An Event Apart
This was originally posted on my own site.
My trip to California went well. It was bookended with a few days in San Diego on either end. I relished the opportunity to hang with family and soak up the sunshine.
In the middle was my outing to San Francisco for An Event Apart. There were some great talks: Krystal talking about onboarding, Miriam blowing my mind with cascade layers, Eric diving deep into the :has() selector, and David closing out the show with a superb call to arms.
I gave my talk on declarative design at the very start of the event, just the way I like it. I was able to relax and enjoy all the other talks without having mine on my mind.
The talk went down well. I thought maybe I might have the chance to repeat it at another An Event Apart sometime in 2023.
But that won’t happen. An Event Apart has closed its doors:
Seventeen years ago, in December 2005, we held our first conference in Philadelphia. The event we just held in San Francisco was our last.
Whenever I was invited to speak at An Event Apart, I always responded in the affirmative and always said it was an honour to be asked. I meant it every time.
It wasn’t just me. Ask anyone who’s spoken at An Event Apart. They’ll all tell you the same thing. It was an honour. It was also a bit intimidating. There was a definite feeling that you had to bring your A game. And so, everyone did. Of course that just contributed to the event’s reputation which only reinforced the pressure to deliver a top-notch presentation.
I’m really going to miss An Event Apart. I mean, I get why all good things must come to an end (see also: dConstruct), but it feels like the end of an era.
My first time speaking at An Event Apart was in 2007. My last time was in San Francisco this month.
Thank you, Eric, Jeffrey, Toby, Marci, and the entire An Event Apart crew. It has been my privilege to play a small part in your story.
2007 Chicago Be Pure. Be Vigilant. Behave 2008 San Francisco Pattern In The Process 2009 Boston Future Shock Treatment 2010 Seattle, Boston, Minneapolis, Washington DC, San Diego Paranormal Interactivity 2011 Seattle, Boston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Washington DC, San Francisco Design Principles 2012 Austin The Spirit Of The Web 2013 Atlanta, Washington DC, Chicago, Austin, San Francisco The Long Web 2014 Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Orlando, San Francisco Enhance! 2015 Seattle, Austin, San Francisco Resilience 2016 Seattle, Boston, Orlando, San Francisco Resilience, Evaluating Technology 2017 Seattle, Denver Evaluating Technology 2018 Seattle, Boston The Way Of The Web 2019 Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco Going Offline 2020 Online Design Principles For The Web 2021 Online The State Of The Web 2022 Online, San Francisco In And Out Of Style Declarative Design
This was originally posted on my own site.
