Last week, I hosted what I plan to be the first in an ongoing series of online workshops. Overall, the event went well, and here’s what I learned and how I’ll improve things next time.

If you thought you’d missed my practical layout workshop for designers, well—thanks to COVID—you didn’t.

This workshop is for designers who want to break free from the gridlock and create layouts that feel bold, expressive, and uniquely theirs, without losing clarity or usability.

Flights are booked and visas are in hand * and I’m getting very excited, because in only a few weeks, Sue and I are heading back to Australia to join Espen, Jina and Una, as well as our friends in Perth at the very first Mixin conference.

Do you know where you were or what you were doing exactly ten years ago (next week?) I do. I was speaking at my first, in fact the first Web Directions conference in Sydney, Australia. (I gave a talk called ‘Creating Inspired Design’ and there’s audio of it if you’re interested in listening.)

I have more than a soft spot for Australia. It’s where I’d live if that were possible and where I can see myself retiring to in, you know, twenty or so years. Luckily, I’m going back to Australia long before that, this March in fact, to speak at the fabulous Respond conference and to take my CSS For Responsive Web Design workshop on the road to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, as well as Sydney itself.

I’ve been very pleased with reactions to my latest ‘CSS3 For Responsive Web Design’ full-day workshop. Attendees at ‘The Web Is…’ in Cardiff and ‘Beyond Tellerrand’ in Berlin really seemed to like its mixture of design and technical content. I’ll be hosting this workshop again in several cities in various countries throughout 2015 and there’s still one more opportunity to join me in Oslo next week.

I really like Norway and the Norwegian people are among the friendliest I’ve met, so I never need convincing to visit them. While I was in Oslo in October, speaking at the Making Web conference I met the wonderful people at IGM and when they asked me to take my CSS3 For Responsive Web Design workshop back to Oslo on December 3rd, I jumped at the chance.

Last years’ Handheld Conference in Cardiff was an incredible event. A bearded me even got to push a dalek with my friend Jon, as well as deliver a talk and host a sell-out workshop. This November I’ll be back in Cardiff for Handheld’s successor, The Web Is… I’m a last minute addition to the speaker line-up (again) and back workshopping with a new ‘CSS3 For Responsive Web Design’ workshop.

In all my travels I’ve not yet been to Berlin. That’s changing in November when I’ll be appearing at the fabulous beyond tellerrand.

Smashing Magazine are hosting a series of one day workshops across Europe throughout November and December.

2012’s Smashing Conference in Freiburg had the best atmosphere of any European conference I’ve been to and, while I wasn’t there, I hear this year’s was pretty special too.

I’ve just come back from a trip to beautiful Freiburg in southern Germany where I hosted my new CSS3 For Responsive Web Design workshop at Smashing Magazine. I went to Freiburg last September when Alex and I attended Smashing Conference and we had a brilliant time. The folks at Smashing Magazine were genuinely welcoming and I jumped at the first opportunity to work with them again.

I noticed a strange spike in traffic from Japan today. Turns out to be a report on the workshop I help there in April. Google Translate’s version is a hit-and-miss in some places and hilarious in others: I feel each time you attend a workshop of Andy Clarke’s, but expect a “great technique” and “amazing tool” from work and his track record, but the expectation is betrayed every time in a good way. But the gist of my message — of responsive vs adaptive design (very common in Japan) is there, along with some photographs of the day.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the people at Smashing Magazine and I loved being at their Smashing Conference last September, so when they asked me if I’d like to be a part of their workshop programme, I didn’t hesitate to say “yes.” This coming June my wife and I will be heading back to beautiful Freiburg where I’ll host a ‘ CSS3 for Responsive Web Design’workshop.

Back in 2009, I took what I thought would be a trip of a lifetime to Japan to speak and host a workshop at Web Directions East. I spent a hectic few days in Tokyo then set off for a place I never thought I visit, Hiroshima. I’ll never forget standing, in tears in front of the A-Bomb dome, or visiting the shrines on Miyajima Island. I met new friends and went home with stories to tell.

Handheld is “the conference for all things mobile” that’s happening in Cardiff, Wales on 27th – 28th November 2013 at the Wales Millennium Centre. Handheld has a fabulous line-up of speakers and tickets go on sale on March 1st, St. David’s Day. (You can get get 10% off your ticket with the offer code unfinishedbz.) If you needed another reason to head to beautiful Cardiff Bay, I’m hosting a new workshop, “CSS3 for Responsive Web Design.”

I thoroughly enjoyed hosting another Fashionably flexible responsive web design workshop at New Adventures on Wednesday. I got the feeling that everyone enjoyed the day. I know that I did.

Some conferences just have ‘that’ special feeling. @media was the first for me in 2005. The An Event Apart in Seattle in 2010 where Ethan Marcotte first talked about responsive design, another. Most recently, the first New Adventures also in 2010.

Sorry to break into your Diamond Jubilee celebrations, but my Flexible Responsive Web Design workshop on the 19th September in Freiburg in Germany sold out so fast that Smashing Conference and I are hosting a second day. That’s right. We didn’t want disappointed Germans. Especially after Engerlaaand will be beating them in Euro 2012. This one’s the day before the conference, on the 16th September. You know the drill. Places are limited. Found out more. Register. Now.

I guess if you’ve been following my tweets or Instagram photos, you’ll know that I’ve been in Australia presenting a series of ‘Fashionably flexible responsive web design’ workshops. I had the most amazing time in Australia and I want to say a huge thank-you to John and Maxine for helping me make it possible. I’d also like to thank everyone who attended for contributing to the discussion and sharing their experiences. I couldn’t have built a full day’s workshop without referencing the work of others. So my special thanks go to John Allsopp (again), Mark Boulton, Brad Frost, Jeremy Keith, Ethan Marcotte, Brian and Stephanie Rieger, Luke Wroblewski and all the designers and developers whose work I featured. With the Australian tour now over, I’ll be working on adapting the workshop’s content for a new video. More on that another day. But today I’m making available the slides from my Australian workshops on Speaker Deck. Of course slides without commentary and context are worth only so much. But hell, you just had to be there.

There’s been much written about responsive design, but so much of it has focussed on aspects of technical implementation rather than about the design decisions that responsive design demands. So next February (2012), I’ll be travelling down-under to Australia to host four, yes four, ‘Fashionably flexible responsive web design’ workshops.