Web Essentials 2.0

Somehow, I managed to finagle my way onto the program for Web Essentials 05 in Sydney as one of the presenters again this year. Ok, truth be told, the gracious organizers did offer me an invitation to return for the event’s second coming. Last year was so much fun though, I had honestly thought about going down under for this year’s conference anyway. Even if I had to register for the conference under a fake name so I could surprise everyone when I showed up.

Alas, I won’t be surprising anyone this year. Instead, I’ll be attempting to pull out all the stops, as I fumble onto the stage to cover some of the more advanced topics around design and how CSS works for and against best practices and beliefs. But I’m old hat this year. With me as the exception, WE05 has a whole new crew of international speakers lined up including Molly Holzschlag, Eric Meyer, Kelly Goto, Jeffrey Veen, Tantek Çelik, and Derek Featherstone.

On that note, I’m not really sure why the Web Essentials team continues to separate out “international” speakers, since all of the Aussies on the ticket can hold their own weight in the worldwide community. After meeting these fine blokes last year, I’m really looking forward to seeing a presentation from Dean Jackson and a panel including David McDonald and Brett Jackson. The only thing that gets my goat is that I’ll have to choose between concurrent sessions led by Cameron Adams and Russ Weakley in the arvo Friday. (for you, John)

I’m writing this entry about WE05 now because I just noticed the team decided to extend the early bird registration price deadline until this Monday, 4 July. Note though: If you’re in the U.S. like me, that basically means you need to register by or on Sunday, July 3rd our time. John covers the early bird extension here.

If you’ve been thinking about going, act soon to get in on the lower cost. And if you’re from outside the country, I can vouch for the fact that Sydney is a beautiful city, and Australia is an awesome place to explore and spend as much time as you can manage down there. I can also vouch for Web Essentials being a great experience all around.

Join us if you can make it.

Update: The early bird deadline has already come and gone, but there’s still space available, and you can get AU$100 off the registration price by signing up before September 1.