Web Essentials ’05: Remote Edition
Last year I reported that Web Essentials 04 was a conference that I was able to “attend remotely” with the help of photos and transcripts. This year, the Web Essentials ’05 crew have raised the bar one more notch when it comes to web standards and accessibility conferences – WE 05 will be podcast so that you can join us from around the world. Great stuff from a fantastic organizing committee!
I’m not sure what will be done in the way of transcripts, but you may find speakers’ presentations making their way on to the web (I’ll be posting mine). Add flickr to the mix, and that’s a pretty good overall experience in anyone’s book.
15 Responses
Comment by matt sawkill — Sep 24 2005 @ 10:40 pm
a good experience indeed – i’m starting to question why i’m taking time off work and paying hundreds of dollars to be there….
Comment by john F Allsopp — Sep 25 2005 @ 1:10 am
Hi Matt,
I do appreciate your concerns. However.
nothing will remotely compare with being there – seeing the presentations, meeting with yor peers, networking, meeting with the speakers. I’d like to think that listening to some mp3s and seeing some slides online would be the most pale carbon copy of these amazingly, knowledgeable talented entertaining speakers (I’ve seen them all present before, they will knock your socks off).
This year we sold out, so its a little something for those who missed out too.
It’s also a permanent record of some of the most interesting, talented speakers and professionals in our industry, something to look back on in years to come.
After last year a lot of people requested it (those who came) so that they could revisit things they heard later. You can concentrate on what the speakers have to say, knowing you can go back to their
We also want to show the world just how fine a show we can put on down here – we have 40 or so coming from outside Australia, but many many people can’t make it – or maybe next year they’ll think – man that looked good last year, this year I will go.
If we felt we were short changing you who are coming to the conference we would definitely not have made the decision. We go to and speak at a lot of conferences, and many if not most of them these days have podcasts, presentations online, even video (SxSW). Yet, I’ve almost never watched or listened to those, and when I do, I know it is nothing like being there.
Again, apologies if you feel we might be short changing you. We did put alot of thought into the decision, and felt for the reasons outlined it was a good one.
john
Comment by Andrew K — Sep 25 2005 @ 4:52 pm
Having seen one of John’s highly animated presentations before, I can assure you that the podcast will be far from equivalent ;)
3 days and counting… See y’all in Sydney! :D
Comment by Ben Buchanan — Sep 25 2005 @ 8:37 pm
I’ve attended a conference in the past where IRC was thrown into the mix; and that was brilliant. With some willing scribes relating material not covered by the slides, we had questions from people around the world.
Still, I’m glad I’ll be at WE05 in the flesh… three more sleeps! ;)
Comment by Kitta — Sep 27 2005 @ 8:13 am
I really wish I could have attended this year, it would be great to meet everyone, maybe next year. :)
Comment by Derek Featherstone — Sep 27 2005 @ 3:00 pm
@Andrew K and Ben: Looking forward to meeting up with you both!!
@Kitta: I’m crushed. I thought for sure I’d get to meet you, live and in person :(
Comment by Miles Burke — Oct 01 2005 @ 7:13 am
Derek, was a blast (and an honour) to meet you, hope the rest of your stay is good, and see you next year. :)
Comment by Cam — Oct 03 2005 @ 6:04 am
I too, enjoyed meeting and having a beer with you, Derek–many thanks for coming out and sharing your knowledge with us.
Hope you enjoyed the Grand Final as well, even though the Tigers won (bleh!).
Comment by Amit Karmakar — Oct 03 2005 @ 12:14 pm
Lovely meeting you Derek. Still rummaging through miles of photos, some cool ones coming up soon :) not to mention Andrew K’s desktop :)
Comment by woowoowoo — Oct 04 2005 @ 8:24 pm
Derek, WE05 was great and for me at least, your presentation was one of the most useful. I hope I can bring a lot of what you espouse to my work.
Just one thing… I believe you skipped a part of your presentation which was going to deal with likert scales. These sorts of questions in forms are probably best handled with select menus, but many clients want to retain the visual metaphor of the array of radio buttons, so I’m struggling to come up with a good visual approach.
To see what I’m up against, check out this survey, designed and managed for our university by an outside marketing consultancy. I’d hate to hear that through a screenreader!
Eeek! – I’ve just noticed the preview of this post is updating as I type! Cool! I’m off to to a bit of source viewing! Gah! is it really that simple?
Comment by Mark Harris — Oct 05 2005 @ 10:46 pm
Yo, Derek. Really enjoyed your presentation and meeting you over a beer. Glad you got to the game and, unlike Cam, glad the Tigers took it! Remember, retiring from football is a show of respect to your body ;-)
Comment by Cedric — Oct 21 2005 @ 4:09 pm
I’d like to participate one year to the Web Essentials, maybe the next year I hope. See you next year if I am able to join us.
Comment by David — Dec 08 2005 @ 10:01 pm
Web Essentials ’06 should take place in september 2006. There is an email and a phone number to get informations about the event.
Email: info@webessentials.org
Phone: +61 2 9365 5007
Comment by john F Allsopp — Sep 24 2005 @ 10:19 pm
Hey Derek,
I think you’ll find most if not all of the presentations will find their way online soon. I know Tanteks will be there under a creative commns license, I’ll have mine there soon, and I am sure many others will too.
john