Ok, this was one I was looking forward to. Not because I am a Java guy (though I read "Thinking in Java" back in 1998), but because the guy really knows how to put on a conference (read Crested Butte--that's a ski resort in Colorado). Plan skiing into your event as part of the social networking of the conference and do conferency things in the morning and evening. How cool is that? But I digress.
Eckel made some great points like:
No one has ever pulled off the perfect project, yet we keep telling ourselves "This time it will be different"
When we work with designers (home, art, landscape, etc.) we rarely get it right the first time. Why is it we don't approach software this way.
There were really more, but I am going to have to go back to the tape to remember them. I know there was at least one comment that I planned to write a whole blog on, but it escapes me for now. It's late, and I should have blogged this right afterwards to really capture all the good points.