The document discusses a panel discussion on whether a company's annual user conference is a "boon or bust" for user experience (UX). The panelists share their experiences attending various large conferences for companies like EMC, IBM, Autodesk, and Red Hat. One panelist notes the conference provides opportunities to conduct user interviews, gather large amounts of usage data, and learn about consistency across products. Another panelist discusses engaging users at a dedicated UX booth through activities and usability testing sessions of varying lengths. A third panelist feels the conference is partly a bust because UX is an afterthought, but can also be a boon by providing a chance to "hang with users."

1. The Annual User Conference
Boon or bust for UX?

2. Your Company’s Annual
User Conference
Boon or bust for UX?

3. Panelists
Panelist Annual User Conference Experience
Chauncey Wilson DECworld 1x
Autodesk University 3x
Serena Chechile Doyle EMCWorld 9x
RedHat Summit 1x
RedHat Forum 1x
JoAnne Hubbard EMCWorld 10x
Mary Beth Raven IBM Lotusphere 14x
SolidWorks World 1x
EMCWorld 2x

4. ● Macworld or other Apple conference
● Oracle OpenWorld or other Oracle Conference
● Microsoft-related conferences (Ignite, Sharepoint
etc)
● VM World
● Other? (shout it out!)
Who Has Participated in Their
Annual User Conference?

5. Chauncey
DECworld 1x
Autodesk University 3x

6. Conducting interviews about future needs and current problems
might be more useful than usability testing of a few specific
features
Gathering large amounts of data during presentations using
methods like freelisting can provide large samples that could
reveal trends as well as long tail ideas
Conferences can provide information about consistency across
and within products
Attending specific lectures and workshops can reveal much
information about the user experience - sometimes information
that is more substantial than the very focused efforts at usability
The monetary method where you ask users to "purchase
features/requirements" and then quickly analyze and present the
data to the users can stimulate some good discussion
Chauncey’s Reflections

7. Serena
10+ customer conferences
co/administrator
main scheduler
moderator

8. Unified User Experience Presence

9. Engaging Users to Participate

10. Customer Surveys

11. Quick User Sessions

12. Scheduled In Depth Usability Tests

13. JoAnne
The Annual User Conference: Boon
for In-Depth Customer Sessions
and Design Partner Recruiting

14. User Experience Booth

15. Booth Activities

16. Design & Usability Sessions - S, M, L

17. Dedicated Design Session
Room

18. Mary Beth
Part Bust, Part Boon
.

19. ➢UX is an afterthought; need to frame
UX as a marketing activity to get
traction
➢Attendees are not usually
representative
➢From a management perspective
➢Too much of my time on the horse
trading, justification statements
➢The popular products aren’t always the
ones that need testing
The Annual Conference: Bust

20. The Annual Conference: Boon

21. Hanging with Your Users: Priceless