I am currently in Sydney attending Web Directions South. Below is a very quick wrap-up of my thoughts and experiences (from the view of a Business Analyst / Interaction Designer) of Day 1 of the conference.
Opening Keynote – Matt Webb
In one word – “Inspirational”. Matt’s opening keynote kicked off Web Directions South 09 conference with a bang; an inspirational presentation about all the things that I love about design, technology and the web – that we are simply at the beginning of this journey of ubiquitous computing and interaction with technology. Drawing links with the forward thought-thinkers of half a century ago, Matt’s passion and enthusiasm for the direction the web has taken us shone through and kept the audience engaged. A great start to WDS09.
Sideshow – Sitecore CMS
Wandering through the various Sponsors stalls in the sideshow area of the conference, I came across Sitecore and their Web CMS product. A good 10 minutes of discussion with Greg at the stall, I have to say I walked away at first glance, very impressed with the CMS products feature set. Highlights included:
- WYSIWYG type functionality when creating web pages; renders in completely W3C compliant code
- Enterprise level CMS; multi-site deployment and management off the shelf
- All the usual SEO control features
- All the usual social tools (forums, blogs, RSS etc.)
- Built in comprehensive web analytics suite
- Real-time website personalisation (and this is really cool – the CMS can track the behaviour of each user, build a profile and then adjust the site’s behaviour to improve the user experience and ultimately conversion).
The State of the Web as a Platform – Panel
An interesting debate / discussion (details here) about where the web is at, in relation to serving as a platform for business now and into the future. Lots of debate over web standards vs. innovation and ultimately whether one particular technology standard will shine through in years to come – or whether the web as a platform will morph into something other than we know now. Interesting stuff (if not a little too much talk about the iPhone!).
Closing Keynote – Cameron Adams
I have to admit to looking forward to this keynote since I read that Cameron was presenting at WDS09. After a preview of Google’s Wave a few weeks ago at a client’s office, I was eager to listen to what Google’s Wave interaction designer had to say about the product and the process involved. Cameron as expected delivered a solid presentation; and I, as many in the audience I am sure, felt pull towards getting our hands dirty with Google’s new toy! A great end to overall a good day at WDS09.