Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

We want you to speak at Web Directions 2015

Since 2004, Web Directions has brought together leading Web developers and Front
end Engineers, designers and digital and product experts of all kinds to help our attendees keep up to date with the latest techniques and technologies.

And now we’re looking for the next great presenter to share their knowledge of, and passion for the Web. In our Design and Product track we’re looking for Design Stories, lessons from the trenches of digital design and product management. In our Engineering stream, we’re looking for deep insights into the JavaScript, CSS, HTML5 and the Web Platform.

How it all works

What We’re looking for

Our calls for presentations are a little different to many conferences out there. We’re more specific than some about what we’re looking for, and we’re keen to help you improve your skills, no matter whether you’re just starting out, or you’re a seasoned presenter.
Each of our presentations are 20 minutes, giving you the chance to go into detail, but on a very focussed area.

But, we are looking for quite specific types of sessions, so to give yourself the best chance, here’s what we are looking for. Our sessions aim to be

  • highly usable – techniques and technologies that are broadly applicable today
  • focussed on new or under appreciated areas – if it’s something everyone’s doing, then let’s move onto what’s next!

We’ve also got some more specific thoughts about sessions for the Product/Design and the Engineering tracks.

What We Need from You

All you need to do is fill in this simple form, with a little information about you, and the presentation you are proposing.

What we’re offering you for just submitting a proposal

We said we’re a little different, and that doesn’t stop after you submit a proposal. Here’s how we’ll help you become an even better presenter.

Presentation workshop

Anyone who submits a proposal will get a seat at our presentation workshop. These will help you shape and refine your presentation, and give you some great presentation skills as well. These workshops will take place in Sydney and Melbourne August 25th (Sydney) and August 26th (Melbourne).

Presenting at What Do You Know

If you don’t know our WDYK events, they’re a great way for speakers to get some experience, in front of a warm and receptive audience. Presentations are 5 minutes long, and give you a chance to try out part of your presentation, or an abbreviated version, and hone your presentation skills. We’ll try to get as many people who proposed a presentation on stage either in Sydney on September 2nd or Melbourne September 3rd.

Selected Presentations

If your presentation is chosen for Web Directions, you’ll be a speaker like any other. You’ll attend the conference, and speaker dinner, and if you’re from out of town, we’ll get you to Sydney, put you up, and get you home again.

What are you waiting for?

So what are you waiting for? We’d love to hear what you’ve been doing, and are keen to share with our audience.

Design sessions we’re looking for

We’re looking for “design stories”–20 minute presentations on an innovative project or product you’ve been involved in, where design played a key role, and the lessons you learned. It could even be a small aspect of a project, which you think is worth sharing.

It could be a triumph, or a disaster. It could be “5 things I wish I knew about manufacturing in China before we started”, or a particular design technique (A/B testing colours perhaps?).

If you think your peers will benefit from hearing about it, we want to hear from you.

Engineering sessions we’re looking for

JavaScript

With JavaScript now developing rapidly, and with transpilation technologies like Babel.js meaning we can use proposed, even experimental language features today.

So, what new features of JavaScript do you get the most value from? What do you think your peers should be using?

New and emerging HTML/CSS

Are you using new, or underutilised language features from HTML and CSS, and getting great results? Think everyone should know about these features? Then we want to hear about it! Now, We love the bleeding edge, but we’re looking for practical, real world technologies – so widespread browser support, polyfills, or progressive enhancement are key.

Web Platform APIs

Our browsers are becoming powerful platforms for development. Got a favourite API you’re keen to share with the World? We’d love to hear about it.

delivering year round learning for front end and full stack professionals

Learn more about us

Web Directions South is the must-attend event of the year for anyone serious about web development

Phil Whitehouse General Manager, DT Sydney