Hybrid Conf

An extra special conference

By Melissa Keizer

August 27^th, 2015

This year I had the opportunity to attend a web conference like no other. After seeing hundreds of tweets about the conference in previous years, I was ecstatic that I was able to attend Hybrid this year, thanks to my lovely place of work, Eyekiller! :)

Dublin, we are in you

After picking up one of my good friends Sinead, we set off on our road trip, from Belfast to Dublin on Wednesday evening.

Hybrid was held at Dublin City University, with the talks happening inside The Helix. The sun was shining, people were smiling, and the talks were about to kick off.

Armed with my lanyard and a fantastic Hybrid goody bag filled with stickers, stationery and even a few Tattlys (designy temporary tattoos), I sat down in the auditorium and soaked up the incredible talks.

OLD FRIENDS & NEW

It was great to see another familiar face at the conference, as Aaron swooped up a ticket just days before the event kicked off. I also got the chance to meet one of my Twitter friends in real life, as we arranged to stay in a shared apartment close to the university. Rob turned out to be even lovelier in person.

saved by the bowling

On Thursday evening after the talks ended, we were headed to Leisureplex Coolock, for a night of 90’s themed bowling, beers and throwing some shapes. Along with Aaron, Sinead and myself, our team included Hybrid’s very own MC, Carl, and official Hybrid photographer, Dan. I couldn’t have asked for better team members, as the night was filled with so much laughter. It was awesome to be cheered on by Carl even when I threw one too many gutter balls!

The next day bowling prizes were about to be dished out. What I didn’t expect there to be was a prize for the best dancing of the night, which led to Sinead & I walking red-faced to the stage to collect our super cute prizes! Haha, thanks guys!

Get your knees flexin' and your arms T-Rexin'

Sinead & I after collecting our prizes for Best Dancing of the evening

Aim to misbehave

Cards Against Humanity has provided my friends & I with hysterical laughter and fun for years, as it’s our go-to game for parties (Rummikub requires too much brain power after a few drinks…). I was very excited to see CAH’s Community Manager, Jenn Bane added to Hybrid’s speaker list. Her talk did not disappoint, as like the game it provided a lot of laughs, as well as some interesting insights into how the team operate.

Jenn very kindly handed me the Cards Against Humanity Design Pack after we got chatting following her talk. As you would expect, they’re both vulgar and hilarious.

99 & a flake

We soon realised that Zach and Laura arranged an extra special treat during one of the breaks when we heard the tune of an approaching ice cream van!

Doin’ it right.

The lovely Dan Rubin taking photos at Hybrid

Draplin

After meeting Aaron Draplin and watching him speak a few years ago at Build Conference in Belfast, I’ve been a huge fan of his work, so I was delighted to discover he’d be closing Hybrid’s talks on Friday evening.

Aaron brought along some of his Draplin swag

Hey, i know you from twitter!

Getting to meet so many of the awesome people I follow on Twitter has been the highlight of Hybrid for me.
When internet friends become IRL friends <3

When is Rob Sterlini *not* pulling a face?!

Write your story here. (Optional)

I had a feeling Scott Riley would be awesome in person. I was right.

His talk on “Re-learning to love the web” was both engaging, and highly entertaining. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much during a talk, and that’s a big thing to say when you’ve heard Mr Bingo speak.

The super niice people of Hybrid ;)

Jake telling jokes about Typography, i think...

Smile, you’re at #hybridconf! :)

Thank you Zach & Laura!

I just want to give a massive thank you to both Zach and Laura who organised this amazing conference, you did one heck of a job. I’ve come away from the event feeling refreshed, inspired and so thankful that I got the chance to meet so many new people, many of which I’ve admired for years. It was an incredible few days and I miss seeing the people whose tweets I follow every day, in person. I’m hoping our paths will cross again very soon!