I got an email from a friend a couple of days ago asking for advice about public speaking. Now I'm no Jeremy Keith expert, but I have spoken at a few conferences recently, and have a "couple":http://www.webjamsession.com/ "more":http://www.refreshorlando.com/ lined up in the next few months. Rather than reply by email, I thought it may be useful to post my thought online, just incase any of you have to give a speak or presentation.
In a recent survey of design agencies, the BDI calculated that unpaid creative pitches cost UK agencies an average of £38,000 per year. This may sound reasonable for a large agency with plenty of resources, especially if they are going after large projects. However over half of the design agencies in the UK employ less than five people, and £38,000 is a lot of money for a small agency. I’ve long held the belief that creative pitches are toxic, and unpaid creative pitches doubly so. This view is upheld by a number of professional design associations that actively ban their members from engaging in unpaid creative. Creative pitches are bad for the client, bad for the designer and bad for the industry as a whole, and I’m going to explain why.
I was recently interviewed for an article on accessibility in this month’s ".Net magazine":http://www.netmag.co.uk/. Here is what I had to say: 1: Why are so many sites still inaccessible? There is still a large amount of ambivalence regarding web accessibility, from both developers and clients. Many clients are either unaware that the disability discrimination act covers them, or simply don’t care. However, it is not really the clients fault. It is the responsibility of the web development profession to educate clients about their legal responsibilities and build accessibility into their projects, whether specified or not. Unfortunately, due to the increased commoditization of web design, budgets continue to fall and accessibility is often one of the first areas to be affected.
One thing that annoys me about this industry is the flagrant misuse of the term "Consultant". A consultant is generally somebody who provides professional advice to a client for a fee. So as an "accessibility and user experience consultancy":http://www.clearleft.com/, clients will come to us for our advise on improving the accessibility and user experience of their products, and we'll respond with some form of report or documentation, often backed up with a formal presentation.
A few months ago I had the pleasure of being invited to talk to a group of civil servants on the subject of "blogging in government":http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2005/09/blogging_in_government/. The talk was part of a larger event that also covered web accessibility, so myself and "Tom":http://www.plasticbag.org/ were only really able to scratch the surface. The day was really fun, and I was surprised how interested people were in the subject. So much so, I was invited back to give an expanded talk, which I gave yesterday.
I was listening to "Derek Featherstone's":http://www.boxofchocolates.ca/ "WE05 podcast":http://we05.com/podcast/ the other day and he mentioned how the "5 stages of grief":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_stages_of_grief mirrored many peoples experience of web accessibility. You would start off with *denial*, claiming that accessibility wasn't an issue that you needed to be aware of. You would then move into *anger*, being annoyed that you were forced to do something you didn't want to do. You would then start *bargaining*; "how about if I only reach single-A conformance?". You would next hit *depression*, being frustrated about how difficult things were. And lastly, you would come to *acceptance* making accessibility part of your every day life.