I’ve know for more than a month about AEA coming to Austin. Though for the price of the single-day session I was not sure I found the value over other upcoming events like SXSWi coming in March 2007. I first tried to get my employer to pony up for the cost. No luck. I didn’t press this too far. So come November 1 I put up my own card and paid my way to attend AEA Austin.

So Monday, November 6, I was in attendance at An Event Apart Austin. I was so glad to be there. I was not sold out like previous events but it was probably 80% full. Then again the Alamo Drafthouse is a large venue to fill.

Highlights

• Seeing Eric Meyer code CSS in his head in front of a couple hundred people. This occurred twice. During his two sessions “Hardcore CSS” and “One True Layout”. What a treat to see a true master at work.
• Jason Santa Maria gave a wonderful presentation on the redesign of ALA. It was very revealing to see the ideas start in his sketchbook and evolve into the final state of the site.
• Molly E. Holzschla presented a very provocative session on “From the Content Out”.
• And last but not least the ever wonderful Mr. Jeffrey Seldman who presented on multiple topics including “Selling Design” and “Writing the User Interface” which was a nice overview of content type used for presentation.

My Thoughts

Overall I did like the one-day session. Though rather expensive for the single day. These are the true masters of our profession. They set the bar for Web Design that we attempt to follow.

Thank you Jeff, Eric, Jason and Molly for the great time at AEA Austin.

Also there was an after party hosted by Knowbility at the Belmont. The pics from myself and other are hosted on Flickr Flickr group AEA Austin.