I’m back from Interaction 09. Well, technically I was back on Monday evening, but I am pretty sure my brain is still in customs somewhere in YVR.

I am slowly digesting all the amazing conversations I had and ideas I took in and everything I learned. I will have more detailed posts about those soon, I swear.

Until then, here’s a lighthearted list of things I learned while I was at Interaction:

• I can be away from Twitter for more than a few hours, but it has severe side affects.
• The Surface can do some cool shit!
• Nutella and banana crepes should be served at every establishment in the US.
• I’m more awesome and hotter than expected.
• Denise and I shoe shopping together can be dangerous, especially for Mario.
• Sleep is not necessary. Caffeine solves this issue.
• Seeing girls dressed as gifts (boxes) and grocery bags isn’t so out of the ordinary.
• There are some places where bars close at midnight.
• You are never done learning.
• There are always amazing friendships to be made.
• I’m not the only person that can quote Anchorman and Zoolander.
• I need a smaller laptop for traveling.
• Argyle makes quite the statement.
• Always choose the hotel that has starbucks in your room.
• Sometimes you need to skip a session to power nap, and that’s okay.
• Active participation is encouraged.
• You can never have too many 1974 maps of Vermont.
• Poutine is one of my favorite parts of Canada.

I’ve been spending a lot of time since I have been back from Vancouver thinking about what I could possibly write about Interaction 09 and all that I learned and experienced while I was there. I have realized that it was about so much more than the education on techniques, processes, and deliverables that were shared in workshops, lightning rounds, and keynotes; it was also about friendship.

There is no way for me to completely describe how amazing the experience was from a personal level. Up until Interaction, I had never met any of the people that were attending face to face. Thanks to Crowdvine I was able to begin tracking the people that I wanted to meet. There were people that I had conversed with through volunteering for the IxDA via email and phone. There were some that I had found through the lovely IxD twitter crowd, and there were some I was just plain a fan of. Not only did I end up meeting nearly all the people I had aimed to (Christian, I promise next time we are doing coffee or something), but I met so many more that I admired and those I had never been aware of until the conference started.

I made some great professional connections, but even more than that, made truly mind-blowing friendships; friendships that are truly real and extremely overwhelming, to the point of being emotional. Being around so many talented minds was truly inspirational.

However, as with anything else, I also learned that some relationships end up being one sided. Sometimes these relationships can appear to be fantastic, but when evaluated, it’s learned that you are the one putting all the effort into the relationship and making it work. Not much is being returned to you. While this does have to be done on occasion especially when learning a new craft or skill, I feel that mentors and other role-models should play a more active role in those relationships. It made me start to evaluate who I interact with on a daily basis through mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, and email.

And now, a list of people that I found truly awesome at Interaction, that I hope to continue to learn from and build better friendships with.

If I am following you on twitter (and even if I’m not), chances are very good I want to keep in touch. My account is locked, but please request a follow. My id is @toniambartz

• Mario – I cannot even begin to describe how truly energizing it is to even be around you. You are so inspiring and great to be around. Hell you completely threw me off my rocker and flattered me when you said I was an amazing person. You’re always in a good mood and constantly trying to make sure everyone else is having a good time.
• Denise – Super awesome woman!! We didn’t get to see a lot of each other (and I’m always told I’m the social butterfly), but hopefully that won’t happen again.
• Matt – I enjoyed meeting you. It was great to hear about all the awesome things that Toronto’s IxDA group is doing and to have some good IxD conversations as well.
• Liz – It was so awesome to finally meet you and be able to have discussions about IxDA, the profession in general and just get to hang out. I look forward to helping out more with the organization.
• Dante – What a great and innovative session you led at the conference. Not to mention you are fun to hang out with. And hey, anyone that thinks I’m awesome is a friend of mine. I hope we keep in touch.
• Eric (kink.com guy) – It was determined we are tied for the best business cards right? Rock out.
• Will – It was great to get to hang out with you, and no, not just because you had the kick ass suite. Maybe it was because we stalked each other haha. Hope we keep in touch, and hopefully will be at another conference together at some point!
• Whitney – Any friend of Mario’s has got to be phenomenal. It was nice to meet another down to earth woman around my age that is passionate about her career.
• Nasir – Glad to have had the chance to spend time with you and discuss the organization as well as hear your ideas for local groups. Next time I will be at karaoke for sure!
• Shaun – I cannot believe it took us until the last day of Interaction to meet. Thank you so much for all your help before the conference in regards to local groups and I hope to continue sharing that knowledge in the future.
• Angel – Loved getting to meet you finally. Any friend of Colleen’s is a friend of mine. Thank you for all of your help and support with starting up a local group.

If I left your name out I truly apologize. There was no way I was going to be able to write about everyone tonight – I would never get to sleep. I want to keep the friendships and conversation going.

Pics of my adventure are scattered both on Flickr and Facebook

I have to apologize for not blogging while I was in Vancouver at Interaction 09, but only a little bit, as it was not because I didn’t want to update anyone, but more due to that I was extremely busy learning so many things, taking in the city, and meeting both old and new friends.

I arrived into Phoenix about 7pm tonight and have managed to get food, play with Miss Tequila Rose, and get a few pics uploaded onto Flickr. I have so much more to do and I promise, more will come tomorrow and possibly a little later tonight.

I cannot believe I am home and at the same time cannot believe I have left Vancouver already. It was such a great journey. So much more will be coming about that in the future. For now, feel free to tweet at me or shoot me an email or text. Yes, you heard me I am now able to use my BlackBerry to its full capacity again.

Well tonight is my last night at home for quite a few days (close to a week). I am currently working on running the dishwasher, doing laundry, and updating my phone plan to an international one. I might not be awake enough to pack tonight but I will be in a great position to crash early tonight and pack tomorrow morning.

I am headed to Vancouver for Interaction 09 tomorrow morning and will be there until Monday evening. I am so excited for not only my first trip to Vancouver and my first professional conference, but also to meet so many IxD colleagues I have connected with via Twitter, mailing lists and other outlets. I will be attending some fantastic workshops and hearing some fantastic speakers.

I am going to be disabling my incoming and outgoing text messages while I’m there to try and curve the cost of international calling, but those will be back on sometime next week. I am also going to attempt to limit data usage on my BlackBerry so twitter and email access will be whenever I am able to use wireless on my laptop.

Tomorrow I will be trading in my sandals and tank tops for hats, scarves, and boots. I’ll see my PHX peeps later on, and I’ll see my IxD crazies tomorrow!!!

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since last Tuesday!! I tried so hard to get one in yesterday before January ended, but oh well, no such luck there. This will be an extremely quick one as I have a busy day of starting to get ready for my trip, volunteering, super bowl, I heard I was going to be singing.. I don’t even know

This week was hectic. I’ve been working on composing lyrics and melody for a song. I’m a bit rusty and we all know I’m indecisive so that doesn’t make for a good situation on top of being so super busy all week long.

I am working in two different offices for the next couple months so that adds an additional thing I have to remember every week. Monday and Tuesday I got in some good quality work time in while at Lux and Tuesday even met up with Todd afterwards at Rosie’s. Wednesday I worked on laundry and other misc things from home and headed to bed a little early. It was nice and relaxing.

Thursday I went to Rockaroke (go figure). A friend met me there and alas my Black Velvet Rockaroke curse happened again. So no singing Black Velvet, which was disappointing. Ending up singing some Blondie. Had to get SOMETHING in before I leave.

Friday I brought two of my friends with me to East Valley Friday Night (#evfn) which was at Whole Foods this week. I met more new people which was great, reconnect with some I already knew, and I’ll leave it at that. A small few of us closed down Whole Foods (yes, we closed down a grocery store, and I’m not afraid to admit it). Afterwards, I went to Tilted Kilt for a little bit but was extremely disappointed.

Yesterday I had an extremely busy day. Started off hiking Pinnacle Peak with Kerri. Afterwards we headed to the FBR Open as I had won grounds tickets. It was the most interesting PGA stop I have ever been to. It honestly reminded me of Happy Gilmore and I was quite pleased. Great people watching. Great party. Great everything. Next year I am definitely getting 3 Day VIP passes. Argyle, sun, people having fun? I’m there!

After the FBR, I went to dinner and dancing with the Alta girls. We started at Bada Boom Pasta Room Great food, lousy waiter. Then we went to the Hyatt Resort in Scottsdale to watch Flamenco dancers. What a beautiful BEAUTIFUL resort. To top it off, it has gondola rides? I’m definitely going back. We then wanted to head to Barcelona but with the FBR crowd it was just way too packed. Some guys tried to impress us and ask us to bar hop with them in their limo. Only issue was, the hummer limo did not belong to them! Ended up going to Devil’s Martini and while it was a fairly good DJ and we always have a blast wherever we go, I was not impressed at all. I have finally hit the age where I am not impressed by stripper poles in bars. Does that make me old or just a little more sophisticated… hopefully sophisticated.

I tried to make it out to karaoke in Mesa, but we got home way too late and I needed to crash. Today’s plans are heading out to volunteer shortly then coming straight home to the Super Bowl party that is starting at my house without me. Alas this week I really have to get everything in order as I will be gone for almost a week straight.

Interaction 09 here I come!!

Well gosh darn it I’ve done it. I’ve officially registered for the Interaction 09 conference being held Feb 5-8, 2009 in Vancouver. Interaction is hosted by the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). This is also going to be the first conference I have attended. I am proud that it is going to be Interaction 09. I belong to several different associations, and for some reason I just feel right at home within the IxDA community. I am starting a local group here in Phoenix as well as volunteering elsewhere within the organization.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have the opportunity to attend this conference. So many of the people I admire I will finally have the chance to meet and to hear speak. So many I have had the chance to exchange tweets with I will have a chance to hang out with in person. It’s going to be such a spectacular time. I know I will learn and grow so much both professionally and as a person from this experience.

I will be in Vancouver from Wednesday, Feb 4th through Monday the 9th. If anyone else is heading in early, feel free to let me know and maybe we can go exploring together or grab some dinner and hang out.

I wasn’t able to register for Dan Saffer and Bill DeRouchey’s first seminar but was able to register for the second one that was added today. However, I now have a conflict with the Local Leader Workshop on Friday. Hopefully someone will be willing to trade sessions with me. Dan Saffer is a friend / colleague of my boss at GD, so that, on top of the topic of discussion, will be exciting.

Here are some of the items I am planning on attending while i am there:

• Designing for Touch Screens and Interactive Gestures: Bill DeRouchey and Dan Saffer
• Visual Complexity: A Visual Exploration for Mapping Complex Networks: Manuel Lima
• Mission Critical Interaction Design: Mikkel Michelsen
• Rapid Design Labs: Scott Weisbrod
• Sketching Haptic and Multimodal Interaction: Camile Moussette
• Designing Natural Interfaces: Notes from the Multi-touch and Multi-use: Darren David and Nathan Moody
• Designing for Teams, Designing for Touch: Joe Fletcher

Personally I think everyone should attend. Come check out the Interaction social networking site today!