Brainstorming a BarCamp topic
I’m not really sure what I’ve got myself into. Feeling a little pressured by the fact tickets were being reserved for both girl geeks and those who hadn’t attended a BarCamp before, I haphazardly signed up to attend BarCamp Brighton 3, which is being held at Sussex University on the 6th–7th September. (It is just after dConstruct, which I’m also attending – I’m hoping to glean some presentation skills from the excellent speakers.) Tickets for BarCamp Brighton 3 sold out within 10 minutes, which, of course, made me feel lucky and compelled to actually go.
I know it’s “just” a BarCamp, but I can’t help wondering what the hell I’m doing. Public speaking was something I despised at school and university, and generally I tried my utmost to avoid it. In fact, public speaking and exercise were my two least favourite things. In some grand twist of irony, I now visit a gym three times a week (paying an obscene fee to do so), and I’m attending a BarCamp – voluntarily!
So, I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to talk about. Typography was my specialism at university, and I know a fair amount about how typography works (mainly in print), and, of course, the history of typography. What interests me most about typography is printing. There are obvious parallels with printing and with the web: both deal with the dissemination of information, with literacy, and the flow and sharing of ideas. I wrote my dissertation on the history of the broadside ballad, which was the first low-level way of communicating thought through cheap print. I can’t imagine having written about anything that is more meaningful to me.
I’m going to use a blog post I wrote a few months ago on ‘Twitter and the Crystal Goblet’ as a starting point, and come up with a twenty-minute presentation on transparency in mobile experience design. That way, I’ll usefully combine my three loves: typography, experience design, and mobile. Oh: and Twitter. (I’m also contemplating calling the presentation what dead typographers can teach us about designing for delightful mobile experiences.)
Thoughts welcome. Presentation tips very welcome.
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My presentation tips: Use a remote. Emotion, not logic. Half as much content as you think you need. Practice. Lots.
Thanks for the tips. I immediately wondered if I could use my iPhone as a remote control for the presentation, via some app. Hmm.
My tips? If using a remote or gadget it can either me an emotion crutch to help you through it, or a major distraction if it doesn’t work *perfectly*! Practice to make sure your snazzy iPhone remote thing works flawlessly…
Matt Patterson (ex typo a few years before you) did a great BarCamp talk on ‘what typography taught me about writing code’. Tying in the typography angle will give you an area you know a lot about, and an area the audience might be new to. A winning combination!
Matt,
I had no idea Matt Patterson (I’ve heard of him) did a similar BarCamp talk. I think it’s a good idea. I was thinking about talking about something along the lines of mobile typography, but it doesn’t sound as juicy as it, well, sounds (also: need to research this better).
Good advice, thanks!
Well done for coming up with a topic, I love public speaking but finding a topic is not coming easily!
Try reading Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann before you start talking to have a nice typography focus. I read it at Uni and found it the best type background
http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Stealing-Sheep-Find-Works/dp/0672485435
Also I’ll give you points if you can get from twitter to the london underground and Joanna from the right honourable Eric Gill, should not be much of a jump or tweet
For the presentation keep the script in your head and not written on your powerpoint. Look for Guy Kawasaki’s presentations on Youtube to keep your presentation to 20 slides.
A type angle could easily include that the size of screen and resolution has allowed for good type but it can lead to less transparent and clear type. see more youtube for samsung i900 and how it tries to be a desktop and also have a set of os x style widgets. Why would I want drag and drop widgets like that apart from it looks COOL once? You can see the number of styles and types of menus he uses but some of them do try to be better for the screen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTnaRyWOESs&NR=1
Good type and design does not get noticed as such, the message just gets remembered, I hope your message and not your design is remembered after your 10 minutes.