AWIA has run a number of “Ideas” seminars in Perth over the past few years – well, four others to be exact. Each time we’ve brought speakers from interstate and overseas to share their wisdom on various topics deserving of some deep thinking.

This time around – April 22 -  Roger Hudson and Andrew Downie, two noted Australian accessibility experts, will be giving their insights on the impact of version 2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Just exactly what do they mean to the average (or not so average) web developer?

Ideas5 is an evening seminar to help the web community understand WCAG 2.0 and prepare websites with improved accessibility.

Where?

The Melbourne Hotel
942 Hay Street
PERTH WA 6000

View Map

When?

Wed. 22 April 2009
7:00pm +

How Much?

AWIA Members: $40
Non-Members: $55

Tickets are available online now. If you’re in Perth, I hope to see you there.

Posted from kay lives here

Get an Idea(s) about Accessibility

Nick Cowie presenting at a WebJam even in Sydney in September 2007 – thanks to Gary Barber for the photo

As previously hinted at on this blog, WebJam 9 will be held in Perth after the Edge of the Web conference, November 6, at the UWA Tavern.

This will be Perth’s second WebJam event, although a few of the Perth Port80 regulars have had the WebJam experience at other conferences and events on the East coast of Australia. In fact, it will be WebJam number four for Perth developer Nick Cowie, who was a runner-up at the previous Perth WebJam event with his now-infamous “WebSledge” presentation, which poked fun at many members of the audience.

Seeing as he’s such a veteran, I thought I’d ask Nick a few questions which may help those who are thinking of presenting but are unsure what will go down well with the audience.

Do you get nervous? Is it scary up there with everyone looking at you?

Not at all, with a bit of luck half the audience will be people I know, and most would have seen me do more stupid stuff than will happen on stage that night.

The WebJam audiences I have experienced have been very sympathetic, so unless you are doing a blatant sales pitch they will forgive for almost anything.

It is only 3 minutes, so even you have a complete disaster it is over quickly. You can get to the bar and drown your sorrows while the next presenter takes the audiences mind off what happened.

With close to 20 presenters, the worse thing that could happen is you do a very ordinary presentation that gets lost in the noise of the other presentations. A bad presentation is more likely to be memorable and will get your message across.

So give me the good stuff: what’s the secret of a great WebJam presentation?

I see a WebJam presentation as performance art, you have 3 minutes to entertain and inform the audience. So unless there is a real wow factor in what you are talking about/demonstrating, use humour, try to surprise the audience (e.g. add a stupid slide to your deck, use an embarrassing photo/video/audio of yourself, another presenter, well known audience member, celebrity in you demo etc), you could even try audience interaction. But remember it is only 3 minutes, so your presentation need to be fast, furious and punchy.

That certainly makes sense! Any other advice you want to offer?

You have only got 3 minutes, make the most of it. Script your presentation and practise it, get it down to about 2:30 to 2:45, just in case something goes wrong. Then practise it a few more times for good luck.

Be prepared, make sure that everything is preloaded on the computer that will used for the presentation and ready to roll the moment you step on stage. Your 3 minutes is precious, so don’t waste 20 or 30 seconds opening software, typing in URLs, or waiting for websites to load.

Working with live websites is as risky as working with animals or children, so have alternatives ready just in case something goes wrong.

Great content should win, but in the past great presentations with ordinary content have done very well. So polish your presentation.

And finally, have a go. If you have a good idea or work you want to show off, sign up to present at WebJam. Spend a couple of hours preparing and step out on stage that night. It is great fun and slightly addictive!

There’s some excellent advice in there – thanks a lot Nick! Personally, I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

I may have put my name down to present with my awesome pal Ben. If we can do it, anyone can do it!

Posted from kay lives here

What makes a great WebJam presentation?

Writing that title, I am immediately reminded of The Big Lebowski, and a certain film referenced in that film.

Maude: The story is ludicrous. Lord.  You can imagine where it goes from here.

The Dude: He fixes the cable?

Maude: Don’t be fatuous, Jeffrey.

Ahem. Anyway, WebJam IS BACK and if you’re going to be in Sydney on Thursday 25th September (any why wouldn’t you – that’s the first night of Web Directions South) you can sign up now to attend or present.

If you’ve never been to a WebJam before, there’s a stack of presenters that each get three minutes (and strictly three minutes only) to talk about their cool idea or project. The crowd then votes on the coolest idea, project or presentation and the winners get some cool prizes. In the meantime there’s usually socialising, drinking and general shenanigans. It’s a real hoot.

See ya there!

Posted from kay lives here

WebJammin’

Putting on a Port80 get-together the night before Web Directions South in Sydney has become somewhat of a tradition for the Perth Port80 regulars. 2008 is no exception – this time we’re congregating at the Harlequin Inn, which Simon Wright (pictured above, to the extreme right, at a Perth Port80 meeting a few years back) assures us is a very nice venue, walking distance from the conference venue and general location where most people will be staying (see map).

There’s going to be a bar tab – I’m putting some money on the bar on behalf of Clever Starfish and Gary Barber (aka the Man With No Blog) from Radharc will be doing the same. If anyone else wants to help keep the drinks flowing, please contact Miles Burke (pictured above, extreme left).

For anyone who hasn’t been before, all are welcome and it’s a very informal sit-around-and-chat-type deal for web geeks. You don’t have to RSVP, just turn up and introduce yourself! Port80 meetings have been held monthly in Perth since 2002 and with slightly less rigorous regularity in several other states of Australia.

So if you’re a Sydney local or a Web Directions South attendee, hope to see you there! And for the sake of completeness, the dude pictured above centre, enjoying a frosty beverage, is Myles Eftos, AWIA’s “Events Guy”.

Posted from kay lives here

Pre-WDS Port80 in Sydney: the tradition continues

The Web Directions conference franchise is truly something special. I’ve been going to the “south” version of the conference, held, in Sydney, each year since 2005, and I wouldn’t miss it. The “north” edition of the conference has been held in Canada twice now, and it looks like a ton of fun although sadly a North American trip is a little out of my conference budget.

Fabulous conference organiser extraordinare Maxine Sherrin has announced that all the slides and podcasts from January’s WDN are now available. There’s some awesome stuff there, both from the international super stars like Derek Featherstone, Jonathon Snook and Anil Dash, and some of the lesser known up and coming stars like Australia’s own Man In Blue, Cameron Adams.

So check it out!

Posted from kay lives here

Web Directions North slides and podcasts