Recap: SmashingConf

Admittedly, I’m not a big conference person myself. As much as I love meeting new people and being inspired by the talks of other talented folks, my introverted nature doesn’t cope well with big crowds and I quickly feel exhausted and socially drained.

So when Vitaly from Smashing Mag was kind enough to invite me to join them at this week’s SmashingConf to present the latest issue of Offscreen Magazine and mingle with sponsors and attendees of the event, I confirmed my participation with much reservation.

I just got back from three days in Freiburg and I must say, I enjoyed every minute of it. The speakers, the organisers, the attendees — even the beautiful city of Freiburg — the whole experience really left a very positive impression on me.

I spent most of my time at my improvised Offscreen stand (above) talking to many interesting and interested readers — new and old. This was such a great opportunity to meet some of you in person and actually find out about why and how Offscreen inspires you. I have a whole stack of friendly contacts and cards to go through. (By the way, if I’ve spoken to you and forget to email you back, please feel free to get in touch with a reminder.) I also ended up selling all the copies of issue #3 I brought with me — thanks to all of you who bought one.

And again a big thank you to Vitaly, Marc and the rest of the Smashing Crew. It was a pleasure to meet you all. Give yourself a pat on the shoulder for a job well done, especially considering that this was the first ever Smashing event. I’ll also be setting up my little stand in Düsseldorf at beyondtellerand in November this year. Maybe see you there?

Photo by Sven Freiburg