I gave a talk about how great design (by itself) isn't enough:

I have a hard time separating politics from design. I use the same part of my brain to dream up a great interaction model as I do to dream up a better policy approach.

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Recently, Andy Rutledge tried his hand at redesigning NYTimes.com, a site that has gotten cluttered over the years and could use a revamp.

And while Andy would be in good company pointing out that reading news online could be much better, he makes the Design Bully mistake - he doesn't just critique NYTimes and suggest improvements, he does it in a way that assumes the worst.

Khoi Vinh's response is exactly right. He says redesigns are great, (and he likes Andy's) but you have to share your ideas in a way that isn't going to immediately put people on the defensive.

Hurray for redesigns
"The Internet gives designers a soapbox like they’ve never had before, and that’s a wonderful thing."
"If the redesign is full of good ideas, well-executed and persuasively reasoned, the world beats a path to your door."
"unsolicited redesigns are terrific and fun and useful, and I hope designers never stop doing them."

Hurray for Andy Rutledge's redesign
"It’s a redesign that contains some genuinely good ideas and is executed professionally."

I have a migraine so I can't really use my eyes much.

So I got my iPad and dinked around with making music.

I didn't want it to sound computerized, so these tracks are all recorded manually, meaning they're not fully in time.

I also liked the idea of a cacophony of drums so there are several drum tracks all competing in the background.

[hm, Posterous wouldn't embed the song. Oh well]

I just did some shoe shopping and noticed that Zappos does online
videos for some shoes.

Sold!

Corgan: [...] after the first album, I became completely suicidal. [...] And I made this sort of weird fundamental choice, which was "Well, I'm kind of at the bottom and there's nothing else to live for, so I might as well make the music I really wanna make." It was the beginning of the change in my life, that's when I started writing stuff like "Disarm" and "Today", which for me were like, literally ripping my guts out. And to actually have them be successful, and to play the songs live and have four or five thousand people sing these words back...it was like, wow, it just did my head in.

I just watched in awe as the women's Japanese team came back twice, against all odds, to beat the US in the World Cup.

There's something beautiful about the mental toughness it takes to make a penalty kick at the end of a big game. To connect with the ball on a full count at the bottom of the ninth. To stay mentally sharp enough to connect with a tennis ball at the precise time, angle, and speed to keep the ball in bounds deep in the fifth set.

Design is also beautiful, and it has its own victories. But somewhere in the process of design, I miss the in-your-face challenges of sport. Sports don't require inspiration, a muse, a brainstorming session, a scrapbook ... at any moment, they can require you to achieve total focus.

And only one gets to win, you or your competition. That's exciting.

In fact, I've always "trained" for design, as I mentioned at the end of this interview Lukas Mathis conducted with me:

"[...] being grumpy, unhealthy, and stubborn worked pretty well for me as a developer, but I can’t do it with creative design work. This means I have to eat better, exercise, go to bed really early, constantly remind myself how great things are, and expose myself to designs, people, and points of view I might not have bothered with before.

When I don’t, it shows much faster with much worse results than when I used to stay up all night banging out code and/or yelling at jerks on the internet. It took me a whole career change to fully appreciate it, but a positive attitude is vital for creating great work."

I think presenters can do a better job at delivering talks if they keep a few things in mind.

You Have Competition
Anyone sitting in the audience is capable of tuning you out with their phone or laptop. They want you to succeed, but they won't sit there while you waste their time.

Speaking Is Much Harder than Writing
Is your talk better as a blog post? Is it better as a chat over coffee with a friend? Are you just doing a presentation because you're trying to puff up your resume? Are you winging it? Guess what - in all cases, we can tell.

I can read faster than you can talk. Whatever you're saying is probably online as an essay somewhere (maybe even from your own blog!). So why am I here, live, paying attention to you now instead of reading through your slides later?

Figure out why the audience should sit still for an hour, with their laptops closed and their phones in their pocket, when they could be doing a million other things. Then capitalize on that.

Tell a Dang Story
It's fine to start putting together a presentation in outline form, with a bunch of different ideas without a cohesive point. That's how all talks begin.

But it is unacceptable to unload that same messy, unrehearsed, navel-gazing brainstorm on us with a few funny visuals and call it a presentation. If you haven't put your thoughts into some kind of order, you are not giving a presentation, you are wasting our time.

Don't Forget White Space
Just because you have an hour to talk doesn't mean you
should fill it up. First, you will go over your time. Second, no one complains when a talk leaves room for discussion or a bathroom break at the end.

Restrain yourself. End early. Stop talking long enough to have a conversation with the room.

Some Things Are Better From the Stage
Say something new. Try to poke holes in conventional wisdom. Try to be entertaining. Give people something to chew on. Wow us. Entertain us. Teach us!

People will either discuss your ideas over dinner that night, or talk about how the conference sucks this year. As a speaker, it is your job to help steer the conversation towards the former and away from the latter.

You Are Special
Remember, not everyone knows what you know. You might think everyone knows how to carve wooden bowls, or hike the Appalachian Trail, or design for an iPad, just  because you do. But they don't.

Everyone loves to learn, that's why they're in your room eager to hear you talk. Don't downplay what you know, but don't assume you can skate by without making the talk engaging. An engaging talk that inspires follow-up conversation and inspiration is priceless. The audience is happy, the conference organizers are happy, and you're happy. It can be a magical feeling for everyone.

All It Takes
All it takes is the understanding that the audience is on your side, and wants to hear what you have to say. But if you don't live up to your end of the bargain, and make a real effort to reach them, the audience has every right to look down to their phones, fire up a game of Angry Birds, and wait until you're done.