I’m at the UIE 13 conference. It’s day 4 and I’m learning about “gallery pages”. I sat at lunch where the discussion was about why we each decided to attend this conference.

I’m not sure I get a tremendous amount of practical knowledge (except for the Ajax talk). It’s more important for me that I emerge from my cocoon of my work environment and interact with other UI/UX folks and discuss ideas. I think teams can sometimes create echo chambers. I work with a bunch of great creative folks but it’s nice to share and discuss ideas outside that environment.

Some people attend for networking, learning or just to get out of the office. I go to soak up ideas I can take back with me in creative battery form for future use. Now if they weren’t so damn expensive it would be nice