UX in Industry: An ‘Unconference’ w/ the Practitioners

Abstract

UX roles in industry come in various flavors. From job titles, roles and responsibilities to organizational structure, companies define user experience practitioners in varying ways. The purpose of this alternative session is to give students a diverse look at UX in Industry. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest are home to several major technology companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Intel. This alt session will utilize the unconference format. This will allow facilitators to lead small group discussions based on topics posed by the session attendees. The group of facilitators will consist of a diverse collective of UX researchers and designers from various companies with varying degrees of formal education. Conference attendees will be asked to submit questions via Twitter and at the beginning of the session. Following introductions, the session attendees will be broken into 5 smaller groups. The industry practitioners will serve as discussion facilitators leading the conversation around the submitted topics. It is the intent that they will be able to discussed topics such as what “UX looks like” at their respective companies and the best approach a student can take to prepare now to be successful at their company, but ultimately the topics will come from the attendees. The five panelists have several years of industry experience and have worked for multiple companies; therefore, they can bring perspective from a myriad of experiences.