The Oz-IA 2009 Conference was held on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd of October 2009 at StarCity’s hotel in Sydney. I missed the 2008 conference, but I have compared my experience with the Oz-IA 2007.
The conference maintained the two-day, single-stream format which allows you to take in all sessions and relax a little in between. I enjoyed the mix of short and long sessions and in most part I think the session-lengths were matched well with the presented topics. Overall organisation was good, everything rolled along smoothly, and there was plenty to see, hear and ponder upon.
A point of difference to me was the use of video in a number of presentations - I don’t get the chance to attend conferences too often but I can’t recall any presentations at Oz-IA 2007 including video clips while this time around video was used a number of times. The presentation styles in general were engaging, with the occasional bit of quirkiness thrown in.
There was a greater focus on discussing the application of IA and related themes in real-life scenarios. In 2007 I had made note in my feedback that I enjoyed the presentation about the re-design of the SMH home page. I was happy to find that this year many of the presentations included case-studies. On the other hand, I felt that the focus in 2007 was more-so on tools and the practice of IA which was very educational to me at that stage of my learning.
Over the next week or so I’ll write up notes and thoughts on some of the presentations I most enjoyed, but until then here are some general thoughts about aspects of the conference. They’re not intended as criticisms, just observations - I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and I will be recommending people go to Oz-IA 2010 (I’m sure I’ll be there!):
Location - I made my way to Oz-IA on the Light Rail but then found myself a bit confused about where the ballroom actually was. A little wandering around in circles and asking someone for help, I found my way. The venue itself was very good - a large room with circular tables seating around 8-10 per table. There was a very large screen and good audio for the presenters.
Wifi - Although wifi was provided, there were a few hiccups with it. I connected fine on my laptop but my iphone didn’t want to play ball. A few others were in the same boat and the organisers setup an alternative access point. I decided to use my 3G access because I only wanted to check twitter and emails occasionally.
Coffee - A barista churned out coffees through-out the two days and from reports he was very accommodating to people’s requests for particular coffees and teas. The line to get a coffee was usually quite long but I got my fair-share of coffee-fixes. IAs (and others) definitely love a hot beverage!
Mocktails - IA-themed drinks were made freshly and although the line to get them was significantly shorter than the coffee queue, it took a while to make each fresh mocktail. In between sessions I chose to ask for plain juice to quench my thirst quicker. It was peculiar that there weren’t any help-yourself juices (or perhaps I just didn’t look hard enough).
Food - The food was tasty although not as varied as the 2007 buffet at Mercure Sydney. I made a suggestion for next time to ask for labels on the food to help those of us who don’t chow-down on some food groups to make the right choices. There was definitely a lot of food to go around and I’m sure I piled on a few kgs from the constant munching :)
Twitter - Although pre-conference emails had suggested using #ozia09 to tag tweets, late on the first day I realised that there were also #ozia tweets I was missing out on.
Goodie-bag - Great to receive a Sharpie, highlighters, post-its, a 20% discount from Rosenfeld Media, a beautiful recycled-paper Oz-IA sketchbook, all in a re-usable un-ugly bag :)
A big thanks to Eric Scheid for yet again organising an information-packed, friendly conference.
