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From the DDM Blog …

It was an up and down day at SxSW today. After the disappointing first panel of the day I was really feeling discouraged about the quality of presentations here. Luckily the next presentation renewed my faith in the conference. It was entitled, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Mobile Web…but Were Afraid to Ask” and it’s description read, “Practical advice about designing and developing for the mobile web is virtually non-exisitant. As a web developer it can be difficult to make heads or tails about one of the essential mediums of the information age. At the end of this session you will know not only how to create mobile websites, but why you should from one of the experts in the field.”

Presented by Brian Fling of Blue Flavor, this was a great presentation - well organized and nicely delivered. The major thing I learned is that I pretty much know everything I need to know in order to be a rock star mobile designer. Also, I spoke with Brian after the presentation and he seemed like a really friendly, kind, and down-to-earth guy. Nice meeting you, Brian!

Next came, “Deadlines, Clients and Cashflow: The Business Side of Web Design,” for which the description read, “There’s a lot more to running a web design business than HTML and Photoshop! In this panel, James Archer from Forty will be discussing wide-ranging issues affecting web professionals.Topics will include project management, dealing with clients, marketing your services, finding work, writing contracts, improving efficiency, and organizing your finances.”

This was my favorite panel of the day. Before it began I started chatting with some guys sitting next to me in the front row who seemed cool and laid back. They turned out to the the Forty Media crew there to enjoy the presentation by their CEO, James Archer.

James gave a fantastic presentation - short and spot on. Everything that was said mirrored exactly my own thoughts and feelings about running a small business, so it was a really feel-good experience. James said we would be able to get our hands on the slide show presentation and when I do I will definitely post the outline here.

The next presentation was by far the most uniquely delivered. It was titled, “Ten Ways to Run a Startup Like Genghis Khan” and the description read, “In twenty-five years, the Mongol army subjugated more lands and people than the Romans had conquered in four hundred years. Whether measured by the total number of people defeated, the sum of the countries annexed, or by the total area occupied, Genghis Khan conquered more than twice as much as any other man in history and he did it all with an army that was nearly always outnumbered 3 to 1 on the battlefield. While every technique doesn’t always translate well, we’ll show you ten that works great in a startup.”

Kevin Hale, from Wufoo, was the presenter, and he did a fantastic job! I only wish that someone like Kevin had taught history when I was in High School so that I might have actually found it interesting and relevant to my life. Really, it was a surprisingly engaging, fresh, and unique approach to giving business advice, and it even made me want to read more about Genghis Khan. Nice work, Kevin!

The last panel of the day was “Uniting the Holy Trinity of Web Design,” who’s description read, “Much talking has been done about the three different layers of front-end development: Data (HTML), Style (CSS), and Behaviour (JavaScript). But little has been mentioned about the integration of all three. This panel will explore how they interact with one another, the best strategies for enhancing collaboration between the different areas, and the unique results that can be achieved when they are combined in a truly synergistic manner.”

Now - I was honestly pretty tired and spacey at this point and didn’t follow along too well, but I have this vague recollection that this panel wasn’t even actually about html, css, and javascript, per se. There was lots of talk about how to work with or within a team - that seemed to be the main topic. My general sense is that it may have been a worthwhile discussion, but not one that held my attention enough to know for sure.

And that’s a wrap for day two … back with you tomorrow!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 8:00 pm and is filed under SxSW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.