Pick a Panel
The SXSW panel picker launched today. SXSW Interactive is probably the world’s biggest web shebang, and the panel picker is how the festival begins winnowing out which panels, out of the many submitted, will actually be presented to the public.
A few potential panels feature Happy Cog personnel:
From Freelance to Agency: Start Small, Stay Small
Jeffrey Zeldman
The web has always attracted mavericks and entrepreneurs, and a rocky economy makes the freelance life more desirable (or at least more inevitable) than ever. So what happens when your freelance business starts to grow? How big can you get without getting bad? How can freelancers and small teams compete with traditional agencies? Hip freelancers and cool agency heads will answer questions, compare experiences, and tell their stories.
Not the Same Old Story
Jason Santa Maria
If the web provides so many ways to connect with audiences, why are we all stuck telling the same story with our designs? Hear from a panel of storytelling experts on the importance of narrative and art direction online to break away from static and boring experiences.
Web Triage: Methodical Madness
Shaun Inman (featuring Ethan Marcotte & Dan Mall)
The web is always evolving—but not quite fast enough for dream-big designers and developers. Join our chief residents as they share their methods for developing groundbreaking techniques. They’ll also demonstrate how to identify your own unique strengths and apply them to technical- and design-related problems.
Tags: sxsw, panels, happycog, zeldman
Filed under: Community, Design, SXSW, conferences
I just went in and cast my votes. Jeffrey yours in particular caught my eye. As a freelancer looking to grow my business without it becoming a monster, I really enjoy chatting with people who are doing the same thing or have gone down that path before.
I am now considering SXSW instead of going to AEA again.
Brian: Cool, thanks for the vote. A lot of web designers start out or end up freelancing. With the right supporting skills (business skills, people skills), it can be a great career path. After a while, some freelancers develop networks of other freelancers with complementary abilities (A designs, B codes, for example). These networks informally share projects and can turn into agencies.
To me it’s a really interesting (and under-discussed) area. Business publications don’t pay attention to it, and design schools for the most part don’t teach you how to work it. SXSW is a natural place to get together and talk about these issues.
Ricky: SXSW is a community event, AEA is a teaching event. You go to SXSW to see people and get turned on by ideas that might or might not be relevant to your day job. You go to AEA to improve your skills and knowledge as a practitioner of web design. Obviously, I love both shows!
That’s exactly where we are right now. For awhile I really resisting any sort of formal establishing of an agency. I went back and forth on it for quite some time. But in the end I really started to realize a lot of advantages in taking steps toward becoming an agency, both in sharing the resources of project management, etc, but also in allowing those of us with niche skill sets to thrive.
Anyway, not intending to hijack the comment thread - carry on. Go, vote everybody.
I voted for all three. Even though I won’t be attending SXSW, I may do so in ‘09. AEA is a given. I’ll be there in Boston, for as long as it is held in Boston.
Yes, launch of SXSW panel picker was a good idea.
Very interesting. Thanks for make we stay current with our craft.
What do you think about the Spanish version?
Great job! Thanks for make we stay current with our craft.
What do you think about Spanish version?