We had thought 7 workshops over three days was about right. We were covering HTML/CSS, community building, presenting skills, data mashups, javascript, accessibility and managing humans. That’s a great spread we thought – some new topics and further workshops building on topics we’d covered before. But when the opportunity came to have both Kelly Goto and Joshua Porter running a couple of extra workshops, we couldn’t say no!

We’re delighted to have Kelly back at Webstock. This will be the third time she’s been here, making her and Russell Brown the only two speakers to have presented at every Webstock. Kelly’s workshops are invariably sold-out. They’re informative, they’re of immense value and everyone who attends walks away with something they can apply immediately to their work. Kelly’s workshop for this Webstock promises to be just as valuable. She’s been increasingly incorporating an Agile approach into her philosophy and toolkit over a number of years and the workshop, entitled “2.0 Workflow: The (Fr)Agile Truth” will look at balancing an Agile approach with a user-centered focus. It will be a topical and immensely useful workshop.

Through his blog, his book and the workshops he’s conducted at many other conferences, Joshua Porter has established a reputation as someone who gets what design means in an online social space. As the web has grown and matured, design has increasingly taken centre stage, and as we’ve come to understand this online medium more and more, our notions of what designs means have changed. Joshua’s workshop, “Social Design: From Strategy to Interface“, will start with a strategy for design and move into hands-on, practical work about putting stuff on a screen. It’s for designers, managers and strategists, and if feedback from workshops Joshua has conducted at other conferences is anything to go by, will be great value.

Welcome to Webstock Joshua, and welcome back Kelly.