Our first Web Designer/Developer focused event Ctrl+F5, Bangalore was surely a lot of fun! Elite Web Professionals from all across the Southern States of India made it to the Sheraton Grand to meet our Industry’s Tech Leaders and other like-minded Pros. Leading figures such as Ninad Rawal – Directi, Shridhar Luthria – ResellerClub, Navneet Kaushal – PageTraffic as well as Ravi Pal from Endurance International Group, were eager to share their thoughts on designing & building efficient and fabulous-looking websites.
To sum it up, our speaker sessions aimed to:
- Evolve from the linear approach towards web design and web development
- Get a wider perspective on how the industry is performing & growing
- Help improve your offerings that deliver more value to your clients
We opened up the registration desk at 10am and soon the hall was thronging with excited Web Design enthusiasts who got started with socializing over a hot cuppa! That gave us a huge dose of adrenaline as our belief in the need for such a platform to bring Web Design & Development professionals together felt thoroughly vindicated. 
The first session of the day was by Directi’s very own Ninad Raval. Here’s a blow-by-blow look at what went down at Ctrl+F5!
Ninad Raval: Director of Product & Design, Directi
Topic: ‘Design with Context’
Ninad spoke about how design must undoubtedly be user-friendly, intuitive and at the same time, make no compromise when it comes to aesthetics. He adopted a structured approach which he later revealed he uses to induct new employees in his team, to cover various prime aspects of UI/UX.
Navneet Kaushal: CEO & Founder, PageTraffic
Topic: ‘Search Engine Friendly for Web 3.0 – Why & How?’
Navneet’s topic was about how great looking websites can get great traffic as well by optimizing for search engine crawlers. He spoke about a typical conversation between clients and SMBs in context of website building in India – how clients’ lack of understanding of technical SEO could hinder efforts to drive relevant traffic to their websites.
He hit the right chord when he said ‘many people do not recognize the value of a website because they fail to do what’s needed to drive traffic to it’ which left most of the crowd nodding in agreement. To help address this concern, Navneet advocated that every web designer attempt to have a brief, but clear discussion elucidating the advantages of SEO with their clients. Navneet followed this up with a walkthrough of search engine ranking improvement. By the end of the session, it was quite clear that bridging this gap in how a client values a website vs how we web professionals do, could be the catalyst in seeing sustainable growth in the online presence market in India.
Shridhar Luthria: General Manager & Business Head, ResellerClub
Topic: ‘Make My Logo Bigger’
“Make my Logo Bigger” is a refrain that the design community is very used to hearing, be it from clients or from their own marketing teams & Shridhar quite deliberately picked this iconic one-liner as his topic. He analyzed the common problems faced by Web Designers – both in client-designer communication as well as in the threats posed by the competition and commoditization of design. Shridhar’s list of problems & neat steps that could help the Web Design bosses turn around these threats to opportunities was received very well by the crowd.
A common thread throughout Shridhar’s session was how Web Designers could actually play a complete web presence consultant to their clients by suggesting the right mix of products and services that could deliver the best possible results. In this regard the question of new gTLDs usage surfaced and sure enough, Shridhar had statistics that made a clear case for adoption of the appropriate extensions for every scenario. Our Registry partners for the Bengaluru edition of the event, Radix & .ONLINE got a mention as well with free domain names on offer for the attendees!
Ravi Pal: Vice President of Engineering, Endurance International Group
Topic: Design and Technology – BFF
Ravi’s session was a radically different take on the industry that was aimed at breaking down the silos that exist within the Web Professionals’ community. He highlighted the evolution of Design and Technology as separate entities separately for a long period which has created the need for a harmonizing layer between them. He emphasized that Technology and Design were inseparable and complementary to each other and followed it up with recent changes in both technology and design principles that made it imperative that both work together to give the optimal user experience.
The speaker sessions were followed by an open floor networking hour during which all attendees and speakers actively engaged in follow-up conversations stemming from the stimulating ideas that the day thus far had thrown up. In summary, it was a fantastic experience for us and we are deeply humbled by the knowledge, passion and enthusiasm displayed by each one of you from the Web Design and Web Development community.
Some Testimonials
- Nagarajan, Paradox Technologies Pvt. Ltd – “Ctrl+F5 truly was a delightful experience. Shridhar’s session genuinely brought forth the realities of client-designer related miscommunications to light.”
- Moby, Econz IT Services Pvt. Ltd – “There was a lot to learn from Ninad’s Design prowess. Ravi’s topic sealed the deal. Such a simple Philosophy that most of us designers tend to forget.”
- Velu, Zeeonix – “It truly was a learning experience. Ctrl+f5 is a great platform for individuals in the web design/development Industry who are not only looking to hone their skills but also looking for greater insights to improve client-designer relationships.”
Here’s a 2 min clip that encapsulates what Ctrl+f5 is all about:
Here are some photos from the event:
As you can see, Ctrl+f5, Bangalore was a symbiotic experience for one and all present. Ctrl+f5 will be visiting Delhi as well, at the Hyatt Residency on the 6th of May, 2016. So what are you waiting for?
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