welcome to the edge of the web!

The Edge of the Web conference and the WA Web Awards, like all events of this type, would not be possible without the support of some really smart and forward thinking sponsors. We’re very lucky to have such an awesome bunch of people who believe in our vision of a world-class web conference in Western Australia.

SitePoint, one of our supporting sponsors, has just announced that they are giving away a free ticket to the conference. For more details, head on over to their site. Many of our other sponsors have special plans for the conference too.

Our very generous platinum sponsor is Fasthit. These guys have been providing free hosting for all AWIA web sites for a number of years, and have been sponsor of many of our events. During the conference, Fasthit will be running a competition that involves testing your skill with some old-school arcade games. We think it’s going to be blast to find out who is a “fast hit”.

In the gold sponsor section, we have Edith Cowan University, who support all things multimedia and web in WA, as well as new Perth host OzPacific, web developers WebFirm, who will be taking photos and populating the conference’s official Flickr stream throughout the day, and the ever-generous Microsoft.

Central TAFE are our education sponsor, and Fairfax Digital’s WA Today is sponsoring the conference satchels. Stamford Interactive are sponsoring the conference lanyards, helping you to identify who’s who, PerthNow is the official media sponsor of EOTW and the WA Web Awards, and the all-important conference wrap-up drinks, running from 5.40pm to 7.00pm, will be courtesy of WAIA (Western Australian Internet Association).

In the supporting sponsor category, Bird Studios have done an excellent job of all of the conference and WAWAs print design work. We also have the support of recruiters Aquent and Execom – so you know who to talk to if you’re looking for a new job or some new staff, and Campaign Monitor, purveyors of fine designer-friendly HTML newsletters. SitePoint, in addition to their free ticket giveaway, will be supplying books for prizes.

Finally, a sponsor that will especially appeal to many web designers and developers: Five Senses, “The Coffee Edge Sponsor”, will be ensuring that EOTW attendees are well-caffeinated with real coffee, made by professional baristas – an important and all-too-often overlooked part of the conference experience!

Early on in the conference planning process, the AWIA committee brainstormed ideas for the name of our conference. The name “Edge of the Web” appealed for a couple of reasons: firstly, we wanted to push the boundaries and present bleeding edge content, because that’s what we believe conferences are all about. Secondly, it’s a bit of a play on the idea that Perth is at the far edge of Australia and in some respects the world. And finally it’s kinda catchy!

AWIA’s EOTW team (Helen, Myles and Kay) peering over “the Edge”

Perth is a nice spot to visit in November, and this may be part of the reason why we have quite a few people making the trek over from other parts of the world. Miles Burke has put together a map of the international, national and regional attendees that he knows about so far: Far and wide, they are coming!

If you are coming from somewhere different, or know of someone who is, please let Miles know so he can add them to his map.

Users of the mico-blogging service Twitter can connect with other conference delegates ahead of the big event with our conference game, EDGAR of the Web.

Joining in is simple – you just need a Twitter account and to follow EDGAR. Compete with other players to earn the most “cred” by promoting funny and quirky web trends. Those who prove themselves as true visionaries will be presented with special opportunities when the mysterious EDGAR unveils his top secret plans at Edge of the Web.

Full instructions are available on the site and you can check out who’s playing already.

EDGAR is the brainchild of pervasive game designers Atmosphere Industries, who also brought us the Silicon Breach game at Perth BarCamp 2.

Gary Barber has written an interesting post titled 9 Skills to Supplement Design.

The thought behind this piece is that in order to have a long-term career in the web industry as a web designers, simply having mad Photoshop skills is no longer enough. To succeed, designers need to learn and understand – at least to some level - a number of different disciplines.

Gary lists nine skills that he thinks are important: information architecture, user experience, user testing, JavaScript, interface design, accessibility, usability, backend code, mobile device design. That sounds like a tall order!

So where can designers pick up the kind of information they need to get up to speed in multiple areas? Well, I hate to state the obvious, but conferences are an excellent starting point. Listening to a 50 minute presentation by an expert in a particular field is a great starting point into that topic – it will at least give you some background and insight. While you can’t be an expert in everything, you might find that one or two particular areas really capture your interest, enough to motivate you to seek out more information.

The Edge of the Web conference boasts a lineup of world-class speakers that includes experts in accessibility, JavaScript, mobile design, social media marketing, usability,  information architecture, user experience and more. It’s the perfect place to learn how to expand your skills, expand your business and expand your horizons.

Or… how about a half-day in-depth workshop with an industry expert on accessibility, information architecture, rich internet applications on the desktop or JavaScript? At $200 for members and $225 for non-members (and a ridiculously tiny $100 for students), that’s outstanding value.

So… got your ticket yet?