Web Directions 2015 A Quick Storybook
Before we start
I took these mindmaps on an iPad3 which I had just updated to iOS9. And of course the keyboard was laggy as it could be. So I think I've got all of the autocorrects, but if you find anything let me know on Twitter: @ssofnosaj
Wednesday
Brisbane weather was pretty ordinary, but otherwise the trip down was uneventful.
I landed in Sydney about 5:30. Caught the train to Central. Walked to the hotel. Checked in. Dumped my luggage. Walked back to Central station. Caught train to Milson's point. Walked down to the Aqua restaurant for dinner. About 10 minutes late, that's not too bad.
Except I was a day early. Dinner was Thursday night, not Wednesday night. Not a bad place to go for a wander though.
As an aside, a decided to add all my notes using Adobe Slate, which was on demo at their site during the conference. I really like it! Just hope that this record is permanent and still online here in 10 years time...
Thursday
Day one. Let's get into it!
Cap spoke about culture change - and how you might go about doing that in an organisation. It's hard, but worthwhile.
Data is everywhere. But a lot of it is also meaningless. Ultimately, data is about people, and affects people. So it kind of makes sense to tell your stories through the eyes of people.
Break down the silos! And do the other things. But seriously, how important is this, and how often does it get neglected?
Robots. Robots that bring you towels and toothpaste. That is all. More here: http://www.gv.com/sprint/
(Sorry. Didn't take a photo of this session. Anyone got one they can send to me?)
The human brain is a crazy, messed up thing. Logical? Not as much as you think.
Canva is now at 6 million users, and I'm number 4 thousand and something. Cool, hey! Some great on boarding tips here. Now, I just have to get around to launching something...
This seems to be what all the cool kids are doing now. Some good advice here for the beginners (like me!) both positive and negative.
I didn't take many notes during this one, but it was very good. Much of the humour has been lost in my notes I'm afraid. Watch the video when it finds its way out into the wild.
End of Day One
Luna Park opened a few rides for family. How cool was that! If only my kids were a bit closer...
The weather was perfect.
Ideal location for dinner. Great company.
Friday
Not a big night, but a late night (by my standards) so it was a bit hard to get up on Friday morning. Nothing that can't be addressed with caffeine, of course.
Hannah explored how recommendations work - not from a technical view, but a contextual one. I hadn't given this topic any thought before. Interesting stuff.
Sorry. This one is quite large! Probably my favourite presentation of the conference. So much ground covered. And oddly enough, this popped up in my Twitter feed waiting at the airport on the way home: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/11/the-productive-sexy-zen-life-of-single-tasking/
Vitaly had lots of good stuff, but my note taking skills just weren't up to the task. Better check the video instead when it's made available.
We don't all have the budget of Atlassian to spend on our offices - but Alastair and Nat were quick to acknowledge that (to their credit). Start with quick hacks and see how these ideas work for you.
I didn't take many notes here at all (I can't see me needing this at all in the near future) but it was a really interesting story of Isobar's experience in moving from an idea, to a working demo, then convincing their client to go for it in a big way. Sounded like fun!
Make something worth paying for. Live within your means. Enjoy life.
Says it all really.
What a way to finish. The challenge has been issued to the Aussie DTO! Go get 'em!
And that's a wrap!
Two days went very fast. The whole conference seems to go faster each year in fact.
The theme? I think there was less of the new shiny, and more of the "slow down, take a breath, make sure you're doing this properly" about many of the presentations I saw.
Which was good with me. This industry moves so fast.
Post script
There were some thunderstorms in Sydney airport on Sunday evening, just in time for my flight home! The hour delay meant I missed my connection in Brisbane, so Virgin had to put me me up for the night at the Pullman Mercure. Nice hotel actually - they didn't skimp. So home on Monday. Eventually.