Well, fair dos that was a packed out night for the Spring Localhost event; the room certainly got warm; and warmer still when discussing the incendiary topic of speculative work

Big thanks to Nathan Ford for stepping in and giving us a tour of Gridset; I’m certainly a little clearer about it and will be playing with it for a few pet projects to gain a bit of confidence. Nathan has also recent a follow up blog post, which is well worth a read.

Thanks also to Emma Boulton for a peeling back the mysterious world of audience research. Lot’s of thought provoking stuff there.

And last, but not least, big thanks to Carey Hiles for his talk on speculative work. This is obviously a hot topic and there’s no surprise that there was a difference of opinion in the room where Victoria Jones of Design Wales was fighting the corner for the Blair Enns & Win Without Pitching approach. Indeed, the topic & exchanges even provoked one of the attendees (James Dinsdale) to blog about it (“Don’t give away the Gold“).

Flickr Photos

Thanks to Maisie. In case you can’t see the Flickr widget below, here’s a direct link to the photos.

Big thanks to everyone for attending.

The next event is in May and that’s our big one for 2013 – tickets are half gone already so I’d get your hands on a ticket now.

The next Localhost event will be in August; I’m thinking of that having more of a server-side twang so please shout out if you want to talk.

Joel

Some tweets from the evening…

Just been to a good localhost @port80events – as a 1st timer I’d highly recommend the summer event

— Edd Turtle (@eddturtle) February 7, 2013

Great day today, some quite interesting stuff at #portfair and great stuff already from @port80events‘s localhost.

— Rich D J Palmer (@rdjpalmer) February 7, 2013

Great event, great people, great speakers tonight at the @port80events Localhost. Psyched for ‘the big one’ in May.

— James Dinsdale (@molovo) February 7, 2013

Really good presentation on grids by @nathan_ford tonight @port80events, some new food for thought when thinking about layout

— Richard Lewis (@richl14) February 7, 2013

@port80events one thing I’ve always struggled with, definitely taught me a great deal +@emmaboulton

— James Dinsdale (@molovo) February 7, 2013

@port80events Thanks for a great evening with @ena_lloyd @mrsmoti @joel_hughes Enjoyed a bit of Newport tapas afterwards.

— whatsthepont (@whatsthepont) February 7, 2013

Flush from the success of the inaugural Port80 event back in May (doesn’t that seem a long time ago now?), there is a new one booked for the 10th of May 2013 and we’ll be back at the City Campus in Newport.

Given the event was sold out this year, there was an opportunity to think bigger but, after some soul searching, I decided to keep it small & friendly for the time being.

The general ethos for the whole Port0 thang is that it’s about practical, common sense, grass roots advice from those at the front line of delivery web projects (in all areas). And not just developers – we all want to produce better work, work we are proud of, work our clients love, work that makes the world a better place (a lofty goal I suppose but why not) – and that involves many roles; from design to dev to content to PM etc etc.

Topics

I’m on the look out for people to speak on the following topics (or to suggest others):

1. Handling images responsively (responsibly?) *sorted*
2. Lessons from the front line of responsive/adaptive design
3. Grids: what the hell are they & why we need them?
4. Project workflow
5. Running projects & insuring that you still earn a living
6. Content: we know it’s King. Tell us why & how we can help
7. Practical user experience
8. Audience research
9. Tools & techniques
10. [____________________] // write your topic here…on your screen…in marker pen

Who would I like to speak?

I’ve got a list of people who I’d like to target & I will be reaching out shortly.

However, I am always open to offers so please don’t be shy.

I see women speakers in the minority at events and I’m trying to change that for this event. Therefore, I’m particularly interested in talking to more female speakers.

This will be a paid gig.

So, what are you waiting for?

If you’re interested then please contact me with all the relevant details ie what you’d like to speak about and something about your background.

I’m very, *very* grateful for anyone offering to speak but, obviously, I’ll be unable to say yes to everyone. But there are opportunities to speak at Port80 Localhost events as well.

My plan is to start conversations with interested people in the coming weeks so we can start the new year with a firm line up.

Oh, and if you know of anyone who you’d like to hear speak then please also shout out.

Thanks guys

Joel

p.s. it’s half term this week so I’m heading out with the kids to Legoland shortly (yes!) so please don’t think me rude if I’m slow replying for a few days.