The Future of Web Apps

By Mel Kirk

Wow, so many developments and only one blog post, where to begin?

Kathy Sierra, Kevin Rose & Cal Henderson

We’re so excited to be able to announce that Kathy Sierra will be making a rare appearance at FOWA in Miami at the end of next month. Kathy will also be joined by Kevin Rose of Digg and Cal Henderson of Flickr. This now completes the line-up, which we’ve been working hard on with our conference chairs to bring you the very best content for your dollar!

Come hang with us…

We love impromptu drinks and meet ups and that’s why we’ve arranged an official hotel for FOWA. The team and the speakers will be staying at The Strand on Ocean Drive, South Beach and we have negotiated a special rate of $299 plus taxes for FOWA attendees. So if you’re looking to book your hotel, why not come stay with us?

We chose the hotel for it’s close proximity to the beach (you could throw yourself onto the beach from your balcony, but we wouldn’t recommend it), party venue, close proximity to local amenities and short taxi ride to the conference venue. Plus it’s very pretty….

Network-arama

We know that one of the most valuable parts of conferences is the great contacts that you make and often long-lasting friends. For this reason, we introduced the FOWA social network at last October’s Expo. The site allows you to see who’s attending, contact people that you’d be interested in meeting up with prior to the event, meet like minded folks based on your interests and those that are complete opposites, if you want to mix it up a little bit.

As it proved to be so popular, we’re pleased to confirm that we will be using the social network for Miami. If you are due to attend but haven’t yet signed up to the site, you can do so here. We always welcome any shout outs on the message board if you want to say hi (oh, and offers of free cocktails are always welcome too ).

Well over and out for now - we do have lots more to tell you, so be sure to subscribe to the blog for all of the latest news and information… Miami here we come, woo hoo!

By Mel Kirk

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve added a further 3 great speakers to the line up for FOWA Miami. Erick Schonfeld from TechCrunch, Kevin Marks from Google and Emily Boyd from Remember the Milk will now be joining us in Miami and we’re looking forward to hearing their presentations.

In case you haven’t checked out the site recently, we’ve added a whole new section dedicated to all things social. As if that wasn’t enough to keep you busy, given the great feedback we had from London, we have decided to use the social network again which enables you to meet up with those that you have a lot in common with, business interests or even your complete arch nemesis. Why not check it out - ooh and if you want to connect and say hi, feel free!

 We’re really proud to be able to another installment of BarCamp Miami, which will be taking place at the Carnival Center on 28th February (BarCamp attendees get 50% off the Conference day). Over the past few weeks weve been blown away bt the friendliness, generosity and thanks we’ve received from the local people - all of whom seem really excited to have such an event in their back yard. This is the first time we’ve hosted FOWA on the East Coast and we can’t wait to see what it brings.

SoBe = South Beach for those of you who aren’t locals like myself

Wow, what an eventful couple of days it’s been… so yesterday I finally got to visit the Jackie Gleason Theatre and boy was it gorgeous, totally art deco and located right on Miami Beach - my heart was all of a flutter… The venue is mainly hired for concerts and the nice lady (who clearly thought I was odd) even let me stand on stage and rock out for a while - I think she sensed it was worth it for an easy life. I took loads of pictures but then “mislaid” my camera - so I don’t have any pics to show you I’m afraid, but I was there, promise.

From there, I headed to Nikki Beach as a potential party venue. Wow. That’s all I can say. It’s right on the beach, uber hip and even seemed to have wifi. Love at first sight. Disney were actually having a huge party there that night, so I couldn’t stop too long, but just long enough for me to spin my macbook pro like a weirdo to give you a shot of the venue… now to await the price!

Then today I got up nice and early and headed to the Carnival Centre. Now, the Carnival Centre is located downtown, just on the other side of Biscayne Bay which put my on the backfoot to begin with as I preferred the idea of everything being on South Beach. That was until I stepped inside and it amazed me! It’s only been built a year and is absolutely stunning, plus it has some quirky rooms that we’ll be able to use for workshops too. It’s roughly a $13 cab ride to Ocean Drive, South Beach, so it’s not the end of the world and I really think it has potential to be a fantastic venue.

I thought that I’d stop by Jerry’s Famous Deli later in the day, all in the duty of work of course - just don’t ask the waiters whether I eat there every night as it gets a little embarrassing. Collins Avenue Shopping District also has an array of gorgeous bars, cafes and restaurants, all spilling out onto the street - very cosmopolitan. Well, cosmopolitan if it weren’t for the fact that there was a mini hurricane taking place at the time…

Miami has proven to be a real mixture of a town, one minute you can be in a tiny deli somewhere grabbing some food and the next in a really swanky bar. What I love about it is the relaxed atmosphere and you really feel like you’re on holiday as soon as you get here (be warned, that can make it a little difficult to be as attached to your beloved computer as you’re used to - and coming from me, that really is something).

So weather permitting, I head home tomorrow - I don’t want to leave and I really can’t wait for February - Miami is everything I could have hoped for and more - it will be amazing to share the experience with so many friends…

Oooh, by the way, I’m going to the Scrapblog offices tomorrow to see what they’re currently working on - I can’t wait, although I might have to work on my abilities to play it cool - I’m yet to master that skill!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

By Mel Kirk

Last night I finally met the guys from RefreshMiami and I haven’t had so much fun in ages. It was great to see how passionate everyone is about the Miami web scene and really encouraging to know that there’s so much going on outside of San Francisco and London.

Quick shout out for my fellow local Miamians (wow I love that name!) …

Dan Rubin, superflousbanter
Brian Beslin, infinimedia
Maria, wilywordsmith.net
Alex de Carvalho, Scrapblog
Caleb Elston, Scrapblog
Christian Calzadillas, Impress
Mike Gowan, Scrapblog
Alex Harris, eDiets
Jorge Alberto Fiterre, Condista
Carlos Garcia, Scrapblog
Rebecca Saylor, Royal Caribbean Cruises
Josue Rodriguez, mtek

My sincerest apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone - if it doubt, blame it on the jet lag!

I was really interested to hear more about the work that the guys from Scrapblog are doing. I must have come across like a complete fan girl at the point that I gushed “I love Scrapblog” continually for about 10 minutes, but they didn’t seem to mind too much. Obviously I couldn’t have scared them off completely, as they’ve invited me to go to see their offices and see some stuff that the’re working on. I’m so excited, it’s really quite shocking. I’m now wondering whether this geek was alway lurking inside of me waiting to get out…

Photo thanks to Alex de Carvalho

Today’s been another action packed day, which means my eyes are closing as I’m writing this - so therefore I’m planning to give you all of the details tomorow when I’m hoping to make sense, well as much sense as you can expect from me anyway ;0

Happy monday / tuesday….

By Mel Kirk

Greetings from Miami - possibly one of the most fun, friendly and beautiful cities that I’ve ever visited and it’s all in the name of work - hard life but someone has to do it…

For those of you who are doubting my purpose of being here - it really is work I swear. FOWA is going Stateside in February and I don’t want to leave anything to chance - I want the best hotels, the coolest bars, the most suitable conference venue and what better way than to pound the streets and meet the locals?

So I’ve been here less than 24 hours - already I’ve found the perfect breakfast diner, hired a rental car, returned a rental car (it was frickin’ expensive), walked the entire length of South Beach, been shown around 3 hotels (one was amazing - I’m waiting for the price, thinking it could sting) and now I’m sat here next to the pool blogging - life is good.

Something that struck me immediately was the relaxed atmosphere here - it really does feel like a holiday destination. One statistic that I didn’t know but was given by the cab driver was that 60% of the community in Miami are Latino, that would explain why more of the TV channels here are Spanish than American. Given this fact, I’d be interested to hear your views as to whether it would be beneficial to have a translator at the event?

I’m very excited to be meeting the guys from RefreshMiami tonight. Alex De Carvalho and Dan Rubin have kindly laid on a Geek Dinner to welcome me to town. I’m really looking forward to meeting fellow web peeps to learn more about the industry out here and to quiz them on all things Miami - I wonder if they know what they’re letting themselves in for? Alex text me last night to let me know that I had to turn up with a Halloween prop - given the late notice, I’m hoping my face will suffice! Either way, promises to be amusing, so I’ll take plenty of pics.

I’ll report back on tonight’s dinner in the morning, so check this space!

p.s. you might have noticed that I threw in some “Americanisms” in the post, but well you know, I figured I’m practically a local now!

p.p.s the weather’s been so beautiful here that I found myself thinking “why didn’t we choose October again?” - then the heavens opened and I remembered.

p.p.p.s having your laptop on your legs when you’re next to the pool turns out not to be such a good idea, it burns. Don’t say I didn’t tell you!

By Mel Kirk

Whilst FOWA Expo only seems like yesterday (it was 21 days ago to be precise ), we’re already shifting our focus onto FOWA Miami and boy are we excited!!

Following the fantastic feedback that we’ve had about the presentations and content, it’s apparent that having the Conference Chairs for guidance on content and speakers really works - which is why we’ve decided to use the same method for Miami. I hope that you’ll agree that Brian Oberkirch and Simon Willison did a fantastic job and we’re so grateful to them for all of their help and support.

On that note, we’re pleased to announce that Brian Oberkirch will be one of our Conference Chairs for Miami. We’re super excited to be working with Brian again and can’t wait to see him up on that stage once more. Joining Brian and focussing more on the technical aspects of the industry will be Tantek Çelik. Tantek is an industry veteran, having worked as Senior Technologist at Techorati since 2004, along with other companies such as Apple and Microsoft before that. We’re truly honored and excited to be able to have Tantek help us with the event. Between them, we’re looking forward to another great line up!!

Don’t forget registration opens on 6th November… why not click on the image below and sign up to be sent a reminder??

OK, well that’s all folks - I’m about to board my plane - watch out Miami - check back here for my daily updates and photos!

By Mel Kirk

Keeps Mel away - and in Miami - woot!

It’s true - I’m off to Miami on Saturday ahead of FOWA Miami in February to find the coolest party venues, the best hotels to stay in and to meet the great guys from RefreshMiami - and I can’t wait! RefreshMiami are going to be meeting up on Sunday 28th October at 7pm - more details can be found here. If you’re free and in the area, I’d love to see you - the more the merrier.

I’ll also be doing a business card draw for a free seat to FOWA Miami, so be sure to bring those cards with you… I can’t wait to learn more about what’s going on in the Miami web scene, so don’t be shy - come and say hi!

For those of you who aren’t around (or just don’t fancy coming to say hi ), I’ll be blogging daily about my latest escapades here and I’ll be taking plenty of pics too. Now where did I leave my hammock?

p.s. The majority of the audio is now up on the site and can be found here, unfortunately we’re having issues with a couple of the presentations, but we’re working to resolve it as soon as we possibly can. Thanks for your patience!

 By Mel Kirk

I just wanted to give an update to all of those who are waiting to receive their copy of the Conference in a Box…. we haven’t forgotten you, it will be making its way to you shortly. Due to the increased content to squeeze on to the DVD, we’re just completing the editing and hope to get it sent to you within the next 10 days.

Thanks so much for your patience, we really appreciate it. In the meanwhile, check out this page, where we are uploading audio and slides as we get them.

By Mel Kirk

On behalf of the team, I’d like to thank you so much for coming to FOWA and making it such a success. It really matters to us that you guys have the best possible time and that you leave on a high - so to have received emails and comments from so many of you over the last few days has made all of the hard work worthwhile.

Before we go on to thinking about planning FOWA Miami, I’d be so grateful if you could find the time to spend a couple of minutes giving us feedback on the event, so that the next event can be better again. You are able to leave feedback here.

We had such a blast and really hope that you did too. I’ve tried to include a couple of my personal highlights below…

Our amazing conference chairs, Brian Oberkirch and Simon Willison, who brought such expertise to the stage…
Photo thanks to alexander.kirk

The Carsonified launch party - photo thanks to idoen

The live filming of diggnation - photo thanks to alexander.kirk

I should at this point, highlight the fact that never before have so many men try to push me out of the way to get to another man. With concerns that the stage might actually collapse, I was forced to shout (not a regular occurrence for me, I promise), only to be met by blank looks, as if to say - do you not realise who these people are?

Thank you so much once again, we really hope to see you at the next event, but in the meanwhile we’d love to hear from you if you have any feedback or suggestions. If you get time, you should also check out the new Carsonified site - although it should be said, that I will not be held accountable for my Twitter updates

Until next time…

Hey everyone!

We hope you can make it to the Carsonified Launch / FOWA party on the night of the 3rd! We’re launching the new site later today so keep your eyes peeled

Free beer on us! Make sure to bring your conference pass (expo passes not eligible).

All the best,
Ryan & The Team