Attendee-Centric Presentations
September 8, 2005 at 3:56 PM
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So I have been given the opportunity to host another panel or presentation at SXSW Interactive like I have in the past four or so years. This year I wanted to do things a little different. I want to make this panel attendee centric. To start with I want to hear what you, Digital Web Magazine's readers, are interested in learning about. I want to hear your suggestions about how to go about organizing the presentation or panel as far as things like should it be more like a workshop, a round table, a discussion, a lecture, etc. Who should be presenting it, give me names (no email addresses please). Now the only requirement I am going to make is that you put some serious thought into it (that's right, "do a panel on CSS" isn't going to cut it) and it must be focused on some aspect of the professional web industry. That said, post your feedback in the comments for this thread.
Comments
Ok, lots of ideas coming in via IM, but no one posting them as a comment. Ideas such as "going pro 101" ...which would cover things like freelancing vs. co-op vs. corp... bootstrapping vs. investors vs. alternative methods of funding, etc... not sure if that peeks any interest. Another idea was non-linear video... I could do that, though I am not so sure how this would fit into SXSWi.
The impact of social networking would make a good panel. Considering the 26M users of mySpace, as an example. that's a demographic we don't spend much time discussing, but it's nearly every 20 year old in the US and they just got bought for 580M. The site is the worst design you've ever seen, but the user don't care.
It's interesting that you mention the freelancing/bootstrapping/investors thing. The first thing that popped into my head was social networking etiquette. Basically, how do you build a social network? What's appropriate and what's not? Are tools like LinkedIn effective? In other words, How to Make Friends and Have Them Help You. :)
Going solo seems to be a pretty hot topic right now. With lots of fairly high profile people leaving their day jobs, it can be encouraging for those who want to setup shop on their own. At the same time though, there's plenty that you'r enot aware of until you've tried it once.
How about a panel on life without the internet? It could include stories from people talking about how they accomplished tasks pre-internet and also how and why they currently step away from the computer. How can you be productive without a computer or other gadget? How can that help your online work and play?
Jonathan's suggestion for "how do you build a social network" gets my vote ... my LinkedIn network slowly grows, but I'm not sure how it's really helping me / how best to use it. As far as your panel being attendee-centric, Nick, maybe you could round up some people (and not just the usual suspects/household names) who could share their stories of success with social networking?
I could, but I am just not convinced that social networking is really that great of a topc. I mean I have accounts on Connection, LinkedIn, 43 Things, etc... and none of them really provide me with any solid value. I guess that could be because I am more of a connector than a ...umm.. node? Anyway, I'll think about it some more but I am probably going to pass on that one.
Based on the stuff you've published recently, maybe the business of design/UX would be a good topic? (I'm sure someone's got Web 2.0 covered.) Topics could include finding good clients, managing the difficult ones, building a reputation, boutique vs. full service, marketing, hiring, etc.
September 10, 2005 at 10:12 AM
I agree, I think Web 2.0 is going to be pretty well covered (I'd be shocked if it wasn't). Besides, I am not really the resident Web 2.0 expert anyway. I like the business focused topics, but I think I am going to keep it more broad than just UX and Design... web business in general as a web professional would be the focus.
