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A hectic week of Respond 17 – three days in Sydney, three days in Melbourne and one day in Brisbane – has wrapped up, and what an amazing event it was.

Our great thanks to all the speakers, including our international visitors who understandably find it onerous to travel all the way here, especially in an often already crowded speaking schedule.

I’m confident they are all glad they came, and they certainly all made a very strong impression on those who were there. So, many sincere thanks to Mina, Sarah, Vitaly, Elizabeth and Cordelia. You have all won many new fans here.

And I’d like to thank just as much our local speakers, a real mix of experienced presenters, those with a few talks under their belt and novices giving their first actual conference talks: Rebecca, Michael, Adem, Mike R, Mandy, Brett, Wayne, Mike S, Shafik, Laura and Warwick.

One of the hallmarks I look for in a successful Web Directions event is whether the speakers bond as a group – because if they do, the spirit of the conference soars to greater heights – and it’s fair to say the Respond 17 speakers certainly did bond, with quite a few new personal and professional friendships formed.

And that’s true among the attendees, too. Great to see so many people being so social with each other in real life, face to face.

Now, Ricky has already started work on the Wrap magazine for Respond 17, but if you need a quick summary right now, you won’t find any better than Ben Buchanan’s Big Stonking Post™.

Here’s a few happy snaps from the Sydney event.