Web Visions Portland

I do love the Web Visions Conference/Geek fest. Sure, they suffer from the irritating obsession with the Future. In addition to a keynote by an Intel Futurist (someone's actual job title) there are workshops with titles like "Envisioning Future of the Future" that leave you wondering how is any of this relevant to the design problems I am solving today, which are often equivalent to applying band-aides to projects clients never have proper resources or time to address. Yet, where else, other than at Web Visions does your favorite illustrator design a logo for you while you watch. Where else do you get a hug from the Facebook's Director of Product Design and chat with an 11 year old developer who will actually be part of this so hyped up and impatiently awaited future.