If you live in or near Seattle, try to make it BarCamp Seattle this weekend. Common Craft is a sponsor - I'll see you there.
What's BarCamp? I suppose you want an explanation in Plain English? I'll try, but here's the Wikipedia page.
People have gotten tired of the normal conference format. Speakers on a stage, everyone else quiet. Everyone knows the best stuff happens over lunch or in the hallways. BarCamp is an event that happens in cities around the world that offers a different, more open and free flowing take on conferences - known as an unconference. People (often geeks, entrepreneurs, artists, etc.) come together for 2 days. During that time, participants volunteer to contribute in some way. Often these are workshops, talks, demos, discussions, etc. BarCamp is all about having fun and doing what feels right.
Here are the details:
Sat Jun 13, 10am-5pm.
Sun Jun 14 10am-1pm.
Adobe Conference Center
801 North 34th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
Follow @barcampseattle on Twitter and use #bcs09 in your tweets.