I’m not sure what I expected from CSS Conf, but I certainly didn’t expect it to end with a game of no-rules water polo against Lea Verou, Paul Irish and Jenn Schiffer.

I also did not realize that the conference is held back-to-back with the much larger JS Conf, held in the same location: the two conferences co-operate in many events during the week. Next year, I am determined to get tickets for both events.

The location of the event – Omni Plantation, an extensive resort on the southern tip of Amelia Island, off the east coast of Northern Florida – is packed solid with nerds from around the world for the duration of both conferences, and is an excellent learning resource: I spoke to developers from Germany, Lebanon, Canada and the US. At the same time, the beach, pool and surrounding environs make for great places to escape to when you need to.

The CSS Conf presentations were excellent: intense half-hour sessions on topics as varied as icon fonts and CSS color. Unfortunately I was not able to attend every session, as the organizers had encouraged me to give a B-track presentation at the last minute: I expect that talk will be available when the sessions are posted to YouTube in the very near future.

Most of all, the conference was an opportunity to meet face-to-face with developers I had admired for years, most especially Lea Verou, Paul Irish, Sara Soueidan and Nicole Sullivan: the conference was intimate enough that grabbing some time with each was easy, and encouraged.

I came away from every encounter excited and encouraged: everyone was extremely generous in their assessment of my work. It felt very good to confirm that I’m headed in the right direction, and to absorb more information to guide me in the future.

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