![](/images/homepage/x-com-1.jpg)
The x.commerce Magento Innovate Developer Conference 2011
I've had my current vehicle for almost 11 years now. Back in 2011, I attended the Magento Innovate conference where they handed out these x.com stickers at the Alumni tables (for people that had been to previous Magento events). I stuck it to my driver's side sun visor in 2011 and it's still hanging around.
![x.com Magento Innovate 2011](/images/homepage/IMAG1669.jpg)
Day 1 registration
![Hallway](/images/homepage/IMAG1712.jpg)
The hallway outside of the various sessions.
![Registration](/images/homepage/IMAG1714.jpg)
There were a surprisingly large amount of developers at this conference.
![The stage](/images/homepage/IMAG1724.jpg)
Packed house for the keynote speakers.
![Developer lecture](/images/homepage/IMAG1795.jpg)
The definite high point of the whole event for me was the programming class taught by Vinai Kopp and Ben Marks!
In a lot of ways, I enjoyed Magento Innovate 2011 much more than the more recent Vegas-based Magento Imagine events. Make no mistake, Magento knows how to put together a conference! I've been to two Magento Imagine events in Vegas and I have to say that they are truly exceptional. However, from a developer standpoint, I thought Magento Innovate offered more directly to developers. It was a place to learn and was the introduction of the Magento U certifications. Good times.
![Divider bar graphic](/images/homepage/divider-bar.png)
Side Quest: Visit SecondLife HQ
Since I was in San Francisco, I took a 2 mile walk from my hotel down to Linden Labs, the creators of SecondLife! I have been a member since 2007 and really enjoy that environment and working in LSL whenever time permits, which hasn't been all that much lately.
This friendly person was unlocking the door so I told him how much I liked SecondLife. Turns out he was a Linden! A Linden is one of SecondLife's in-world administrators. It was a real pleasure chatting with him and he was kind enough to take my picture in front of the sign.
![Linden](/images/homepage/IMAG1623.jpg)
![Sean at SecondLife HQ](/images/homepage/lindenlabs.jpg)
Standing in front of SecondLife World HQ in San Francisco.