The GEL Conference - A Great Experience In Itself
Posted by: Carl Smith on Tuesday April 29, 2008
Last week I was in Manhattan to attend Gel and make new nGen friends. It’s hard to pick the highlights because every moment seemed to be packed with rich goodness. But, I’m going to give it a try.
Day One
Months before the conference I had prioritized two activities to participate in on the first day. My understanding was I would get my picks based on a lottery system. To be honest, I don’t know what I had selected as my first choices but I ended up playing the game Werewolf in the morning and attending an improv class in the afternoon.
Werewolf
Yes kids, I’ve finally played werewolf and yes I am in love with the game now. The people in my group were all strangers in the beginning and quickly became friends. From one of the best VC pitchmen in America to usability directors in huge companies like Pfizer, it was an eclectic group that quickly turned into a mob demanding death and experiencing paranoia. Perhaps the highlight was meeting Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere. He taught us the rules of the game. Interestingly, he was sporting quite the beard at the time. Coincidence or werewolf?
Improv Class
After a quick lunch I joined a lot of new people and a few of my fellow werewolves in a three hour improv class. Again, it was amazing. We did some goofy and hilarious activities. The kind of things that make you happy you don’t know anyone in the class. The big outcome for me was I spend too much time thinking everything through and hinder possible outcomes. I need to let things happen and react when they do, not steer them so much. Equally important to that insight was becoming friends with a great crew of people from the UK, Seattle and New York. We ended up having dinner at Bryant Park.
Google Party
The Google party that night was a classy affair. Wonderful food and amazing beer and wine. The kind of food and drink that has a story behind it. Where we had all been strangers in the morning, the two sessions on day one had made us friends. If there was someone I hadn’t met I got introduced at the party. By the end of the night I really felt like I knew most of the people at the conference.
Overall day one was an amazing ice breaker, just as they had planned it to be. That’s what you start realizing when you attend a user experience conference. They’ve thought it through and it’s going to be a good experience.
Day Two
Leaving my hotel room I headed for Times Center which was amazing. A brand new facility with a wonderful atmosphere and the latest technology. A theater upstairs with a live simulcast downstairs. A greeter who explains everything and a simple registration that took two minutes. My favorite thing was that I was welcome to use my laptop but they would ask I either sit in the back row of the theater or downstairs in the simulcast room. That way I wouldn’t ruin anyone else’s experience. Brilliant.
The second day was all about speakers. Not traditional speakers, but people who had either created, lived or documented good or bad experiences. At least that’s the way it felt. They each got between 10 and 20 minutes. It sounds stressful but it was actually refreshing in a way. You could tell they were culling down everything to the most important bits.
I’ll do some follow-up posts on the speakers who really struck a chord with me. Here is a list of the 2008 Gel speakers if you’re interested.
In the middle of the day I snuck out to meet the guys running Pop!Tech. Pop!Tech is an amazing conference of thought leaders cross-pollinating their ideas and resources to make a real difference in the world now. Hopefully we’ll get to work with these guys, they rock.
The afternoon was more speakers and a couple of guys from North Carolina Rhett & Link. Check them out, they are hilarious. Why are they at a conference about experiences? Well, they sing about them. My personal favorite is The Facebook Song.
Cocktails ended the days events and the speakers were as awesome in person as they had been on stage. As we talked I realized that most of them weren’t on a talk circuit, these were people Creative Good selected to talk. They were taking it all in as much as we were. Especially my new partner in crime Doug Campbell from Tuxedo Travels. Anyone who travels the world to do good wearing a tuxedo and living off PayPal donations is a good guy. Even if he did occasionally wreak of tequila.
All in all I highly recommend Gel for anyone looking to expand your understanding and awareness of what makes a great user experience. Whether it’s visiting a website, making your own food, building a catapult or attending a conference it will open your eyes in a lot of new ways.
Oh, and a special tip for anyone giving a conference. Have an awesome conference bag and DON’T give it out until the end.
Comment RSS Filed under: nGen News, Usability
No comments