This past weekend, I flew up to Seattle, Washington to attend what was being billed as the last instance of Gnomedex taking place…ever. I found that hard to believe, but sadly it slowly became true. Its founder and organizer, Chris Pirillo, declared on stage that this would be the last one (although I think secretly there’s a bet on when Gnomedex 11 will take place).

Nevertheless, Gnomedex 10 was sure to beat all expectations and IF this was to be its last show, it would go out with a bang – and we weren’t disappointed. The festivities began on Thursday night with a pre-party at the Bell Harbor conference center which got people to mingle with each other, conduct interviews and just have a great time. Then, Friday morning came and we moved into the real fun…with an opening keynote given by Brian Solis and then a series of speakers talking about technology – no, not social media, email marketing, or how to build an application, but how did THEY user technology in their lives to make an impact. If you haven’t been to a Gnomedex conference, I consider it a technology version of a TED conference where people present their case studies and how they have been innovative to create some really cool stuff.

As Pirillo puts it, Gnomedex is all about the “Human Circuitry” – influence, ideation illumination, inspiration, interaction and illustration. It’s the passing along of ideas and showing how technology can change the world beyond just a simple “check in” or tweet.

Some of the highlights from this year’s conference includes having the Chief Technology Officer of the city of Seattle speak and talk about what they’ve been doing with their government data & how they are trying to open it up for more innovation. Melissa Pierce, producer of the upcoming movie Life in Perpetual Beta, gave an inspiring speech about human kindness & her travels; Trish Millines Dziko spoke about how to improve public education through technology; Shauna Causey & Melody Biringer spoke about creating an organization to support women in technology; and perhaps the most inspiring was the rousing speech given by Violet Blue about human sexuality, technology, awareness and censorship – by the time she was finished, the crowd gave her a standing ovation.

AUTHOR NOTE: Fun fact about Gnomedex…in its 10 years of existence, there have only been three (3) standing ovations. Last year, Drew Olanoff received one for his talk about #blamedrewscancer & now Violet Blue for her talk about human sexuality.

By the time the conference ended, it was a bittersweet moment…people headed home to live out their lives once again, but never to return to Seattle for the Gnomedex conference. Will we see another version of Gnomedex take place and what will Chris Pirillo do next?

Only time will tell…

Here are some photos from the conference:

Chris Pirillo

Dave Delaney

Robert Scoble talking to the kids from OmniTechNews

Chris Pirillo with Robert Scoble

Ben Metcalfe, Violet Blue & Kris Krug

Kenji Onozowa

Brian Solis

Trish Millines Dziko

Steve Fisher & Michael Dougherty – producers of Browncoats: Redemption

Betsy Aoki and Chris Pirillo

Bill Schrier, the CTO of Seattle, WA

The women of Tech Mavens

Melissa Pierce – producer of Life in Perpetual Beta

Violet Blue

All photos shown here were taken by Kenneth Yeung. You can view more photos from Gnomedex on Flickr by clicking here.

words and pictures by Brian Solis

Gnomedex is over and since we’re about to fly through several incredible events including Office 2.0, DEMOfall, and TechCrunch50, I thought it would be a good idea to commemorate my incredible experience in Seattle.

Gnomedex is by far one of my favorite stops on the networking circuit as it levels the playing field and creates a truly equal forum for sharing our experiences while learning from those of others. It’s like a TED for geeks. And, it’s not just the valuable lessons and insight that we learn in those action-packed two days, it’s the relationships that you build and carry forward with you that mean everything. If you have never attended, then block out the time and start saving for Gnomedex 2009.

I walked away with so many wonderful memories and new ideas. From Danny Sullivan’s talk on Search Life Meets Real Life and Beth Kanter’s motivating stories on Using Social Media for Good Causes to Francine Hardaway’s fantastic and lively discussion with Mark Bao on Generation Y and Kris Krug’s fun and helpful talk on photography tips (it was great to finally meet him!). The conversations that took place in the hallways as well as the even receptions were also equally significant.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Chris Pirillo at the opening reception holding one of the many HP notebooks given away

Brian Solis, Drew Olanoff of Strands, and Sarah Lacy live on GnomedexTV

Tara Hunt

Larry Halff of Ma.gnolia

Danny Sullivan

Mark Bao

Francine Hardaway

Ponzi and Chris Pirillo

Beth Kanter

Sarah Lacy, Tara Hunt, Olivia Hine, Francine Hardaway

Londa Quisling of Iterasi

Ryan Stewart

Ranvir Gujral of Bluewhale Labs

Duncan Riley

Liz Strauss

Geoff Livingston

Robert Scoble

Dave Mathews

Jeremy Wright of B5 Media

Sara Czyzewicz of DandyID

Maryam Scoble and Danielle Morrill

Marshall Kirkpatrick

Liz Strauss and Alex Williams

Brian Solis and Jeremy Wright

The crew at the Edgewater Hotel

For more pictures of Gnomedex, please visit my album on flickr.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

by Brian Solis

Once again, Seattle is the hub for innovation.

Gnomedex 8.0 kicks off with a pre-party on Thursday 8/21 and rolls directly into a 48 hour rush of shared insight, intelligence, and humanizing experiences, and also hopefully a bit of harmless mischief.

Just when I thought I was going to have to miss it, it looks like I’ll once again have the opportunity to share a couple of days with some of the most interesting, enterprising, and inspiring missionaries in new media.

If you’re in town, join us tomorrow for a pre, pre-party Tweetup at The Alibi Room from 3 – 6 p.m.

See you in Seattle.

Pictures from the Gnomedex 7.0 Pre-party and highlights from day one on flickr.

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, Plurk or Facebook