speaking Archive

The Elements of a Good Conference Talk

Recently on Twitter a few people, myself included, had a short conversation about what we like to see in conference talks, prompted by Sara Soueidan’s question:

I’ve been wasting a lot of time lately trying to decide which talk topic to do at which conference. Any tips, fellow speakers?

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The European speaking tour

The second conference season is coming up, and I’ve got a lot of speaking engagements in the next few months. My plan is to cut back on speaking in 2014 to put more emphasis on making things again – although I’m always open to interesting offers. But before I cut back, here’s my schedule:

First I’m very happy and proud to be speaking at the first CSSconf.eu, on 13 September in Berlin. I’ll be talking about Web Components, with an emphasis on the role that CSS plays. Tickets are €399 and are selling fast.

A few weeks later, on 24 September, I’ll be in Bucharest for the first SmartWeb Conference, where I’ll also be talking Web Components. Tickets are €150 until the end of August, €175 after.

I’ve pencilled in another talk for the following weekend, but as that’s not been announced yet I’ll gloss over it for now.

On 12 October I’m off to Stockholm for Leetspeak, where I’ll be talking about the future of CSS. Ticket details are not available yet.

My final talk for the year (I think) will be on 23-24 October in Oslo, at Making Web, where I’ll be talking about CSS layouts. Tickets are 6,000 Krone if you book before 15 August, 6,500 after.


Speaking at CSS Day, and a FoWD reminder

I’m extremely happy to announce that I’ve been asked to speak at CSS Day, a one-day event in June that explores CSS in advanced detail, in the company of an array of amazing speakers: Lea Verou, Eric Meyer, Bert Bos, Tab Atkins, Divya Manian, Stephen Hay, and Daniel Glazman. Wow.

I’ll be discussing the intricacies and secrets of the Animations and Transitions modules, while each of the other speakers will also cover a single topic in great detail. It promises to be a really good day. Tickets cost €250 (plus 21 percent tax).

The day before CSS Day there are also two workshops: Eric Meyer will explain the basics of each of the modules to be explained the following day, in case you’re worried about not being able to follow some of the talks, while I’ll be teaching Responsive Web Design techniques and approaches. Tickets for each workshop cost €300 (plus tax).

And just a reminder that I’ll be speaking at Future of Web Design in London in May, where I’ll also be giving a one-day workshop on CSS3 the day before. If you book now you get the workshop plus two days of conference for only £595 (plus tax).


Speaking at Future of Web Design in Prague

I’m very proud to have been asked to present at the first Future of Web Design in Prague, Czech Republic, later this month. I’ll be giving a one-day workshop, called CSS3 Master Class, then presenting a talk with the title CSS3 Layouts for the Multi-screen World in the Design track the following day.

If you fancy seeing a great line-up of local and international speakers in the beautiful city of Prague you can get a 10% discount by using the code SPEAKER10 when you register; that’s almost €50 off a one-day ticket, €90 off a two-day ticket, and over €100 off the full workshop and conference ticket. That should help convince your boss to pay for it. Hope to see some of you there.


Changes and opportunities

If you’ll pardon the indulgence, I’d like to quickly discuss a few personal matters. First is that I’ve making a change professionally and moving on from my current employers, Poke London. I’ve had some great experiences working here and built some sites I’m really quite proud of – Poke’s own website not the least of them – with some of the most talented colleagues it’s ever been my privilege to work with. Poke’s record speaks for itself and I was delighted to be a small part of it for the last 10 months.

But as of Tuesday next week I’ll be working at Top10, helping the currently small team grow and develop from a start-up to an established digital brand. What most attracted me about the move from agency to product is the opportunity to be involved in evolving and shaping, to analyse and iterate; as the song has it: performance, feedback, revision. The current Top10 team are a keen and clever bunch, and I’m looking forward to working with them.

Outside of work, my book, The Book of CSS3, has been out for a few months now (and has been getting some really positive reviews), I’ve got some print and online magazine articles planned for the near future, and an outline is forming for my second book.

Later this month I’ll be one of the instructors at the forthcoming UX Bootcamp: Prototyping in Code workshop. I really enjoy helping, teaching and communicating my craft, so I’m really happy to have the opportunity to do this.

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been giving a series of talks at web development groups around London. I’m looking to do more speaking, so if you organise or take part in any local web dev groups and you’re looking for speakers, please do let me know. There’s a full list of conferences I’ve talked at on Lanyrd, and you can see video and slides of my latest talk.

I don’t think I’ve ever been busier, or more excited and nervous about what’s coming next!


Aside

I’ve updated my Speaking page to include more conferences, more videos, and a little on my speaking requirements and preferences. I’m planning to cut down on the number of talks I give in 2014 (twelve is too many), but am always open to interesting offers and opportunities, so please get in touch if you’re organising an event.

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