Some of you will remember or know first hand about the Interesting 2007 conference that happened on Saturday. For those who don’t, read some bits here, here and here.
It started for me on the Friday, where I popped into The Design Conspiracy to help out a little bit. I didn’t help much but I’ve heard that every little bit helps. And it was a great way to build up the excitement too. Made it a bit of a two-day thing rather than just something on Saturday.
I loved the absolute breadth of the variety of the speakers and have taken away so many thoughts and ideas. The main thing I got from the day, actually, was the thrill of hanging out with ‘my people’. Like the first time I walked into a Last Hemeroids show at the Vic on the Park. We’re all a little geeky, a bit brainy, totally open to experiencing new and exciting things (except those who hated the chanting and the drawing exercise) and not afraid to show it. It was love all round, from my end.
Although, disappointingly, while the rest of the conference was as far from a conference as I’ve ever experienced, as usual, the lunch wasn’t long enough. But as I was discussing with Paul afterwards, that applies to life in general, so it ain’t all bad.
Another extremely cool thing that came from the conference was in fact not at the conference, but the people who were there. At drinks on the friday night beforehand, I got to meet my dear blogging buddy Marcus (who is as sweet, mad and awesome in real life as he is online), as well as having drinks with other bloggers Paul and Ben Terrett. Then on the day other bloggers I got to meet included Rob Mortimer and NP, Beeker and Claire ex D&AD, plus catch up with some of the other kids I’ve previously met, Sam, Gemma, Will, Charles, etc. So as well as the goodness for the mind, there was heaps of goodness for the heart too. In fact it felt something like a family reunion and a mensa talent quest mash up. Postmodern was the theme of the day and I’m OK with that.
And speaking of mashups, the one thing I took away from the day was my sketchbook. A compilation of all the mad stuff and cool stuff I learned and experienced at Interesting. I sat up the front like a girly swat the whole time and sketched out the day. Well almost everything. In fact my sketchbook is a swarm of notes, quotes, words and little tidbits of images from the day. Some are ghastly, others are not so bad. My personal favourite is the image of the ‘tech table’, the only constant thing about the day.
Grant, who spoke exceptionally well*, has suggested (again) that i post the sketchbook as documentation of the day. I’ve tried to find a way that i can make it slightly animated and turn pages, like a real sketchbook would, but I didn’t get very far.
*[although I’m surprised I can say that, seeing as during his talk I had to run around avoiding a disaster – trying to find something else to draw with after my pen had died after it had been drenched in tea after my tea leaked from the recycled cup i had been using all morning. Fuck!]
here’s a link to the sketches as a flickr slideshow (the closest i could get to an e-book):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7299213@N03/sets/72157600394090268/show/
Suffice to say, I had a wicked day. I didn’t get bored once, didn’t fidget or tut, or want to hang outside (except after lunch, but i really should let that go). And at the end of the day when we were all having drinks and meeting/catching up, I could easily have gone back to do it all again the next day.
Seems like the name of the conference was absolutely perfect and I’m looking forward to seeing Interesting 2008 happening.