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So that was @media2005

Friday June 10, 2005 - Permanent link to this post -

I'm back in the North having had a cracking two days in the scary capital. You'll be pleased (but no doubt unsurprised) that I survived the journey. I encountered only one singing pickpocket but I'm not sure if he was an orphan. I got away before he managed to get my pocket watch to take back to Fagin.

Before I continue, I'd like to thank everybody involved in the event. It truly was a great experience and one I'll not forget for a while. Both the social and educational aspects where outstanding. Well done and thanks.

Here comes the name drop...

I got down on Wednesday evening, traumatised from the Tube, but gagging for a beer. I met up with DotJayJohn near the London Eye along with Pat Lauke, Mike Davies, Rob Whiting, Rik and [sorry, forgot your name] from University of Bradford, Leigh from University of Manchester, Alex Armstrong, Matthew, Andy Saxton and others who's names escape me (sorry). We walked to SoHo which was apparently a good idea in the minds of the people who had already had a couple of beers and weren't wearing excruciating new shoes. Although painful it was an interesting route, passing all sorts of postcard-landmarks along the way. We settled in a SoHo pub called the Blue something (not that kind of blue!). The walk back seemed quicker until I left the others at their hotel and tried to find my own. I got lost in Waterloo and when asking passers by for directions was amazed at the amount of people wandering around in the middle of London at 12:30am who didn't know where they were.

An early start on Thursday for an 8am registration at the conference. Nice venue. I'm not going to go into detail about the presentations. You can find that elsewhere. All you need to know if you weren't there is that they were good. All very good. In the morning break I managed to meet just about everybody I wanted to meet. Putting faces to names to domains is great fun and often quite surprising. I introduced myself to Jon Hicks first and then to Denis who followed shortly after. Those guys turned out to be good friends over the two days. Next came Andy Hume, and Richard Rutter, then Jeremy came over to say hi, then Andy Clarke. I resisted the temptation to just walk up to people and say "Guh... I read you!".

After a good day of fascinating and insightful presentations (especially Robin Christopherson's which really opened my eyes to adaptive technology) it was to the @media party for free food and beer. Once again I met some great guys and got to chat more with the guys I'd met earlier. Here's some more: Matthew Pennell, Derek Featherstone (of bartricks.com fame, Molly, Kate "Monkey" Bolin. I went for some dinner with Jon (I owe you dinner) and Denis and then went back to the party. I finished the night at the Novotel hotel bar with Jeremy, Andy Budd, Richard Rutter, Patrick Griffiths, Cindy Li and a couple of others who's name again escapes me. That was too late a night and too much to drink than it seems I can handle nowadays. I felt very rough the next morning.

I had breakfast with Jon and Denis in the hotel and met Veerle, whom I didn't realise was that Veerle at the time. Sorry. Oh, and I forgot the name of the other guy with Veerle. Sorry.

The second day of the conference was as great as the first with some fascinating lectures from people who must have been at least as hung-over as me but carried it well. The Wind-Down party at the Novotel gave everybody a chance to de-brief, swap cards and say goodbyes. I left early(ish) to get the train back with Matthew. I think we both missed our kids too much to stay away too long. I certainly did, anyway.

So that was @media. It was a blast and I really hope there's going to be another next year and that I'll be going. It was a great collection of talented minds who are really driving future of the web. I was honoured to be in their company for a few days. I learned a lot, both from the scheduled presentations and the chat in the cafeteria and pubs in between. If I met anybody who I haven't mentioned it's because I forgot your name. Mention it in the comments. I'm really keen to know who I was talking to.

Have a look at some of my flickr photos from the event and keep your eyes open for posts from other attendees mentioned above.

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