2 SXSW Panel Proposals

We're proposing two panels for South by Southwest. Audience voting on the panels is open until September 4th and you can vote thumbs up or down on any as many panels as you want so if these sound interesting, please vote yes! (note that you'll have to register but it only takes a second)

1. Mac-n-Cheese: Learning About Product Design from Comfort Foods

Comfort foods are the epitome of success. Delicious, ubiquitous, and easy. This panel of chefs and designers will explore what food can teach about product design. What makes a new recipe take-off? How do you make your product comfy on first use and then make people want to use it again?

Questions this panel will answer:

1. What do eating a food and using a technology/software/website have in common?
2. What makes comfort foods so appealing?
3. Can those same qualities translate into software/websites?
4. How do you create a new recipe that a mass audience will like as much as an old standby like mac-n-cheese?
5. How do you have a successful yet cutting edge restaurant?
6. How do you create a new product that people will feel comfortable using from the start?
7. What techniques/lessons from recipe creation (for magazines and restaurants) can be applied to the design of new technologies?
8. How do you innovate if people like known things?
9. How do you get a following for your food? For your restaurant? For your product?
10. What mistakes should you avoid when doing something new?

2. Flex, Silverlight, Javascript??? Picking your RIA Technology

Dazed and confused in a sea of technology and marketing fluff? This talk will help you pick the right technology for your Rich Internet Application based on the user experience implications. See specific examples of the trade-offs with each so that you can finally make an informed decision.

Questions this panel will answer:

1. What is a Rich Internet Application (RIA)?
2. What sorts of features should you expect a RIA platform to offer?
3. What is Microsoft Silverlight?
4. What is Adobe Flex/Air?
5. Can you create a RIA using HTML/CSS/Javascript?
6. Are there any other technology platforms to consider?
7. What are the pros and cons of each platform from a user experience perspective?
8. What are specific examples of applications using each technology effectively and ineffectively?
9. What tools are available to design for each platform?
10. What are the ten key points to think about when deciding which technology to use?