Ask HN: What is the best developer conference talk you saw in 2011?

That's easy : Simple made easy by Rich Hickey

Strangeloop - great speakers (including my favorite keynote in years by Rich Hickey http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy) and great variety (https://thestrangeloop.com/sessions). I'm also happy that all of the presentations will (eventually) be available on the web (https://thestrangeloop.com/news/strange-loop-2011-video-sche...).

I'll definitely be attending in 2012.

One of the most inspiring talks I saw this year was Sarah Allen's talk about teaching programming to kids: "Easy as Pie" (http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Easy-as-Pie-Teaching-Code...). A month later I found myself teaching my first programming class to kids and I'm hoping to do some more early next year.

Strange Loop 2011, "We really don't know how to compute", Gerald Sussman (http://www.infoq.com/presentations/We-Really-Dont-Know-How-T...).

That's not entirely fair though, insofar as I'm a sucker for a Sussman talk.

Beyond that, I'd have to say Sam Aaron's Overtone presentation @ Clojure Conj 2011.

At the moment, it strikes me that the obvious common element of both talks and speakers are their absolutely infectious enthusiasm for their respective specialties.