The web community is thriving in Belgium, but after a few successful BarCamps we still had to leave the country to attend a proper (creative) web conference. But since yesterday, we can proudly say that Belgium has its own event that can compete with some of the big names: Twiist.be.
Inspired by Clearleft’s dConstruct conferences, it’s a “cosy community event” that focuses more on meeting like-minded people, rather than seeing some internet rock stars show off on stage.
The day started off a little awkward though, with what seemed like a 45-minute promo session for Adobe’s Flash platform. Granted, you can do nice things with Flash, but if the rest of your day is about an open, standards-based web, well … Fortunately things got more exciting when Brian Suda entered the stage. His talk about semantics and microformats was pretty solid, but maybe a bit thin on the practical, techniques-to-take-home side. Same for Drew McLellan, who spread some valid truths about cost-effective web development. No real surprises there, but a good round-up.
After lunch we immediately shifted into a higher gear with Aral Balkan, who stole the show for the day. As a true entertainer he managed to capture everyone’s attention for the full 45 minutes, sharing his passion for delightful and exciting user experiences. If you ever have the chance to see him speak, don’t hesitate.
Elliot Jay Stocks showed a lot of pretty stuff on the big screen but honestly, I was searching for some coherence or a general message behind all the beauty. And finally we saw two sessions about the open, social web, by Glenn Jones and Chris Messina. Both are authorities on the subject, and they did a good job of showing the relevance and benefits of data portability and distributed social networking. And how, above all, a better and smoother user experience should be the goal.
That was the stage part of Twiist, but as I mentioned above, the other half of the event happened in the hallways and at the bar. The discussions among peers and friends perfectly complemented the presentations – although a more comfortable setting with couches would’ve been even better. I really had a great time, and I’ll be there again next year.
Whow, thanks for the round-up. I’m happy to read your feedback as it seems we got the message out as we wanted: no-nonsense, affordable and cosy. Copied your feedback as I will gather as much as I can to see where we should do better. Thanks for being there!
Sums up what I thought about the day. Twiist again we will!