Unleashing the web multiverse at web unleashed

I’m in the lounge at YYZ waiting for my flight back to London after attending Web Unleashed in Toronto for the second time. Sadly enough I couldn’t be there for the whole event, but arrived late in the evening of the first day. I’m saying sadly, because I had an excellent time and I am impressed with the line-up the people at FITC managed to bring together for this event.

Those attending the event were treated to talks and workshops by amazing people I’ve met before and keep loving to see:

Wes Bos, Simona Cotin, Chris Coyier, Frédéric Harper, Henri Helvetica, Stefan Judis, Ankita Kulkarni, Jason Lengstorf, Jen Looper, Mina Markham, Jason Pamental, Kyle Simpson, Catt Small, Martin Splitt, Carl Sziebert and Shirley Wu.

And a few new ones I was impressed with:

Andréa Crofts, Kevin Daly, Zoe Daniels, Piyali Dey, Helen Kontozopoulos, Joyce Lin, Anne Thomas.

In general, there is a lot to look forward to when the video recordings will be released and if not, you should try to get a ticket next time.

I loved the seamless organisation, the way you got treated as a presenter and the general professionalism of the event. The catering was incredible, the stage tech worked (except for a mix-up at Wes Bos’ talk which he handled like the champ he is) and it is so useful to be in the same hotel as the event. Both the Powerpoint Karaoke night and the MediaTemple afterparty were in walking distance and entertaining without being overwhelming.

My contribution to the conference was one of the opening talks on the second day. The slides are available on notist, and I will write up a detailed post on the message and the ideas of it when I am done posting this.

View Into the Web Multiverse on Notist.

I love that as the last talk of the day, the MC Jason Pamental delivered an presentation of his overall impression of each of the talks and reminding the audience of what to take home from them. Far too many conferences just peter out on the second day without much fanfare, which always makes me feel a bit disappointed. Well done.

All in all, Web Unleashed is well worth the trip and the money, and I love how pragmatic and at the same time impactful it is.

(Btw, the way to get a good list of the speakers was easy doing this in Devtools):

let list = [];
document.querySelectorAll('.speaker-name').forEach(
  el => { list.push((el.innerHTML.trim()))}
);
console.log(list.join(', '));

Some impressions:

Thank you to all involved, I had a lot of excellent conversations and a wonderful time. I shall be back.