Refresh Pittsburgh

For the next Refresh Pittsburgh meet-up, we’re going to try our first panel discussion.  The topic will be “Surviving a Recession as a Web Professional“.  The panel will be made up of  6-7 local web professionals at various levels of the business.  Freelance designers, developers,  programmers, small and large web technology business owners as well as a local CEO.

We still have at least 3 openings on our panel.  If you are interested in being on the panel, please email me, Jason Head, to let me know of your interest.  We’re shooting to have the next Refresh the last week of February, so let me know asap!

The plan is to have a list of moderated questions and also questions submitted through our website, and additional questions depending on where the discussion leads.

Also, if you would like to submit a question for our panelists you can also email me with those too!

Hi everyone!

I’m slowly, but surely, gearing up for 2009. I’ve started organizing the upcoming Refresh Pittsburgh events, but can use a little help.

I’ve put together a short survey that I hope you can take the time to fill out to help me get a better idea of how Refresh is doing and how we can improve in the new year.

Check out the survey and let us know how we are doing!

Both Val and Samantha have posted their slides from their presentations at last month’s Refresh meetup.  You can access the slides at their blogs via the following links:

• Observations on Client Relationships, Val Head
• Typography is the Foundation of Web Design, Samantha Warren

I’m happy to announce the next Refresh Pittsburgh meet-up is scheduled for Thursday, November 13th at 7:00pm. We have a really awesome lineup and a fantastic speaker from out of town. We’re really proud of the night we have lined up.

This month’s meet-up will be hosted by our friends at AlphaLab. AlphaLab is located at AlphaLab is located at 2325 East Carson Street in the historic Southside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Click here for a map and directions.

AlphaLab is a catalyst for launching the next generation of software, entertainment technology and Internet-related companies. Created by Innovation Works, one of the nation’s most active seed-stage investors, AlphaLab provides funding, hands-on business assistance, access to a network of entrepreneurs and expert advisors, and free office space as part of an intensive 20-week program in Pittsburgh. AlphaLab helps companies rapidly develop their technology, gain user feedback from early product releases, develop go-to-market strategies, and move toward successful commercial launch.

Presentations

Val Head is a Senior Designer/Developer at New Perspective and is also the brains behind the FlashPitt conference. She’ll be presenting “Observations on Client Relationships and How We Deal with Them”. She’s also provided us with one of the most colorful topic descriptions: The relationship between the designer, or developer, and client can be complicated. They can make you want to dance in the streets, or stab yourself in the eye. Val will talk about some common relationship patterns and how we to make the best of them.

You can read more about Val at her blog thisisportable.com.

Next, we’re really happy to be joined by Samantha Warren. Samantha is a web designer and typophile at Viget Labs, an all inclusive web agency outside of Washington, DC. In addition to being a board member of the Art Directors Club of Washington, DC she also teaches part time at Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts DC campus. In her spare time she updates her blog BadAssIdeas.com.

Samantha will present “Typography is the Foundation of Good Web Design”. She will illustrate how typographic legibility, hierarchy, and expression contribute to the success of a design through a step by step web-site redesign.

You can find out more about Samantha and the cool work she does at her blog BadAssIdeas.com as well as the Viget Inspire blog.

Please RSVP!!

As usual, please RSVP to info@refreshpittsburgh.org so that we have a good idea of our headcount. It’s especially important for this meet-up as I need to get a headcount to AlphaLab a day in advance.

We’re a bit late with these, but anyone who wants to download slides from the following presentations can do so at the following links:

“Design Process in a Nutshell“, Olivia Blonde

“CSS Combiner“, Isaac Gierard