When we started planning for the GWT.create conference last May, it was a really scary jump into the deep end of the pool. There had not been any GWT conferences since 2007, so we did not know what to expect. Even so, we felt that GWT really needed an event where the community could meet and plan the future. And then we went completely crazy and decided to arrange the event on two continents just before the holidays. Oh boy what a ride it was! :)
Expectations exceeded
Both GWT.create conferences in San Francisco and Frankfurt were awesome and exceeded all of our expectations. We had 646 attendees and over 100 presentation proposals. Chosen presentations were marvellous with the average rating of 3.8 on a scale of 1-5. And most importantly - we managed to exceed the expectations for most attendees as well.
Top-10 presentations in GWT.create
| Topic | Speaker | US/EU Avg. Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Why JavaScript sucks, but we still love it! | Daniel Kurka | 4.7 |
| Introduction to Vaadin | Joonas Lehtinen | 4.6 |
| Workshop: Building and theming responsive layouts with Vaadin and Sass | Jouni Koivuviita | 4.6 |
| GWT & Phonegap, the next step | Daniel Kurka | 4.5 |
| GWT Keynote | Ray Cromwell | 4.45 |
| Easing Offline web applications development with GWT | Arnaud Tournier | 4.4 |
| CSS Is Awesome | Jouni Koivuviita | 4.3 |
| Testing GWT Apps | Erik Kuefler | 4.25 |
| A glimpse into the future of GWT – Nextgen Js Interop and Widgets 2.0 | Daniel Kurka, Goktug Gokdogan | 4.15 |
| Comparing GWT Transport Mechanisms | Leif Åstrand | 4.1 |
Next GWT.create to be arranged in January 2015
So I have both bad news and good news. Bad news is that there will be no GWT.create in 2014. Instead, we’ll move the conference one month forwards to give people more time to reach their end of the year deadlines and holiday preparations. The next GWT.create conference is arranged in January 2015 in San Francisco and Munich! I hope this makes it even easier for you to attend the conference.
Presentation slides and videos
While waiting for the next GWT.create, take a look at the presentation slides. Most of the presentations are there. We also recorded all presentations and will start posting videos on Vaadin YouTube channel in a couple of weeks.
Go to gwtcreate.com to sign up for updates on presentation videos, call for papers and registrations for the next year. While there, take a look at the photos from the GWT.create 2013.
