My professional community convenes physically and virtually many, many times a year. Web design has birthed countless conferences and events, locally, nationally, and internationally. But the one I anticipate year after year is the Information Architecture Summit. I’ve attended every year since 2000 but two (in 2001 for lack of funding and in 2011 because my son was just born). The Summit itself gets better every year: the volunteer organizers build on prior experiences, pairing an invigorating professional agenda with an inviting social scene.
I’ve known some of these people most of my career. Some I met within the last few years. Still others I met only minutes before. Regardless, there’s no other event where I feel so much at home, so much a part of a community. Whether picking up where we left off with a friend I haven’t seen in a year, or chatting with someone for the first time, no other professional event gets me so energized.
This year I got to (in no particular order):
- Watch new speakers explore old topics with fresh perspectives
- Watch old speakers (not a dig Peter) explore new topics with fresh perspectives
- Play board games with Karl Fast
- Talk game design and storytelling with Christina Wodtke
- Introduce myself to the next generation of DC-area UX professionals
- Play more board games with Karl Fast
- Talk the ups and downs of business ownership with Matthew Milan
- See a few hundred web nerds Skype with the coiner of “hypertext”
- Show first-time attendee EightShapers Mary Specht and Matthew Dingee the ropes
- Reflect on our careers with Dan Willis
- Have spontaneous breakfast with first time attendee Rachel Vacek
- Have spontaneous breakfast with old friend Russ Unger
- Listen to not one but two recaps of the Bruce Jenner interview from Kyle Soucy and Dave Cooksey
- Visit the Fantasy Flight Game Center with Karl Fast
- Tell Livia Labate how much we miss her at her old job while loving that she’s happy at her new one
- Talk inside vs. outside designers with Dalia Levine
- Give away a copy of my book to the organizer of the Champaign-Urbana UX Book Club
- Witness a whole community honor my friend Elizabeth Randolph
- Try out a local pizza place with Minneapolis local Jon Hadden
- Facilitate a workshop on a new topic, getting valuable feedback
- See Madonnalisa Chan and Victor Lombardi again for the first time in years
- Tell anyone who would listen about how James and I met at IA Summit 2002 in Baltimore and remained good friends ever since
- Give a copy of my game to Marsha Haverty because her talk was so damn inspirational
- Play one more game with Karl Fast
- Feel tremendous pride and gratitude for friend and colleague Veronica’s (and her co-chairs’) efforts to put together an amazing conference
And leave a day early, brain and heart full, so I could celebrate 18 years of marriage with my amazing wife.
I already can’t wait until next year.
