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This is not a report on the presentations from WE’05. That will come shortly, once Ben and I have sorted through our collective notes.

Although it may very well appear as such, this is not a name drop post either. I’m of the opinion that it’s only name dropping if you continue to hold these people up on a pedestal. While my respect for these people has grown, I no longer think of them as ‘untouchable’ or ‘A listers’. They’re normal people, they just happen to have achieved things that many of us in the same industry find impressive. We may find their talents intimidating, but these people are our peers.

I’ve always read that these events are about more than the content; but just how much more did not become apparent until now.

If you don’t already know, the pioneers and groundbreakers of our community are (in general) incredibly warm and approachable people. I already knew this through approaching many of my influences via email; but meeting the majority of the presenters really cemented this.

WE’05 Highlights – the ‘less than nerd’ version

• Carrying on the after-party in Kings Cross with the majority of the international speakers, a couple of the dedicated local speakers, three quarters of the core WE’05 team and a handful of my fellow delegates who were in as much denial as I that this would have to end eventually.
• Watching a somewhat ‘jovial’ John Allsopp direct ~20 people into cabs and then educate Cameron and I on the finer points of synchronized orbit.
• Finding out that shortly after I had left the final party location, Derek had treated the remaining party-goers to a rendition of his “Hammer time” dance. (If only he had MC Hammer’s parachute pants!)
• The Beginning
• The Evacuation
• Sneaking stronger drinks into the Day 1 party and the fun and relaxing dinner with Bec, Kara, Pat (URI’s please?) and Ben at Wagamama’s (I still maintain that’s not a word 😉 )
• Sharing Pizza with Eric as he explains the fundamental difference between an OSX crash and a Windows crash
  

  …and then I realize that this thing (OSX) is ‘blue screening’ me, but I can’t get mad because it just looks so good while doing it. You get this beautiful opaque window with rounded corners, drop shadows; the lot!

  For someone who gives the initial impression of being somewhat reserved, Eric is a helluva lot of fun once he relaxes.

• The “smartass presenter” award was a complete whitewash – no one stood a chance against Cameron Adams. Forget Google maps, Cameron’s ‘Meyer vs. Bowman’ boxing game is the best use of JavaScript ever. Oh and then there’s the fact that he replicated the entire OSX desktop including the Dock, Finder and Safari – just because he could! You’re a freak Cameron. Freak on 😉

  I’m not sure if anyone won the “smartass delegate” award, but I was definitely in the running. The background screen was a good start, but the golden touch was a 15em, blinking, <marquee> equipped, red “w007 JavaScript” on a green background that was aimed at Cameron from the front row as he prepared to begin his presentation. It didn’t faze him, but it gave Molly a good laugh; so I’m going to chalk that one up as a success.

• Meeting and partying with some of the Melbourne WSG crew. One of those crazy Melbournites was a gentleman by the name of Lachlan Hardy. What to say about Lachlan? Well, I think Hunter S. Thompson summed it up nicely:
  

  There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

There were many more memorable moments, most of which I don’t remember 😮

In short, WE’05 was an absolute blast. I’ll be back next year, no doubt about it!

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