At the risk of starting another...shall we say, emotional exchange, I wanted to pose an observation I had at last weekend's TypeCon. There was a visible lack of representation from certain foundries who are really killing it right now, and whose work I really admire (not to say I don't admire the work of foundries that did represent). Any thoughts on why there was no one from Hoefler OR FJ, Vllg, very few from Font Bureau, just Greg from Commercial, TypeTogether, OkayType, only one guy from House, Pagan & Sharpe ... has that conference become lower priority? Was it always? Is it because people would rather go to some of the new conferences like Robothon and Typographics, or spend their $ in Sao Paulo this year?
I ask in part because we had this whole diversity committee to tee up better efforts when it comes to SoTA's board and proposal process, but I also wondered if TypeCon is past its heyday?
No offense meant to anyone who's responsible for TypeCon, enjoys TypeCon, was at TypeCon, etc. It was just an observation.
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On the personal side, I'm skipping ATypI (though I'd love to attend) to spend time with family. I also had to skip Granshan this year due to a conflict with a long-standing dance workshop. I also thought TypeCon was fairly good this year, even with the lighter attendance (seen at other conferences, also).
How was the attendance this year?
Like Jeff said, small foundries, even the successful ones Elizabeth mentions, don’t have the budget to attend every conference, and Denver isn’t cheap for East Coast travelers.
I couldn't sleep in Denver either. Apparently the altitude really fucks with people. By the end of it I felt manic. Even all the weed didn't help.
But if I go these days, it's mainly to see friends in the industry I don't otherwise get to see.
I imagine some foundries focus on sending people to SND or HOW to meet with users rather than peers.
FWIW I have been to Denver before, and would have loved to go back.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think the present TypeCon machinery is running very smoothly—congrats to the board, and JP, of course.
I liked that there was so much space in the conference rooms.
Yeah, the altitude and climate in Denver required adjustment to, but the hotel was OK—in Washington last year it was ridiculously cold.
But I miss having a closing party with music and dancing.
I have seen more items in the goodie bag.
The proliferation of type conferences and events may be an issue—I skipped TypeCon a couple years ago, but went to Typo San Francisco instead.
I can’t speak for those who are “killing it” right now!
There was a closing party with music and dancing, but you had to stay through Sunday night.
During the new diversity committee meeting, I suggested that a separate programme committee might be a good idea, rather than the SOTA board trying to look after all the conference logistics and create the programme at the same time, and also suggested a more curated programme with more invited speakers, rather than relying on a call-for-papers for everything except the keynote. I made the suggestions in the context of ensuring a diverse and balanced roster of speakers, but I also think they could raise the quality of the talks.
Look, I've really enjoyed the TypeCons I've attended in the past (6, in total) and have spoken 3 times. Make no mistake: I LOVE TYPECON. And while the world type conference pool is getting a bit crowded, there's still room for a conference that welcomes more rigorous scholarship, new voices, invited speakers, and yes, even a rockstar or two.
A proposal for a future type conference:
One main stage with a mix of tracks / programming
– Speakers that come from a blind / peer-reviewed call,
– Speakers that are invited by a diverse panel of industry leaders / students / educators / newbies,
– A track of new voices, people that are new to the field / new to speaking with mentors to help them develop their presentations
- maybe even a "surprise" keynote speaker.
I'm going to take a guess and say that for some established independent foundries, they might not see much of a financial/strategic benefit. They might not necessarily learn anything new from the talks/socializing that will help their business, they might not want to be hounded by fans or people wanting to ask business questions, and they might not feel that there are too many potential customers to woo (in contrast to a web dev/graphic design conference). So I imagine that the choice to attend might come down to whether or not they feel like socializing/taking time off from work/spending a over a grand in one weekend.
But, then again, I think some people relish the fact that TypeCon is like a mini-retreat for the close-knit, very connected type elite!
But I don’t see that level of interest anymore. Designers working in print have read Thinking With Type and watched Helvetica and attended Ken Barber’s workshop and now they sated. It seems like the interest now is in type for web and app design, but those designers are often completely clueless. Convincing digital designers not to use Helvetica Light at 8 pixels with infinite line lengths is too elementary for Typecon.