Øredev, the largest technical conference in Sweden, has left a profound impression on me. I’ve never felt such a sense of community and purpose in an event of these proportions before.

The constant exchange of ideas and points of view was incredible. I loved seeing attendees and exhibitors taking as much of an active role as the speakers (check Chris‘ article, for a brilliant example of creativity at work). It was like witnessing 900 people putting aside their differences and fulfilling their social responsibility to share their experiences with everyone else.

I am truly honored to have played even a tiny part in this fantastic event. My Agile Tales session went really well, at least judging by the warm feedback and the emails that I’m still receiving!

The organizers made a recording of all talks and I can’t wait to see them published at the oredev.org website. Of all the sessions that I’ve seen, I particularly loved Aslam‘s content and presentation style. I’m definitely going to dissect and steal some of his ideas in the future 😉

In many ways, the moments I treasure the most, however, happened outside the session rooms; I spent a lot of quality time meeting many interesting and diverse people in the corridors, at the local pub in the evenings, or even in the hotel at breakfast. Inevitably, nobody recorded those precious fragments, but never mind.

I was also particularly pleased to see Aspects of Leadership, Agile, Alt.NET and Domain-Driven Design being treated as first-class citizens, with dedicated tracks and great speakers.

Is Øredev the best conference I have ever been to? Quite possibly.

Frankly, I’m growing tired of product/vendor-driven conferences that are almost exclusively versed into a single technology platform. Don’t get me wrong. They play an important role but, unfortunately, they hardly attempt to address any of the most fundamental issues that we face in our industry. As my awareness grows, so are my pragmatic needs for better and broader education.

Thanks so much to Michael Tiberg, Emily Holweck and their entire crew for organizing such a sophisticated and enjoyable conference. I hope I will be there again next year.