I keep a notepad with all the tech conference talk ideas I have and jot notes down when inspired. Some talks come together right away, others I work at for years before I actually submit them. A few have been on the list for years with no momentum. I just added two talks that I intended to submit to conferences at some point in the future to my list. Both of these are less technical, but highly important topics.

One of them is about criticism, critique, and feedback that has a working title of “I am an asshole and so can you” that I know I won’t actually use.  I want to explore providing value through criticism, and building people up. I see bad feedback provided all the time (and am guilty of giving it), but I need to figure out what exactly is bad about it.

The other one is kind of meta and is about the UX of conferences.  I want the explore how UX techniques and tools can be used with the various parts of conference organization.  From using personas when deciding on talks and scheduling them to priming and it’s role in introductions. I have a decent amount of thoughts here, but not nearly enough to fill a full slot.

No idea when (if ever) I’ll submit one of these. If you have an opinion on either topic, comment here.  Maybe it will inspire me to actually put real time into the ideas.