Meg Hourihan:

"To date, many web services discussions have focused on the creation, rather than the implementation, of services. This session takes a user-centered approach and examines what can be done with existing services to easily add functionality to a website. Meg Hourihan avoids the technical vocabulary of web services (UDDI, WSML, etc.) to focus on ease-of-use and practicality. We will also discuss the real world repercussions for a site that depends on external sources for content and/or functionality."

This is exactly the down-to-earth perspective on web services that's been missing so far.

Update: Meg's slides.