CanUX

CanUX, the little user experience conference that wanted to fly, was this weekend in Banff.

And it was great. There was a real sense of camaraderie, the people were interesting and fun, and it was at the Banff Centre (an amazing conference facility).

Some random thoughts:

• I got to hang out with the Toronto UX people--David Crow, Matthew Milan, Bryce Johnson, Joanna Briggs, Avi Soudack and Suzanne Long. That was fun and inspiring--they seem to have an energetic community.
• I also got to meet Will Pate, whom I knew of from the blogosphere, and Robert Scales from Raincity Studios in Vancouver.
• The improv workshop was magic. In an odd way it was one of the most practical sessions of the whole weekend.
• Steve Portigal, Marc Rettig and Scott Hirsch gave great presentations. Steve and Scott hung around for the entire weekend and participated in the break-out activities. Marc had to leave Sunday, but led a really good session on translating research into design (similar to his UX week one).
• The weekend was refreshingly free of wireframes and site maps.
• The Banff Centre people were fantastic hosts, and there was no shortage of food or drink. (The open bar at our evening sessions was pretty special.)

I'll try to write up some more notes, but in the meantime there's a (small) wiki, and pictures.