. The An Event Apart in Seattle in 2010 where Ethan Marcotte first talked about responsive design, another. Most recently, the first New Adventures also in 2010.
New Adventures is special, not just because it’s hosted by Simon Collison, one of my most favourite people, but because of the energy and enthusiasm of everyone involved, Simon and his helpers, the speakers and especially the attendees.
For the first New Adventures, Simon asked a few friends, me included, if we’d speak. No one said no. How could we? It was Colly after-all. Simon wasn’t sure if the event would be a success, but everyone else knew it would be. Fool. He poured his heart and soul into making the day special and it showed.
This year I went to New Adventures 2012 as an attendee and loved it even more. Somehow it felt a little more grown up, slicker, better oiled. But it had lost none of the energy and enthusiasm that made the previous year special. I even got to meet my design hero, Trent Walton too.
Next year, 2013, New Adventures will be back, maybe for one last time. But I won’t mind if this is the last adventure. I’ll look back on them all with very fond memories and it will finish on a high.
It’s going be a helluva show. Jason Andrew Andrew Santa Maria and Hard Man Dan Cederholm are just two of the names that’ll be sure to sell out the tickets in just a few hours. Then then are people I’ve never met and been dying to hear. Like Jessica Hische, Stephanie Troeth and Seb Lee-Delisle.
Me? I’m hosting my “Fabulously Flexible Responsive Web Design” workshop on Wednesday 23rd January and Sarah Parmenter will be hosting a workshop on “Designing for iOS” that day too, along with Stephanie Hay on “Building Trust With Users.” Both are workshops I wish I could sit in on, but I think I’ll be kind of busy.
I hope you’ll join me for the workshop and if you can’t, please come up and say “hi” at the conference. You’ll make a happy man very old.