Update has sold out.

Thank-you so much for your interest in the conference – we're now sold out for 2011.

A note on VAT

Update has a one price for all policy. This means that we will absorb the VAT if you're not VAT registered so you don't end up paying more than the advertised ticket price. If you are VAT registered, please email Jana at jana@updateconf.com to ask for a VAT receipt. We will charge you VAT in a separate invoice if you are VAT registered. (This means that VAT-registered companies and non-VAT registered people pay exactly the same price.) 

Refunds and changes. 

The last day for refunds and exchanges is Friday, August 22nd, 2011 (two weeks before the event). 

Dear future Update attendee,

Hello! My name's Aral and I'm curator and conference organiser of Update 2011.

As you can probably already tell from the tone of this letter to you, Update is not a stuffy, corporate conference. It's a bunch of passionate people who are great at what they do getting together to share ideas and inspiration (with many excuses to meet new people and kick back and have a few drinks). Logistically, Update is a one-day conference followed by two days of in-depth and hands-on workshops.

The Agenda

On the 5th, you will spend a day at the beautiful Brighton Dome venue taking part in an inspirational celebration of excellence in user experience, design, and development on the iOS platform and beyond. With inspiring keynotes, short "tech-beats", and panel discussions we will start conversations and explore questions about platforms, tools, and technologies. I hope this intense, passionate roller-coaster ride through the present and future of our mobile world will leave you inspired, excited, and eager to go forth and make beautiful things, and give you an even better appreciation for the important that role we play as the makers of the new everyday things.

I also hope that after the inspirational conference day, you will be eager to get your hands dirty and take part in one of the handful of hands-on workshops we have planned for the second and third days. (In case you weren't keeping count, I managed to say "hand" three times in that sentence.)

The workshop topics range from iOS Design to HTML5 and even onto quite specialised areas in native iOS development like Core Animation, Core Data, and OpenGL ES. Each of the workshops is taught by a leading, world-famous designer or developer.

Speakers

We have a stellar line-up of speakers from the worlds of iOS, Web, User Experience, and beyond whom I am lucky enough to call friends. (Did I mention that Update is going to be a warm and friendly affair?)

Who are these fine folks, you ask? (Oh come on, humour me, ask!) Ah, perfect! Well, let me tell you…

Sarah Parmenter, founder and principle of design agency You Know Who, is a wonderful designer with a knack for communicating and teaching the tricks of her trade in the simplest terms. She is also a very talented performer and her stage skills really shine when she presents. Sarah is doing a keynote on iOS Design on the conference day and teaching an iOS Design workshop on the second day.

Jeff LaMarche, co-author of the seminal Beginning iPhone 4 Development book with Dave Mark, which has been one of the best-selling books on the subject since the first edition was published in 2008. I learned how to make iPhone apps by reading Jeff's book and I'm delighted to have him presenting at Update. Jeff is going to be doing a brief "tech beat" during the conference day and he will be giving an in-depth two-day workshop on OpenGL ES. Yep, we're niche like that!

Jeremy Keith, what can I say about the man that hasn't already been said far more eloquently by those – umm – far more eloquent than I? Jeremy is web standards. He lives, breathes, and – dare I think – dreams web standards. He's also one of those rare individuals who can not only understand something to a great depth but also simplify it to the point of making other people understand it easily. As an educator myself, I know that that's a rare thing. And he does it with so much style… I blame his Irish accent. Jeremy is going to be talking to us on the conference day about how there's no "mobile web" – just one web, and many devices. There's also a high probability that I can twist his arm into moderating one of the panels. He's an awesome moderator.

Relly Annett-Baker, my dear friend and mother of two adorable little rascals whom I don't get to see nearly enough (and no, one isn't her equally talented partner, Paul Annett, who popularised that little parallax scrolling CSS thing you might have heard of). Relly also happens to harbour a very sharp mind and a most eloquent tongue with which she waxes lyrical as a top notch copywriter. While we were both presenting at the WebDirections @media conference, a year-or-so back, people commented that our sessions were so complimentary that we should do a talk together. So who better to invite to Update? Relly will be giving an inspiring – and no-doubt witty and humorous – talk on the importance of microcopy for mobile apps on the conference day.

Seb Lee-Delisle, a dear friend whom I have know for quite a few years now (are you spotting a pattern here?) He is a prolific and insanely creative digital artist and you'd be hard-pressed to live in Brighton without bumping into one of his creations: possibly an outdoor projections on a building or something (as you do). When he's not traipsing around the world speaking at conferences and teaching his workshops… well… he's in Brighton speaking at conferences and teaching his workshops! Seb will be presenting the only hands-on session at Update. On particles and physics engines of all things. In Corona. And you're expected to have your laptops with you and play along (don't worry, we'll be sending you lots of information to prepare you beforehand).

Remy Sharp, does not let his last name down. There are some people that you feel dumb next to. Not because they make you feel dumb, mind you. No, just because they just happen to be so damn smart. Remy is one of those people. Now, if he was just smart, that would be fine. But wouldn't you know it, he's also one of the hardest working web developers I know. From HTML5 Doctor, to his book with Bruce, Introducing HTML5, to releasing cool and useful stuff on a regular basis to make other developer's lives easier – the dude Does. Not. Stop. He's also a truly lovely person. There you go, you see, we don't just let anyone speak at Update – no-sir-ee. (Remy also organises his own JavaScript conference in Brighton called Full Frontal – check it out!)

Drew McCormack, knows his Core Animation. I wish I had little stories about Drew but the truth is I know him from having seen two of his talks as I was literally rushing through two NSConferences. And I was floored each time by what he showed me. Each time he left me wanting to learn more about Core Animation (and to play – there's that word again – to play with animation). Both of his talks were technical talks and both times he had my full attention for the whole thing. That doesn't happen often. And I go to a lot of conferences. And listen to a lot of talks. So that's why Drew's here. He rocks Core Animation and he's going to be teaching you how to rock it too in his workshop.

Joachim Bondo, became my hero when I read the introduction he wrote for one of his books (he has several) in which he compared the craftsmanship of watchmaking (he's also designed his own watch – it's a work of art and worth several hundred grand, I believe) with the craftsmanship of creating beautiful user experiences. As the author of Deep Green, the chess game that more famous men than I have called "the best chess game on iOS" – it's not surprising that Joachim's focus on user experience has served him well. He will be talking about that, about the humanity of what we do, and way more, during the conference day.

Cennydd Bowles, is a user experience advocate heralding from the wide world of web for whom I have a great deal of respect. He is also a fellow Brightonian and a friend (did I mention that we're very lucky to have such an amazing community here in Brighton? No? You'll just have to come down and experience it for yourself, then!) :) Cennydd is co-author of the excellent Undercover User Experience Design and he is going to be talking to us about the present and future of user experience and how it pertains to what we do during the conference day.

Evil Matt Gemmell's real name is not Evil Matt Gemmell. The real Matt Gemmell (or Matt "Legend" Gemmell as he's known to the iOS world) is gaga about UX (and quite possibly kittens, we haven't independently verified this yet). He also churns out highly useful libraries (like MGTwitterEngine, which powers my very own app, Feathers) and other delicious Cocoa-based concoctions while keeping his eye squarely on the user experience of the apps that he builds. Unfortunately, we don't have the real Matt Gemmell at Update and his evil twin is a right ass and unapologetically so. On the conference day he's going to show us how best to infuriate users and drive them crazy. It promises to be fun. (I should really slip something in here about the real Matt being a great guy but I think you get the idea.)

Marcus S. Zarra, has a confession to make. Yes, it's true, Cocoa is his girlfriend. And am I happy that she is. I learned so much from Marcus's blog while building my first two iPhone apps and I was awed by his grasp of sync-related stuff and Core Data while listening to him last year at NSConference. He's definitely one of those smarter-than-you people that you're always told to surround yourself with so, here goes! Marcus will be sharing his top tech tip with us during the conference and teaching both a one-day Introduction to Core Data workshop and a Intermediate Core Data Workshop (which you can take together as a two-day comprehensive course in Core Data).

Anna Debenham, last but definitely not in any way least, Anna is simply awesome. I could go on about her for pages but why ruin you the experience of meeting her yourself. Suffice to say that not only is she one of the most talented, hardworking, detail-oriented, and knowledgable developers I've met but she is also one of the most passionate and dedicated. I first met Anna when she was volunteering for the dConstruct conference a few years ago and, in those few years, I've watched her go on to present (beautifully, I might add) at international conferences like Future of Web Design and look a hall-full of educators square in the eye as she told them what they were doing wrong, how they were failing the next generation of geeks in the UK, and what they need to do to fix things. She is going to be giving a keynote about the importance of tech education and how we can inspire the next generation of makers in our digital world.

Well, what do you think? It is an awesome line-up, isn't it? Why not follow Sarah, Jeff, Jeremy, Relly, Seb, Remy, Drew, Joachim, Cennydd, Matt (there's also an Evil Matt Gemmell account but Matt apparently doesn't own it), Marcus, and Anna. And while you're at it, feel free to follow me too. I'm "@aral, and the conference is at @updateconf.

Panels

In the sprit of the Geek Ninja Battle night which was such a success a few months ago, we will be holding panel discussions debating technologies (web vs. native, cross-platform vs. single-platform, etc.), development tools, and mobile platforms on the conference day. Update is your chance to engage with other highly passionate people on the questions that we're all debating today.

The Royal Tickets

A friend of mine who works at MyHotel mentioned to me recently that you can hire the Royal Pavilion for events. In fact, you can apparently hire the whole place and have a private tour to boot. So I thought, "why not?" Why not splurge a little and have a royal feast with the speakers and, of course, our sponsors and special guests. I also thought, why keep the dinner small, since this is a royal occasion, so we have exactly 42 special "Royal Tickets" for sale. They. Will. Go. Fast.

If you want to take part in a private tour of the Pavilion, followed by a drinks reception in the kitchen (don't worry, we'll all fit – it is a palace, after all), and a sit-down dinner in the Banqueting Room, be sure to grab one of those tickets. It's going to be a fun evening!

Party Time

What better way to end a conference that begins at a lavish palace than with an after-party at a prestigious museum – the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery to be precise. The "A Night at the Museum" after-party will feature extended sets from the live acts you saw during the conference day as well as other curiosities (including the exhibits themselves.) 

September is Brighton time

Something special is happening in September in Brighton. A group of creative technologists, artists, and other local geeks have banded together to give birth to the Brighton Digital Festival.

With the support of my friends at Lighthouse, Wired Sussex, and Fabrica (and many, many others), we are organizing a month-long series of conferences, art exhibitions, performances, meet-ups, unconferences, and more. Update is honoured to be a part of the Brighton Digital Festival and I am happy to lend my time and support as a member of the steering committee.

It's a big geek love-fest in Brighton this September and I hope that you will join us for it.

Don't miss Update!

Update is eclectic, inspirational, informative, and passionate. It's a beautiful experience for people who love to create beautiful experiences. If you are passionate about the potential of mobile technologies and about the important role that we play, as the makers of the new everyday things, in the shaping this new future, I will look forward to seeing you at Update.

See you on September 5th!

Aral Balkan,
Curator, Update 2011