2006 Conferences January 3rd, 2006 by Kevin Cheng :: see related comic

For those of you that weren’t completely away from your computers, you may haven noticed that we had a few interesting slips. The most significant of which was the Case of the Missing Comic on Friday. We’ve had comics show up late late Friday but never not show up at all in our 2.5 years so this was a first.

Since history is written by the winners or, in this case, the one who is writing the article, I’ll just say: it was Tom’s fault.

Ok, no, it wasn’t at all Tom’s fault. Truth was that I had fallen ill at an inopportune time and subsequently embarked on a trans-pacific flight but I’ll spare the details. Suffice to say, all is well now - myself, the comic, and stylish Web 2.0 fonts.

Rather than talk about predictions, which I’m poor at, or the best of 2005, which has been done to death, I thought I’d spend some time talking about things I’m looking forward to. Specifically, it’s about T-minus 1.5 months from conference season. There’s the whirlwind of conferences from February to April, with a smattering in the summer and more in the fall. Each has different offerings for different people. Here’s a list, by no means comprehensive, of some I think are interesting and considering attending:

Technology Entertainment Design (TED)
Monterey, CA
Feb 22 - Feb 25
Attending: Yep. In the Simulcast Lounge.
Chris Anderson describes is as the “Pre-Release” of “Heaven” because in Heaven, you get to meet, talk to and interact with the greatest artists, thinkers, academics, entertainers that ever were. The only catch is the registration cost - and the need to apply for an invitation (but hey if I got one …).

Emerging Technology Conference (ETech)
San Diego, CA
Mar 6 - Mar 9
Attending: Unlikely
I’ve never been to ETech as it’s always in the middle of conference season with numerous other conferences I’d rather be at but those that attend seem to have good things to say about it. The topic this year is particularly relevant to readers here - The Attention Economy.

South by Southwest Interactive (SxSWi)
Austin, TX
Mar 10 - Mar 14
Attending: Yep. Speaking on a panel about Web Comics.
It’s been called, “spring break for geeks” because of the socializing and partying that occurs in the evenings but it’s definitely the best place to meet like minded individuals and discuss ideas without having to explain what a “tag” is.

Information Architecture Summit 2006 (IA Summit)
Vancouver, BC
Mar 23 - Mar 27
Attending: Yep. Will be doing a conference session and a preconference workshop.
IA Summit gets the most consistently positive reviews from designers and IAs alike. I have never been personally but this will be my first year and I’m looking forward to it.

Computer Human Interaction 2006 (CHI2006)
Montreal, QB
Apr 22 - Apr 26
Attending: Perhaps for Press coverage
This conference has typically been labelled as too academic for the practitioners but this year there’s a lot of effort being put in to represent both sides. The location can’t hurt, either.

Usability Professionals Association 2006 (UPA)
Broomfield, CO
Jun 12 - Jun 16
Attending: Almost Definitely Not
UPA seems to get consistently mediocre reviews from my peers who attend. As a professional organization, the conferences seem to be too beginner focused and their budgets unfortunately constrain them in telling ways (Broomfield?? and how about a more usable URL?). We haven’t been able to do press coverage for them yet for the same reasons so we don’t have first hand experience. We do have a paper there this year though!

User Interface 11 (UI11)
Cambridge, MA
Mid October
Attending: Sadly, Probably Not
From Jared Spool’s User Interface Engineering and in its eleventh year, this conference is not cheap but I like how they always try to bring in a range of experts and voices to speak. It’s sort of like the combo meal - you could easily see each of the speakers in their own workshops but here they’re all brought together and in a small enough gathering that you can interact with them.

Design Engaged
Unknown Location
Usually Around November
Attending: If I Can
Andrew Otwell’s brainchild has taken place in Amsterdam and Berlin. Not so much a conference as a retreat of a few dozen “engaged” designers who all participate through presentations. I’ve never been but love all the participants I’ve seen and everything I’ve ever read about it. I haven’t even asked Andrew if it’s happening this year yet and the small size of course comes at the price of limiting attendees, too.

There are other conferences, some at the international level , that I have less experience or knowledge of: HCI2006, UbiComp 2006, Euro IA Summit, etc. If there’s a particularly cool conference you think is worth the conference budget this year, do let us know. Many companies have one conference per year for their employees so it’s good to know what the choices are.

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