Final conference keynotes are interesting affairs. Unlike an opening keynote, where you rub against fellow sardines, you miss your colleague who had to catch a plane, but you appreciate the opportunity to stretch out and synthesize final remarks.

The IA Summit, an annual event that concluded yesterday, incorporates another opportunity for synthesis – a chunk of time called “Five Minute Madness.” During this madness, anyone can say anything related to the conference experience. So you’ll often hear thanks. You’ll hear gushing. You’ll hear opportunities for volunteering. And you’ll hear thoughts on what we can do next. It’s not uncommon to hear personal stories, thoughtful reflection, and controversial thoughts.

Fewer Controversies, More Action

For the IA Summit, controversy has often surrounded the labels “information architect” and “information architecture.” Since we are an adolescent profession (moving from tween to teen), we have historically spent an inordinate amount of time defining who we are and what we do.

But, you know what? This time we didn’t spend as much time defining ourselves. Sure, we continued to talk about how labels collide, and influence our work.  But this year each attendee seemed to share a passion in structuring information and supporting human beings.  And we seemed to universally agree that we work as part of the greater UX  community.  

Which returns me to “Five- Minute Madness.” At this year’s conclusion, we heard a collective delight in the quality of the presentations and the conversations. Several speakers commented that the IA Summit is unique because we seem to have less interest in self-promotion and more interest in sharing ideas and experiences. Personally, I felt a sense of “hooray.” I felt everyone attending was celebrating the value we provide and the possibilities we offer. We seemed to accept our historical label and we rejoiced in our phenomenal community of people who care about information structure and human results.

When Madness Returns

Then came the voice of the past. A successful practitioner and respected thought leader took the microphone. He offered some personal grievances, explained to us (or so it seemed to me) that the only reason he had attended the event was for some financial gain, and returned us to a focus on how we label ourselves.  “Let’s change the label from IA Summit,” he stated. “Maybe we should just call it the Summit.”

Perhaps the speaker felt concern that the initials “IA” would drive attendees away. But the summit this year welcomed a horde of newcomers (who apparently didn’t seem bothered by the label IA Summit).  This year, for example, I met someone who said, “I’ve watched the IA community since the first Summit in Boston. I’ve always wanted to attend, and this year I had the opportunity.” I met several people who said, “I never knew there was a community of people who do the work I do and carry the passion I feel. I’m so happy to be here.” And I chatted with many old-timers like me who said, “This conference has been among the best yet.”

I celebrate our IA-ocity

As I listened to this seasoned practitioner express his madness, I wondered, “Who says IA always has to stand for Information Architecture?

Certainly, the conference is an intrinsically accessible summit. It’s the summit where I get to visit with intelligent acquaintances and share passion with informed activists. Our community of practioners certainly creates an impressively articulate summit and an irresistibly amusing summit. And since I value action, I’ll borrow from Dan Klyn’s belief in our integrated skillset and celebrate integrated achievement. But most of all, I register for this event year-after-year because it is an intoxicatingly authentic summit.

So if you live in the past and worry that a conference label will thwart any chance of personal or professional accomplishment, look around you. Information professionals do care about structure. We are passionate about applying the ideas we learn and continuing the relationships we've built.

Thanks IAs and admirers.  Thanks IA Summit volunteers and staffers.  I look forward to IA Summit 2012 and the inspired action it will generate.