Most Anticipated Sessions At Web 2.0 + Your Chance to Win Tickets!
Web 2.0 San Francisco is just a few weeks away now and I’ve been spending some time looking at the schedule. This year’s schedule is very interesting in that it has a lot of timely guidance (evidenced by topics that reflect the changing needs of a weakened economy) and sage advice (from those at the helm of some of the largest 2.0 efforts so far).
While I’m hoping to attend as many as possible, I’ve made a very short list of the ones that I am looking forward to. But before you read that, I’d like to give you a chance to attend on your own. I have two full-access passes ready to send off to the two best answers I receive. Here’s the rules:
- Visit the schedule listing at http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2009/public/schedule/full
- Choose your favorite session
- Tell me why you want to attend that session - what you're hoping to get out of it and how it will impact your own work - comments are under repair here so mail me gregarious AT bluewhalelabs DOT com
Here’s a few of my top picks:
‘S’ Factor – why sales shouldn’t be a dirty word in Web 2.0
For many start-ups making money remains an afterthought. But developing a great application and building community around it is no longer sufficient. Both consumers and businesses are getting wiser about Web 2.0 tools, awarding their attention sparingly.Good product is more than technology. In order to succeed it has to have the ‘S factor’ (‘S’ for sales) built into it from the very beginning. So why is ‘sales’ still a dirty word in Web 2.0?
My Take
As someone who’s launching one product and advising many others on their own strategies and futures, this is a topic that always comes up. I do hold dear to my heart that we should build things that change peoples lives and in doing so, create enough value that they have no problem paying for that difference.
Can't We Just All Get Along? Human-centered Design Meets Agile Development
How can designers and developers work together in a process that seems to be contradictory in nature — and how does visual design fit into the picture? How can we best create integration, collaboration and implementation around seemingly divergent methodologies and languages?Human-centered design — basing its insights on thoughtful user research, iterating early through documentation, and beginning development much later in the process once the design has been fully fleshed out — has become the de-facto process and approach for the creation of useful and desirable products. At the same time, Agile Development — promoting developing early and often in short iteration cycles with tight feedback loops — has become the standard for developing useful software.
My Take
As an advocate of the “me-first” design philosophy, it’s clear to me that any design that does not sufficiently and effectively explore the users of an application, service, product or device have failed in their ultimate mission.