28 October 2009
Press Release: Webstock
Webstock 2010 launches
New Zealand's premier web conference has launched its fourth major event and will continue the tradition it began in
2006 of giving New Zealand audiences a chance to see big-name international speakers.
Webstock is a two-day conference about all things web, preceded by three days of workshops. Taking place from February
15th through to February 19th 2010 at the Wellington Town Hall, Webstock is for anyone who works with the web. The 2010
event will appeal to designers, developers, analysts, content-editors, information/solution architects, and managers or
business owners who rely on their websites. There will be something motivating, exciting and immensely valuable for
everyone.
Webstock 2010 will close with the inaugural web industry awards, the ONYAs, which celebrate all those who design,
develop and create New Zealand's best websites and applications.
Speakers include Kevin Rose (entrepreneur and founder of Pownce and Digg), Jeffrey Veen (web veteran who sold his
analytics software to Google and led the redesign of Google Analytics), Eric Reis (creator of the Lean Startup
entrepreneurship methodology), Jeff Atwood (.NET Guru and co-founder of Stackoverflow.com with Webstock alumni Joel
Spolsky) , Adam Greenfield (Head of Interface Design at Nokia), Jessica Jackley (co-founder of the revolutionary
micro-lending site Kiva.org), John Resig (creator of the popular JQuery JavaScript library), and Bek Hodgson (former
design and UX lead at Etsy.com). For a complete list, visit the Webstock site, webstock.org.nz.
Registrations opened earlier this month and Natasha Lampard, Senior VP at Webstock, advises conference goers to get in
early, “there's always a rush to get the early bird price on tickets, and given the economic uncertainty we expect more
people than usual to take advantage of the reduced price”.
“We're coming out of a recession during which training and conference budgets were slashed. In tight economic times
being innovative and staying on top of one's profession is crucial. Webstock will provide New Zealanders a chance to see
some of the biggest names in the business right here at home, without the costs of overseas flights or accommodation”,
Lampard says.
Webstock 10 will pick up where previous successful conferences left off, and will be an inspiring and motivating start
to the new year. “The support and passion from the Webstock community inspires us to keep doing it”, she says. “It's a
feedback loop – we put our all into organising Webstock, and the audience response is so positive – the ideas, passion
and action that's generated is breath-taking. We feel compelled to keep doing it”.
Webstock has cemented its reputation as being no ordinary conference. “Webstock is more like a music festival for web
people”, Lampard says. “It's very relaxed and creative, and the speakers are treated like rock stars. Great ideas and
partnerships come out of Webstock. Everyone has a fab time at the event and the after parties, which are almost as hotly
anticipated as the event itself.”
Ends
Note to editors:
Webstock is New Zealand's premier web conference, running from February 15th through to February 19th 2010 at the
Wellington Town Hall. The 2010 event will be the fourth conference. Webstock 2010 is sponsored by SilverStripe, Google,
Microsoft, Intergen, 3Months, Springload, and DigitalNZ. Full details can be found at http://webstock.org.nz/. Full details of the ONYAs can be found at http://www.onyas.org.nz/.