This past September I attended the Interact 2008 conference here in Washington, DC. This conference was an interactive media marketing event that focused on the topics of creativity, strategy and technology. The conference included speakers from such companies as Google, Saatchi & Saatchi, Adobe and Trollback + Company.

Given our location, anytime there is a conference that even comes close to focusing on our industry it always ends up revolving around Government. This refreshing change is a good sign that others are recognizing the large number of businesses in the DC area that do not focus on Government. I think it was a good start, but unfortunately this is where my positive remarks will have to end. I thought I’d give my take on some of the bigger things that I felt didn’t work.

Only One Track

They should have set multiple tracks that attendees could choose from given the number of speakers that they tried to fit into the two day conference. On both days the conference hovered only momentarily on interesting, but spent much of the time covering mundane and commonplace topics. For the next event, I recommend splitting presentations into tracks based on the level of experience one has in the industry. Sitting through a 15-minute presentation on how to use META keyword and description tags (a presentation by Network Solutions, not Google) is not something that I consider a good use of my time and money.

Too Many Speakers

I don’t know if it was just a way to increase attendance or what, but they scheduled way too many speakers for a two-day event. I think I counted around 45 speakers over those two days. Many of the speakers also had sponsor booths so I’m guessing there was some kind of deal there. That’s fine, but at least review the presentation before giving them access to the mic. One speaker started spouting something out about “Web 4.0″ (I had to walk out for a few minutes at that point), and there was even one case where a speaker didn’t even show up.

Given this overload, speakers had only about 15 minutes each to present, and most of them were working off what was supposed to be one-hour presentation. This meant that the handful of speakers that actually were good ended up just hitting the next button at dizzying speeds so they could get to the end of the slide before the hook yanked them off the stage.

No Breaks

This is a carry over from the number of speakers, but given the lineup we basically had to sit through the following schedule each day:

• 1-hour keynote
• 3 15-minute presentations (topic 1)
• 3 15-minute presentations (topic 2)
• 1-hour panel
• Lunch
• 3 15-minute presentations (topic 3)
• 3 15-minute case studies
• 1-hour panel

There were no breaks between anything. There was supposed to be time for questions, but that didn’t play out right either. What you ended up with were truncated presentations with very little information, and no time to digest it or talk about it with any of it with other attendees.

Unqualified Panelists/Speakers

This was scattered throughout the two days, but there was definitely one panel that made my jaw drop. A question was posed about giving advice for those looking for jobs in the interactive industry. The CEO of one DC-area company basically responded with “learn everything.” She said that you should know Flash, ActionScript, PHP, Java, HTML, CSS, Database Administration, InDesign (yep she said that)… she said a few other things, too, that I can’t remember. What she did is give out a recipe for mediocrity, and then followed with “It’s very difficult to find people with all these skills.” I just ended up writing her name down in my notes with the word “inept” next to it. Most of the others on the panel were nodding in agreement, and eventually all said something along similar lines.

I’m going to end it with these three things since they were the major points that stood out. I’m voicing this with the hopes that the feedback gets considered for future Interact conferences.

Will I go to Interact 2009? I’d consider it since I see it as supporting the industry in our area, but first I’ll be taking a very close look at that agenda to make sure they don’t screw it up like they did this one. Or maybe we should just get a booth, and then I can have some time on the mic.

I finally buckled down and bought a new digital SLR this weekend for OSD Studios. We’ve been talking about getting one at the firm for a while now. We need it mainly for the times where there just isn’t enough in a project budget to hire a professional photographer. It’s also great to have when somebody in the office wants to just go out and add out our library, or simply go out for sake of it.

It’s personally been about 10 years since I last did any serious photography; that was back in art school using a traditional SLR and spending many long nights in the photo lab. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly like riding a bike but after taking the camera out a few times it’s starting to come back to me. As I really get back into it I plan to start incorporating more of photos into both my professional and personal work. I’m encouraging the rest of the team to do the same.

I considered a couple different cameras at the same level as this Nikon and finally settled with the D80 for a few reasons. I’ve listed a couple of the main reason below for anyone else in the market for similar camera.

Weight & Balance. This camera feels great in your hands. It is a slightly smaller body so anyone with medium or larger hands can grip it securely. It also felt very stable even when holding the camera loosely in my hands.

Lens Availability. After reading up a bit, I was happy to know that there is a nice quantity of “professional grade” lenses available for this camera – particularly in the wider angle options. We’re not going to running around picking up a bunch of lenses now, but it’s good to have the availability when we get to that point.