Nathan's ... ...

Why Am I Going to @Webstock 2011?

Coz I’ve got a wonderful boss who paid for it. Well, it’s true, but that’s not what I was going to say.

At the last @summeroftech seminar, Mike Brown, the @webstock organiser did a pitch to all seminar attendees (mostly students) why they should go to Webstock 2011. Here are his reasons:

1. great speakers, almost all international except one local this year
2. great networking opportunities. great for job hunting
3. great inspirations, might cause you fire your boss start you own business
4. there are 10 discounted (huge discount) tickets for @summeroftech students

Very compelling, and that mostly my reasons of going in 2011, except the last point. 

The speakers lineup for Webstock 2011 is absolutely huge.

Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper, the most popular “read it later” app and I used it every day. Also Marco helped co-founded Tumblr which is the platform that this blog is running on. 

John Gruber, the biggest Apple advocate on this planet. If you haven’t heard of him “shame on you”. read his blog at Daring Fireball or listen to his The Talk Show on iTunes

Jason Cohen, funded Smart Bear Software and blogs at A Smart Bear about software startup. I am a big fan. If you think web startup is some sort of fantasy, read his blog. He will straighten you up with the blunt truth. 

Michael Koziarski, the only local speaker in 2011. If you don’t know who he is, shame on you too, especially for people who use Ruby on Rails at their jobs.

These are just people that I am aware of through my daily life, go check here for a complete list of speakers. What’s great about Webstock is the speakers are so cool that you guarantee to discover someone you are interested in. For example, Amy Hoy who spoke at Webstock 2010. I’ve been following her on twitter since, learned heaps. Listen to her interview on The Founders Talk here.

Plenty networking opportunities at Webstock, you might get your next job there.

Mike told us a story about a jobless guy flew all the way from the UK then got a job at Webstock. It was a fascinating story. And I know he wasn’t exaggerating. We hired our second developer for @thebakit.  She was just graduated from Vic Uni last year and happened to be at Webstock. If she wasn’t there, we wouldn’t meet at the first place. 

Webstock is the best tech conference in the country. 

I work with Microsoft technology mostly, I used to think TechEd is the coolest tech conference until I went to Webstock. The conference organisers had done a great job from lining up heavy weight international/local speakers and putting up better events year over year. I couldn’t remember a lot of things happend last time (well, I still can, just saying it), but I do remember how inspired I was after the conference. I felt so excited and did a presentation about what I learned at Webstock at my work. It was very well received, but most importantly, I discover that I could actually deliver an exciting presentation which I was never aware of. I then did a presentation to young Chinese international students about careers development later this year, which went really well too. If it wasn’t Webstock, I wouldn’t have a clue that I have some skill in this area too.

So, if you are thinking of going to Webstock but haven’t made up you mind yet, I suggest you get your ticket NOW. It’s a conference you will not regret of going to. And if you don’t, I’m sorry, it’s your lost!