On Monday, I returned from the NEXT No. 6 conference in Aarhus, Denmark.  For those of you who’ve never heard of or attended this event, I would highly recommend it (though it’s not exactly around the corner for most).

Held in an old power plant on the Aarhus harbor (see photo above), the weekend brought together a fascinating cross section of artists, writers, geeks, business folks and government-types – all of them focused on promoting really exciting future-based technology. The BUG presentation was well-received and I had some great discussions afterward – I was still gabbing with attendees at 2AM over beers and at local concerts! In the end, that’s why I attend these events – the people and the endless, engaging flow of ideas.

The conference organizers did a superb job – everything ran like a Swiss Danish watch – and I’m sure they could make good money just consulting others on how to run a great event. I expect the presentations to be made available on their site and I would recommend checking them all out. Already looking forward to next year!

In a few hours, I’ll be heading to Aarhus, Denmark to speak at the Nordic Exceptional Trendshop, aka NEXT. Hosted by Innovation Lab, this year’s NEXT is the 6th annual showcase of emerging technologies from technology incubators and research houses around the world.

Ken and I had a great time at FOSDEM in February, and I’m excited to return to Europe and present BUG in the company of a distinguished roster of visionaries and thought-leaders. If you’re attending NEXT this year, I’ll be presenting the potential of customizable hardware in my MAKE YOUR OWN! talk on Friday at 1:40pm local time.

Expect a blog post or two from me at the show, in addition to a few tweets and photos throughout. And if there are any Danish fans of BUG that want to sync up, let me know by e-mailing peter [a] buglabs [d] net!

In a few hours, Bug Labs’ very own Peter and Ken will cross the Atlantic as they head to Brussels for FOSDEM ‘09, the Free and Open Source Software Development European Meeting. This is our first time at the event, but by no means does that mean we’ll be sitting back and drinking glass after glass of tasty Belgian beer all weekend. Ken is scheduled to give not just one, but two, presentations: one, a lightning talk on “An Introduction to BUG,” and the other, an hour-long session on “Hacking with Modular Hardware.”

So if you’re in Brussels, swing by the BUG sessions to say ‘hey,’ and you’ll have a chance to take home one of several BUGbundles we’re giving away at the event. And stop by the Delirium Cafe on Friday to tip a few jars with the guys during Beer Distribution 3.1. Hope to see you there!