Nick at Web Designer Wall worked with our designers at Viget to tell the story of how our new blogs came to be.  Great post!

My drive-the-other-kids-to-school duties had me out and about this morning, so I was able to swing by Viget to check out the beginning of DC Design Talks and welcome all of our guests to the Lab.  Turnout was great, and what I caught of the early talks by Samantha and Nathan was great too.  Some early photos:

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Jackson and Jason have been kicking around for awhile the idea of putting together a low-cost, one-day conference series targeting the DC web community.  After a very successful BarCamp and lots of Refresh meetings (and happy hours), I think they realized that the community is willing (dare I say asking) to participate in these kinds of events.  Enter the DC Talks series, and their first event on February 29th, DC Design Talks 2008.

The DC Talks are quarterly conferences for Washington, DC-area web professionals that feature some of the region’s best speakers and practitioners at a fraction of the cost of other conferences.

Unlike BarCamp, where anyone can talk and a lack of structure is part of the idea, DC Talks is more of a “real” conference in that speakers are pre-selected and probably a bit more prepared.  Unlike “real” conferences, though, no one is out to make any money (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and the cost to attend is just $35.  Viget is hosting at our new office, and I’m sure other sponsors will kick in to cover meal and swag costs.

They tout it as a “local” event, but based on the current speaker (and growing attendee) list, which includes a couple of guys from our second home, Durham, NC, and another from Boston (sort of), I’d say it’s worth traveling for. 

I’m lucky enough to work with some really talented people at Viget.  Our design group came up with a great concept earlier this year to launch a recruiting microsite specifically for the design community called TeamViget.  Today, the site was featured on Nick La’s Best of CSS Design 2007 post over at Web Designer Wall.  Congrats to our entire design team for the recognition, especially Rob Soule and Thanny Le Young.