The Right Way to Wireframe, Part 1
4 different interaction designers took four different tools to prototype with. A number of things stood out for me:
1) Balsamiq is probably the wireframing tool we should be using.
2) They have a longer research/prototyping phase and peer reviews prior to showing work to clients.
3) There is a clear distinction between Interaction Design roles and visual/graphic design roles on all 4 of the teams involved - the two are separate people.

CSS Framework Shootout
The did an overview of four major CSS Frameworks. some of them we've already been playing with to consider possibilities of making our CSS cleaner and lighter. Lots of good information there. I need to explore OOCSS more closely because I think it may be the approach we take going forward.

CSS3 Design with HTML5
Lots of cool new stuff you can do with html 5 and CSS3 - doesn't have complete cross-browser support, so we'd have to consider progressive enhancement and whether that would work for our clients.

CSS and Fonts: Fluid Web Typography
Jason Cranford Teague
My favorite panel so far. On Typography - the major change this year is that more browsers are starting to support embedding font types, so @font-face will work in more browsers. There are still EULA issues to think about, but this opens up new possibilities for us in terms of design.

Getting Stoked about Web Typography
Samantha Warren

Went over a lot of stuff I knew already about finding inspiration in typography - but it was refreshing since we really back-burner our typography in our designs, partly because of the technology concerns. She covered more inspirational ideas than technical application. I like designing around typography and wish I could use more of it in our designs at work. She stepped through a bunch of URLs I captured - I'll go back and take a look at them when I have more leisure time. She urged looking outside web design for inspiration on typography - she uses the skate and surf communities for inspiration.

She over-viewed several techniques for introducing fonts beyond the standard browser fonts but noted there were other panels diving into the more technical side. I still suspect there isn't a great solution for our companies work yet - the cons seem to stack a bit to high for accessibility in some cases, and for dynamic content in others. We also have the hurdle of EULAs - taking a font license cost onto our sites could be a challenge. But it's definitely an area I want to play around more with - I've done typekit work on my Naptown Argus site - I want to try out the @font-face solution.

Simple Steps to Great Web Design
Matthew Smith

He only got through a bit before the firebell rang -

Know your client
know their audience
know their content

All pretty obvious stuff. He may have been building towards a crescendo, but I would have had to climb three flights of stairs and squeeze into a crowded room to find out. :-)

In General

Way more crowded than it was in previous years. Some panels you can't even get into unless you arrive WAY early.

Lots of interesting marketing going - 3D barcodes everywhere on posters, badges, etc.

This is a pattern that was handed out free at Mass Ave. Knit Shop. I took a photo because the print copies were all gone.

Three balls of cotton (300 yards or so).
Needles: Size 7 or 8
Cast on 22 stitches.

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: K 8, turn and knit back.
Row 3: K 6, turn and knit back.
Row 4: K 8, turn and knit back.

Repeat 4 rows to desired length, ending with Row 4. Bind Off.

But I'm trying to stay optimistic about the trip; it couldn't possibly go as bad as last time, right? I'm hoping to learn a lot and see a bunch of cool new stuff. I need to do a bunch more prep work; this time I'll have a much better camera with me, and Austin is a really cool city.