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Speak at Web Directions events in 2018

Professional fields associated with computing and technology more broadly have for many years been significantly less diverse than communities as a whole. Fortunately this is increasingly being recognised as an important challenge to be addressed within the industry, though an enormous amount of work still needs to be done.

At Web Directions we have long taken steps to address inequalities and under representation, on our programs, and in our audiences.

• We strive to ensure a diverse lineup of speakers and voices, at our events
• We address the challenges of inequality and lack of diversity and inclusion directly as part of our conference programs, particularly in our events focussed on leaders in the industry, the people most able to address these challenges
• We run speaker development workshops and other events, as well providing speaker opportunities more attuned to less experienced speakers
• We have diversity scholarships to our events, which also provide for travel and accomodation support for folks from places where our events aren't held.

Read on for more on our initiatives, and how you can take advantage of these

Initiatives for help improve the diversity of our industry include diversity scholarships, speaker development training, and opportunities to speak, such as our free What Do You Know events, that provide a pathway toward speaking at conferences.

Diversity Scholarships

We have diversity scholarships available for all our events. These provide full attendance just like any other attendee. We don't draw attention to those who have received a scholarship, but do look to make connections between them, and with our diversity sponsors, to help ensure the most valuable possible experience.

Currently open scholarships

Currently we have scholarship applications open for

Web Directions Code, our front end development focussed conference, taking place in Melbourne August 1 and 2. Applications are open until July 19, with successful applications informed on July 20th. You can apply for someone else, or yourself below now.

Web Directions Summit, our two track, front end development and design focussed conference, taking place in Sydney November 1 and 2. Applications are open until Late September. You can apply for someone else, or yourself below now.

Who is eligible?

Our goal is to broaden the range of attendees. We're focussing on people who are unemployed, under-employed, self employed or in the early stages (up to 3 years) of their careers who identify as belonging to a group or groups under-represented at events like ours, and who might otherwise find it difficult to afford to attend.

Under-represented groups include, but are not limited to

• Indigenous Australians
• People with Disabilities
• Women
• People of Colour
• People living in remote, rural or regional Australia
• Recent migrants to Australia (particularly from non English speaking backgrounds) and refugees
• People over the age of 45
• People of diverse gender identity
• Members of the LGBT community

If you don't feel you fit into any of these particular categories, but do feel you belong to an under represented group, and meet our other criteria, please apply below.

Please note, this scholarship is available to Australian citizens and residents currently living in Australia.

Who may nominate a person for a scholarship?

You may nominate someone you know who you feel would benefit from receiving a scholarship, or nominate yourself.

What is covered?

For those living in or near the city where the event takes place, recipients will receive a Gold Conference ticket, which includes a place at our speaker dinner on the opening evening of the conference.

For those who live further away, we'll be able to cover transport to and from Sydney, accommodation close by the conference, as well as a Gold conference ticket (including a place at our speaker dinner on the opening evening of the conference)

How will a decision be made?

Web Directions will balance varying considerations to attempt to create as much diversity and opportunity as possible. Any information provided will be kept in strictest confidence, and used only to help allocate scholarship places.

All scholarship recipients will attend the event like any other attendee and will not be identified publicly as a diversity scholarship recipient.

What Do I have to do to apply?

Simply fill out this short form below.

Praise for past Web Directions events

Web Directions is the must-attend event of the year for anyone serious about web development.

Phil Whitehouse,

Innovation Lead DigitasLBi

I’ve been admiring the Web Directions events for years, and was honored to be part… What a fantastic event!

Ethan Marcotte,

inventor "responsive Web design"

Out of any conference, Web Directions is far and away our favourite

Dave Greiner,

founder Campaign Monitor

About Us

Co-founded and now run by John Allsopp, Web Directions has for over a decade brought together leading developers, engineers, visual, IxD, UX and product designers, Art and Creative Directors, indeed everyone involved in producing web and digital products to learn from one another, and the World's leading experts across this vast field.

We spend our lives thinking about what comes next, keeping up with trends in technology, practices and processes, and filtering the hype, to make sure you don't miss trends that matter, and don't waste time on hype that doesn't.

We promise attending one of our events will leave you significantly better versed in the challenges you face day to day, and in solutions for addressing them.

In 2018, we'll be organising Design in Melbourne, Code and Code Leaders in Melbourne, and Web Directions Summit, AI and Culture in Sydney

John Allsopp

John Allsopp has been working on the Web for over 20 years. He's been responsible for innovative developer tools such as Style Master, X-Ray and many more. He's spoken at numerous conferences around the World and delivered dozens of workshops in that time as well.

His writing includes two books, including Developing With Web Standards and countless articles and tutorials in print and online publications.

His "A Dao of Web Design" published in 2000 is cited by Ethan Marcotte as a key influence in the development of Responsive Web Design, who's rightly acclaimed article in 2010 begins by quoting John in detail, and by Jeremy Keith as "a manifesto for anyone working on the Web".

Code of Conduct

For over a decade, we've worked hard to create inclusive, fun, inspring and safe events for the Web Industry.

As part of our commitment to these values, we've adopted a code of conduct for all involved: ourselves, our speakers, our partners and our audience.

If you have any concern or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact us.