Sometimes I think I’m not a real developer. I don’t like cats, loud music, television, or science fiction. I like beer, but when I go to a bar I order just one or two at the most, not five or six. I can’t stay up till 3 a.m. I’m a slow typist. Menlo bothers me because the * is too low.

But when I go to NSConference, I become part of a fraternity that has a rollicking good time.

What if, instead of attending the Atlanta conference last week, I had taken a cruise, or gone to the Olympics, or gone skiing in the Alps or toured the world’s top museums—would I have had any more fun than I had hanging out with Cocoa developers? What if I had tickets to the funniest play on Broadway—would I have laughed more loudly than I did at the Cocoa Rumble? What if I had set aside a few days for quiet study of Cocoa documentation—would I have learned any more?

It goes without saying that the answer to all these questions is an emphatic No. I don’t know how Scotty and his team do it, but they’ve come up with a conference formula that packs a couple of days full of fun and material. It was rather like the time I got to sit right next to Tommy Emanuel while he was playing guitar. I could see his hands, and I could hear the music, but I couldn’t believe that all that music came from just those two hands. At NSConference, I couldn’t believe I was having such a good time and learning so much at the same time.

NSConference 2011? Sign me up now.