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Rob Pegoraro @[email protected] · 2024-06-21 · 12:09 UTC

TORONTO

Six years after the Collision conference put this city on my list of regular travel destinations, its organizers are taking it off that map. As Web Summit announced last week, next year will see this event move to Vancouver, with the “Collision” moniker retired in favor of Web Summit Vancouver.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen Web Summit’s North American conference swap cities. My introduction to it came with its move from Las Vegas to New Orleans starting in 2016 (which also began what’s become a long streak for me of speaking at that Irish company’s events), and I was a little sad to learn two years later that Collision would move to Toronto.

But two weeks after Collision concluded its stay in NOLA, I got my absurdly-overdue introduction to Canada’s largest city when I flew there to moderate two panels at Access Now’s RightsCon tech-policy event. I had to wonder what had taken me so long. I also had to add a Presto card to my collection of transit stored-value cards, knowing that I’d be back for Collision over what I thought would be the next three years.

Three years turned into six because the pandemic left the in-Toronto edition of Collision scratched in favor of digital events in 2020 and 2021, but the trips before and after provided many more opportunities to deepen my acquaintance of this city.

My walking mileage has easily gone into the dozens just from walks to and from Collision’s Exhibition Place venue, I’ve gotten the hang of the TTC’s streetcars and subways as side events have taken me into the city’s non-skyscraper neighborhoods, I’ve seen those skyscrapers grow over the years, I’ve added the Rogers Centre to my list of ballparks visited and finally got around to enjoying the view from the CN Tower, and I’ve had a lot of outstanding meals that have still not featured enough poutine.

Web Summit won’t be treating me to future adventures here, instead hopefully treating me to the same in Vancouver–a city I only know from passing through it before and after an epic ski trip to Whistler in 2004. But now that I now know how easily you can get to Toronto from D.C. (barring flight delays and cancellations that extended this trip by another day), I will be looking for different reasons to return here for work. Or just for fun.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/06/21/bye-for-now-toronto/

#Canada #Collision #NewOrleans #Ontario #PrestoCard #Toronto #Vancouver #WebSummit #YTZ #YYZ