What an Experience...

I went along to a UX Brighton event earlier this week. It was the first of their events that I’d been to since their inaugural meet up many months ago and if last night was anything to go by I’d missed out on a lot.

The event was billed as "Practical Tips and Templates" and was made up of five talks from usability and analytical experts. The talks were all very different and all very interesting.

First up was Harry Brignull, a UX Consultant from Madgex. Harry spoke about the most effective ways to take notes during usability testing. It was good to find out that his suggestion wasn’t too far off the method I’ve been using but I still picked up some really useful tips which will make analysing future usability sessions much simpler.

Next Danny Hope showed us his templates for social media planning and identifying site users. Both quite simple looking spreadsheets but both look really useful and I’ll be using them myself after downloading copies from the UX Brighton site.

The final talk of the first session was by Phil Guilfoyle from Onine Logic who gave a very quick overview of how to use Google Analytics to improve the usability of your site. Although it’s impossible to cover Google Analytics in 10 minutes his talk gave some useful pointers that I’ll be using for my websites here.

After a quick break for a beer and some chat we had a talk from Ifraz Mughal from iCrossing who told us all about the "iCrossing Connected Brand index". This is a system that iCrossing have introduced to help them measure the usability of sites, in particular in relation to competitors websites. This enables them to show clients graphs demonstrating the currently usability of a site and how changes might help enhance the user experience.

Finally Ben Greenfield spoke about developing apps for the iPhone and what will need to be considered for the iPad. This isn’t an area I know a lot about but it was good to find out what designers need to consider when designing games for different types of device. There were also some interesting insights into generally usability considerations for touchscreen devices compared to using a mouse.

Big thanks to all involved with UX Brighton for putting the event on and thanks also to the event sponsors Madgex (who provided beers and snacks) and to iCrossing for the use of their lovely offices.

Next month is the two year anniversary of the group so keep an eye on their website to see what they’ve got planned for that. Also, the group are looking for future event sponsors so if you’d like to support them then get in touch.

It was one of the most useful events I’ve been to for a long time and was better than a lot of paid training courses and conferences I’ve attended. So, if you’ve got an interest in usability, web design or analytics check out the UX Brighton website or follow them on twitter for details on their next event.

Luke

Brighton Media Sector Turns It On At Jobs Fair

On Thursday 4th March, the Corn Exchange in Brighton played host to our latest Media Jobs + Skill Fair.

The combination of industry-led panel sessions, training and skills information and, of course, local media companies looking to recruit attracted hundreds of attendees with some coming from as far afield as Bath. Opening the fair, Phil Jones, MD of Wired Sussex, pointed out that in the three years since it was launched, the event has grown to become the biggest of its kind in the south. He continued “This event is the perfect opportunity for local media companies to meet the talent that can help them grow and for anyone who wants to take their media career to the next level to access the information and expertise to advise them how”.

The event, which was supported by the University of Sussex (through HEFCE funding), Brighton and Hove City Council and the regional development authority, SEEDA, proved to be a resounding success, with hundred’s of courses on offer, covering everything from Media Studies to Music, and job opportunities from leading media companies across the Sussex region.

Over a thousand people passed through the doors, eager to gain careers advice, investigate further education opportunities or make face to face contact with a potential new employer.

We were on hand to help demystify the industry and leading industry figures took to the stage to talk about the Sussex Internship Programme, the different kinds of jobs in the media sector and tips on going freelance.

Making its debut at this years’ fair, the “Made In Brighton” showcase was a popular pit stop to grab a coffee and interact with some of the best media content being produced in the region.

Fresh Egg, Managing Director, Adam Stafford said “We thoroughly enjoyed the fair and met some fantastic contacts. .... There were a hoard of targeted, hungry job hunters and we have started interviewing people we met at the show”

Mick Feltham, the Curriculum Leader for Music, Performance & Theatre, Northbrook College said “The students attending were getting a real opportunity to explore careers and further training. Vocational contacts, advice and information are an essential part of preparing our students for a professional career and will increase their potential value in the jobs market”

The day concluded with a keynote talk by Dr Alek Krotoski as part of the University of Sussex’s Enterprise Thursday programme. Following the recent success of the BBC “Virtual Revolution” documentary series, Aleks gave an informative and highly personalised talk about her career to date.

We'd like to thank everyone who attended the Fair, we hope you got something out of the day. We'd also like to thank all exhibitors, speakers, and sponsors for making it such a successful event.

All photos taken by Garage Studios

The Sussex Internship Programme Goes From Strength to Strength

The Sussex Internship Programme continues to go from strength to strength as the scheme gathers momentum. The scheme, run in partnership with the University of Sussex, was originally funded by HEFCE and SEEDA to offer 112 30-day grant-supported internships within the content, creative and media sectors. Following on from the success of the scheme we applied for, and were granted, further funding to offer additional internships to 75 media companies bringing the total to 187 internships over 14 months.

Wired Sussex in very proud of the response and support the scheme has received from throughout the industry. It has been a great stepping stone for recent graduates to make that first move into an industry sector that continues to gain national attention. To date the Sussex Internship programme has helped over 55% of the interns involved gain an offer of employment from the companies they interned with.

This increase in funding has necessitated the need for Wired Sussex to take on additional team members to assist in delivering these additional internships. We are very pleased to welcome onboard Jess Jebari as our Project Manager; Emma Sarling as our Marketing Campaign Manager and Angela Rabone as our Corporate Liaison Co-ordinator.

If you are interested in finding out more regarding the Sussex Internship Programme, or you are interested in taking an intern for your company then please do not hesitate to call me on 01273 69288 or email me at nick.edwards@wiredsussex.com

New Members

Our members are at the centre of everything we do, it is our reason for being. We are excited about every new member and we want to share the love! Every week we will be updating you on the newest members to our community, where they are based and what they do.

2010 has been a great month for new members, we are really pleased to say that January has seen 48 agencies and freelancers (37 and 11 respectively) join up so far. The majority of these, 31 to be precise, are from the Brighton and Hove area. We've also seen members sign up from Pevensey, Bognor Regis, Worthing, Haywards Heath, Petworth, Crowborough, Crawley, Lancing and Chichester. The skillsets are as varied as the location, covering everything from web design to illustration, digital TV to audio production - if you are looking for help with a digital project our membership directory is fantastic resource.

You can view our most recent members here. If you want to find out more about the benefits of Wired Sussex membership, please get in touch.

Women In Media Networking Breakfast at The Sanctuary Cafe 21st January 2010

Thanks to everyone who attended the first Women in Media breakfast of the year, yesterday morning at a rather packed Sanctuary cafe.

Jenni Lloyd from Nixon McInnes gave a great interactive presentation on ‘Building your network’ which made for a lively question and answer and networking session.

Jenni highlighted useful online tools that make networking easier and demonstrated the different audiences that use them and for what reasons. It was an entertaining session and interesting to see how many people were aware of each social network and why they use them.

The main theme of the Q&A session was the problem of how to find time for social networking. Some quicker, smaller solutions were highlighted – such as utilising the list function on twitter and subscribing to and commenting on high profile blogs to create a presence. These were really useful tips for those who don’t have much time to devote to social networking. Jenni's presentation is now available on SlideShare.

Post Q&A there was a chance for everyone to chat and get to know each other over some yummy pastries. There was a nice mix of people so it was good to see everyone interacting and engaging with each other. Keep your eyes on the Wired Sussex Flickr stream as we will be posting the photo's up shortly!
The event was a great success with over 30 attendees. The next breakfast is planned for April, May time and we already have some potential speakers!

We’d love to hear your ideas on any topics and speakers you would like to see at future Women in Media events, if you have any in mind please drop me a line at katie@wiredsussex.com or let me know via twitter @MediaWomen.

(Photo by Claire Stokoe - greenrmedia)

Big Screen Bonanza!

Tuesday night was the latest Flash Brighton and BANG collaborative event, their festive Big Screen Bonanza! I’d been to one before and was really looking forward to having a few beers with the animation crowd and watching some great animations, I wasn’t disappointed.

After a couple of free mince pies and wearing reindeer style antlers we all settled down to the first part of the evening. Richard Mitchelson (aka Rich Mitch) kicked things off with a screening of his favourite animations of the year. It was an eclectic mix of funny, beautiful and just plain odd films. There wasn’t a theme at all but they were all excellent examples of animation and storytelling.

Next up was a talk from Garth and Ginny talking about the work they’d produced which included an E4 Music Sting and the brilliant Flash on the Beach titles.

The evening finished off with local animator Cyriak showcasing his latest work. This included Meow - a zombie kitten apocalypse and also a film of Bruce Forsyth going absolutely mental. If you’ve not seen Cyriak’s work before then you should head over to his site and check out animations like Beastenders and The death of Jim Davidson.

All in all it was a great night and I’d like to pass my thanks on to everyone involved in putting it together, that’s Sarah Bird, Seb Lee-Delisle, Rich Mitch, Cyriak, Garth and Ginny and anyone else I’ve forgotten. Looking forward to the next one...

Luke

Brighton SEO Meet-up

Yesterday evening was the Christmas SEO Brighton meet-up organised by Fresh Egg after a suggestion by Kelvin Newman on Twitter, the event took place in the upstairs room of The Quadrant pub.

it was great to catch up with everyone, especially finally putting faces to names from people you read about on blogs and follow on Twitter. Thanks to Fresh Egg who were kind enough to buy the 1st round of the evening.

There were people from Fresh Egg, iCrossing, Site Visibility, No Pork Pies and Click with Technology, plus several people who came up from Southampton and Bournemouth who had heard about it on Twitter and wanted to see what it was all about.

So thanks again to Fresh Egg for organising, and don’t forget the Wired Sussex members meet-up next Wednesday (16th December 2010) at the Black Lion pub from 6.30pm. Hope to see you there