This was my third national conference and it felt more of the same. I felt it was another year where as a practicing corporate designer, most of the talks got lost in the DIY theme which felt much more relevant for those who are making hemp bracelets in their basement than for someone in my shoes. There were a few really enjoyable parts though - was fascinated by Michael Cyszs, made me want to go buy a motor cycle. John Hoke from Nike was also pretty enjoyable, but a lot of other keynotes I felt were either uninteresting or irrelevant, which I’ve found is usually the case for IDSA. Though in general this year was a lot less of the people saying “design is dead!” which is a vibe I got from a lot of previous conferences.
Pros:
Awesome city, almost everything within walking distance
Great parties (W&K, Ziba, Core77)
A few enjoyable talks
Some really good talent to scout at the portfolio reviews
Cons:
Hotel was kind of crap. Couldn’t compare to Southbeach or the Biltmore. All IDSA conferences need a pool thats open after hours!
A lot of average, hard to sit through talks
Very few students compared to usual, I think Portland is just a harder city to get to so many didn’t come
I still find the most value in IDSA conferences is just networking with other designers. The conference itself is mostly just filler.