I'm leaving later today for the 2006 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, a.k.a. ETech. I went to my first ETech in 2003 in Santa Clara, and was introduced to lots of new ideas, technologies and people, many of which and whom have become part of my personal and professional life. In 2004 I scrimped together my pennies (and got a free pass from Tim O'Reilly via Dave Farber's IP list) and made it to San Diego for ETech 2004. I enjoyed lots of things at that conference, from hearing Joshua Schachter explain delicious, seeing Steward Buttfield launch Flickr, and watching Danny O'Brien give his now famous talk on Lifehacks (I delayed my flight back from Etech 2006 so that I will have time to see Danny's presentation this year, cleverly scheduled last. Most importantly, at the Digital Democracy Teach-In on the first day I met lots of other people who shared my passion for harnessing technology for social good and political change. That experience indirectly led to my 2004 election work with the great folks at CivicActions, which indirectly led me to my current job. I had to miss ETech 2005 because of work, but am excited to be able to make it this year. There is always a fair bit of discussion in the blogosphere about conferences, and I can't say I am excited by the fact that at least one person paid to give a keynote speech at ETech, but I have to admit I like conferences, and this one has a pretty good track record. What's not to like about spending three days surrounded by smart people with interesting ideas?
Hope to see some of you there.
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