Tag: Event Reports

Thank you to everyone who came to August’s meetup. Staffs Web Meetup held an evening of talks focusing on diversity in the web industry.

Thanks to both our sponsors – TopCashback and iWeb.

Talks

Rocking work – being yourself on a diverse team

Ruth Mills

We spend a large part of our lives in work. When we can be ourselves in work and celebrate our differences, we can collaborate better and achieve more, while making it a far more enjoyable experience.

Who ya gonna be?

Rebecca Troth

In this ‘tongue in cheek’ talk I’ll give some some insight into my experiences, thoughts on equality and other random things. I’m not promising the solution to inequality, I’m not sure anyone can, nor am I here to make you feel bad but I do believe in equality for everyone & you should too.

Diversity in Computer Science Education

Katharine Childs

What do we want the next generation of software developers, web designers and computer scientists to look like? Katharine Childs from the Raspberry Pi Foundation will talk about the challenges and possibilities of bringing computer science education to diverse groups of children, regardless of gender, disability, class or race.

A big thanks to everyone who came to July’s meetup. The theme in July was designer-developer relations. The theme came about following a previous month’s open discussion, Lexi asked the group how she as a designer could work better with developers.

We welcomed Josh, a UX designer from the BBC, who gave a talk on overcoming some of the frustrations between designers and developers. The talk was followed by an open discussion introduced by Lexi and lead by Trevor Adams.

Thanks to both our sponsors – TopCashback and iWeb.

Talk

Solitary design, solitary development

Josh Hillier

We are all familiar with the saying “throwing the designs over the wall” and the frustrations this brings. From personal experience my talk will address some of the common problems, pitfalls, and knowledge gaps between Design and Development and share ways in which they can be overcome.

We tried something a little different to usual in June. Running a workshop style session, with a good amount of discussion throughout. It was an enjoyable evening which saw the planning of a hat festival, as well as a number of other more usual projects!

For those who missed out or wish to recap, Natasha has posted the simple 4 step process on her blog.

Thanks to both our sponsors – TopCashback and iWeb.

Talks

Planning like a pro

Natasha Allsopp

Ever had to present a talk or complete a project and not known where to start?

In this fun and interactive workshop, we’ll work in small groups to take a project or presentation idea and create a focused plan which will provide a solid foundation, helping streamline the entire project process.

This one weird technique is incredibly flexible. It can be applied to your next project whatever it may be, from preparing a conference talk to planning a holiday.

Want to know more? Then come along and get involved.

A big thanks to everyone who came to May’s meetup. It was a brilliant evening, with a record turnout for Staffs Web Meetup.

Thanks to both our sponsors – TopCashback and iWeb.

Talks

The Business Case for Modular Design

Laura Elizabeth

Designing patterns instead of pages is generally thought of as more sustainable way to design.

Anyone who’s ever tried it will have probably have found it takes a lot more than just designing a bunch of components and fitting them together (like Lego!)

So with a longer process, and bigger budget, it’s increasingly important that we can get clients on board with this new way of working. To do that we need to work out what the business case is for modular design and most importantly, how we can sell it to our clients.

Saving Time with Gulp

Jake Cobley

I will explain the pros and cons of introducing a task runner into your front-end development workflow. I’ll then introduce Gulp and demonstrate how it can be used to automate a number of common tasks such as asset compiling and optimisation.

Discussion Session (Lean Coffee)

Trevor Adams 

Our interpretation of Lean Coffee, a fast paced open discussion. Using sticky notes, during the break people will post up questions or talk topics. You will have the opportunity to vote for the sticky notes that you find the most interesting. We’ll then open the floor for a short discussion on each topic.

Nerdy t-shirt competition

Jamie Pollock was the winner of May’s nerdy t-shirt competition. Judged by our carefully selected panel of experts, consisting of Bean enCounter staff and Natasha Allsopp. Jamie went all-out, wearing not one… not two… but five t-shirts! Exceptional effort Jamie. Well deserved win.

A big thanks to everyone who came to April’s meetup.

Thanks to both our sponsors – TopCashback and iWeb.

Talks

Marketing & SEO for Web Designers

Jed Wylie

A 10 minute potted history of 10 years of marketing things we did which didn’t work, worked a bit or knocked our socks off.

How to grow crazily fast using scientific marketing

Karl Blanks

The web’s fastest-growing companies embrace experimentation. In this talk, Dr Blanks will discuss techniques that his company has used to more than double the sales of many companies.