Fun and informative few days in Newburyport, MA

I just got back from the Firebrand Technologies user conference (by the way, check out their new website—I love it). There were over 100 attendees from university presses, trade houses, trading partners, and vendors. It was one of the most energetic and highly participatory conferences I've attended. Some highlights:

• Fran's opener when he said that he was leaving Quality Solutions behind—you got us, Fran!—only to go on to announce that QSI is now Firebrand Technologies
• getting to meet the rest of the Firebrand team
• the developer Q&A session
• Doug's TMM Tips & Tricks session
• meeting colleagues from other presses and publishing-related companies
• and, of course, the website session with Brock

I also managed to get some shopping in. Fran had warned us that it would be cold, but I unwisely chose to believe weather.com and didn't dress nearly warm enough. I ended up buying two warm sweaters (and a few other less practical items).