This was my first Google I/O as an attendee. It was definitely a great experience and I'll be going again for the foreseeable future. I learned a lot, met a lot of great people (not just Googlers, though they were all great), and I got to see some really impressive work from the Sandboxes.

This year's I/O conference sold out in less than an hour. Luckily, I was able to get in during the madness and also managed to snag myself into the I/O Bootcamp. I already had some expectations and pre-conceptions about the conference, but those all changed.

Lesson #1 - Attend Bootcamp

The Bootcamp was great. I was able to get into all the sessions I had planned on attending and also get some great insight. It was definitely worth it, given that only a small 100 or so can get in, compared to the 5,000 plus that were at I/O. Bootcamp was not only a great way to get up to speed on some things, but it was also a great way to get to chat with the Googlers where the odds are not as hectic.

Lesson #2 - Go to Office Hours

By far the least utilized part of the entire conference was Office Hours. I saw tons of developers walking around and very few actually took advantage of the Office Hours. Next year, I definitely plan on bringing along all my problems to the Android, AppEngine, Chrome and GoogleTV teams.

Lesson #3 - Don't be a Jerk

I heard quite a few people who only went for the free stuff. That's really not what you should be going for. I was also in a session where a developer was just plain rude to the speakers due to something that was outside of their area and not in their control. If you have a problem with Google's decision on which library they choose to use, talk to the developers at Office Hours and don't cause a scene during a session. It's very unprofessional and you do not get any sympathy from the room full of developers.

Lesson #4 - Pick Yours Sessions Wisely

All of the sessions this year were live streamed and recorded. They're now all available on YouTube to be watched. Everyone knew that beforehand, so going to the sessions, was mostly making sure to pick the ones you were most interested in, and also the ones with the speakers you wanted to talk to and ask questions. Most sessions also had giveaways, such as t-shirts, socks, stickers, etc. Some sessions occur during lunch time and can cause people to run around to the lunch room and back. Pretty much every session will be packed.

Lesson #5 - Visit the Sandboxes

Probably the second least utilized area. There were always people interacting with the sandboxes, but there were times when I would see a bunch of them just trying to get people's attention. You shouldn't just brush them off because they're not Google. In fact, there are some really great conversations you can have with them. For example, what challenges they have run into while getting their apps integrated with the Google APIs and how they got around it.

Overall Thoughts

I got a lot more out of I/O than I had expected. I had gone primarily to get better at Android development, learn Google Go and get more information out of AppEngine. I had already expected to do some networking and that's something I will work more on as well. The energy, excitement and enthusiasm of being there is just amazing. The price was a steal for the amount of information and networking. It'll likely go up a bit next year, but that's more than fine. I look forward to more great future I/O events.