Announcing the Web Directions South Forum

• In: Blog
• By: Maxine
• February 17, 2009

As of today, we’re officially open to your suggestions about any aspect of the conference this year: please come in and take a look around at the brand new Web Directions forum.

And the best part is, every month we’re going to be giving away a full ticket to the conference to the person who contributes the most ideas, comments and votes - see here for details of how this works. So, while it’s ok to make suggestions, comment and votes anonymously, if you create an account and login, you’ll be in the running for this pretty cool prize we’ll be giving away every month.

Why are we doing this?

Via post conference appraisals, as well as a pre conference survey last year, we’ve always been interested to hear about ideas for improvement from the people who will be most affected by them. However, while these have turned up numerous really good ideas we have implemented, the conversation has always been a little one way: we put out a call for ideas, people contribute a huge variety of thoughts on speakers and sessions as well as suggestions as to how the show could be run, we sift through the ideas and decide which ones are feasible, and act on them. Really, it’s not a conversation at all, and this is why I’ve always felt a little frustrated by it.

See, what comes up in appraisals and surveys are lots of great ideas (which is fantastic!), but very little thought about how these ideas could be executed on given the constraints under which we operate (which is the frustrating part). So, we’re kind of hoping that by facilitating a bit of ongoing discussion of the ideas at the forum, ways of making the fantastic ideas work within the constraints will emerge. Really, it’s just a simple iterative brain storming process. Take a look at this idea about Birds of a Feather sessions to see what I mean.

What kind of ideas do you want to hear about?

Well, as above, anything is welcome - from an idea about how we could get Tim Berners-Lee to do our opening keynote to a suggestion for what we should have for afternoon tea on the second day. There are no rules at all.

• International speakers. Within our budget we have about 8 to 10 openings here, so, obviously we put a lot of thought into the very best way to spend our money. Any info about people you’ve seen or heard (of) for yourself much appreciated.
• Local speakers. If you’ve done something interesting in the last 12 months that you think you could turn into a session that others could take something from, we most certainly want to hear from you. Shrinking violets don’t get anyone anywhere, so, put your hand up! Further, if you know any friends or colleagues who you think might need a bit of a prod - dob them in!
• Networking ideas. No matter how great the content is, one of the best things that will come out of coming to Web Directions will always be the people you meet and the ongoing connections you make. What can we do to make sure this happens for as many people as possible?
• How we run the show. Sessions too long or too short? Confused by anything? Please let us know.
• Fun stuff. A conference shouldn’t be a dour Stalinist affair. Any ideas that could introduce a bit of levity are most welcome.
• Beyond the conference. Web Directions really is a lot more than just “those 4 days in October”. If you’ve got any thoughts about our web site, how we run our mailing lists, how we deal with post conference resources etc etc, they’re welcome here too.

I want to be anonymous!

We’ve set up an incentive scheme to reward people who we know are going to give us absolutely invaluable feedback here. It kinda makes sense that you need to be logged in if you want to be in the running for this. However, at the same time we really do appreciate that there are times when really good, honest opinions are kinda hard to deliver. So, when you think we need to know “Yes, your bum looks big in this”, and you don’t want to deal with our tears, it’s fine to anonymous :)

Very much looking forward to hearing from each and every one of you.

John and Maxine

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