As I’m sure you all know, we recently released the first details of our lineup for our third (and my final) ShropGeek conference, (R)Evolution 2015. I can’t tell you how SUPER excited I am about this years event. We have a really awesome new concept featuring “monster dude” (our full website is on its way – its worth the wait, honestly), and this is definitely our best lineup yet!

We are still working on finalising a few things but in the interim here are a few more details about our lineup. Seriously, these guys are all so good I’m practically bouncing up and down with excitement! ~ grin!

Each year I get to make this super exciting announcement and this year is even more exciting than usual! Drum roll please….

Details of (R)Evolution 2015 so far have officially been revealed here: 2015.shropgeek-revolution.co.uk

Woohoo!  ~ grin!

As many of you know, we will be taking a break from organising (R)Evolution in 2016, so this year we are pulling out all of the stops. And honestly, I couldn’t be more excited about this year’s event (I know I say that every year, but seriously its going to be so awesome!). We have lots of things planned to make the day even more special but for now, here are the important facts: 

As I’m sure you all know by now, ShropGeek is so much more than just a monthly social. Over the years we’ve done all sorts of different types of events and as long as there is demand for them, we will continue to do so. However, very few things in life are genuinely free.

Myself, Pete White and everybody else that gets involved with organising events for ShropGeek all donate our time to do so, but there are still always overheads. And thats where we need your help…

There are many ways to get involved with ShropGeek but what we specifically need at the moment is some regular sponsorship for our Rebellion Meetups.

The topic of interaction is a complex beast.

A quick search of the online gospel that is Wikipedia returns a number of definitions spanning several fields, including Biochemistry, Sociology and Genetics, among other subjects I know next to nothing about.

But what does interaction mean to those of us working on the web?
“Interaction – It’s important!™”

Today, there’s simply no escaping interaction on the web. To overlook interaction considerations when designing and developing a website is a sure-fire shortcut to failing your potential users.

Having been involved in traditional marketing for my whole career, I am aware of the online and offline experience and how they join up – or are supposed to. Service design and delivery is one of my biggest bugbears and one that I try to impart on people I work with at any given opportunity. You see most people ignore the experience from the end-users point of view in the offline world and systems and processes are set up based on what is most efficient for the business.

Switch to an online world and the reverse is true. More and more focus is placed on the user experience – and quite rightly so! Teams are created to focus on the user experience and every element of it including the design, the flow, the compulsory stages, the language, the EMOTION of the process is broken down and examined AND tested in detail. The result for the end user is at worst hassle free and at best an experience they want to share and repeat.

This all got me thinking … what is the difference between the online and offline world of user experience?

I thoroughly enjoyed creating the illustrations for last year’s (R)Evolution Conference so I was pleased to be invited back to do the same again this year.

Last year’s illustration brief pushed my drawing style outside of its usual parameters and gave me an excuse to create something completely different to the usual make-believe cartoon characters and imaginary worlds that I’m more accustomed to drawing. I was looking forward to hearing what was in store for 2014’s website and if it’d be a similar story again – which it was.

The difficult third album has long been part of music lore, but I know from experience, it’s not restricted to the music business.

A raw, exciting debut, followed by a more mature, ambitious release is exactly how I’d describe the first two sites I designed for Shropgeek’s (R)evolution conference. The second, for 2013, was one my favourite sites I’ve designed, and it was going to be difficult to follow, and I knew it, which is probably why I turned Kirsty down for a third outing. But a few flattering emails later and I was signed up again, what designer doesn’t fall for flattery?

Accompanying 2012’s site was a fresh brand and a responsive design, it had the benefit of novelty. 2013 took it further, establishing the conference as a serious, day long event, pushing the evolving the brand and finding a distinctive visual style. (R)evolution is no longer an upstart event, it has become established, attracting large numbers of attendees and top shelf speakers, and last year it was a nominee for a .net award. So where could I go with the site for 2014?

A lot of people know me these days because of my involvement with ShropGeek. Everywhere I go I talk about ShropGeek; I will talk to pretty much anyone that will listen, and I often get this response in return:

“I don’t think I’m *geeky* enough to come to Shropgeek.”

I can understand why, the word *geek* often comes with a pre-conceived stereotype, and while all stereotypes usually exist for a reason, I don’t consider it to be an accurate representation of the people that attend ShropGeek events.

ShropGeek is much less about the *Geek* (although that certainly helps) than people think and much more about the community.

So what I thought I would do in this guest blog is explain some of what I have gained from my involvement to show you how its all about an open and friendly community and not *geeky*-ness.

I’ve been saying this a lot this year, Shropgeek is evolving and making some pretty big changes to what we offer. Don’t panic, the social is never going to stop (unless people stop showing up of course! – but even then, I’m stubborn and would probably still go!), instead we are introducing lots and lots of really cool new stuff. YAY! ~ grin!

One such new thing is guest blog posts.

You see, we have this really lovely area on the website, already conveniently called Articles (anyone would think this wasn’t a coincidence…) which would be just perfect for all you super talented people to write stuff in! How perfect is that?

Joking aside, this has always been the original intention of the articles section, and the Shropgeek website in general. We have an amazing community of people, and have had lots of equally amazing people come in to the county to speak at our events too. Which means we have an unbelievable wealth of knowledge at our finger tips.

The events we organise go some way towards tapping into that knowledge and sharing it with others, but that’s just a few people within a room full. What about everyone else?

And so, we are asking you guys to step up and write an article for the Shropgeek website.