The Workshops

We’ve got some great workshops lined up for you this year. So if you want to learn from the best, sign up today.

Morning Sessions

• How to build a web app from A-Z (SOLD OUT)

  Time:

  09:00 - 12:30, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  Mike McDerment, FreshBooks

  Having a great web app idea is only the beginning of the fun. Taking that idea from your head and getting all the way to launch is no easy task and unfortunately there aren't any official instruction So in this workshop, we are going to give you tips on the complete process of building a web app, from A to Z.

  What you'll learn

  * How to decide between bootstrapping and gettng outside investment
  * If you need funding, where you can find it
  * How to find and recruit the right team
  * Tps for managing the project - Milestones 101
  * Tactics to engage and delight your potential audience
  * Ideas for generatng buzz around your launch
  * How to change and improve your app after launch
  * Reacting quickly and effectively to customer support

  

  Mike McDerment
  FreshBooks

  Mike is the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, planet earth’s leading online invoicing app for service oriented professionals, freelancers and teams. Back in 2003, Mike built FreshBooks for his design firm and scratched his own itch. Since launching in May 2004 FreshBooks has touched over 600,000 lives and Mike and his team dedicate themselves to being a great service for people who love their work, and want to focus on it – instead of focusing on their paperwork.

  Sold out!

• How to build advanced web apps with Cappuccino and Objective-J

  Time:

  09:00 - 12:30, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  Francisco Tolmasky, 280 North

  With the launch of 280 Slides, the team at 280 North redefined what was possible with web apps. In this workshop, you'll learn how to use Cappuccino and Objective-J to create amazingly powerful web app user interfaces. Cappuccino is an open source app framework for developing web apps that look and feel like the desktop software users are familiar with. Cappuccino is built on top of standard web technologies like JavaScript, and it implements most of the familiar APIs from GNUstep and Apple's Cocoa frameworks. When you program in Cappuccino, you don't need to concern yourself with the complexities of traditional web technologies like HTML, CSS, or even the DOM. The unpleasantries of building complex cross browser applications are abstracted away for you.

  What you'll learn

  * The advantages to using Objective-J and Cappuccino
  * How to get started with a basic app
  * The new capabilities of Google Chrome and how it affects your web app UI
  * How to host, deploy and maintain a Cappucino app

  

  Francisco Tolmasky
  280 North

  Francisco is a co-founder of 280 North and the creator of the Objective-J programming language. 280 North is bringing desktop-class applications to the browser with their new open source framework, Cappuccino. They recently launched 280 Slides, the first application built on Cappuccino. Before 280 North, Francisco was an early member of the iPhone team at Apple, working on Mobile Safari and Maps.

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• Implementing the Social Web with OpenID, OAuth, and All That Jazz (SOLD OUT)

  Time:

  09:00 - 12:30, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  David Recordon, Facebook Chris Messina, Vidoop

  David Recorden and Chris Messina present Implementing the Social Web with OpenID, OAuth, and All That Jazz APIs allow sites to share data, but a new breed of APIs are allowing sites to share their users as well. Find out how technologies such as OpenID and OAuth can help you build your own sites on top of the user accounts and relationships formed elsewhere, from the people who worked on the specifications.

  What you'll learn

  * What is the Social Web?
  * Social Web success stories
  * The differences between OpenID and OAuth
  * Why it's important to your web projects
  * Approaches to implementation
  * The future for OpenID and OAuth

  

  David Recordon
  Facebook

  David Recordon is the Senior Open Programs Manager at Facebook, where he leads open source and open standards initiatives. He joined Facebook from Six Apart where he focused on platform strategies, and previously worked at VeriSign in the emerging business group. David has played a pivotal role in the development and popularization of key social media technologies, such as OpenID and OAuth. He collaborated with Brad Fitzpatrick in the development of OpenID, which has since become the most popular decentralized single-sign-on protocol in the history of the Web. In 2007, he became the youngest recipient of the Google-O'Reilly Open Source Award.

  Sold out!

  Chris Messina
  Vidoop

  Chris Messina arrived in San Francisco four years ago and began volunteering for the Mozilla Foundation, leading the Spread Firefox community marketing project, helping to raise over $220,000 in microdonations to put a two-page spread, which he also designed, into the New York Times helping to increase Firefox's downloads to over 50 million in its first six months. He went on to co-found social web browser Flock. Later, he co-founded Citizen Agency with Tara Hunt, and was named one of the Digital Utopians and People Who Populate Web 2.0 in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2006 after his work on WineCamp. Chris now works for Vidoop, LLC, a provider of secure internet identity, on a distributed social network project called DiSo that he co-founded with Steve Ivy in December 2007.

  Sold out!

• How to build web apps for the emerging Enterprise market

  Time:

  09:00 - 12:30, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  Victoria Axelrod, Axelrod Becker Consulting Jenny Ambrozek, SageNet LLC

  Since the terms was coined by Andrew Mcafee, Enterprise 2.0 has become one of the hottest topics around. However Enterprise 2.0 and the use of social media within organisations was happening well before anyone created the term.

  What you'll learn

  In this workshop you will learn about what is Enterprise 2.0, why it matters and how it is changing organisations. The workshop will discuss the benefits and the risks of these technologies along with the common obstacles faced when implementing Enterprise 2.0 and how this can be overcome.

  To ensure the workshop appropriately serves your interests it will help Jenny and Victoria to understand what applications you are working on, and the audiences they serve. They have put together a starting list of questions which you can find on the FOWA Facebook group

  

  Victoria Axelrod
  Axelrod Becker Consulting

  Victoria G. Axelrod is an organization strategist and principal with Axelrod Becker Consulting, developing innovation and growth strategies through the power of stakeholder networks. She is former executive director, organizational effectiveness and senior vice president and head of global best practices American Management Association. Her clients range from startups to Fortune 500s, nonprofits and government agencies. Victoria co-authors the 21st Century Organization blog focused on emerging business practices for today’s complex, global environment. Recent articles for Inside Knowledge Magazine include: Broadcasting Innovation , Prediction Markets and Placing a Face on Knowledge based on a three month investigation of the use of Facebook for business. Effective Executive Journal, Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts (ICFAI University) published her Open netWORKing Organizations for Innovation July 2008. Axelrod is author of chapters on Transorganizational Collaboration and Sustainable Networks and Sustainable Globalization in The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook and portal.

  

  Jenny Ambrozek
  SageNet LLC

  Jenny is founder of SageNet LLC a consulting practice helping businesses create value by applying collaboration and participatory media tools to connect with customers, partners, and employees. Her work in online interaction began in the mid-1980s with Edutel, an Australian Caption Center–supported educational content service delivered on Prestel standard Videotex and captured in The Edutel Book: A Guide to Videotex in Education.,1985. Moving to the United States,, Jenny joined online industry pioneer PRODIGY Services Company. As Director, Community Development, she learned about facilitating ecosystems of collaboration tools and online spaces to share ideas and engage minds. As a participation architect consultant, Jenny helps organizations to understand and leverage their people networks, ensuring effective collaboration and knowledge sharing among stakeholders in support of innovation and strategic goals Jenny is a contributor to The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook,.2008; and Inside Knowledge Magazine; co-convened the Facebook Groups in Business Investigation 2008 and Online Communities in Business Study 2004. Recent presentations include KMWorld, the Enterprise 2.0 Summit, Hanover, and the University of Warwick’s Knowledge Innovation Network where she is Associate for Participative Media. Jenny blogs about 21st Century Organizations and the future of work at theappgap.com.

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Afternoon Sessions

• How to write effective web copy

  Time:

  13:30 - 17:00, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic

  This workshop will teach you the fundamentals of copywriting for the web, why it should be your first consideration for both sites and apps, a DIY guide to copy, when to get a professional in and the most common mistakes rookie writers make.

  What you'll learn

  * Write copy that grabs people's attention
  * Communicate concisely through headline copy
  * Place copy strategically on the page to get the best results
  * Avoid common copy-writing mistakes
  * Maximise the effectiveness of your copy
  * Write valuable and interesting strap-lines
  * Use the correct tone for your audience

  

  Kristina Halvorson
  Brain Traffic

  Kristina Halvorson loves web content. A lot. First, she was a freelance web writer. Pretty soon, she realized no one talked about content until the very end of projects, which was bad. Then she founded Brain Traffic, a web content strategy and writing agency. Next, she co-curated the first Content Strategy Consortium. After that, she wrote a book called Content Strategy for the Web (New Riders, 2009). Now she's speaking regularly to audiences around the world about how to deliver useful, usable content online, where and when users need it most. Back in St. Paul, Minnesota, her husband and two kids don't care about web content at all.

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• How to change free users into paying customers

  Time:

  13:30 - 17:00, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  Kevin Hale, Wufoo

  Building web apps is getting easier and easier. Creating profitable and successful web apps, however, is not. In this workshop, we'll be sharing some sure-fire tips for converting users from free to paying customers.

  What you'll learn

  * How to use promo codes effectively
  * How to time special offers to get maximum uptake
  * How to communicate the value of upgrading
  * What the key features that people will pay for

  

  Kevin Hale
  Wufoo

  Kevin Hale is the Co-founder of Infinity Box Inc, a Y Combinator seeded company. His responsibilities include safe guarding and designing the user experience of their online HTML form builder, Wufoo, which was ranked by Jakob Nielson as one of the best application UIs of 2008. He also writes about interface design issues for the web development blog, Particletree and served as Editor-in-Chief of the web development magazine, Treehouse. As a child, Kevin was the kid in class who who ate a box of crayons for a dollar.

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• Interface design tips for web apps (SOLD OUT)

  Time:

  13:30 - 17:00, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  Daniel  Burka , Daniel on Twitter

  This workshop will define what application interface design should mean to you, look at common UI design mistakes, usability pros and cons and how the speaker solves some of the problems that designers face on a daily basis.

  What you'll learn

  * Usability tips for designing web apps
  * Strategies for adapting your app effectively over time
  * Interface techniques to engage your users to participate
  * Handling feedback and an intro to gorilla usability testing
  * Techniques for making your app more intuitive

  

  Daniel  Burka
  Daniel on Twitter

  Daniel Burka has recently left his position as creative director of Digg to work on a new start-up project called Tiny Speck. Daniel is one of three co-founders of Pownce recently acquired by SixApart. He is also one of the founders of the Canadian company Silverorange where he worked on various projects including branding and user interface design for Mozilla. At Digg, Daniel worked with Kevin Rose to evolve concepts into a cohesive user experience. Enabling the site's vibrant user community participate on the site is a constant challenge as the site grows and changes.

  Sold out!

• How to build your app quickly and cheaply using the Cloud

  Time:

  13:30 - 17:00, 23 Feb 2009

  Location:

  Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts

  Speaker:

  Mark Masterson, CSC

  Tools like EC2, Flexiscale, Google App Engine and S3 have reduced the complexity, cost and time it takes to launch web apps. This 'Cloud' is the new infrastructure and your next app should take adavantage of its power and flexibility. In this workshop we'll build an example web app on the Cloud and flag several potential problems that you might run in to.

  What you'll learn

  * How to setup your app on an elastic computing structure
  * How to deploy and maintain apps that are in the Cloud
  * Problem areas to watch out for
  * Talk about cost issues: when (and if!) it's cheaper than
  traditional hosting

  

  Mark Masterson
  CSC

  So-called "enterprise architect" and self-appointed resident troublemaker, Mark has worked as a parasite of the financial services industry in Frankfurt and London for the last 20 years. He also writes a blog, popular in certain circles, where he tries to broker peace between geek and enterprisey worlds. He has spent the last year and half researching, and working with clients of all sizes on cloud computing and Enterprise 2.0. Other research interests and development experience are focused on BPM and distributed systems in enterprisey organisations, as well as systems management and performance engineering. In a previous life, Mark was a UNIX sys admin, and still has the vmstat scars to prove it. Known for a lack of respect for the status quo, Mark is one of those people who spent their formative years being told that they have a "problem with authority figures", and he loathes bios.

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