we05 summaries

Kevin Yank from Sitepoint has done a great job at summarising day 1 & 2 so I won't repeat most of it.

Web Essentials 05 Day 1
Web Essentials 05 Day 2

I have to agree with Kevin's opinion about the SVG session with Dean Jackson. I came away not learning anything and that's a biggie for me. The talk was more of a ramble and lacked structure. Dean demonstrated some 'effects' I suppose but didn't enlighten me about SVG. Now, you don't necessarily need a tutorial as such but you want to gain something from sitting through a session. Particulary, as I pointed out over on Sitepoint, you've got to go back to your company and prove that it was worthwhile for them to have paid for you to go. And to be able to impart what you learned to others in your team. I can't do that as a result of such a session.

Dean's not alone however. I was really disapppointed with the first Eric Meyer session which was about his CSS implementation of the A List Apart site. It too was a bit meandering and Eric seemed to have trouble getting into it and certainly did not seemed enthused. It wasn't detailed enough and he spent some time over what he decided to call the IDs of some sections of the A List Apart site - really I don't see that as important. I want to know more about the hows - it wasn't bad, it just wasn't 'enough'. Second day's session was completely different - what a great session that was and it made me sit forward in my seat.

The 3 person panel Moving your Organisation to Standards with Brett Jackson, John Horner and David McDonald was also a bit limp. I think the audience was really beyond this very low level topic. A mildly interesting discussion, and certainly not the fault of these presenters, I just think it was too 'skimmy'.

I should say that these are not just my opinions - I was hearing the same mutterings from others around me. Don't get me wrong though - these are just a couple of 'ho hums' amongst many 'yeahs!'. I'm so glad I got to go.

If you don't listen to all the we05 podcasts can I implore you to at least make sure you listen to Molly Holzschlag and Jeffrey Veen, two of the most inspiring speakers at we05.

And just one more last gripe - people who sit in conferences constantly clicking their pens should be shot. No questions. No blindfold.