Fluxible draws experts to Waterloo Region from around the world

User experience has become a familiar phrase to just about everyone in the technology business. For companies looking to distinguish their products in a crowded marketplace, UX is the not-so-secret weapon for turning potential customers into raving fans.

But how do you create a great user experience? How do you set up a team or an organization to deliver it? How do you even break into the field as a career?

All these questions and many more will be addressed on September 14–15 at Fluxible, the UX party disguised as a conference. This is the second edition of Fluxible, a home-grown event in downtown Kitchener that has already developed a reputation outside Canada for its solid content and quirky sense of fun. Last year’s inaugural event was a resounding success, with cheers of encouragement from the audience when asked if they want it again in 2013. Well, here we are!

This year, you’ll enjoy talks and half-day workshops from some of the most respected and knowledgeable experts in their fields. Topics include the culture of design teams, the power of metaphor in design, starting out in UX, design that drives action, Lean UX, and much more.

With a mix of excellent content and ample opportunity to meet UX practitioners from around the world, Fluxible provides an immersive and enlightening weekend for everyone. Add a healthy dose of live music, art, and hand planes — and a great experience gets even better.

Whether you’re an aspiring designer, a practicing researcher, a hiring manager or startup founder, or just someone with an interest in learning how to design great experiences, Fluxible has something for you.

And it gets better. Fluxible has provided a special “uxWaterloo” promotional code that unlocks a $200 discount off regular registration. Don’t miss this chance at an exceptional UX learning opportunity. Register today!

September 2012 event: Fluxible preview

As exciting as a monthly uxWaterloo event can be, the big user experience event in Waterloo Region in September is going to be Fluxible, which is happening on September 22 & 23. This very first Fluxible event features a great lineup of talks and workshops by UX experts from four continents! You may recognize speakers James Wu, Dan Szuc, and Whitney Quesenbery from uxWaterloo events. There are many more joining them for what organizers Bob Barlow-Busch and Mark Connolly describe as a UX party disguised as a conference. Plus, Fluxible has a theme song — how cool is that?

For this uxWaterloo meeting we’ll have a bit of a preview of Fluxible, with some special Fluxible guests joining us for a discussion around various UX topics. Hope you can make it out, and that you also consider registering for Fluxible.

Register for the uxWaterloo September meeting. Hope to see you there!

Where and when

Thursday September 20, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Communitech Hub, P2P Room
151 Charles St. W.
Kitchener, ON N2G 1H6

Sign up now to join the fun!

One more thing. As a special offer to uxWaterloo folks, you can register for Fluxible and receive a big $200 discount over the regular price. What a bargain! Register now!

(February 2012) The user experience of conferences

Thursday February 16, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Bauer Kitchen (private room booked under “UX Waterloo”)
Located in the Bauer Marketplace

What makes for a truly amazing conference experience?

Not everything we build as user experience designers is digital (service designers have known this forever!). Even if your own work to date has been strictly online, much of your knowledge is transferable to the real world. So this month, we put that idea to the test — by digging into the DNA of a successful conference experience.

Come prepared to share your own conference experiences, or to chime in with reactions to what others have to say. There’ll be no presentations this month, just informal discussion among UX peers. Have you been to a conference before? Let’s hear about it! Describe what you loved about the experience, and share some low points as well.

Your ideas could very well influence KW’s very own UX conference in September, Fluxible 2012.

RSVP requested

We’re meeting in a private room at the Bauer Kitchen, booked for “UX Waterloo”. Please note that food and drinks will not be supplied, but you’re free to place individual orders if wanted.

Please RSVP below if you plan to attend. Attendance will be capped at 20 people, so sign up soon!

July 2010 Meeting: European Conference Highlights

Thursday, July 22, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

This month’s meeting focuses on highlights from the 2010 UPA and UX Lx conferences. James Stewart and Ryan DeGorter, two of our group members, recently attended these conferences in Europe. They will each present highlights of what they learned, with an opportunity for questions and discussion too. We’ve had some great discussions in recent meetings, and this month is certain to be no exception.

Topics under discussion will include:

• Do-it yourself usability testing, by Steve Krug
• Influencing Strategy by Design, by Luke Wroblewski
• Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE), by Richard Douglass and Carol Smith

Please click here to register for this UX Group event. Thanks! Hope to see you there.

(February 2008) Interaction08 Redux

Wednesday February 13, 2008
5:00 to 6:30 pm
Please note the DIFFERENT DATE AND LOCATION this month:
Terapath Inc. (That name is changing to “Primal Fusion”, as noted on the door sign)
258 King Street North, Waterloo
Unit #7 (upstairs from University Pharmacy and King Tin Chinese Restaurant)
Parking: in spots around the side and back marked Terapath, on nearby side streets, or in diagonal spots in front of the building next to the sidewalk
[Map]

Event description

If you’re unable to attend the Interaction08 conference starting February 8, never fear! At least three of our group’s members will be there and next week, right after their return, you’ll be able to experience the conference vicariously. Sandra Loop of Sybase, Navid Sadikali of Agfa, and Robert Barlow-Busch of Terapath will serve up a buffet of highlights, anecdotes, lessons learned, and practical tips gleaned from the conference’s many sessions.

Interaction08 is a landmark event. It’s the first annual conference of the Interaction Design Association, one of the organizations with whom our group is affiliated. The conference has attracted 250 designers from across the world, with keynotes from experts such as Alan Cooper and Bill Buxton (Go Canada!). Check out the conference website for a glimpse of the topics that Sandra, Navid, and Robert are likely to cover.

If you’re attending Interaction08 and would like to share your experiences too, please let us know!

As usual, this event is free and open to anyone who’d like to attend.