Howells.

One of the articles I wanted to write on this blog was to be about all the things I loved about Brooklyn Beta (the best web design and development conference ever created, hat tip to Chris and Cameron). But then I discovered the supremely talented Dan Mall had already written a fantastic blog post, listing all the best bits in a pithy list. So with flagrant disregard of ownership leeching off others’ carefully written content, I am going to curate my own list, re-factored from his. Make sure you read his original post.

The ironic thing is that I didn’t even get to meet Dan in person, despite taking the exact same things out of the event. Oh well, next time…

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The wonderful lessons Chris Shiflett shared

When a lot is expected of you, it’s very easy to let the pressure of meeting those expectations get to you. In fact, it can be paralyzing, and that’s not good.

What is good is that if you succeed and you meet those expectations, the cumulative impact is exponential. That’s because expectations are just leftover praise. You’ve earned them by doing something great.

So, the next time you feel overwhelmed by expectations, just remember that if you weren’t capable of meeting them, they wouldn’t exist.

and

I always take more pleasure in liking something than in disliking something. That’s not to say there aren’t some things that deserve to be liked and some things that deserved to be disliked, but I’m never fond of disliking something.

The lesson I’ve learned is to be wary of those who are. The ones who seem to think that being critical is the same as having good taste. Those people almost never have good taste, so their opinions don’t matter.

There’s no particular sophistication required to be a critic. We know this, because children often dislike foods they learn to love as adults.

So, even if what you’ve done isn’t so great, just remember that those who can’t say so with grace, those who seem to take pride in criticizing you, their opinions don’t matter. It may very well be that you’ve created a masterpiece, and they’re just children.

If you can learn to be a fair judge of yourself, you won’t feel the need to rely on other people’s opinions.

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An incredibly passionate call to arms from Todd Park of the US department of health and human services

Todd’s talk embodied my favourite aspect of Brooklyn Beta. Instead of people telling us how to rotate rectangles using just CSS3, Chris and Cameron invited individuals to come and talk about the opportunities that exist around creating tools that solve real problems. Todd is an incredibly charismatic guy who beseeched the gathered audience to use the freely available rich data that’s available from the US department of health and human services. I would love to see someone like him lead the call to alms on behalf of the NHS. They may exist, but reaching out to a crowd of supremely skilled folk in the design and technology arena should be high on their list of priorities.

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Simon Collison demoed the awesome Fanzine

I’m excited by Colly, Greg, and FictiveKin’s new idea. A community based around the music we love, essentially un-sucking Last.fm and bringing music back to the fans. Also: look at this.

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A long-awaited sneak peek of Caravan by Nate Abele, Erica Heinz, and Burks

I had no idea that good pals of mine Burks and Erica were working on this app, which is something I would have loved to have used when I worked in an advertising agency 10 years ago. Also check out Burks’ lovely new book, Breaking In.

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Cameron Koczon’s crazy-inspiring rally for designers at the C-level

Amen. Looking forward to him doing a similar – if not exactly the same – talk at New Adventures next year.

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Finally meeting Dave Desandro and professing my love for Isotope and Masonry

If you are not aware of Dave’s work you’re in for a treat. I use Masonry on a disproportionate number of my projects, so it was great meeting the chap behind it. (Plug: I also used it in Fiftytwo).

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Meeting Eli Rousso of Girlfriend fame in person

I knew Eli before Brooklyn Beta, and can confirm he’s an awesome guy, and one of the best product designers out there. I’m excited to see what he does next with Cameron Koczon’s.

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Lamenting the lack of Amsterdam hangout time with Deroy Peraza

Well I don’t know about the Amsterdam trip (sounds intriguing!), but I do know that Deroy – principal of the tremendous Hyperakt – is a superb chap and it’s always enjoyable hanging out with him and Julia.

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Continually feeling bad for calling #brooklynbeta a conference (it’s way more)

Maybe, but in a way I feel Brooklyn Beta is a literal manifestation of what a conference should be: a place for like-minded people to confer, share ideas, and just hang out. I have been to too many events that are simply a series of talks, without any discussion or mechanic whereby attendees can get to know each other.

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Marvelling at the amazing community Matthew Smith has helped shape in Greenville

The fact that there were disproportionally more people from Greenville at the conference is testament to the community that Matthew has tireless built in the city. It was wonderful meeting him finally (we’re kindred spirits, given that he’s the guy behind the UI pattern equivalent of siteInspire – Pattern Tap), and learning about his new adventures at Zaarly.

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Giving Elliot Jay Stocks and Keir Whitaker incorrect directions for the train

I didn’t give them any directions, but it’s always a pleasure hanging out with Elliot and Keir, and I’m excited about there new project, which I hope I can help with.

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Missing getting a web fonts beta code from Jonathan Hoefler

I missed it too, but it’s an exciting prospect.

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Sitting behind Jenni Schwartz and talking about indoor golf courses

I love the fact that Jenni is spreading the indoor golf idea and dream. Looking forward to when they launch in London!

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Suggesting the “name badge flip”

This was a fantastic idea by Dan. Cameron and Chris has spent an age writing hilarious individual biographies for every single attendee. However it was tricky to spend time reading a stranger’s bio unless you bowed awkwardly in front of them. So, Dan suggested hanging the lanyards behind your back, so that the person sitting behind you could read your bio during down-time without any awkwardness. Serendipitous connections ensued.

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Amazed at everything Jessi Arrington did for and at #brooklynbeta

I’m consistently floored by Jessi’s energy. I think she invented the “can do” attitude.

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Meeting Zach McCullough of Behance

I met Zach and Matias of Behance earlier in the week: two awesome guys doing very exciting things with Behance.

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Finally meeting Matt Brown

I knew of Matt’s work from the days of Things That Are Brown, and it was superb meeting him in person, talking about his new-ish role at Facebook. Super nice guy, doing awesome things.

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Hearing about the cool things on Jessica Hische’s horizon

For me it was finally meeting and chatting to Jessica in person. Some really interesting conversations, and exciting things afoot for Jessica.

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So that’s it for now. There was so many more exciting things and people I could talk about but I think they are captured well here. And hopefully this will give you enough motivation to attend next year: it’s a truly inspiring thing.

(Photo by Chris Casciano on Flickr.)