“We’re a digital agency… and there's two Jakes…”
I'm really pleased to say that the whole Liverpool session of Speak The Web went down really well. I managed to get through 30 minutes without committing social hari kari or making too bigger tit of myself. Pat Lauke was in full on Opera and HTML5 brainwash form, but energetic and interesting enough to be different from Chris Mill's session at Leeds. The coup de grâce was obviously Simon Collison of Erskine Design, with his In the Pursuit of Magic presentation, and fair play to him for being drugged up but persevering and putting on a really thoughtful and inspiring presentation.
Speak The Web aims to break down the barriers that prevent a lot of people getting to the bigger conferences. Travel, time off work, hotels and the bar bill can all be quite prohibitive, so the two organisers, Rich Clark and Dan Donald have started a grass roots collective of local talent and are hitting four venues in the North. The lads know the jaypee's Interactive Director, Jake Smith quite well, and knowing he's from Liverpool asked if he'd like to appear at the Liverpool session. "Go 'ed, lar", was the reply! If you want to get along to Leaf in Liverpool ...