Thread by @mayli

We’re past the era of conferences being about content you could watch on video instead. Which means the experience of the IRL humans must be well-designed.

Let’s give @layersconf design conference credit where credit is due for walking the walk and forging new ground

(Thread)

https://twitter.com/mayli/status/1129494050245976065

1. Charles & Ray Eames talked about the guest / host relationship, and Layers truly feels like they’ve anticipated what you, the guest, needs before you do

This is the first conference I’ve experienced people coming out of the bathrooms saying “OMG have you SEEN the bathroom?”

This was not exclusive to the lady-identifying bathroom either. I heard a lot of the male-identified attendees being enthusiastic too, particularly about the SOAP

The fact is we are biological organisms, and on a hot day around a lot of people, you never know what sort of thing might happen. It may seem frivolous on the surface, but it’s a profound way of being considerate. I mean what an amazing spread

Having been in supposedly inclusive places that don’t even have trash cans in the bathrooms, I will tell you this stuff is meaningful

2. They work to make the speakers, audience, and content represent multiple axes of diversity. When it’s only the speakers it can feel weirdly tokenizing. When it’s not speakers nor audience, well, 🙄

Part of this is making sure there are a sizable group of scholarship recipients, some chance-taking on first-time speakers, and real effort put into the inclusivity of the *vibe*.

@jessiechar and @epow17 took a chance on me as a first time speaker after I left Apple.

people have gone from being a scholarship recipient one year to getting a job with somebody they met a few years earlier at Layers. The inclusion is working; rather than feeding an elitist vibe, everyone is invested in encouraging the new folks around them

And the talks cover a super wide variety of design related topics, from very tactical tool-focused content to accessibility to aspects of game design and community design and ethics / philosophy and learning

That means we can talk about what, how, and why all together

3. The phenomenal snacks and snack breaks means people are fed and happy, and they have PLENTY of time to mingle on site, which is the actual point of being together IRL. I regret not getting more photos of snacks, but here are some examples

There’s more, but end rant for now. I’m so grateful to have been part of @layersconf and appreciate all the hard work they put into designing this experience for real humans IRL

It was so lovely to meet y’all. I’m genuinely excited to see what you’ll create in this world! 💖

P.S. I hope everyone is getting good rest and nutrition! Post gathering immunity drops are real, so take care of yourselves.