As a sponsor of the of the upcoming “The Business of web design” conference, (covering getting clients, pricing work, estimating, contracts and all the essential things web designers need to run a successful business), we caught up with the event’s organiser Joel Hughes to find out more. In this interview Joel explains why he felt the business of web design was an important topic to cover in a conference, and gives his tips for organising and speaking at events and the importance of a thriving web design events scene in the UK.

Could you provide a bit of information about yourself?

My name is Joel Hughes and I’ve been working in the web industry since 1998. I run Hinkford, a digital agency based in Newport, South Wales. We help people & organisations (from councils to guitar makers) to elegantly & effectively solve their digital problems. (We are currently undergoing a rebrand from the previous company name so, for the time being, our web presence is at https://joelhughes.com)

What motivated you to organise Port80 and Localhost?

Basically I could see no visibility for the web community in Newport & South Wales. It seemed nuts to me; you only had to go to Bristol to find a diverse, vibrant, thriving scene – but, apparently, very little here. So I decided to start change. There are a lot of web industry workers in South Wales and they deserve a community, a presence, and a voice: hence Port80.

I also wanted to do something positive for Newport. The city where my business is based has got a bad press over the years but it’s going through a regeneration and it has a lot going for it. The first

Port80 was on a glorious, sunny May day; and many people from far afield got to see Newport in a different light that day. Since Port80, other communities have started to emerge in South Wales so I like to see that as a victory 🙂

What were the biggest challenges when you were getting Port80 off the ground?

Worrying that no-one would come! To be honest, organising a conference isn’t too complex but it is very, very stressful & involves a lot of admin work – you really want people to have a good time & for it to run smoothly.

Port80 is now in its third year and I would say that the biggest challenge is getting the line up right; I received many, many talk submissions for this year (which is great) & it was a hard task to know where to begin in sifting through them all. I’ll try a different approach for #Port80 2015.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of this journey so far?

People walking away from events buzzing. A Twitter stream full of positivity. Making new friends. 40+ people coming out on a dark February night for a small Localhost event. So, in short; the people.

Local meet ups are becoming more and more popular, what advice would you give to someone looking at organising their own meet up or even a conference?

Just do it. Seriously, don’t muck around, if you want to kick start the web design scene in your local area then don’t wait for someone else; be the change.

I’m also mulling setting up Localhost’s around the country so, if you want to set up your own Localhost event and promote it on https://port80events.co.uk, get in touch.

After seeing a wide range of speakers at your own events, what tips would you give to someone who wants to give a talk at these kinds of events?

Oh, great question! Ok, these are general points from not just my conferences but from all the other events I go to see:

i) The audience is not there to see you fail, they are on your side

ii) Don’t start your talk apologizing that you only have X years’ experience etc, just get on with it

iii) Practice, practice, practice – Keynote has presenter notes facility so there really is no excuse for losing where you are

iv) Enjoy it 🙂

 “The Business of Web Design” really taps in to an area that is rarely covered but so important. Why do you the think industry doesn’t approach this more often?

Perhaps because it is niche; i.e. this isn’t going to appeal to everyone like a talk on (say) responsive web design might. Still, I’m not doing this to appeal to everyone, I’m doing it because it is needed.

When I first started dealing with clients direct (some 8 years ago) I made many, many mistakes -mistakes which could have been avoided with the right kind of guidance. I’m sure there are freelancers, agency owners or people thinking of setting up on their own out there now in the same boat as I was and, if my conference can be of help to them, and get them thinking more about their business, then that would be job done.

But that’s not to say the conference is just for newbies to the industry, I myself intend on learning a lot from all the speakers as well; Paul Boag and Sean Johnson always have great stuff to say and the Q&A session at the end is bound to be lively.

What are you hoping attendees to “The Business of Web Design” will get out of it?

I want the attendees to have a day where they can work ON their business (instead of working IN it). I want them to walk away armed with fistfuls of ideas to help them take their business to the next level. Practical advice which can help them (and me!) the very next day.

What are the key tools of your trade you couldn’t live without (and why)?

As my business has evolved I do less and less coding, I still play around a bit (in fact, I was fiddling with Ember.js only other night; very interesting!) but I’m lucky enough to have smarter people than me handling the design/dev etc. I still have to do some basic web stuff so, for that, I fire up Sublime Text 2. However, the day to day tools for me are: email (yeuch!), Redbooth (web based project management), Harvest, Google Apps & Dropbox