I went to Houston TechFest, today. If you stopped by my impromptu lunch-time presentation, I mentioned each of these topics:

• Douglas Crockford’s seminal talks on ECMAScript
• The current ECMAScript standard - ECMA 262 v5.1
• The upcoming ECMAScript standard - ECMA 262 v6
• The traceur transpiler
• node.js - server-side ECMAScript
• caniuse.com - a reference for browser support for advanced features
• WebGL - 3D graphics in the browser

But, not a presenter

For the first year, instead of presenting at the Houston TechFest, I sponsored it. Just me as my company curtissimo. I found an interesting reaction to my sponsorship as I sat with @bryanray in my unadorned booth:

disbelief

That’s right. Most people came by to ask what I was selling. Or what I was trying to get from them. They didn’t understand that I just wanted to sponsor the TechFest because I really appreciate Houston TechFest.

And, now, I wonder about the implications of this. It seems to me that, for whatever reason, something this excellent only gets sponsored by companies trying to sell you something. And, that kind of sucks.