Notes of a Web Design Freelancer

Tanner - 12th of April 2010

It’s great to read about an honest opinion of these conferences. So often the opinion web designers hear is biased or straight from the horses mouth (a.k.a. from the event sponsors or speakers themselves).

The point of a conference such as the FoWD event is to 1) Help newbies understand what’s going on in the industry and 2) Make it easy to connect with people who are doing things in the industry.

You may have to look at your “introvert” statement a little harder.

Being able to connect with other designers, get their contact information (not just their web URL or Twitter username, but how about a private cell number and such) is something you can only get at a conference, especially if you live far away. :)

Lakshmi Mareddy - 12th of April 2010

Kai, $200 is still cheap. Most “cons” in the US are around $2000.

Fully agree with you on the usefulness of such conferences. I would like to see more of industry sponsorship for these events, and almost negligible payment from individuals.

Like you said, if it was marketing you are looking at, you could just farm the emails/call them up.

Hmmm.. At one point I thought it would be glamorous to be in such places, but these days i am a stoic believer of “let your work speak for itself”

One would think its the recession that is making me think like this! :)

Russell Bishop - 12th of April 2010

It’s nice to hear a fresh voice on these matters. I’ve personally attended FOWD in 2009 and SXSWi 2010, both of which were enjoyable, well-organised events.

But I don’t think they’re ever what they say on the tin. The Future of Web Design, for example, did not teach me anything on the future, infact, nor of the past. I still enjoyed the event’s “networking opportunities” and the such like, but at the end of the day I couldn’t fully justify the day out of the offiice.

I suppose though there are an equal number of folk who feel these conferences are a god-send.

Justin - 12th of April 2010

I’m not sure how much I actually learn from these events; considering I’m on the web everyday at work keeping up with the latest. But what I do think these conferences do provide is the fact that it’s with actual people in the flesh instead of the usual digital version. Not to say that the digital version is not also good, but getting away from the computer and getting out there is all the more real and worth while for me. Although, I have to admit if it wasn’t for my employer paying for it I doubt I’d be able to afford it on my own.

Michael Aleo - 12th of April 2010

I agree completely. I was at FOWD in NYC and aside from Christina Halvorson’s content workshop, left feeling completely underwhelmed. A far cry from the (more expensive, and more expansive) An Event Apart I went to in San Francisco in 2007.

This is going to sounds horrible, but I’ll say it anyway. The people sitting around me weren’t really a design savvy bunch – a junior dev, design student, high school student, marketing manager, etc. I think they got way more out of this conference than I did.

I’ll skip FOWD next time around, and look forward to An Event Apart in DC this fall.

Cheers.

Dan Denney - 12th of April 2010

This is a great question and something that all conference organizers should take to heart.

I would have to agree that content wise, there is not much difference between presentations and a long blog post or tutorial.

If you had to rate conferences as a direct skill-training resource, they would probably rate pretty low.

The vast majority of us learn by applying techniques. So, it would usually require an interactive workshop to really dive into learning something.

What conferences offer that blog posts or tutorials don’t, is energy.

There is something truly inspirational about being in a room filled with a hundred or hundreds of like-minded people. Discussion, interaction and sharing are the primary benefits of attending.

They also offer a networking opportunity, but not in the “walk around handing out business cards” kind of way.

These events lead to collaborative sites, apps, Rails Rumble teams, etc. from people that started talking about their jobs or experience or the topic. (Don’t tell your boss this, but they also lead to job offers)

Is there back-patting, egos and fanfare? Of course, but that is true with any social setting. The speakers at your local meetup or Barcamp end up with “fans” right after they get done with their talk.

The best trend that I have noticed in the growth of events is that they are becoming targeted to certain levels of skill. So, FOWD may be entry-level to intermediate, while AEA is more top-level.

Posts like this are necessary to keep things in check and to be sure that we are always advancing. Thank you for the thoughts!

Matt Jensen - 12th of April 2010

G’day Kai
I know what you mean – I feel the same. They are good for getting out and about and meeting people etc, but in general a lot of them are self ego stroking, self-perpetuating of their own guru ‘fame’ and and I don’t bother with /can’t afford such over priced conferences (nor would I really want to if I could).
If you ‘follow’ the right “channels” you can definitely keep up yourself I think. So the main reason is to get out and about, but then there’s free conferences for that.
Cheers
Matt

raf - 13th of April 2010

I had similar feelings after one of the OFFF festivals in Barcelona. “Great creative vibe” translated to tens of people sitting around the place outside shining bitten apples on their laptop lids, their faces posed in an absent self-important creative equivalent of guido lips pooched for a photo. The single most memorable thing I saw there was Joshua Davis’ neck tattoo.

Stephen Parker - 13th of April 2010

Enjoyed this post — had similar feelings about AEA Chicago 09, but the notes from 2010 seemed much more progressive. Who knows, these events could be hit or miss. :)

BTW, your Twitter bar is broken on iPad.

Darryl Jonckheere - 13th of April 2010

First of all Kai, beautiful looking blog -love the typographic treatment.

Regarding this post, I believe conferences are extremely valuable. They provide excellent opportunities to meet and network with industry colleagues; they can be inspiring, thought-provoking, and lead to new working collaborations.

But in the end, the old saying: you only get out of something what you put into it.

Ally - 13th of April 2010

I agree with much of what you’ve said. However, I believe it’s choosing the right conference or event that’s related to your expertise. Granted we do and the experience is below par, not all events are going to please us.

I recently attended Event Apart Seattle and some speakers talked about practice that I am aware of but it was their approach that I found interesting.

Also, I enjoy meeting other professionals not just via social medium. I make sure to stay in touch even if just via social medium… Others I have become good friends with. Recently, one of them moved and should I choose to do the same, she would be a resource to help me get started.

I’ve realized that at a certain point you can only get better by learning from others. Sure you can learn without meeting people but I strongly believe you’ll grow as a professional faster this way – it makes for a better experience!

michael dingle - 13th of April 2010

I fully agree and have been thinking this for some time. After attending many events in both Australia and the UK i continually found myself sitting through presentations listening to great designers / developers in their own right talk about best practice and things i all ready knew about. I go to these things to have questions asked, challenges thrown at me, and hear inspiring things from various fields, not just the new media industry folk whom i see year in and year out.

Niels Matthijs - 13th of April 2010

Really like this post. I must admit I’ve never been to a conference before, for all the reasons you’ve stated above.

I would even go a little further and say that books have a similar problem. I’ve never read a book on web design before, I’ve been relying on blogs ever since I started out.

Books and conferences are like the slower versions of video tutorials. You can’t even skip forward properly.

Mark McCorkell - 13th of April 2010

Interesting article. I find it refreshing to read something so honest. I have never been to any conferences of this type before to give my own opinion on the topic. But nonetheless, I loved reading the article.

burak özdelice - 13th of April 2010

hi!
Im sure you fed up with hearing this but I really liked your website.

Thank you to serve us a beauty like this

ps; I wondered that that water brush effect on the canvas is real or computer related? I rellay liked it

best regards

Kai Chan Vong - 13th of April 2010

Hey Kai. First off, awesome name.

I like you years ago would have been like “Omg how much to go to that conference?!”

But now… after a few years of being in the industry and being inspired by some of the great speakers – gary vaynerchuk is an amazing example of someone who has helped me believe in myself – I totally believe it’s worth it for companies to spend money on re-energising their staff and getting them out to places.

People as they grow up have families and so much going on that sometimes browsing the web day in adn day out is maybe not so easy for them. Maybe it stresses them out. Or who knows.

It’s a great point – some conferences are over priced and maybe some of them need to offer more student prices and try to fill out things as much as possible.

But I really believe that people going to events can get so much out of it from meeting new people they would never have spoken to in the same way on the web.

:) I’ll probably never read this blog post again – but had we met at a conference we could have both learned to understand one another’s perspectives a lot greater than through this post.

Thanks for posting it and great site! :)

- @kaichanvong

Brian Burridge - 13th of April 2010

I think you are exactly right with 99% of the conferences out there. Which is probably why it seems the most successful people, the ‘doers’ I call them, are less likely to go to conferences, while the talkers frequent them. I still think there can be value in conferences, but you have to make it on your own. Hopefully one day, conference organizers will get smart and start really using technology to improve the conferences in such a way that they are more than just blogs. I personally think the best conference so far to-date to do this is lessconf.com (no I don’t get kickbacks.) For example, the first 100 attendees get to have lunch with a speaker, and also after a talk there is very heavy Q&A.

Libbie Miller - 13th of April 2010

I think for the most part I agree with you, Kai. I especially agree with you in that local meetups and networking opportunities can be much more rewarding and valuable than the big-ticket conferences. I DO however, think there’s something to be said for large conferences as well…in moderation. I attended SXSWi this year and while I was a bit disappointed with some aspects of the conference (especially given that the size of the conference has diluted much of its appeal), I also found a few sessions that were total gems in the overall experience. And those sessions brought together experts from all over the country and world that wouldn’t have been able to happen had we not all convened in one common location.

I think you’ve highlighted an interesting observation though. It seems like in the future, we’ll start to see more amped up webinars that accomplish the same thing as a large conference, without the travel and accommodation expenses. But then we give up the opportunity to connect with peers face-to-face. Which I suppose brings us back to local meetups. A conundrum for sure…

cris - 13th of April 2010

in my opinion there are a very little things that this people can show us that they or someone else that isn’t a “twitter star” haven’t post or publish, i think like you say that it’s more important, and helpfully to attend local meeting with alike minded people

chris raymond - 13th of April 2010

Good post. I was originally slated to attend the HOW design conference in Denver this year, but when I realized the length of the flight from DC, the cost of the conf AND the hotel (seriously, more than $200 a night is the special rate?), I decided not to go, even though my employer was paying for it. Instead I am going to my first Event Apart in Boston in May, which is still pretty pricey.

But I have few chances to be around a bunch of likeminded folks and just get out of the office grind, and in lieu of the state’s freeze on pay increases, this is one way for an employer to boost employee morale.

I attended SXSW in 2009 and have to say I was bored and would not go again. Too large a venue, too many things going on. And like Kai, I tend to be more on the introverted side in large group situations.

Again, interesting post and discussion!

Todd - 13th of April 2010

Never mind the article, I just wanted to say – what a stand-out blog design this is. Really stands head and shoulders above the glut of design blogs out there – great job.

Top Ten Re-Tweets of the Week #11 | Design by Firgs - 14th of April 2010

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e-sushi - 15th of April 2010

My 2 cents about the “Future of the Web” in general is that we need to get back to the basics. Just like you throw away your scribbles sometimes and start with a brand new paper… just to create something new, something fresh and something usable using near-to-old-standards. Somewhat like HTML5 picks up the HTML2 ideas again and simply pimps it with the latest knowledge and technology. Why not do likewise in Web-Design and -Development too? Seem like a good idea… and even if it’s not, it sure will produce some sites that don’t look all that “wordpressy”. ;)

Eric - 17th of April 2010

Finally someone feels the same way I do about these web design conferences. I have googled this topic but could never find any input on whether or not attending one of these events was worth the money.

The event mentioned here is cheap in comparison to most of them. I’ve always wanted to attend one but could never afford it.

It’s cool to have an agency pay for you, but when you’re solo you have to factor in other expenses, airfare, accommodations, meals, plus the price of admission can really put a dent in the wallet of a freelancer.

I was thinking about going to one of Dan Cederholm’s Handcrafted CSS Workshops. The price of admission is $449. I couldn’t justify the expense. I started thinking what am I possibly going to learn that I don’t already know. I already purchased his book so am I really going to learn anything new.

The only benefit I see from attending these events is networking. Now if you are a social butterfly and very good at making connections then these workshops might be worth every penny.

Unfortunately like the author of this post I’m more of an introvert. I’d probably have a difficult time making solid contacts. But then again you never know? Maybe one day when I can afford it, I’ll attend one of these events.

Steve Grunwell - 19th of April 2010

People have different ways of learning and interacting. You prefer email, while others may be at their best in-person. One thing Twitter can’t replace (yet) is grabbing a beer and talking semantics.

There’s certainly some ego-stroking going on, but for the people who are into the whole trade-show/convention thing, there’s no better group of people to be surrounded with than fellow geeks excited about the future of the web.

Great site, by the way (although Firebug doesn’t like its scrolling – site.js, line 122).

Angel - 21st of April 2010

Nice its wounderful

Darryl Jonckheere » FITC 2010 Day02 - 27th of April 2010

[...] of going to a conference. In fact I tweeted about this 2 weeks before FITC after reading a post here arguing that conferences are merely just expensive blog posts. Absolutely [...]

SiewShuen - 30th of August 2010

Interesting post. Never been to these kinda conferences. Had always relied on blogs instead :) Thanks for sharing