On November 11th 2022, I spoke at ffconf 2022 in Brighton.
It was an achievement Iām very proud of, and an experience I enjoyed thoroughly. I wanted to write up a short little post about my experience of the day from a speakerās point of view.
My speaking experience
I wanted to give a bit of background about my experience as a speaker first just to give some context. Feel free to skip this part if you like ā my history of speaking is all on this page
I wouldnāt consider myself a ānewā speaker anymore, but I am definitely not a seasoned pro either, but hereās the rundownā¦
2019-2020
I began speaking by taking part in a Lightning Talk event in February 2019 at Women in Tech Nottingham ā a local tech meetup, organised by the Tech Nottingham. The talk was around handling negative feedback.
After this I got the itch to speak more, I participated in other Lightning Talk events, with topics like:
- āShould Designers Codeā
- and āI <3 Comic Sansā.
I then decided I wanted to do a full length talk, and the wonderful team at Tech Nottingham encouraged me to do so!
In September 2019 I had delivered my first full length talk ā āDonāt Set Yourself on Fire to Keep Others Warmā.
I then continued this talk at some in-person meet-ups and some virtual ones during 2020. As well as this I also helped run a design meetup in Nottingham (while in person and virtually). This helped give me a tonne of confidence and experience in public speaking while hosting these events.
2020-2021
In 2020 I started writing āDesign for Developersā, in the hopes of submitting it for DDD! East Midlands ā this event eventually got postponed til October 2021, but I was selected to speak by an anonymous vote. This was my first conference(!), but I was thankful that it was still local to me and that I knew a lot of people in attendance, it put me at ease. As well as this, Jess was so supportive and the entire DDDEM team put on a great event!
2022
After DDDEM, Jess encouraged me to submit the talk for NDC London. This event was a huge dealā¦ London, 3 day conference, 100+ speakers. It got selected and I had a brilliant experience in May 2022 delivering the talk on the largest stage to date.
and that is when I saw ffconf had a call for papers.
Submitting my talk
I had never attended ffconf before, but I had always wanted to. It looked like the least āconferenceyā conference Iād seen, and I had friends who had attended who backed up that thought.
I figured that āDesign for Developersā would be a great talk for the audience there, so I submitted and kind of forgot all about itā¦ I genuinely didnāt think I had a chance!
Four weeks passed, and I got an email from Remy titled ā āAn invitationā ā I had been accepted to speak at ffconf 2022 š
I was absolutely buzzing!
Rewriting the talk
While I was very excited about being selected for ffconf, I realised something. My talk had previously been done in one hour slots, and almost always running to time. This time I needed to do it in 40 minutes, something which on the surface seemed like a simple task, but it actually took a lot of work to do.
I also decided that I was going to move the talk out of Google Slides (which I had previously used) and into Keynote. This was for a few reasons
- Offline contingency ā I wanted use of the slides without WiFi.
- Animations ā there was a few areas in the slides that benefited from small animations which Google Slides wasnāt capable of achieving.
- Motivation ā I felt like completely redoing the slides would really give me the motivation to not only cut the talk down in length, but rewrite some of the areas that I had feedback on previously and knew I could improve.
In the end, Iām really glad I moved to Keynote and I donāt think Iād go back to Google Slides!
Pre-conference
During the months leading up to the conference, I was in touch directly with Remy and Julie (who created and run ffconf alongside their team).
They had been really clear about what they offered speakers during the CFP process which I really appreciated. You can read it all on their website, but to summarise:
- Travel and accommodation arranged and paid for
- Ā£500 honorarium
- Speaker dinner the night before & lunch on the day
- A free ticket to next years ffconf
What I didnāt expect was the amazing level of communication leading up to the event. Julie very kindly organised travel, and Remy kept us all up to date with details of the event (and when I say detailed, I mean detailed!), plus anything needed from us ahead of the conference was requested with plenty of notice.
The night before
I travelled down to Brighton the day before the conference, very kindly in First Class for the first time, on the train.
When I arrived at the hotel I checked my bags and went for a walk around Brighton while the weather was good. My friend Jonathan was also attending the conference so I met up with him for a drink at Unbarred (do check it out if youāre a craft beer fan) š»
Then it was time for the speaker dinner, Remy and Julie had asked us all to congregate in the hotel foyer. This was when I got to meet them and the rest of the ffconf team, as well as the speakers for the first time. We all were given a lovely gift bag full of ffconf goodies, but the most exciting bit for meā¦ a custom modded Gameboy with the ffconf game in cartridge formatā¦ a game Remy had created in GB Studio, and that featured all of the speakers. I was floored!
I had noticed Remy modding gameboys on his Twitter earlier in the year, infact I wanted to request one from him. Turns out, heād been working on a set of them for the speakers all along!
You can play the game yourself in it’s online format.
Anyway, the speaker dinner was (deliciousā¦ and) a fantastic way of getting to know everyone before the nerves kick in the following day and Iām really grateful for it.
Conference day
On the day of the conference, I got ready and headed downstairs to grab a bit of breakfast before setting for the venue ā two bits of toast was my limit š
Walking up to the Duke of Yorkās Picture House I was stunned at how different it was to any other conference venue Iād ever been toā¦. that, and there was already a huge bustle of people outside. Nerves were setting in!
I grabbed a tea and spotted Sophie, she was speaking in the slot after mine so I think we had a shared sense of solidarity. She also helped me figure out where the hell I was going š
The talks
I am not going to go into huge detail about each and every talk and my thoughts and feelings, because I think itās up to yourselves to take away whatās important to you from them. This is why I hate it when Iāve been asked in the past to relay all the takeaways from conferences Iāve been at to the rest of a company Iāve worked for. Thatās not how these things work.
The videos are all being edited, and will be posted on the ffconf website soon, so please do take a look when theyāre ready.
BUT if you are desperate for a recapā¦
- Amy has done a really concise blog that puts a lot of similar feelings to my own into words.
- James Hall and Josh Nesbitt recorded a roundup of the day for the Off Script podcast
What I WILL say is how honoured I was to be part of this lineup. The talks all had important messages to say, whether that was about the state of the world weāre creating for, practical tips to takeaway, inspiration to make good shit, taking responsibility for our workā¦
The effort, passion and work that had gone into creating and delivering those talks made me leave that hall with a fire in my belly, and warmth in my heart.
It had been a great day, and as well as the wonderful feedback I received from attendees, the ffconf team had once again looked after the speakers thoroughly throughout the entire day whilst also running around and making sure the day ran like clockwork. What a bloody brilliant team š
After
When the conference was over, the plan was to head down to OhSo Social at the beach for the afterparty. I went back to the hotel, dropped off my stuff and walked down to the beach.
The entire venue had been booked out for the ffconf conference party, and it was buzzing! š
Just another wonderful piece of the ffconf tapestry that Remy and Julie have so lovingly crafted. It was an opportunity to spend some time winding down with friends, some I knew before, but also many I made throughout the event.
I know ffconf has had a muddled past with what the name means ā but I like āfriends foreverā š
Thank you
I want to thank the entire ffconf team, I felt so looked after before, during and after the conference. Your passion and dedication to this event blew me away, and Iām so grateful I got to be a part of it.
I feel like Iāve missed some crucial parts here, but the overall message is ā thank you.
…oh and see you next year! š š
I have posted my slides on Notist if anybody is interested, these also have full speaker notes so should make some sort of sense.
Alternatively, I will Tweet or Toot when the video is published š
Header image by: Trys Mudford / Edited by me
