In the last couple of months I’ve been to both Linux.conf.au and Webstock. Two conferences that both aim to cover to a reasonably large variety of cool stuff happening in technology. It is stunning just how different these conferences manage to be when they set out with similar goals and even seem to aim to elicit similar responses from audiences of slightly different people.

Both conferences had a clear aim of inspiring participants to do cool things. Linux conf did this with things like open source in schools or open source in space, practical things that were very cool if you happen to be an open source geek. Webstock, on the other hand, painted its inspirational message with a broader brush, from talking about the possibilities of future technology to encouraging people towards founding startups.

There was a much wider selection of subject matter available at Linux conf it was easy to move from one talk that gives lots of practical advice that you can put to use the next day to another that sparks a group of individuals into campaigning against internet censorship. The fact that it was an open source event was particularly noticeable when you saw how many people end their talks with links or pleas for potential contributors to their projects.

Webstock didn’t have as wide range a of talks being mostly singled streamed, but it’s speakers were of a uniformly high quality and particularly entertaining even when they weren’t talking in your own areas of interest. Their speeches generally focussed on the encouragement to do something cool or motivational rather than the geeky focus on particular things of Linux conf.

Something more unique to Webstock was the presence of a number of speakers who were just cool. Rives, a spoken word poet, was a particular highlight for many attendees. His connection to the web was a little tenuous and his site couldn’t be called an example of web best practices, but as a speaker he was brilliant.

The only particularly practical talk I went to at Webstock was John Resig talking about jquery. Jquery is already our favoured javascript framework and his talk covered a range of the functionality that had recently been released and he had not yet got around to documenting.

Comparatively, there were large numbers of practical talks at Linux conf by a large range of industry experts. From current happenings in postgres to the importance of documentation in open source projects or the legal status of patents. Linux conf was particularly useful throughout.

In the next weeks after Linux conf I was able to actually apply a large number of things I had learned in the course of the conference. From useful new database management techniques to mentoring our summer of code student there had been talks that were on the things I come across daily.

Webstock may not have been as directly useful, but it certainly was motivational. With most conference goers coming out feeling motivated and excited by the future. It certainly was enjoyable and making sure people that excitement about technology and the web is going to cause them to be more productive anyway.

I enjoyed both conferences because I happen to occupy a happy medium that occurs between the Webstock target audience and the Linux conf one. It did surprise me just how different they were though both in style and type of attendee. I recommend both conferences, but you do need a reasonable level of technical exposure to enjoy Linux conf while Webstock isn’t something you should go to expecting to get direct benefits. Check out Rives though; he stole the after Webstock discussion.

Appendix: The Swag

Of course, the defining aspect of any conference is the swag. Webstock mostly focusses on its very pretty bag, which is very good although somewhat lacking in useful items inside it. It also suffers from the velcro closing mechanism that makes it impossible to open the bag without drawing everyone’s attention. It’s possible this effect is intentional to make sure everyone is aware that you have a cool Webstock bag.

The Linux conf swag was significantly more varied in terms of including a reasonable supply of writing materials, a usb key and a clock. Writing materials in particular were an excellent addition over the little pads that floated around Webstock. The Linux conf bag  also has proper little magnetic closing things.

Breccan is a developer at 3months.