Lukáš has been with WebExpo from the beginning and even this year’s conference strategy is his handiwork.
It’s Thursday June 16, shortly after half past three in the afternoon. I head to Lukáš’s from Michle on Tram 11. “I’m hungry. Think about where we’re going.” Lukáš fidgets a little. It’s already past lunch time. He doesn’t want to waste time in a restaurant, but eventually he allows himself to be persuaded. We’ll go to the garden of the restaurant U Holanů in the street near them. “I haven’t been here in years.”
Lukáš Plíhal. An idea maker — he lectures on creative process with Mark Prchal at VŠE as well as collaborating with Ambiente. He’s been connected to WebExpo from the very beginning up to the present. “Web is our DNA.” “I design, ask me how.” At the agency I like this! (now Actum), he met a lot of inspiring people. After coming to Prague, he worked for both Seznam.cz and Stratosféra.
Next week, Filip Dědic is planning to do an interview with Lukáš for the WebExpo blog. So, Lukáš needs a sparring partner in order to prepare for it. We get started. “Look at all the lists what a good coder needs to know and the books for designers have at least over three hundred pages.”
The democratization of media — a big theme for Lukáš: “Building websites should be easy. Now, it’s an exclusive field. Originally, it was supposed to be a simple way that allowed everyone to publish.”
I bring up a story with Dušan Janovský. He came up to me once and asked me a tricky question: “How exactly do people make websites today?” This is grist for Lukáš’s mill: “Exactly! Who cares, when we talk about UX?” We disguise our own incompetence with a complicated process to focus on the important. Lukáš doesn’t like this.
“The worst thing in the world is to say that something is difficult.”
Šárka Štrossová turned to Lukáš a few months ago. He hasn’t been involved with WebExpo for two years. The web design scene has changed drastically. Lots of niche events have popped up and it’s important to react to them. We are trying to discover how to do that.
“People ask for the program. The real reason we go to a conference is to enjoy it! Finally, you don’t have to feel like you’re in a hurry to get somewhere. We get to meet in one place, and we have the time to analyze what we’re doing — what was successful and what needs to go.”
To do something requires knowing what you want and who it’s for. At the same time, it’s expected that we cover what’s the current zeitgeist. The same question comes up again and again: how to shape the whole event and how to boost collective thinking. What are people from the web missing?
The garden at U Holanů fills up. An elderly couple takes a seat near us. They greet each other and the man brings a bar of chocolate. It doesn’t take much. Most of the time, we feel good only when someone writes about us. Web design is lacking self-reflection. At the same time, there’s no need to wait for anything.
“Do you know how to recognize a good lecture?”
I always have the desire to respond this rhetorical question. However, I’m now busy writing everything down. We are not recording our conversation.
“I lectured with Marek Prchal for two years and spent the whole time trying to figure it out.” He mentions the research, according to which it is necessary to repeat information twenty times in order for a listener to remember. “Presentations are infotainment. Learning is something different. You don’t need to show your methods, but their predictable outcomes. The benefits of a your own solution — you show your own approach.”
Lukáš’s dad had an internet cafe in Děčín with a huge satellite on the roof. Geeks from all around the gathered there. He then linked up with the rest of the Czech internet using the chat service, Kecárna.
We discuss whether people have already lost interest in WebExpo, or whether it is now an event that people take for granted after 9 years. “We should become a public service to solve community problems and to serve.”
I think that we have it. I rewrite my notes from my notebook, and we say goodbye.
— Martin
The past weeks have been very difficult for all of us. On Saturday, June 18, Lukáš passed away.
