In 2009 I’m all over the place, so if you’d like to see me on stage, ranting on about various design-isms or teaching cosy little workshops in a city near you, there should be several opportunities.
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Written at 11am on 14.11.08
Filed under ALL CATEGORIES / Publication & Recognition / Speaking Engagements
7 comments (closed)
With the end of the year rapidly approaching, and having just got back from 2008’s last speaking gig, I thought now would be a good to time to consolidate my presentations from all of the events I spoke at this year.
The first speaking event of the year was a particularly memorable one. On the day of the actual event, I got on stage with Andy, Jina, Jon, and Hannah and we undertook a ‘Photoshop Battle’ (which essentially involved a fair bit of piss-taking at the expense of poor Andy). After that, I presented a talk about taking influence from the world of print design, fueled by a bottle of 12% beer supplied by my notorious Belgian friend Tim van Damme. I also got to meet a lot of my online friends in the flesh for the first time, and the many parties were incredible. All in all: a bloody brilliant event.
On the second day of FOWD - coincidentally my last day at Carsonified - I gave a half-day workshop entitled Professional Photoshop Effects and was then taken out to a swanky lunch by my Spanish chum and favourite web designer Miguel Ripoll. More parties ensued, fireman hats were worn, the next day we moved flat, and a week later I’d left the country to live in Norway for two months. Crikey.
Refreshed from my Viking adventure and on the hunt for more villages to plunder, I presented a session at SkillSwap Brighton. This was my second SkillSwap, having appeared at the Bristol event last June, and I was once again joined on stage by a ClearLeft-er: that parallax-purveying gentleman of the web: Paul Annett (the Bristol event being with Andy). We both talked on the subject of fine details in web design, and I even managed to drop an Aphex Twin reference in there.
We returned from Slovenia only last week, having been throughly looked after during a fantastic trip, escorted by Marko, Jernej, Marta, and various other fantastic people of the Slovenian interwebs. I spoke at Kiper Pipa (or ‘Cyber Pipe’), a venue doubling up as a computer museum, displaying some of the almost-forgotten relics of childhood, like the first Macs and tape-based game consoles. Very cool indeed.
Not only did we have a great time and get given Slovenian Absinthe, but I was also photographed by Marta, who took some great shots at the event and at other times. After that, I was interviewed for Blogorola magazine, and a translation will be coming soon…
In contrast to the other events this year, I didn’t actually do a presentation at WDC and instead appeared on a panel called Working in the industry & loving the web. It was good fun and we got some interesting questions from the audience, mostly made up of students from the University of the West of England. It was so nice to get down to Bristol and briefly become part of the great web scene they have there. I’ll be back next year…
It looks like I achieved my goal of doing at least four gigs this year. Phew! I can’t wait to see what 2009 will bring (I already have four events planned in the first few months) and I’m really looking forward to seeing all of my friends from around the world that I usually only get to see at events!
Lastly, thank you so much to the event organisers for inviting me along and putting me up! :)
FOWD photo by Eamonn Murphy
SkillSwap photo by Natalie Downe
Spletne Urice photo and main illustration by Marta Lamovsek
WDC photo by Jon Tan
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UPDATED! I’ve been known to while away a few hours on these blogs, most of which are written by my friends in the industry...
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Steve Killen
14.11.08
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Aphex Twin references ftw!
James Eveson
14.11.08
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Hi Elliot,
I’m a first year student at UWE, and I attended the WDC in Bristol this week. Even though some of the more advanced concepts went over my head I found the whole thing very inspirational and I’ll definitely be back next year.
Although I find coding pretty rewarding, my main creative outlet comes from developing on the graphic side of the web, so it was good to see that was represented (mainly by yourself!) at WDC. Hopefully you’ll be back next year when I might have enough experience and knowledge to ask some meaningful questions!
You also have one of the better site designs that I’ve seen recently, and all the ones from the WDC speakers are top stuff. Quite a big inspirational boost from that alone!
Just thought I’d give you some feedback from the night anyway (and I can say that all of the other first year students loved it too).
Cheers,
James
rama
15.11.08
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wow, it’s nice to get to travel around the world to do things you love the most. success all the way for you.
Elliot Jay Stocks
16.11.08
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Thanks for the comments, guys!
@ James Eveson: Thanks so much for letting me know that you enjoyed it. You’re the only student I’ve heard from after the event so it’s great to know that people found it useful. Cheers!
Jernej
20.11.08
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The interview with Elliot Jay Stocks is finally on my blog
Jernej
20.11.08
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It was a real pleasure having you here Elliot! Welcome back anytime:)
Davorin
20.11.08
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Yep, great lecture, good times afterwards ;)