Product://Remote–a brand new kind of conference for the online-only era - Web Directions

For 15 years Web Directions has held in-person events. Beginning with one a year as a side project, it became over time, several a year, across a range of areas of practice around designing, developing and delivering digital products and experiences (with an emphasis but not exclusively so) on the Web.

And we’d like to think we got good at it.

And then, in a matter of days in early 2020 what we did for 15 years was no longer what we did.

At least for an indefinite time. We weren’t alone of course. 

Our first instinct, like that of some many conferences, was to try and keep as much as possible about what we did the same, just deliver it online. 

And so our first announcement was that our 2020 conferences

• were going to be online 
• two straight days
• 6-8 hours a day

In our minds too the content would be “live”, presented by webcam from wherever our speakers happened to be.

But then we stopped and thought a bit more deeply.

And realised that not only was it an opportunity to rethink what an online conference might look like, there was the necessity of doing so. Or we’d be delivering something just like in-person, only worse. 

Start by thinking of what could go wrong:

• Speakers expected to be awake and lively at 2am in Northern Europe to present to an Australian audience
• Networks or services going down, leaving an entire audience wondering was it just their network, or the entire conference.
• Audiences needing to block out 2 whole days from a schedule weeks or months in advance at a time of enormous uncertainty 
• Audiences needing to sit through hour after hour of glorified zoom calls.

And why exactly? Because that’s what conferences have always looked like.

The conference format is purely an artefact of the unit economics of in-person events. 

But, when speakers and audiences don’t need to travel, why cram together 12 hours or more of content into 2 days?

Why not spread it out over a longer period, in shorter amounts? Make it something to look forward to each week, a change of pace from the rest of the working week?

Why expect live presentations, when there’s time to pre-record, edit and polish? After-all very little television is live for a good reason. And then speakers are available to interact with the audience during their presentations.

Now while the content of a conference is clearly important, it’s not the sole reason folks attend. Community, connection with peers, and conversation are all critical as well. These traditionally take place in hallways, over coffee, at a reception, all things that have of course gone away with online events.

So we felt it important to provide these types of connection as well. 

So over the last 6 months, we’ve thought deeply about how to support connection, conversation and community, and built our own platform to help deliver them.

Then, on September 4th, all our thinking, design and development were put to the test, as we kicked off Code://Remote, a 4 week conference that embodied our thinking about how we felt online conferences could be.

To say the days leading up to that first session were stressful would be a dramatic understatement. There are always concerns of course as to whether the technology will stand up. But the far greater unknown was would those conversations and connections take place? Among attendees, between attendees and speakers, and attendees and our partners?

The answer was a resounding yes. It’s hard to capture just how gratifying it has been to see attendees (and speakers) provide clarification, further links and resources, ask and answer questions alongside a presentation.

Or to see the hallway conversations that start and thrive, from technical discussions, to discussions around coffee making techniques.

And to see dozens, indeed hundreds of attendees speaking with our partners, participating in their competitions, along with great jobs posted to the conference-only job board, something really encouraging to see in the context of some of our attendees having had their employment impacted by COVID-19.

Code://Remote wraps up this week, but the content, and connections (plus socks and other partner swag) will live on. 

Once more unto the breach

And in a few weeks we do it all again, this time with Product://Remote, where the focus is product design and product management.

At times of change connection, community, and shared experience are even more important than ever. The challenges we face, and the ways of addressing them have changed. What’s worked to date, may no longer make sense.

So if you are a product designer or manager, looking for inspiration, reassurance, as well as connection with your professional peers facing similar challenges doing what you have long done when so much has changed around you, we’d love to see you at Product://Remote.

Until October 2nd it’s just $195–we believe an incredible bargain for world class content, connection, conversation and community.

Hope to see you there

See two dozen world-leading experts on all product design, management and ownership at Code://Remote November 2020

Product://Remote takes place across the month of November (and just a bit of December), and features two dozen world-leading experts on all things JavaScript and front end development at an amazing price, just $195 before October 2nd.

Learn more and register now

Conveniently timed for attendees from the North American West Coast, right across the pacific to Hong Kong and Singapore, Japan and beyond connect–with your peers at Code.

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