Web Directions South 2007
Hard to believe, but it’s already been six months since Web Directions South 2006. Which, if you do your sums right, means only 6 months until Web Directions South 2007. That’s right, plans are already well under way for the next installment.
Each year we’ve tried to get a little bit more comprehensive, with space for more attendees, more chances to get together with your peers, meet old friends and make new ones, share ideas, maybe even get a job or find a new expert.
While we aren’t quite ready to spill the beans on everything that will be happening with Web Directions South this year, we can tell you:
It will be on - September 25th to 29th 2007, with two days of workshops (6 in total, covering a broad range of design, development, and other web related issues), a 2 day conference and expo, as well as a social day at the beach, not unlike our recent Whistler trip for Web Directions North - with surfing lessons, beach volleyball, and much more.
This year the conference takes place in Darling Harbour, Australia’s premier conference centre.
We won’t be neglecting the traditional WDS focus of standards based web design and development, accessibility and usability, but there’ll also be a strong focus on emerging areas of interest including
- Designing and developing for the Mobile Web
- Developing Communities and social networks
- Rich Internet Applications
- Startups
Plus, we’re introducing a whole new track focussing on strategic and management issues, such as building and managing great web teams, legal issues associated with accessibility and intellectual property, search engine optimization and more. All from industry leaders with a tonne of experience in these areas.
In all, there’ll be nearly 30 speakers, with a dozen or so internationals, including 4 international keynote speakers with incredible track records across a broad spectrum of the web, to inspire, entertain and educate, and a breakfast with someone who literally changed the way the web works for all of us.
In short, if you are a web professional, Sydney in late September is the place to be.
We’ll have more news over the coming weeks, and you’ll be able to book your places from early May, with great discounts for those who get in early (so start saving now, for about the price of a cup of coffee a day). Subscribe to our RSS feed for news as it happens, and we’ll see you in September!
Maxine and John
[tags]wds, web directions, wds07[/tags]
Dmitry Baranovskiy
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:23 PM
Yay! (what else to say?)
Gary Barber
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:33 PM
This sounds just so cool. So many streams (sounds like three to me). A perfect week of Web Directions goodness. I just can’t wait!
Nathanael
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:34 PM
is liking sound of beach volleyball - I’m there!
(has got to stop talking Twitter-mode)
Velvet Unravelled » Blog Archive » Web Directions South 2007 is coming! April 3rd, 2007 at 12:54 PM
[…] If you know me or have been reading this weblog for a while, you might remember that I was lucky enough to attend the fantastic Web Directions South last year. I learned volumes while having a rather a good time and so I’m very excited to see that plans are already underway for this year’s event in September. There’s a whole bunch of different topics going to be included in the agenda covering a wide range of topics on all things web. If you want the full scoop, you can read it for yourself at the official Web Directions 2007 announcement. You can also subscribe to the Web Directions feed. […]
Nick Cowie
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:55 PM
Yay, I will see you both (and most other Australian web geeks) in September. A little unsure about the beach day, banned from volleyball ever since I broke somebody’s leg.
Jan Brašna
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:13 PM
Hmmm … is Chez going to teach kite boarding? I’d be totally sold then.
John
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Jan,
there’s a thought.
Sadly on the beach we are going to, Kiteboarding is not allowed. But I am sure we can sort out something.
john
Gary Barber
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:27 PM
Kiteboarding - I’ld be in that!, Surfin’ I can do here.
corporate nightmare
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:51 PM
could we have plenty of notice of ‘early bird’ price cut-off dates? those of us unfortunate enough to have to go through 2 bosses and a finance department to get approval for these things need time time time.
could we not have extra events added after the ‘early bird’ cut-off dates? going through finance once is bad enough; it would send them all insane to make another request for an extra event at what is essentially the same gig.
i’ll be there with bells on, but will give the beach a miss.
Drew Robinson
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:53 PM
Yes! I’ll be there too, not missing this one.
Also not sure about the beach volley, but will give it a go. Kite surfing sounds cool, hope we can sort something out for that.
Nick: broken legs in beach volley? I didn’t think it was a contact sport! :-)
drew
John
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:57 PM
Early Bird pricing will end June 30 - so start hassling your bosses now! The additional events, workshops, everything will be announced and available at the same time in early May.
One idea we have thought about is a “gold pass”, which would include everything, (two workshops, the breakfast, the social day) at a nice discount. Does that help people, or just add to the confusion?
john
Scott G
April 3rd, 2007 at 2:18 PM
anyone want to contact my work and get me some ‘workdays’ on the beach and I will teach you kiteboarding :-)
If people are seriously wanting to learn kiteboarding Chez and I could definitely set something up with the local kite shop! It’s a very addictive sport :-)
Scott.
Molt:n Core » Web Directions South 2007 announced April 3rd, 2007 at 2:20 PM
[…] Fantastic news, Web Directions South 2007 has just been announced for September 25 - 29 2007. […]
Cheryl
April 3rd, 2007 at 2:23 PM
I second the kiteboarding thing, can definitely organise to get some instructors if it’s windy, nothing like seeing the sky full of flying geeks…
Gary Barber
April 3rd, 2007 at 2:34 PM
Gold Pass - good idea.
Drew Robinson
April 3rd, 2007 at 2:39 PM
+1 for the Gold Pass idea John (real gold though? :-).
drew
Steven Hambleton
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:32 PM
Fingers crossed as this could be my first event :)
I should know by June 30th…
Yes I think a gold pass is a great idea.
Jason Foss
April 4th, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Missed out last year after attending the previous two. Gotta start saving… Fingers crossed!
Won’t the beach be a bit cold in Sydney in September? :P
John
April 4th, 2007 at 11:42 AM
That’s why the good lord invented wetsuits!
john
Cindy Li
April 7th, 2007 at 7:30 AM
So now I need to practice how to spike on the court? Another thing to learn :P but it’s ok since I just found out I am 5’ 3”. A whole inch taller that should help the volleyball game. ;)
Stephen Collins
May 9th, 2007 at 7:34 PM
The week before I go to the US for three weeks on family holiday! Noooo!
Oh boy do I have some negotiating to do…