Because I had a blast last year at Web Directions North in Vancouver - I decided, I will do it all again. So I am gonna breathe some fine Canadian air for a little bit over a week while visiting British Columbia from January 26th until February 3rd.
After doing Web Directions South in Sydney for a couple of years, Maxine and John, with the help of Derek and Dave, took their idea to beautiful Vancouver last year and - from my perspective - it was a huge success and well received by the attendees. Web Directions North 2007 had almost everything one could ask for from a conference. Great speakers, a nice venue, decent catering and - last but not least - 2 days of skiing in Whistler. The only thing that did not really work was the WiFi (as it is almost the case with every conference I have been to).
It will be hard to top that, but having a look at the website and checking out this years ‘feature list’, there are a couple of things that makes me think that it will even get better and that I am looking forward to:
- Even nicer venue at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
- Even more impressive speaker list, including Jeffrey Zeldman, Douglas Crockford, Jared Spool and Matt Webb
In addition to that, there will be a closing party sponsored by (mt) Media Temple and - once again - 2 days of skiing at Whistler. What I am personally planning to do is putting on my trainers and run around Stanley Park, going to another Vancouver Canucks game and making a day trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island.
To sum it up: I am really looking forward to this trip and escaping busy and grey London for a couple of days.
The conference was a great time when I attended last year, too bad I won’t be going this time around. I have other priorities right now…hopefully next year!
Sounds like you are going to have a busy time outside of the conference. The day trip to Victoria (where I live) is a good idea, but it will be a long day, I assure you!
I posted an upcoming page to organize a Canucks game trip:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/408211/?ps=5
@Grant:
Totally agree, the conference in 2007 was great. Too bad you can’t make it this year. Although I believe that there will be some familiar faces around. I kinda figure that the trip to Victoria will be quite intense, but still…I find it always nice to explore new cities and areas
@Brian
Sounds like a great idea, have you posted that on the official WDN site yet? I have already bought my ticket but we can still meet up and have a beer at GM Place or something.
Agreed about the shame of having to skip the conference, however it’s not the end of the world. I did especially enjoy meeting people there.
As for the Victoria day trip, I hope you’ve done your homework in planning this…you will be in transit for several hours for the round trip (good drive from Vancouver to ferries, ferry crossing is better part of 2 hours, and another good drive to Victoria). But the travel part aside, I think you will like Victoria - it’s not as busy a city as Vancouver - and there are many things that you could do in that time.
Hey Klaus, good to hear you’re coming back for another year. I may also be going again this year, we’ll see. In any case, we’ll have to meet up for a drink.
@Brad
Awesome. Drink sounds great. I propose beer