At first, it was to create the kind of conference Jeffrey and I would want to attend, or to speak at. There were a lot of shows back then, but none were speaking to the designer/developer with experience and a passion for web done right, and few if any had the kind of respect for attendees and speakers that we thought there should be.
Things have come a long way since then; a lot of the shows we were side-eyeing back then no longer exist, for example. Our motivation is still what it was, but over the years it’s expanded a bit. We both have a deep passion not just for the web, but for all design. UX and design in general are becoming more and more important, as we think about desktop and mobile and physical interfaces (e.g. Amazon Echo) and watches and more.
How systems of interaction are built matter more than ever. We’re committed to pushing the state of that art forward, and . So we’re more than just web now. Web is always a big part of what we’re talking about, but it’s not just a web conference any more. It’s a lot more than that, and we love how it brings a few hundred people (never more than that) together to hear what’s coming next, and more importantly talk with each other about what they’re doing and looking to do next. The community is really amazing. Just that by itself would be more than motivation enough.