All I can say is WOW! What a wonderful event. This is the first conference I have ever attended where I didn't skip a single session. Each was packed with information, some better than others, but none were irrelevant.
The best part of every conference is the one-on-one networking. How many opportunities does a simple XML developer get to ride from the airport to the hotel with
Tim Bray? Not many, in fact probably only once. The infamous
Rory Blyth was amazing to watch, because he could ink photos and listen better than any other attendee.
Since I don't drink outside of conferences, I usually make the mistake of drinking a few to many beers (4ish) the first night and you can figure out what happens later. This time though, I woke up with two popped blood vessels, one in each eye, so most of the conference I am sure I was scary to look at. All in good fun though.
At the end of the show, the Microsoft folks walked in with powerpoint and guitar singing, "All we are saying, is give SOAP a chance". They even got
Tim Bray to sing a verse on the mic. Definitely the best way to end a show like this one.
This event definitely required some knowledge of XML and a feel for the pains of dealing with the specifications we use today.
DonXML told me some stories of a few people who attended the previous year to learn XML and there were a few this year. At least it was a cheap conference, but I really don't think they could actually walk away with much.