On Friday October 16th, local turntable genius DJ Co-op helped to kick off the Blue Sky 09 Design Conference & Awards Show in style. Conference attendees had a chance to catch up with friends, colleagues and speakers over food & drink at the beautifully restored Red River College Downtown Campus.
 
Proceedings got underway in earnest on Saturday morning with the event's first speaker, Richard Seireeni, co-founder of The Brand Architect Group (LA), former Creative Director of Rolling Stone Magazine and recent author of "The Gort Cloud." After a short break, Vancouver's Jane Cox, founder of Cause + Affect, shared her thoughts on community building and design. After lunch, Jeff Swystun, the Chief Communications Officer for DDB Global took the stage with his presentation "Insights that Incite," debuted for the first time at Blue Sky.
 
Fully engaged and excited by the day's presentations, a change of venue was welcomed by attendees, who convened at the stately Manitoba Club for dinner, the awards presentations, and the keynote presentation by Alex Beim of Tangible Interaction Design.

Alex's heartfelt, personal account of his creative journey held the audience rapt with interest. The work he is producing today inspired with its inventive playfulness.

Sunday morning brought the final presentation of the event, with Brian Kuz, the Director of Business Insights at RedBull, who presented on the topic of "Capturing the Consumer Inside and Outside of the Store." RedBull's unique and exciting marketing endeavours were on full display and were a perfect cap to a rich weekend of ideas.

Of course, the event owes its success to the tireless Blue Sky Committee, led by local member Steve Bamburak. And, a long list of very generous sponsors provided much-needed support - thank you!

Photos are in, as well as some feedback from attendees on Twitter... Enjoy!

Photos on Flickr.

Twitter commentary.