MIX '07
My old faculty and the university have a good relationship with Microsoft, partly because of a large software contract, but (design) competitions such as the Microsoft Research and Design Expo, which is guided from the ID-StudioLab, help too. Because of this, two years in a row a staff member was asked to come to the MIX conference in Las Vegas. The second time, Daniel Saakes joined and was asked to bring along a graduate student: lucky me.
The first thing even before we had left was how well everything was organized; basically I only had to upload a scan of my passport, fill out some personal details and that was that. The conference itself was in fact so well organized, that there really wasn't a moment when anyone from our Dutch delegation had to wonder what to do next. Staying at the Venetian isn't too bad either, ahem. Of course, Microsoft knows very well how this affects people's attitudes; I almost would've bought snake oil had they been selling it. In all honesty though, there were really nice presentations, especially from people with a hands-on mentality. We met some nice people as well.
The first afternoon was reserved for discovering Las Vegas a bit, but we chose to rent two cars and drive into Death Valley. The drive through the Nevada desert and Death Valley really is a spectacular sight, although my lips didn't agree at the time; it isn't just a dry heat, it's an oversized blow dryer set to turbo. Still, if there are more landscapes as spectacular as this, I certainly want to come back and see more, preferably by motorcycle.