My Little Piece of Apartness

May 8th, 2007General, Web Development

Vermont camping grounds

If I’ve timed this right my article, “Stand & Deliver”, is now live on A List Apart. Take a moment and give it a once over, why don’t you?

This particular missive sprang out of a conversation I had a while ago with Jeffrey Zeldman about preparing new designers for challenging presentations. Pragmatic exercises for ducking baseball bats and other realities of meetings sans kid gloves. Okay, so no fisticuffs—just the upshot of life among the hurried and harried. Naturally, I was flattered when he asked if I could jot down a few thoughts on the topic for ALA. The result is, I hope, a short collection of tips to steel you for the gauntlet.

Yes the Universal’s Here

While the article focuses on difficult meetings it’s important to note that the topics discussed (preparation, timing and research) are universally applicable. Regardless of experience or DEFCON level, the best practices you use to prepare for tough meetings are the same best practices you should be using to prepare for any meeting. Not just when you feel like your audience is getting ready to break out the pointy sticks and go all Lord of the Flies on you.

Comments

Jody May 8th, 2007 at 8:52 am

Great article, thanks for sharing your expertise!

Angelo May 8th, 2007 at 12:04 pm

You should think about writing a book about this sort of stuff. It’s a difficult and rare thing to be able to collect all the little bits of what we do, and drill them down into a tidy, manageable, enjoyable read.

Anthony Armendariz May 8th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

I really enjoyed this article and took it to heart, as client/designer communication has always been key to me in my personal career. You truly captured one of the most important lessons every designer has or will need to learn.

Jesse May 8th, 2007 at 1:09 pm

Thanks David. I did some similar practice and research when pitching the “No one wants to have a time share in the ghetto” web advertising thoughts to the Ad Ops folks here. That’s twice you’ve saved me now; I should buy you a beer.

zeldman May 8th, 2007 at 1:19 pm

No one wants to have a time share in the ghetto

Love it.

Richard May 8th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

Hey David, I think ‘Stand and Deliver’ is a great addition to the ALA site. It is actually quite timely for me, as I am currently preparing work for my first professional website. Perhaps an interesting follow up article might be to take one of your personal experiences, you know… a presentation that you feel was very successful, and share some specific details that made that presentation a success.

Cheers mate! -R.

David Sleight May 8th, 2007 at 4:08 pm

Angelo: I’m glad to hear I didn’t turn into too much of a windbag!

Anthony: Thanks much, from one director to another.

Jesse: Always happy to be of service. I really do hope it was effective for you. The ad beast can be a tough animal to tame.

Jeffrey: Maybe I should sell bumper stickers?

Richard: Interesting idea. I like the notion of doing a specific case study. Seeding conversations with (anonymous) anecdotes is a great teaching tool that I try to use often, but having something that follows an entire single meeting or project from start to finish could be intriguing. Cheers to you to, and congrats on starting out!

Sarah May 10th, 2007 at 11:35 am

Hey congrats! Maybe coffee spills are good luck…

David Sleight May 10th, 2007 at 1:25 pm

Hey Sarah! Thanks! Next time I really need things to go my way I’ll just have someone dump a beverage on me. ;-)

Leave a Comment

E-mail address will not be displayed. You can use <a href>, <blockquote>, <code>, <em> and <strong> tags in your comment. Line breaks are automatically converted.

David Sleight is a web designer living and working in New York City, and the Deputy Creative Director of BusinessWeek.com

Recent Posts

Search