Chris Messina

Chris Messina says he has lived a life “peppered with serendipity.” A native New Englander, he’s also lived a life that truly embodies the spirit of the internet - a place where everyone has an equal voice, where democracy enables true societal progress. At least in theory. Over Failla Pinot Noir, Chris discusses his high school days in New Hampshire, battling his school to ensure the Gay/Straight Alliance had a place on its website (a battle which almost cost him his diploma), helping develop web standards with the launch of Mozilla, using pioneering social media tactics to launch BarCamp, and how no matter what he does, it’s about continuing in a career he 100% believes in.

What you’ll learn:

• The challenges of web design in the early days of the Internet
• The story behind the invention of the hashtag (#)
• How web standards have remarkably improved the state of product creation
• How his event, Barcamp, helped launch Techcrunch, Pandora and Flickr