en en beyond tellerrand This is a podcast about the people and stories behind independent events. From short conversations with upcoming speakers to behind-the-scenes insights and chats with fellow community organisers, this podcast offers a closer look at the work, doubts, and ideas that never make it onto the stage. https://beyondtellerrand.com Mon, 22 Jun 2026 17:57:09 +0200 Marc Thiele yes Support this podcast on Steady https://lcdn.letscast.fm/media/podcast/a5967f2c/artwork-3000x3000.png?t=1769790943 beyond tellerrand https://beyondtellerrand.com Marc Thiele LetsCast.fm (https://letscast.fm) Behind the events, beyond the stage. Marc Thiele episodic https://letscast.fm/podcasts/beyond-tellerrand-5995547c/feed events, community, publicspeaking, conferences, stories, behindthescenes Marc Thiele marc@beyondtellerrand.com no no no Marc Thiele This is a podcast about the people and stories behind independent events. From short conversations with upcoming speakers to behind-the-scenes insights and chats with fellow community organisers, this podcast offers a closer look at the work, doubts, and ideas that never make it onto the stage. no no acff51b44237470180786483bc40609d Andy Bell Marc talks with Andy Bell – founder of Piccalilli and Set Studio — about building honest, pragmatic front-end education, why owning your own website is “punk as hell” and his outspoken case against the AI bubble and its threat to web standards.]]> Tue, 02 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0200 In this episode of the beyond tellerrand podcast, Marc sits down with Andy Bell, the founder of Piccalilli and the design and development agency Set Studio. The two caught up live in Berlin back in November 2025 and this time they go deep into what it actually takes to build something independent and principled in an industry that feels increasingly uncertain.

Andy explains how Piccalilli grew from his personal blog into a small, four-person team (alongside Leanne, Jason and Vicky) producing high-quality, pragmatic education that’s rooted in real client work at Set Studio. He talks about spotting a gap in the education space – somewhere between framework crash-courses and genuine, transferable craft – and why his courses teach things like planning and communicating with designers, not just syntax. There’s a lot here on the philosophy behind the courses: keeping them affordable (the £249 ceiling, “anything above that and the boss has to buy it for you”), building their own publishing platform to give each author their own space, and the editorial process behind working with guest authors like Scott Riley and Mat Marquis.

The conversation then turns to AI, where Andy doesn’t hold back. He lays out why he’s been against the technology from the start – models trained on stolen content, the environmental cost, the harmful material it can produce, and the more-than-a-trillion-dollars of investment chasing a product whose output he considers poor. He makes a financial case for why he believes a bubble deflation is coming, why he turned down a wave of AI-startup branding work over brand risk, and offers some blunt advice: if your employer is mandating AI use, “unionise — they’re not mandating you to use AI for fun”. He and Marc also reflect on what this means for web standards, why taking progressive enhancement and accessibility seriously has always meant swimming against the current, and why keeping standards high matters more than ever.

To close, things get more personal: Andy’s record collection and his goal to be off streaming services entirely by year’s end, his heavier-and-hip-hop leanings, his background as a drummer who “wanted to be in music, not tech” and fell into the industry by accident and his open, in-progress rebuild of his own website. A reminder that owning your own corner of the web is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

A different viewpoint, honestly shared and well worth a listen.

Links:
Episode Partner:
]]> https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/podcast-andy-bell-005 Andy Bell Andy Bell Piccalilli, Set Studio and standing your ground in the age of AI 00:52:12 Marc Thiele 5 full Marc talks with Andy Bell – founder of Piccalilli and Set Studio — about building honest, pragmatic front-end education, why owning your own website is “punk as hell” and his outspoken case against the AI bubble and its threat to web standards.]]> https://lcdn.letscast.fm/media/podcast/a5967f2c/episode/624f06da/artwork-3000x3000.png?t=1780414100 Andy Bell https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/podcast-andy-bell-005 Piccalilli, CSS, AI, web-standards, progressive-enhancement no no no no 10a56aa7075a4541ab17a3f51e77287d Elliot Jay Stocks Marc catches up with longtime friend Elliot Jay Stocks – designer, author, and type obsessive – to talk about his beautiful new book Fine Specimens and the joy of making things that last beyond the scroll. They also get into making music purely for the love of it, and Elliot’s upcoming book launch tour across Europe.]]> Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0100 Marc catches up with longtime friend and typographic obsessive Elliot Jay Stocks – designer, author, former Creative Director of Adobe Fonts, and founder of the legendary *8 Faces* magazine. They talk about Elliot’s new book *Fine Specimens: A Showcase of Contemporary Type Design*, which collects specimen graphics from independent and established type foundries around the world, preserving work that would otherwise be lost to the scroll. The conversation covers the book’s unlikely journey from a failed Kickstarter to a Quarto publication, the challenge of multi-script type design, Elliot’s return to Adobe Fonts as a full employee after 18+ years freelancing, and the joy of making music with no commercial agenda whatsoever. Elliot also shares details of his book launch tour, including a stop at beyond tellerrand Düsseldorf in April.

Links:]]> https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/podcast-elliot-jay-stocks-004 Elliot Jay Stocks On Fine Specimens, Type Design, and Preserving Beauty from the Scroll 00:49:16 Marc Thiele 4 full Marc catches up with longtime friend Elliot Jay Stocks – designer, author, and type obsessive – to talk about his beautiful new book Fine Specimens and the joy of making things that last beyond the scroll. They also get into making music purely for the love of it, and Elliot’s upcoming book launch tour across Europe.]]> https://lcdn.letscast.fm/media/podcast/a5967f2c/episode/1e441919/artwork-3000x3000.jpg?t=1771955872 Elliot Jay Stocks https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/podcast-elliot-jay-stocks-004 no no no no 5ec76e4e3ba143fa93d9c90b0f8542ad On Events, Community, and Doing This Anyway – Jeremy Keith Discover the joy and challenges of running web events with Jeremy Keith. Insights on community, inspiration, and the upcoming Web Day Out in Brighton.]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0100 I sat down with Jeremy Keith to talk about why we run events, from small niche meetups to full conferences. We discuss the joy of connecting people, exploring ideas across disciplines, and the challenges of today’s event world: ticket sales, sponsorship, and reaching new audiences. Jeremy’s upcoming Web Day Out in Brighton shows how one-day events can inspire, educate, and bring the community together.]]> https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/podcast-jeremy-keith-003 On Events, Community, and Doing This Anyway – Jeremy Keith Reasons why you should attend – or even organise – events 00:46:48 Marc Thiele 3 full Discover the joy and challenges of running web events with Jeremy Keith. Insights on community, inspiration, and the upcoming Web Day Out in Brighton.]]> https://lcdn.letscast.fm/media/podcast/a5967f2c/episode/df86ea66/artwork-3000x3000.jpg?t=1770140970 On Events, Community, and Doing This Anyway – Jeremy Keith https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/podcast-jeremy-keith-003 events, meetups, conferences no no no no e18ac9ebeed34f9491abd939d8ef7709 Behind the Scenes – Keir Whitaker Welcome to another episode of my little “Behind the Scenes” (video-)podcast. The idea of this irregular series is to introduce you to a few people that are part of the beyond tellerrand journey. Sometimes that is a speaker, sometimes someone who helps me in a different way and usually goes unnoticed or without much of a spotlight on them. Next to the fact that these people help me, I want to furthermore introduce you to them since they mean something to me.

Yes, I run beyond tellerrand for nearly 15 years as a single person, a one-person band or, like some would say, a solopreneur. But surely there are a lot of people who helped me along the way – next to my wonderful family of course. Some more often, some from time to time, but I am absolutely thankful for their input, their help, their opinion, feedback or however they support me.

One of these people is today’s guest: Keir Whitaker. We know each other for more than a decade already. Once a week Keir is there for me to listen to my rants, complaints, ideas and I can pick his brain for an opinion or feedback. He is the reason why I put much more effort into my newsletter these days and continue to work on it regularly, for example.

In this unscripted episode we were talking about feedback – giving feedback, listening to feedback and using feedback. Furthermore I asked Keir how important it is these days to have a website, especially if you run an event.
Surely we also had a conversation about social media and how it changed over the last 10 years and the role it plays for an event organiser today.

And last but not least, I asked him about his own event series, he started 2023, called Craft and Work. What it is about, when and where it does it take place and who should come.

Enjoy!
]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2026 01:00:00 +0100 In this unscripted episode Keir Whitaker and I are talking about feedback – giving feedback, listening to feedback and using feedback. Furthermore I asked Keir how important it is these days to have a website, especially if you run an event.
Surely we also had a conversation about social media and how it changed over the last 10 years and the role it plays for an event organiser today.]]> https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/bts-keir-whitaker-002 Behind the Scenes – Keir Whitaker Feedback is absolutely valuable! 01:03:59 Marc Thiele 2 full Welcome to another episode of my little “Behind the Scenes” (video-)podcast. The idea of this irregular series is to introduce you to a few people that are part of the beyond tellerrand journey. Sometimes that is a speaker, sometimes someone who helps me in a different way and usually goes unnoticed or without much of a spotlight on them. Next to the fact that these people help me, I want to furthermore introduce you to them since they mean something to me.

Yes, I run beyond tellerrand for nearly 15 years as a single person, a one-person band or, like some would say, a solopreneur. But surely there are a lot of people who helped me along the way – next to my wonderful family of course. Some more often, some from time to time, but I am absolutely thankful for their input, their help, their opinion, feedback or however they support me.

One of these people is today’s guest: Keir Whitaker. We know each other for more than a decade already. Once a week Keir is there for me to listen to my rants, complaints, ideas and I can pick his brain for an opinion or feedback. He is the reason why I put much more effort into my newsletter these days and continue to work on it regularly, for example.

In this unscripted episode we were talking about feedback – giving feedback, listening to feedback and using feedback. Furthermore I asked Keir how important it is these days to have a website, especially if you run an event.
Surely we also had a conversation about social media and how it changed over the last 10 years and the role it plays for an event organiser today.

And last but not least, I asked him about his own event series, he started 2023, called Craft and Work. What it is about, when and where it does it take place and who should come.

Enjoy!
]]> https://lcdn.letscast.fm/media/podcast/a5967f2c/episode/bd2abdd7/artwork-3000x3000.jpg?t=1770140067 Behind the Scenes – Keir Whitaker https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/bts-keir-whitaker-002 events, shopify, conferences, meetups no no no no 9e3e07dce346419799834396fa21901b Behind the Scenes – Gavin Strange Gavin Strange created the design for our 2025 Düsseldorf edition. Including live performed opening titles. We loved it so much what he did for the 2025 Düsseldorf show. It totally matched the idea of what beyond tellerrand means. Here is a little Behind the scenes video of Gavin and Marc chatting about how it all came to the point that Gavin created the whole theme and played opening titles live at the event on stage. ]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0100
  • Full transcription
  • Website of Gavin Strange
  • Gavin's blog post with all the background
  • Opening Titles Düsseldorf 2025
  • Event pages for Düsseldorf 2025
    • ]]>     https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/bts-gavin-strange-and-the-dusseldorf-2025-design Behind the Scenes – Gavin Strange Creating the design for an event 00:50:36 Marc Thiele 1 full Gavin Strange created the design for our 2025 Düsseldorf edition. Including live performed opening titles. We loved it so much what he did for the 2025 Düsseldorf show. It totally matched the idea of what beyond tellerrand means. Here is a little Behind the scenes video of Gavin and Marc chatting about how it all came to the point that Gavin created the whole theme and played opening titles live at the event on stage. ]]> https://lcdn.letscast.fm/media/podcast/a5967f2c/episode/163f2cd2/artwork-3000x3000.jpg?t=1770131433 Behind the Scenes – Gavin Strange https://beyondtellerrand.com/blog/bts-gavin-strange-and-the-dusseldorf-2025-design #events #design #openingtitles #creativity #bts no no no no