WDANZ Conference wraps up nationwide coverage
The Web Developers Association of New Zealand (WDANZ) Wellington Conference, just completed, wraps up a successful first year in business covering the country, according to CEO, Dennis Smith."The Wellington Conference is an important milestone for us in that it completes the nationwide coverage sought by the industry," he says. "When we established WDANZ, we sought opinion from the industry, and most developers asked for local events, with down-to-earth, practical speakers and support. We’ve delivered this now."
Smith says that the Wellington event was the third Conference in a year (following Auckland and Christchurch) and that he has received very positive feedback from both the attendees and speakers alike. "The general feedback we have received was that this event was vibrant and created excellent value to the attendees."
Over a dozen speakers shared their interests and expertise over two days, including Richard Naylor, Steven Heath, Jo Booth, Wayne Forgesson, Vaughan Reed, Steve Edhouse, Helen Wise, Jacqui Zelcer and Chris Claridge.
Brett Taylor, Harvey Kane, Alan Cox, Bruce Clement and Michael Brandon covered the more technical subjects including Javascript, Advanced CSS, Advanced Usability, Domain Name Appraisals, and SEO.
Speakers were pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm and collaboration that the event encouraged. "The Conference was a fantastic educational and networking forum," said Jacqui Zelcer who represented Women in Technology. "I thoroughly enjoyed meeting others in the industry, and hearing from the other speakers."
Jo Booth, Wellington based Internet guru and WDANZ speaker says, "It was my first WDANZ event, and certainly won't be my last. Even as a presenter I got a huge amount to value out of the networking and the other presentations. It's great to see that a commercial model can still deliver, and deliver quality."
Smith says that any initial skepticism toward WDANZ has well and truly been addressed by developing a strong brand and commitment to deliver value to members. "When we launched in July 2006, there was naturally a degree of caution where developers watched to see how we went, and to see if we would actually deliver on our promises."
"In a little under a year, we have over 200 members from the Bay of Islands to Invercargill. We have also completed three successful Conferences in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington; have trained over 100 developers in SEO; and have presented to almost 1000 members of the public in free seminars from Whangarei to Christchurch."
Long-time Internet web development professional Russell Holland has been helping drive WDANZ, and was MC at the Wellington conference. "I’ve been involved in encouraging collaboration amongst the industry for years," he says "and seeing the passion that all the team commit to WDANZ is really heartening! Wellington was another good Conference with great speakers and excellent networking."
Tagwords: conference
Posted by Dennis A Smith ~ Sunday 17 June 2007
