Besides the big conferences in Human-Computer Interaction, UIST and CHI, a few smaller ones have established themselves over the last decade. One of them is the 'nordic' CHI: NordiCHI.
This year's NordiCHI was my first one, and a number of differences become apparent in comparison with the big CHI. Being located in the scandinavian context, the role of participatory design and ethnographic methods is way bigger. Secondly, it is significantly smaller, making it easier (similar to UIST) to get to know people more intensely. Thirdly, the focus on the social programme seems to be bigger - maybe it was just the location, but with 300 HCI researchers, swimming in a geysir/volcaone pool, networking was never so relaxed and easygoing.
Content-wise, I saw a number of very weak papers. That always surprises me, the conference has an acceptance rate of about 30% - I would have rather lowered the acceptance rate than taking in these papers. The presented systems appear pointless, the methods used to evaluate them are awkwardly misused, and the presentations of these were poor. It was entertaining, but in a sad way.
Luckily, there were a few bright stars. I really enjoyed Florian Block's work on using a mouse alongside a laptop touch pad, Raphael Wimmer's work on a curved working environment (a horizontal multitouch table, that seemlessly curves up to a vertical projection screen), and David Merrill's keynote. It was also very inspiring, he presented Sifteo, a company that arose out of his PhD thesis: Siftables. He put in some nice connections to Heideggerian philosophy, musical expression and social play.
Lastly, there was "Erotic Life in HCI" - a workshop I participated in. We were only a small group, each of us presented some work in the area, and we brainstormed about the chapters for a potential publication. Erotic Life in HCI is strikingly under-researched. That may change in the future, and I am excited to be involved.