Andrew Ferrier’s Blog

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euroGel 2006 Conference

with 22 comments

I’ve just come back from the Good Experience Live (euroGel) conference in Copenhagen (more on the city and Denmark in a later post). It was a superb and surprisingly moving experience, and as a conference that I paid for myself, I would say it was worth every penny for personal development reasons alone. I would recommend it to anyone with a wide range of interests.

The theme of the conference is hard to pin down; it is defined as ‘good experience in all its forms’. I’m still struggling to ‘get it’, but it didn’t seem to matter that I didn’t. In practice, this seems to mean a variety of speakers from across the arts and technology, some of them specialising in user experience or customer experience, coming together to share their stories.

This is the first time the conference has been run in Europe (it has been run in New York City since 2003), and current indications are that it will return to both places. The creator of the conference is Mark Hurst, who also leads the sessions at the conference, and who I unfortunately didn’t get to meet. A large number of the speakers are obviously personal friends of his and there is accordingly a sense of community, which is also explored online (see the Gel blog category on goodexperience.com)

The presentations were almost all entertaining, and most informative and passionate. Some of the highlights were:

  • Han Bennink - I’m ashamed to admit I’d never heard of Han before. It turns out that he is one of the top Jazz drummers in the world, and his natural exuberance for his work was obvious for all to see - a man who managed to enter the stage, drop a bunch of metal pipes haphazardly on the stage, and make it part of his performance, he obviously has more talent than just a natural sense of rhythm.
  • Stephen Bauman - Stephen is a Methodist minister in New York, and in true ministerly style, he told stories. These helped to illustrate what he called ‘Basic Truths’ (on which he has also written a book). I was lucky enough to discuss these and others things with him later on, and he struck me as an extremely perceptive and open-minded religious man: an inspirational American preacher who didn’t hector about Jesus.
  • Alison Young - Possessed of a beautiful voice, Alison Young is a supremely talented singer with Southern influences. Why she isn’t more famous is a mystery to me.

I also met some interesting folks:

  • Kareem Mayan - Kareem is a returning Gel participant (and volunteer), and obviously enjoys it greatly. His blog has some interesting discussions about emerging technology, including plenty of media and YouTube links (including this ‘How to drive a stick shift’ video - sadly, this doesn’t impress chicks here in the UK, where manual cars are the norm).
  • Alexander Kjerulf - Alexander is an irrepressibly bubbly fellow, and describes himself as ‘The Chief Happiness Officer’. He writes and consults on happiness in the workplace, and his passion for his work is obvious. What he says is not rocket science, but it bears repeating. His blog is well worth a read.

I was also lucky enough to win one of the prize draws - for a set of books written by some current and previous Gel speakers, so I now have the following to work my way through:

Thanks to all the folks who donated books for this - and to Mark Hurst and his team for organising euroGel. I will go again.

Update 2006-09-12: Alison Young’s website can be found here.

Written by andrewferrier

September 2nd, 2006 at 3:08 pm

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22 Responses to 'euroGel 2006 Conference'

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  1. If you’re interested in an example, you can see Seth Godin’s entire presentation from Gel 2006 in NYC here:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4101280286098310645&hl=en

    andrewferrier

    3 Sep 06 at 00:09:07

  2. great to meet you too, andrew! :)

    kareem

    3 Sep 06 at 22:09:53

  3. Hey Andrew! I was searching for material, CDs, music, anything on Alison Young on the web and I couldn’t find anything… I mean, I found your blog! I was at the conference, remember you lucky man! Enjoy your reading! Greetings from the Kaos Pilots, Århus :)

    Henrique

    5 Sep 06 at 23:09:10

  4. Cheers, Henrique. I too was looking for Alison Young stuff but couldn’t find any… hence the lack of a link. If you or anyone else finds a link, please feel free to post it here.

    andrewferrier

    6 Sep 06 at 07:09:53

  5. [...] Henrique’s recent comment reminded me of another interesting bunch of people I met at euroGel 2006: the incoming class of the Kaospilots, ‘The most unusual school in the world‘. Kaospilots is essentially a private university, teaching business and related creative subjects. They are partly self-funding, and the concept seems novel - all teachers are external consultants. The most striking thing I found in the students I met was their drive - it’s obviously not a university course you drift onto. I think this university model is worth keeping an eye on. [...]

    Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Kaospilots

    6 Sep 06 at 08:09:08

  6. Via the Good Experience mailing list, another review of euroGel from Eric Reiss:

    http://www.fatdux.com/who/news/do-it-again-mark.html

    And some very impressive photos from Gene Driskell:

    http://tinyurl.com/njgej

    andrewferrier

    8 Sep 06 at 09:09:13

  7. Hi Andrew -

    I am the fellow who had the honor of presenting you with the rather large stack of books, enviously :o) Congrats!
    I totally share your view of the experience and only regret that I didn’t have time to meet anc chat with absolutely EVERYBODY - that means you too!

    Yeah, Alison was great, wasn’t she? Got to hang with her a bit and she told me her website is:
    http://www.alisonyoungsongs.com
    A few songs there to listen too, her album is supposed to come out soon and more songs should hit the website as well…stay tuned.

    See you at the next gel :o)
    Jesper W.

    Jesper Wille

    12 Sep 06 at 11:09:40

  8. - those were supposed to be smilies, not surprisies…

    Jesper Wille

    12 Sep 06 at 11:09:18

  9. Jesper, thanks. Have to admit I haven’t managed to start on a single one yet - too many other books to finish first! But at least I got them all home :)

    Thanks for the pointer to Alison Young’s website, I’d been looking for that.

    Meet you next time, I hope :)

    andrewferrier

    12 Sep 06 at 19:09:49

  10. [...] I’ve long thought (I’m aware this will make me sound like a young fogey) that most concerts are way too loud. This is why I tend to avoid them - I’ve seen both the rock music of the Foo Fighters and the delicacy and dynamic range of Sigur Rós spoilt on stage because of poor dynamic range. The only times I tend to attend gigs are when the venue is small and the artist is unknown to me (which helps built the sense of atmosphere and overcome the poorer sound quality). There’s a long discussion on Edward Tufte’s website about the technical aspects of this over-amplification issue. Because of this, I was blown away when I saw Alison Young performing at the euroGel conference I recently attended. Not only was the sound mix delicate and well-balanced, but Alison is a superb singer who’s become my new favourite artist. She obviously has country and southern influences, but what I’ve heard from her so far has been both emotionally powerful and whimsical. You can download three of her songs as MP3s from her website: she also has plans to record an album, so you can sign up for the mailing list to find out about that if you like what you hear. Highly recommended. [...]

    Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » Concert Audio and Alison Young

    13 Sep 06 at 12:09:51

  11. Mark Hurst has posted a round-up of photos, articles, blog entries, etc. on euroGel here:

    http://gelconference.com/06e/recap.php

    andrewferrier

    15 Sep 06 at 12:09:45

  12. You can also see a video of a small part of Han Bennink’s amazing performance as part of Michael Hatscher’s article on euroGel:

    http://www.user-experience-design.com/?p=64

    andrewferrier

    15 Sep 06 at 12:09:03

  13. [...] Addendum (Sept 15, 2006): Mark has compiled a page with the reports and pictures from euroGel 2006 attendees. I especially like Eric Reiss’s comments and Andrew Ferrier’s observations. And, if you’ve got the time, don’t miss the Flickr photos tagged “eurogel2006″. By Mitch, Monday, 4 September 2006, 6:51 PM o’clock [...]

    user-experience-design.com

    18 Sep 06 at 07:09:36

  14. Comment removed as it gives details on copyright violation.

    rein mulder

    18 Sep 06 at 14:09:19

  15. Comment removed as it gives details on copyright violation.

    rein mulder

    18 Sep 06 at 17:09:19

  16. Comment removed as it gives details on copyright violation.

    rein mulder

    18 Sep 06 at 17:09:42

  17. [...] After euroGel 2006, which was truly a ‘good’ experience for me, Mark Hurst has announced that euroGel is coming back to Copenhagen in 2007. I’ve just booked my ticket, and as a previous attendee, I’ve got a 20% discount, so the price was only USD $480. I’m allowed to share this discount (which is only valid until this Friday, 22nd September) with friends and colleagues, so if you’re interested, let me know and I’ll send you the link. You can sign up at the regular price here. I’m already looking forward to this conference, and it’s almost a year away. [...]

    Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » Booked euroGel 2007

    19 Sep 06 at 09:09:29

  18. [...] Sidste nyt fra The Brain: - har du stadig lidt svært ved at finde ud af, hvad dette Gel er for noget (det er heller ikke sådan at sætte en finger på) så besøg disse sites, hvor andre gæster fortæller lidt om deres oplevelser: Fatdux - Eric Reiss Learninglaboratory - Annette Kramer Andrew’s blog - Andrew Ferrier [...]

    Primus Motor’s Noter

    12 Oct 06 at 09:10:51

  19. Comment removed.

    Rein Mulder

    13 Oct 06 at 15:10:23

  20. [...] Since meeting Alexander Kjerulf at euroGel 2006 last year, I’ve been following his work as the self-appointed Chief Happiness Officer with interest. He’s just released his first book, Happy Hour is 9 to 5. Alex is also one of the most energetic and inspiring people I’ve met. He’s kindly consented to be the first interviewee on this blog. I hope you enjoy it. [...]

    Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » Interview with Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer

    15 Dec 06 at 13:12:05

  21. [...] Just finished reading Mark Hurst’s new book, Bit Literacy. Mark is a chap of many interests and the creative driver behind the excellent (and varied) euroGel conference I attended in Copenhagen last year. [...]

    Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » Bit Literacy

    20 Jun 07 at 09:06:14

  22. [...] my better photos from the conference on Flickr. I didn’t find this Gel quite as fulfilling as euroGel was, and this combined with the steep price (I pay for it myself) means I probably won’t be [...]

    Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » Gel 2008 and NYC

    29 Apr 08 at 19:04:10

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