I’m back from Seattle after spending two days at Gnomedex 07 and also a couple days of vacation with Keturah. This was my first Gnomedex experience and I have to say that the conference will have a lasting impact. If you’re interested in reading some summaries and recaps of the presentations that took place, there’s a lot of good ones already posted throughout the web.

But the real reason that I’m not going to attempt to summarize the presentations is because, quite honestly, I didn’t attend them all. If you read some reviews, you’ll read that the presentations were hit and miss. Guy Kawasaki was awesome. Folks like Robert Steele, not so much. The presence and participation of Derek Miller was so touching and beautiful that I can’t even describe it.

But like most technology conferences there’s just as much value hanging out in the lobby meeting people and holding your own personal “lobby-con.” Gnomedex was no different. And so without a doubt, I can say that the best thing about Gnomedex was the people I met, hearing what they think, getting their feedback on what I’m thinking, and the lasting connections I made with those people. Increasingly, this is the true value of attending tech conferences for me. I agree with what Chris Pirillo has to say on the matter: “The content of the conference is provided by every attendee, not just those giving presentations.” – or something like that.