We’re speechless
In What I learned at An Event Apart Minneapolis, Marc Drummond writes:
A really good session, in my opinion, is not about the how, it’s about the why. … A really good session, through arguments and examples, stories and slides, humor and deep thoughts, compels you to try something new. A great session exposes you to something you haven’t done before and inspires you to take action, change the way you do things.
Based on my experience, I plan to focus even more on understanding users for the sites I work on, strategize more about content, focus on mobile and adaptive layouts, consult existing patterns for interfaces, humanize interfaces, work more iteratively, start using HTML5 and CSS3 techniques that will save loads of time and give Dreamweaver CS5 a try.
While I might have run across information about these topics before, now I feel the urgency in putting these techniques in the top tray of my toolbox, where I will use them more frequently.
Filed under: Acclaim, An Event Apart, conferences, Design
6 Responses to “We’re speechless”
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Thanks for sharing that, Jeffrey. What a beautiful entry.
It’s worth noting that Marc did yeoman’s work at AEA Minneapolis, both during and after the event: there are incredibly in-depth notes posted on his blog; he also live-tweeted every session in painstaking detail. As someone who struggles to find time to write, like, at all on his blog, I find Marc’s coverage darn inspiring. Brilliant stuff.
Exactly. Good sessions are not about information. They’re about inspiration and motivation.
He did indeed, and so do I!
Wow: now I’m speechless!
I “started” my blog about a year ago and got so full of angst about what to write that I didn’t write a darned thing. A few weeks ago, while on a plane flying past Mt Rainier, I decided to let go and just start writing. We’ll see how that pans out.
I figured that if I was writing notes for myself, I might as well share them with others. I suppose that’s as good a reason to blog as any other. If I want to remind myself of why I did something or found something interesting, I might as well put it on my blog, and if others find it useful, too, then bonus!
This would seem to fall under Jared Spool’s “self-design” category. It seems worth a try.
That’s how I started this site. Keep going!
I couldn’t agree more! The general notion with presentations in our industry usually veers towards concrete takeaways, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but the old maxim about teaching someone to fish vs giving them a fish hold true. Changing the way you approach a problem, and making you think differently about creatively arriving at solutions, stays with you far longer than the latest techniques for achieving a desired result, and it inspires you to reach solutions you may have never gotten to otherwise. Oftentimes, a change in perspective is exactly what’s needed when you hit a creative block. These are my favorite presentations, the ones that haunt you, that you can’t shake, because they make you question the way you work for the better.