Rprsnt Confrence

I spent my Friday at Saturday at Rprsnt a "Creative" conference in Syndey's Luna Park.

This was run by the guys at Refill magazine and featured a good variety of speakers both from Aus and overseas. I enjoyed MrCartoon and his entourage, Pablo Farrer (the dudes like 70 and still kicking it), Brand New School, Umeric (best prepared talker) and the guys from Odd Studio.

They tried out a new format which was one of the organisers (Luca) interviewing people as they showed their work. This is different to the usual get up and speak format.In theory this is a great idea but in practice it makes for bad viewing. Umeric kept to the traditional presentation format and I think the crowd (around 2000 people) would agree that his presentation was the best. If only Ash from Umeric was better at fielding questions from the audience like the Mr Cartoon guys.

The problem with the interview format is the lack of direction, even with prepared questions (i don't think there were) it's hard to extract a good story from people if they are not prepared. Also Luca had a hard time just listening to the speakers and felt the need to talk between every answer (repeating himself and contradicting himself quite a bit) and at times talk over his guests.

There was a small store presence out side the talks and a few technical issues on the days but these are to be expected from volunteers and designers. Maybe next time spend more money on getting professional help guys :) One central computer that everyone presents off would probably be a good idea too.

After the two days of hearing all these designers speak you cant help but feel inspired. Even if it is to start your own conference and watch as the mo' money pours in :)

I spent my Friday at Saturday at Rprsnt a "Creative" conference in Syndey's Luna Park. This was run by the guys at Refill magazine and featured a good variety of speakers both from Aus and overseas. I enjoyed MrCartoon and his entourage, Pablo Farrer (the dudes like 70 and still kicking it), Brand New School, Umeric (best prepared talker) and the guys from Odd Studio. They tried out a new format which was one of the organisers (Luca) interviewing people as they showed their work. This is different to the usual get up and speak format.In theory this is a great idea but in practice it makes for bad viewing. Umeric kept to the traditional presentation format and I think the crowd (around 2000 people) would agree that his presentation was the best. If only Ash from Umeric was better at fielding questions from the audience like the Mr Cartoon guys. The problem with the interview format is the lack of direction, even with prepared questions (i don't think there were) it's hard to extract a good story from people if they are not prepared. Also Luca had a hard time just listening to the speakers and felt the need to talk between every answer (repeating himself and contradicting himself quite a bit) and at times talk over his guests. There was a small store presence out side the talks and a few technical issues on the days but these are to be expected from volunteers and designers. Maybe next time spend more money on getting professional help guys :) One central computer that everyone presents off would probably be a good idea too. After the two days of hearing all these designers speak you cant help but feel inspired. Even if it is to start your own conference and watch as the mo' money pours in :)