Between the 13th of February and the 21st of February I’ve had what can only be described as an amazing week of geek. I was honoured to be invited back to KiwiFoo this year which ran from the 13th to 15th of February and just as honoured and extremely excited to be able to attend my first ever Webstock or rather, first ever real web conference, from the 15th -21st. I know you are confused by my Webstock dates but it will all be revealed.

Kiwifoo’09

Nat Torkington ran his annual Kiwifoo event based on O’Reilly’s FOOcamp (Friends of O’Reilly - so really, it should be FONcamp) in February this year from Friday the 13th until the next Sunday, the 15th. The unconference was about bringing interesting people together, who generally have the opportunity to talk to each other and to see what happens, what they talk about and hopefully to see if the cross-pollination of ideas could come about.

A lot of what happens at Foo - in my opinion - is not what happens in the sessions themselves but in the corridors between them. I always like to bring up a quote by Erica O’Grady who has run many a Barcamps in the USA (Barcamps are a way of bringing Foo to the people) where she says At a traditional conference the best ideas originate in the hallways and corridors. BarCamp is all corridor. It is possible to switch the words Barcamp in that quote for Foocamp and it would hold up just as true. In fact; quite possibly we could take it a step further to say that the ideas generated at Foocamps change the world because the people there are those of influence.

A good example of this is the action against Section 92A of the proposed New Zealand copyright act which makes one guilty upon accusation. The rise up against S92A originated at Foo, and the people from Foo who were passionate about this act were able to co-ordinate with other people just as passionate and influential; together they were able to make a difference. The world noticed S92A and it’s flaws. Now it’s up to the government to set things right.

My experience at Foo this year was slightly different to last year’s and in that respect a lot better. I spoke to a lot more people this year because I felt a lot more comfortable in the situation where I was surrounded by a whole lot of brilliant people who were much older than I was. Last year I felt like a kid slightly out of place (it wasn’t you, it was me) however I made a decision to make the most of Foo and get over the issue regarding my age. It turned out to be a great decision as the people I spoke to were interesting, informative and very positive about our future. Although I got over my age, some people didn’t - and that brings me to my next point.

Werewolf! This year I actually played Werewolf and I love it. Oh how I love werewolf. My previous comment regarding my age is a reference to a lynching based upon the fact that I was the youngest there (as the village had no other leads.) If you ever get the chance; play Werewolf!

The other difference this year were the sessions I chose to attend. As I understand it; the point of Foo is to get out of your comfort zone and learn from other people about issues that aren’t directly related to your day job or direct interests. The point is to be inspired, or to pass on inspiration to others. So, this year, I chose to attend more sessions that weren’t directly web-related and instead attended sessions on video production, the future of telcos, the economy, the future of Auckland City etc. Although in many of these sessions I didn’t have a full understanding of all the implications of the issues, I felt like I learnt a lot and at times were able to contribute the little bit of knowledge I had - or at others, provide a new perspective on things.

Finally, I didn’t stay in the Wharenui this year, I tented! Joy!

I would like to thank Nat for the opporunity to attend Foocamp this year, again. Foocamp has played an immense role in my life to date - changing my life, my dreams and inspiring a confidence in my abilities. Thank yous to no end must go out to Jenine who worked very hard to make sure everything ran smoothly. You are magical!

Unfortunately my time was cut short as I had an early-ish flight from Auckland to Wellington so that I could be in Wellington for the volunteers meeting Sunday afternoon for Webstock.

Webstock’09

Wow. Webstock was definitely a dream come true. The whole reason I started BarcampAuckland was because I felt like I was missing out on the “experience” that most web professionals enjoy in the States and the UK. My dream was to attend a conference and thanks to Tash, Mike, Ben and Deb, that’s been made possible the past week. I cannot thank you enough for giving me this opportunity and experience!

The organization that went into Webstock is jaw-dropping. Many of the speakers I talked to over the past week would say that Webstock was one of the best conferences they had attended and upon further investigation I found that they were sincere in their thoughts. For me, America or even England could surely do a better job than NZ at organising a conference of this scale but this past week has proved this prejudice against Kiwis completely incorrect. We can do it, and we can do it better. Natasha Hall’s attention to detail is inspirational, everything needs to be perfect and it shows in the end product. Webstock outshines SXSW, WDS and many other large-scale conferences across the globes for many of the speakers I spoke to and I am grateful to have been part of this experience. All congratulations needs to go to Natasha Hall for all the effort she has put into making the past week happen over the last year. You can tell she’s put her heart and soul into this conference and it definitely showed.

An amazing thing for me this past week was meeting the speakers, who were just as inspirational for me. This inspiration didn’t come from the fact that they were super-heroes or magical creatures - although I am sure some of them come extremely close, it came from meeting people. The fact that these people I had followed for so long, put on a sort of pedestal and looked up to were just normal people (who would have thought that they were human after all) was highly inspirational because it means that I could do it to. We all have it in us to become great, many of us don’t realize it and others who do, don’t have the tenacity to reach greatness. I hope that the speakers have inspired me to have the tenacity to reach greatness.

There are so many great people who I met this week but you could probably go find them on the Webstock speaker’s page and I don’t really want to name drop but to all of you who I spent a lot of time with and was able to converse with properly; thank you for being awesome.

The NZ web community came out in the hundreds over the past week to come together. More inspiration; you ARE out there. The fact that there are some many of you who care makes me feel so much better about the world we live in. To all the people who aren’t famous or web-celebs or what-have-you but with whom I conversed over the past week; thank you for being awesome, also.

Finally, two awesome people who made this week comfortable and possible for me need some thankin’! Mike and Kat Forbes provided me with not a room or lodging but a home for the week and that is something I greatly appreciated. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I haven’t much more to say; I wanted to write more about the experience than the details because although the details make the experience it’s the experience that lives with you for the rest of your life.

In short, my Geek Week of ‘09 can be summarized into one word; INSPIRATIONAL.