Web Directions

Reflections on the first 24 hours of the Web Direction South 2010 “Tell us what you want” survey

• By:Maxine
• Tweet: @maxine
• February 9, 2010
• Leave a response

Yesterday I launched our “Tell Us What You Want” survey for Web Directions South 2010. In essence this is a call for papers really, it’s just that we don’t like using that term as we think it makes us sound like some sort of antediluvian academic symposium, which, I’ll hope you agree, we are not :)

First up, if you haven’t taken the time to submit your thoughts on what you’d like to see at Web Directions this year, and what you’d like the event to be like, please do so — we’d love to hear from you.

Over the next few weeks, and especially after the survey closes, I’d like to publish my thoughts on interesting ideas and proposals that emerge. It’s useful for me to be structure my responses in this way, and it’s also a way to maybe hear your thoughts on my thoughts!

I’m always a bit stumped by what to do with highly polarised responses. For example when I see things like

I would also like to see more forward-​​thinking, futuristic talks. I always look forward most to the keynotes, as they help inspire me to push the field forward, rather than being mired in the minutiae of current day techniques and implementation (which I find relatively useless at a conference given that it’s far more effective to read about it online).

beside things like:

Speakers covering the web from a ‘real’ position — there’s lots of aspirational and ideal world talk at conferences, the best things I find to take away are those which are attainable, achieveable goals not just shooting for the stars. As always, it’s about finding the right mixture.

or this

I would be interested in learning the best practices for freelancers and small shops that help them stay organized, focused, and productive.

beside things like:

I’ve also felt that the last conference was more targeted towards freelancers and less to those ‘professional’ developers/​ designers who have a lot of internal politics to get through.

it’s always amusing and disheartening in equal measure. Ultimately we do the numbers on comments like this and disregard things which seem to be in the minority, or strike compromises when there really does seem to be a collection of polarised opinions on a topic. But it does always give you pause as we’re sorry to displease anyone really.

Anyone got any thoughts on what’s really going on when you get comments like that?

6 responses to “Reflections on the first 24 hours of the Web Direction South 2010 “Tell us what you want” survey”:

1. • By:Gary Barber
   • February 9th, 2010
   

   Firstly you are getting difference audience segments clearly. The I go to lots of conferences and hence want practical stuff I can use. And the I only go to WDS, so I love the future projection stuff. As you know both are right.

   However as a freelance UX person I can say that the last WDS conference wasn’t that focused on Freelancers, in fact I think there was a lack of view points from the smaller shops and freelancers, however I’m used to that. What is really being said is I want more talks on dealing with the internal politics and the like of a large project. Which is a good topic anyway.

   The last conference IMHO was very balanced, it had the vibe! Best one in a while.

   The web industry is very diverse. With that comes diverse view points. Anyway you guys do an excellent job bringing speakers from all around the world.

   But what would I know I’m not a professional designer developer as I don’t work on lots of inhouse corporate projects. ;)

2. • By:Mathew Patterson
   • February 9th, 2010
   

   I think what it really shows is that Web Directions has a really large reach in the Australian web community, and you’re seeing the breadth of interests that web workers have.

   As Gary says, what you want to see at Web Directions is very much dependent on what else you have access to. A lot of people don’t get to any other event, so they depend on Web Directions for everything.

   I don’t know that there is much to be done about it though — if we all thought the same and liked the same things the conference would be deadly dull wouldn’t it ;)

   Personally I’ve always felt like web conferences have not engaged with the people working inhouse. That’s most likely because people who have built up a profile and are willing or able to speak are rarely from inhouse web teams (excepting Flickr/​Google/​BBC type superstars).

   If it is any consolation, I can tell you the feedback we get at Campaign Monitor is often equally polarised, and in the end we have to trust our own instincts and make up our mind what direction we want to go in.

   You guys have done a consistently good job for years, so thanks for putting in the hard thinking to make it better.

3. • By:Keith Mason
   • February 9th, 2010
   

   I’ll ‘fess up — this was me…

   Speakers covering the web from a ‘real’ position — there’s lots of aspirational and ideal world talk at conferences, the best things I find to take away are those which are attainable, achieveable goals not just shooting for the stars. As always, it’s about finding the right mixture.

   I’m not an implementer. I’m also not a business owner. As someone who sits between the two, I want to drive our online products forward in achievable stages, informing the two camps as I go (and hopefully them informing me too). Not saying that the “aspirational, ideal world talk” is not inspirational — just that often it’s just not that practical to take back to use in the field/​real world for me. And that’s what I mean about finding the right mixture — balancing the combination of really good practical talks (say the Gledhill’s on SEO in 2009) against the amazing, Matt Webb-​​esque keynotes.

4. • By:Cheryl Gledhill
   • February 9th, 2010
   

   Just remember that the plural of anecdote is not data…

5. • By:Stephen Collins
   • February 10th, 2010
   

   What I think, Maxine, is that the responses show just how much depth there is in the Australian (and our near neighbors’) web scene. And that how valuable the people that come see the conference as being, especially when it’s one of few events they get to attend each year.

   Insiders, outsiders, big orgs, little orgs, bureaucracy, free wheeling, thinkers, doers. It’s a wild mix and satisfying everyone all the time is a massive challenge I don’t think you’ll surmount any time soon.

   Mantime, keep on keeping on and provide the broadest agenda you can with both practical and theoretical (with practice) focus.

6. • By:Maxine Sherrin
   • February 10th, 2010
   

   First of all, thanks to everyone for the interesting responses.

   @Gary, re catering more to freelancers in our content
   I know there are exceptions, but, it’s too easy for conference sessions like this to lame, hand-​​wavey, exercises that don’t convey anything non obvious to the audience. I just don’t think a conference like Web Directions is the place for this type of session. Web Direction is where the dedicated freelance professional will see all the latest techniques and ideas, get inspired, and hopefully make a few good connections.

   @Mathew
   I am *totally* consoled by your second to last paragraph, which describes pretty much what we do :)

   @Keith
   We try very hard to have a mix of both these things. I’m not sure that many people would like us as much if we were 100% one or the other.

   @Stephen
   Love your description of our audience, and yes, we plan to keep on keeping on!

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