i·me·michael

My early morning commute was murder, but I made it to Meet the Makers on time, in fact, I was probably one of the first 10 people there, which included Eric Meyer. 7^th floor check-in, then nose my way around a bit, a quick cup of tea, and people really started to pile in. In walked Jeffrey Zeldman, Cameron Barret, Anil Dash, and surprise guests Carole Guevin, and Jean-François Simard. My first time meeting any of them, and they were all extremely open, friendly, and wide awake considering the hour.

MtM was running about 30 minutes behind, and by day’s end about 45 minutes behind. The day was punctuated by a series of interviews where Brian Alvey (our host) talked with Matt Unger, Joshua Davis, Eric Meyer & Jeffrey Zeldman, and Hillman Curtis; each followed by a short audience Q&A. Between Interviews we were ushered from room to room to see the latest in development products by the likes of Macromedia, Adobe, IBM, Netomat, Atomz, RedSheriff, Sanctum, and ESRI. It seems XML and CMSs are on everyone’s mind.

Lunch and conversation with Carole and Jean was a highlight of the day; and point of fact, any conversation with Carole is a highlight. She is extremely personable, direct and engaging.

Discussing the morning’s product seminars, one of them is going to be a real problem when a particular subset of the industry gets a hold of it. And when they do, God help our email.

The day ended with give-aways of books, iPods, and Praystations. Those of us still up for it headed across the street to Virgil’s for drinks and food. I got to catch up with a few people I’d met earlier in the day, such as Lydia Mann, and Ira Blanco, an old Sam Ash alumnist, who I hadn’t seen in probably 10 years. While there, I also met Tim, and Andrea self-described crazy girl, and table dancer, heh.

The last of us left Virgil’s roughly around 9pm or so; in plenty of time to catch our respective trains. All in all, MtM was an excellent event, and I’d like to see more from them.

Now, since no event really happens unless someone takes photos, here are some pictures from the event.