W+K copywriter Erin Swanson (one of the aforementioned Americans), gives us her view of OFFF 2014:

It comes as no surprise to me that the Americans were the best speakers at the OFFF Festival 2014. I say that because I'm American, and I believe Americans to be superior in most ways.
I'm kidding of course, which is something Americans do. Actually, that might be why they make such good speakers. Also, they curse, which always makes things more exciting, goddamnit.

I attended OFFFF in a slightly different capacity as my Art Director partner, David Goss (see his review below. Never knew he was so into toilets). I'm a writer, and so most of the names of OFFF's design industry speakers and past speakers didn’t sound familiar to me. I went in with little knowledge and no expectations, and that's probably why I enjoyed it.

Did you know that it takes a full year to make one music video for Arcade Fire? Cause I didn't.

Did you know that a degree in geology can lead to some pretty baller illustration skills? Cause I didn't.

Did you know that sponges have happy faces in Tokyo? Cause I didn’t.

Have you seen Fleur and Manu’s Hate or Glory video? Cause if you haven’t then you should stop reading this post and watch it now…

 
Did you know you can make 150,000 smackeroos designing the opening credits for a single Robert Downey Junior movie? Cause I didn’t.

Did you know that all you have to do to make an audience laugh is wear a plaid tuxedo jacket and talk about fried chicken? Cause I actually already knew that one…

Obviously Chip Kidd was the most entertaining speaker at OFFF because his presentation was well written, comically timed and riddled with witty zings on the publishing industry. But I learned something, even from the speakers who read off notecards the whole time. Ok maybe I fell asleep for a second during the guy with the geology degree… but I was probably just fatigued from all the learning!

Overall, David’s right. The less you know about a subject, the easier you are to impress. That being said, an entertaining presentation makes a big difference after 10 hours sitting in a plastic folding chair. But that’s the case with most “festivals” of public speaking. I once went to a real estate convention at an airport hotel in South Florida with my father. There were no windows, no Spanish hipsters and by the end I had a carry-on packed with three ring binders full of laminated topography charts. At least they had cool tote bags at OFFF!