Diverse speaker line-up at EmbraceUX

April 11, 2016 Kevin Browne 0 Comments

This will be the last EmbraceUX (@EmbraceUX) related post until the conference – if you haven’t heard of it yet or haven’t gotten your ticket yet, it’s not too late. EmbraceUX is Hamilton’s largest and best tech and design event all year – a two-day, one-track exploration of the spectrum of user experience – from art and accessibility to service and strategy.

One of the best things about EmbraceUX is the amount of outside town experience that it brings in each year. Hamilton has never been so well connected to itself, both in the tech sector and in the broader creative / innovation community. Connecting with outside experts brings in new inspiration, experiences, ideas and networks!

Another great thing about the EmbraceUX speaker line-up is the diversity – with 50% female speakers and 22% POC:

Don’t miss the greatest tech and design event of the year! The attendee list we’ve got coming out to this event is as strong as the speaker line-up you can get at other events, making EmbraceUX a chance to be a part of something awesome.

And it’s just $225 with discount code ILOVEUX.

To see the order of talks and pictures of the speakers you can check out the Embrace UX schedule (@EmbraceUX), and for the talk details check out the list below:

Talk Details

Topic: What the hell is UX Strategy

Speaker: Jaime Levy
Quick Bio: Author, ‘UX Strategy: How to Devise Innovative Digital Products that People Want’

Details:

User experience (UX) strategy lies at the intersection of UX design and business strategy. This talk delves into this crucial practice, which relies on empirical, lightweight tactics for pushing cross-functional teams toward a unique digital solution that customers want.

Several UX strategy techniques will be demonstrated that you can use for crafting consumer products regardless of your work environment. It will start with a primer covering topics such as competitive analysis, validated user research, disruptive mental models, and why your product must deliver superior value through a “killer” user experience. The business case of Airbnb will be deconstructed so you can see how they started (by running experiments), ambitiously scaled (with growth hacking techniques), and monetized their value proposition (with an innovative business model).

Topic: Social Media Upped the Game on Content Strategy

Speaker: Sabaa Quao
Quick Bio: President, /newsrooms

Details:

On January 15, 2009, a US Airways Flight made a miraculous, emergency landing on the Hudson River after the jet’s engines failed. All passengers and crew were rescued. Twitter broke the news of the plane crash before the news networks did. How digital and social media evolved around breaking news stories has never been the same since.

The unrelenting pressure of the 24-hour news cycle has proven to be an excellent testing and continuous learning environment for content. Sabaa will talk about how his team has learned from the world of breaking news stories and adapted these methods to building resilient and effective content strategies for brands.

Topic: Failing Fast – Letting Humans, Not Brands, Drive Technology

Speaker: Amber Foucault
Quick Bio: Product Management Director, BNOTIONS

Details:

Topic: Unhooked: using product design to deconstruct habits

Speaker: Liam Oscar Thurston
Quick Bio: Creative Director, TWG

Details:

The most engaging digital products encourage habits within their users, habits that hook us into coming back over and over again. I used the design principles of habit-forming products to analyze, deconstruct, and ultimately kick several destructive habits of my own. We’ll work backwards from a deeply ingrained addiction and look at how design principles and psychology can empower meaningful change in our daily lives.

Topic: Digital Anthropology: How understanding people’s true motivations can drive innovation

Speaker: Ujwal Arkalgud
Quick Bio: Cultural Anthropologist, co-founder of MotivIndex
Speaker: Jason Partridge
Quick Bio: Insight strategist, co-founder of MotivIndex

Details:

Many new business ideas struggle because they are come about without understanding the underlying values that drive a population to seek the products or services being created.

Figuring out WHAT people need in a product isn’t WHY they buy/adopt/advocate for it. This is a critical distinction, that is often missed. Especially in the research that is typically used to support innovation projects. As a result experience designers are forced to work with the WHAT rather than the WHY, leading to uninspiring results.

Through a series of real-world research examples, we will illustrate how studying the consumer’s motivation online allows us to first unearth WHY people care about something, before we get to WHAT they’d care about. And how knowing the WHY can make the difference between an experience that moves people versus one that simply just does a job.

Topic: Case Study: How AMI embraced UX to build an accessible, inclusive broadcast media website

Speaker: Laura Baxter
Quick Bio: Principal, MitreBox UXD
Speaker: Virginia Vuleta
Quick Bio: Director of Digital Strategy, Accessible Media Inc.
Speaker: Andre Gaulin
Quick Bio: Principal, MitreBox UXD

Details:

As a broadcaster with a CRTC mandate to produce content for visually impaired Canadians, Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) faces unique challenges on a daily basis. Having recently seen success with their broadcast television and audio services, AMI turned to MitreBox User Experience Design to help them design a new web offering that was not only accessible but also highly usable and engaging for their unique audience. Andre Gaulin (MitreBox UXD Principle) will moderate a discussion between Laura Baxter (MitreBox UXD Principle) and Virginia Vuelta (AMI Dir. Of Digital Strategy) as they outline the journey from initial user research to functional specifications and visual designs that have resulted in a major online upgrade for AMI.

Topic: The Past is over, Now is boring, the Future is bright

Speaker: Dustin Rideout
Quick Bio: Vice-President, Strategy, Partner, Sid Lee

Details:

In rapid-fire form, we will explore why every step we take should be firm planted in what has yet to occur. In an inspiring and provocative discussion, Dustin Rideout will share his vision for communities that emphasize future intent as their driving present day force.

Topic: Immersion and experience in digital artworlds

Speaker: Ty Tekatch
Quick Bio: Artist, Filmmaker

Details:

Artists have always pursued the aesthetic depths of emerging technology. In the era of the digital, how are artists using emerging tech to define a new aesthetic? In this wide-ranging survey of current artistic directions, filmmaker and artist Ty Tekatch examines how projection mapping, interactivity, data visualization and digital video are being used by artists to create a new visual culture.

Topic: Accountable Experiences: From Product Design to Award-Winning Profitable Digital Experiences

Speaker: Tara O’Doherty
Quick Bio: Vice-President, Customer Experience Strategy, Cossette

Details:

Can innovative experiences even launch in the high pressure world of metrics and KPIs? Join Tara as she explores the latest methods in innovative design thinking, customer-centric ideation, and post-experience behavioural tracking that can provide you with breathing room in creativity while still making those C-level clients and stakeholders happy. This case-based session will cover off some unique and proven techniques to create awe-inspiring work that will keep your soul satisfied and your stakeholders happy.

Topic: Service Design Heuristics

Speaker: Shannah Segal
Quick Bio: Principal, Usability Matters

Details:

Heuristics offer a hands-on approach to discovery, where knowledge is culled through trial and error. They are rules of thumb that give us a framework as we move through the research and design process. In service design, this kind of framework is also valuable for assessing completed projects to find the weak links. Heuristics can be applied to a single moment in time or to a user’s entire long-term relationship with a service. As systems grow ever more sophisticated and interconnected, designers will continue to face new challenges. Service design heuristics can help us to frame and think about these complex experiences on a new level.

In this session, Shannah Segal, one of the authors of Usability Matters’ Service Design Heuristics, will present the heuristics, with examples of their use from the real world. Then, participants will have an opportunity to work with a few of the heuristics in a hands-on activity.

Topic: Inside/Outside Service Design

Speaker: Judy Mellett
Quick Bio: Director, Service Design, Innovation & Strategy, TELUS
Speaker: Chris Ferguson
Quick Bio: CEO, Bridgeable

Details:

Judy Mellett from TELUS and Chris Ferguson from Bridgeable take you through a service design project from the perspective of internal champion and external consultant.

Topic: Panel: I’m Inspired… Now What?

Speaker: Sarah English
Quick Bio: Principal, Usability Matters
Speaker: Jennifer Hayes
Quick Bio: User Experience Design Lead, IBM
Speaker: Todd Hummel
Quick Bio: Senior Recruitment Specialist, Ari Agency Executive Recruitment
Speaker: Howard Kiewe
Quick Bio: Director of User Experience, Intelex Technologies

Details:

After two days of exciting ideas, insights, and conversation, our panel share their career journeys, discuss how innovative companies are building design teams, and provide tips on taking the next step in building your own experience design career.